जो चलते हैं अँधेरों में, सितारे उन्हें राह देते,
मगर जो ठहरते हैं डर से, अँधियारों में मर जाते हैं।
नज़र को चाहिए हिम्मत, सपनों को छूने का जिगर,
जो ठिठकते हैं आधे में, वो इशारों में मर जाते हैं।
जो जोखिम से गुज़रते हैं, वही जीवन को पाते,
जो सिकुड़ते हैं डर से, वो उजालों में मर जाते हैं।
समंदर में फ़ना होना किस्मत की कहानी है, पर
दुःख तो उनपे होता है जो किनारों में मर जाते हैं।
'मनन' ने सीखा है, सफ़र में गिरना ही जीत है,
जो सँभलते नहीं खुद को, वो सहारों में मर जाते हैं।
हर प्यार की फ़ितरत में बेवफ़ाई हो जाती है।
कुछ दिन रहते हैं, फिर तन्हाई हो जाती है।
जैसे जैसे वक़्त गुज़रता है शाइराना अंदाज़ में,
चुनौती-ए-वफ़ाई की शनासाई हो जाती है।
लम्हों की महफ़िल में यादों की परछाई हो जाती है,
ख़ुशियों के दरमियाँ भी रुसवाई हो जाती है।
सफ़र-ए-इश्क़ में जो भी चलता है बेख़ौफ़,
उसे हर मोड़ पे इक आज़माई हो जाती है।
दिल की खामोशी भी अक्सर चीख़ सी लगती है,
नज़र से नज़र मिले तो सफ़ाई हो जाती है।
ग़म की किताब में लिखे हैं हज़ारों अफ़साने,
मगर हक़ीक़त में बस सच्चाई हो जाती है।
मनन ये दुनिया यूँ ही धोखा नहीं देती,
हर नक़ाब के पीछे रुसवाई हो जाती है।
When the first Vande Bharat train was inaugurated with much fanfare in 2019, it was pitched as the dawn of a new era in Indian railways. As of today, there are 60+ Vande Bharat trains criss-crossing the country, proudly showcased as India’s flagship “semi-high speed” passenger service.
I’ll be the first to admit: the Vande Bharat is a great train. It looks modern, feels futuristic, and has undoubtedly raised the bar for passenger comfort compared to the tired ICF coaches of the past. On paper, it represents India’s leap into the next generation of rail travel. But when we cut through the hype, the reality is more complex.
The Positives
Comfort & Design: The ride quality, interiors, and amenities are a big step up from conventional trains. Passengers—especially business travelers—value this.
National Pride: As a Make-in-India project, it shows India can design and manufacture a modern EMU trainset domestically. Symbolically, this is huge.
Operational Efficiency: Quicker acceleration and braking compared to loco-hauled trains save minutes between stops, and dedicated priority on tracks reduces delays.
The Gaps Perhaps Nobody Talks About
Speed vs Reality: Marketed as a semi-high speed train capable of 160 km/h, not a single Vande Bharat actually runs at that speed in service. Most max out at 110–130 km/h—exactly what a conventional LHB rake with a WAP-7 could also do. The marginal time saved is due to priority, not performance.
Cost–Benefit Paradox: Each VB costs nearly ₹100 crore—almost double that of a modern LHB rake (~₹50 crore). Yet the core problem it was meant to solve—substantially reducing travel time—remains unsolved. If time savings are negligible, why pay so much more?
Build Quality Concerns: Compared to Chinese, Japanese, or even European high-speed EMUs, the fit and finish of Vande Bharat coaches leaves room for improvement. Early reports of rattling doors, broken fittings, and poor durability raise questions about quality control.
Public Apathy: A bigger, systemic challenge is our approach to maintenance and cleanliness. Walk into a VB a few months after inauguration, and you’ll often find stained seats, litter, and broken fittings. A world-class product cannot survive without world-class discipline in upkeep.
Infrastructure Lag: The real bottleneck is not the train, but the track. Running reliably at 160 km/h requires better signalling, stronger bridges, fencing, and upgraded civil works. Those investments have not kept pace. Budgets seem heavily skewed toward electrification, while the physical infrastructure needed for sustained higher speeds remains patchy.
The Bigger Question
India needed an upgrade from its outdated rolling stock—no doubt. But unless Vande Bharat delivers on its 160 km/h promise on at least a few showcase routes, it risks being remembered as a cosmetic facelift rather than a transformational leap.
