With The Fungus Gone.

Folk art forms are always different from their richer cousins, the classical ones.Yet people are drawn to folk easier because these art forms draw inspiration from day to day activities ,enabling an audience to relate better.You dont need any kind of knowledge to enjoy folk music or dance, it comes naturally.Yesterday when i attended the Rajasthani folk concert as part of Virasat’08 concerts, i realised how powerfully an audience can be drawn towards folk forms. I am not a connosieur of any genre of music. I dont understand the intricacies but when i do, i have always been aware of something very special . The SJA has seen some great artistes perform as part of SPICMACAY.Yet the audience responded to the rajasthani folk in a manner they have never really done before not even when exquisite classical performances were staged.And there in lies the beauty of folk arts.Its not for the elite, it comes with intuition and a nratural propensity. I enjoyed the performances too, the guy who sang did so well with an alluringly earthyvoice. The instruments were superlative and the dance entertaining. Yet i felt queasy in the middle when i saw the dances. They reminded me of item numbers from films with the matkas and jhatkas and acrobatic tricks. Not to take away that they are supremely talented but somehow i dont associate that with concerts on stage. Maybe thats how item numbers originated, from folk dances.But the daces were brilliant. We had an artiste interaction later and i wasngreatly surprised to hear that these people took no training.He said they just try things when they are young , if a guy cant sing , he movves on to the instruments. They are not taught , it just happens. The girls dont even practise. They were serious and had made a profound statement in such a casual manner that the achievement seemed even more stupendous.I pondered about it for a long while thereafter.Folk arts are truly GOD’S own and i mean every word of it.

A couple of weeks back we went to Bekal Fort.Its incidentally the place where uyire in Bombay or tuhi re as its Hindi version goes was shot.Its situated 2 stations after Kasargod. you can reach it either by bus till kasargod or a train directly to Bekal Fort. the place is beautiful especially where you get the full view of the sprawling ocean on the other side of the fort.

The feeling of deja vu that you associate with such places never really quite hits you because its too crowded and too paved and manicured.Neverheless its a place worth visiting once, if not for anything atleast to go to what i call the spray place, stand there and get the feeling that you are  left alone, not talking, not listening to anyone else. Its almost like a hypnotic drug making you forget all worries. eventually you hear only the roar of the waves and feel the sting of the salty air and see the wonderful sprays as they crash on the rocks.

the last pic was taken in Kapil Beach, 5 km from Bekal Fort. its pretty isolated and shady for lack of a better word. its better you dont go there. That ofcourse doesnt ofcourse stop it from being exquisitely scenic.

serial bomb blasts in Delhi.
1405 lifers to be freed in Tamil Nadu on account of Karunanidhi’s birthday
Modi:”i had warned the PM about the blasts”
Kashmir boiling on.
i wont write the rest because a case of obscenity charges might be filed against me. Yes, freedom of expression is curbed too!

welcome to the India i am increasingly aware and weary of.India has always been an epitome of God’s own country , afterall it is a wonder the way it functions.Yet inspite of the riots, the kargil war, blasts before, kandahar hijack and the attack on the parliament i believed in the country. I thought that  over a period of time with a better economy and a passing away of hopefully of a generation of politicians and the emergence of a well educated powerful middle class things will change.They will become better. I was wrong and so were many others who hoped to live the great Indian dream.But, i was younger then and when you are, you are also naive.You tend to believe in the impossible in a way.

vote bank politics has ensured we dont even have a proper anti-terror mechanism in place. We still shout for Afzal Guru and the PM claims he cried listening to Haneef’s mother. But  Sir, how many drops of tears did you shed when a series of blasts ripped through Bangalore, Ahmedabad,Mumbai,Delhi,Surat,Varanasi and to cut it short Lucknow?Its not the fear of the insecurity that stings, its the inability to reply to that challenge thrown at us so blatantly by the terrorists.Each serial blast echoes the same pertinent barb”  we can do what we want, try stopping us.”

we dont even have a system in the first place to counter terrorism. the most telling picture was Shivraj Patil in all his white suit glory trying to