At this point, it’s less about the trains themselves and more about the ecosystem they run on. Without parallel investment in track upgrades, signalling, and maintenance culture, we are left with an overpriced solution to a problem that still exists.
I’m a fan of the Vande Bharat and what it symbolizes. But admiration shouldn’t blind us to critical evaluation. If the goal is truly faster, safer, more efficient travel, then India’s railway strategy must look beyond just flashy new trainsets and focus equally on the less glamorous but far more impactful work of civil and systemic upgrades.
Only then can the Vande Bharat story move from marketing triumph to genuine mobility revolution.
Few composers in world music have managed what Muthuswami Dikshithar (1775–1835) achieved in Carnatic music. His works are at once scholarly, aesthetic, and pedagogical — compositions that are self-contained treatises, yet deeply moving to perform and listen to. To understand his uniqueness, one must situate him in the lineage he inherited and the innovations he forged.
Dikshithar’s father, Ramaswami Dikshithar, was no ordinary musician. Having studied under Veerabhadriah — a master of contemporary ragas — and Venkata Vaidyanatha Dikshitha, a descendant of Venkatamakhin (the architect of the Chaturdandiprakasika and the 72-mela system), Ramaswami embodied both rigor and breadth. He absorbed the earlier Raganga system while mastering the veena, embedding the mathematical and aesthetic depth of Carnatic tradition.
This dual inheritance — of structure and subtlety — passed naturally to Muthuswami Dikshithar, whose genius lay in combining systematization with transcendental artistry. In global terms, one might compare this to the way Johann Sebastian Bach absorbed the contrapuntal grammar of the Renaissance, only to consolidate and elevate it into the Baroque canon, or how Ravi Shankar inherited sitar traditions yet reframed them for modern sensibility.
Most Carnatic composers of the 18th and early 19th centuries, including Tyagaraja, employed the kriti format with multiple charanams, heavy on sangatis (variations of a melodic line). This approach, while brilliant in its improvisatory possibilities, often meant that the musical scaffolding remained predictable once the listener was familiar with the raga.
Dikshithar diverged sharply. His kritis are deliberate, expansive, and free from the overuse of sangatis. Instead, the architecture of the song itself contains the intricacy. Much like Beethoven’s late quartets, where the structural framework carries the complexity instead of ornamentation, Dikshithar embedded sophistication into melodic symmetry, rhythmic design, and lyrical phrasing.
Dikshithar “conceived the raga in full,” ensuring that every kriti functioned as a near-complete exploration of a raga. The music lingers, with a “linked sweetness long drawn out” — not unlike the meditative pace of an Alap in Hindustani khayal.
Structural Distinctives of Dikshithar’s Kritis
Minimal Sangatis: Unlike Tyagaraja or Syama Sastri, Dikshithar rarely used layered sangatis. Instead, each line is already a crystallized musical idea.
Format Flexibility: Some kritis have only pallavi and anupallavi, others add a single charanam. In rare cases with multiple charanams (e.g., Maye in Tarangini), each charanam has its own distinct tune.
Nonlinear Phrasing: His kritis employ surprising yet seamless melodic transitions, akin to the unexpected harmonic shifts in Chopin’s nocturnes.
Heavy Gamaka Usage: His veena grounding and exposure to Hindustani traditions (particularly the jaru or glide) imbue his works with nuanced microtonal inflections.
Raga-Mudra Integration: Names of ragas are embedded poetically in the lyrics — a feature as if a jazz standard namedropped its key signatures mid-verse.
Madhyamakala Passages: These brisk rhythmic interludes occur variably across pallavi, anupallavi, or charanam — ensuring constant freshness.
Suladi Sapta Tala Exclusivity: His compositions unfold in grand, stately rhythms, avoiding lighter talas and creating a majestic gait.
Dikshithar’s first known kriti, Sri Naadaadi Guruguho in Mayamalavagowla, is itself a musical thesis. Comparable to Mozart’s Symphony No. 1(Western Classical) — astonishing in its precocity yet replete with maturity — this piece encapsulates the breadth of Carnatic pedagogy and performance. Here, I am only analyzing the musical construct of the composition. The Lyrics, the poetic beauty and they way the words fall in place, and then the DEEP PHILOSOPHY that lies embedded beneath those beautiful words, is for another discussion!!
Pallavi: Begins with a complete arohanam and avarohanam, spanning all octaves, while embedding sarali varisai (the first exercise any Carnatic student learns). The second line is in Janta varisai!
Anupallavi: The Anupallavi follows the Alankaram that a student then learns next! Builds symmetry with ascending SRGM beginnings and descending MGSR endings, creating palindromic notations. The introduction of kaarvais (pauses) elevates simple alankaras into elegance. Anupallavi concludes with a madhyamakala segment.
Charanam: Each line starts and ends on the same note, creating palindrome structures across melodic progression — a mathematical beauty reminiscent of Indian temple architecture’s symmetrical precision. The first note of the second line is one note ABOVE the first note of the first line, and so on! The raga mudra (Malavagowla) appears poetically, acknowledging both raga lineage and his awareness of melakarta theory.
This progression from lower (mandra sthayi) through middle (madhya sthayi) to the soaring upper (tara sthayi) octave makes the kriti itself a model for raga development, serving as both composition and improvisational blueprint.
What makes Dikshithar stand apart is that his compositions are not mere songs but encyclopedic explorations of musical possibility. His approach finds resonance in other world traditions. for example, Bach’s fugues (Western Classical)— exhaustive surveys of counterpoint within a defined key. Like these masters, Dikshithar’s works are not just performances but codifications of music itself.
Muthuswami Dikshithar must be regarded not only as one of Carnatic music’s Trinity but also as a global musical architect. His kritis transcend their time, simultaneously preserving ancient traditions and offering frameworks for future generations. In the balance between structure and aesthetic beauty, he belongs in the company of the world’s greatest composers — a timeless voice that resonates far beyond Carnatic confines.
Here is the Krithi.
Pallavi:
Sri Naadhadhi Guruguho Jayathi Jayathi
Sri Chidaananda Naathohamithi
Santhatham Hridini Bhaja
Anupallavi:
Naanaa Prapancha Vichithrakaro
Naamaroopa Pancha Bhoothakaro
Agnyaana Dhvaantha Prachandha Bhaaskaro
Gnyaana Pradhaayako Maheshwaro
Madhyamakala Sahithyam:
Dheenavanodyuktha Divyatharo
Divyaughaadhi Sakala Deha Dharo
Maanasaanandakara Chathuratharo
Madh Guruvaro Mangalam Karothu
Charanam:
Maaya Maya Visvaadhisthaano
Maathmakathadhi Mathaanusthaano
Maalini Mandalaantha Vidhaano
Mantraadyajapaa Hamsa Dhyaano
Maayaakaarya Kalanaa Heeno
Maamaka Sahasra Kamalaasino
Maadhurya Gaanaamruta Paano
Maadhavaadhyabhaya Vara Pradaano
Maayaa Sabalitha Brahma rupo
Maarakoti Sundara Svarupo
Madhimathaam Hrudaya Gopura Dipo
Matthra Suraadi Jayaprataapo
Madhyama Kala Sahityam:
Maayaamaalavagaulaadidesha
Mahipathi Pujitha Pada Pradesha
Maadhavaadyamara Brunda Prakaasha
Maheshasya Mahaarthopadesha
ज़िन्दगी मुश्किलों का भण्डार है यह विश्वास नहीं होता
वर न मरने के बाद जलने तक का एहसास नहीं होता।
ग़म के पत्थर गिरे तो भी हँसने का इक आभास नहीं होता
दिल के ज़ख़्मों के पीछे ही हरदम तो निराश नहीं होता।
राह काँटों से भरी है मगर फूल भी खिलते जाते हैं
हर सफ़र में अंधेरे हों तब भी वो बेख़ास नहीं होता।
हँस के जीना ही असल में जीवन का परिहास है प्यारे
सिर्फ़ रो लेने से कोई दिल का विकास नहीं होता।
आसमाँ भी कभी ग़म बरसाए तो धूप भी फैलाती है
हर घड़ी रात उतरे तो उसका सन्यास नहीं होता।
"मनन" कहता है मुस्कुराओ, ग़म को भी साथ लेकर चलना
क्योंकि दुनिया में दुख के सिवा ही तो उपहास नहीं होता।
மாட்சி என்ன மாட்சி - மனையில் மட்டுமே மாட்சியா?
மறையும் இறையும் கூட செய்கிறதே?
ஆட்சி என்ன ஆட்சி - நாட்டில் மட்டுமே ஆட்சியா?
காடும் கடலும் கூட காண்கிறதே?
காட்சி என்ன காட்சி- கண்களால் மட்டுமே காட்சியா?
மனதின் ஓட்டத்தை என் சொல்ல?
சாட்சி என்ன சாட்சி – நா வன்மை மட்டுமே சாட்சியா?
மனதின் தர்மத்தை என் செய்ய?
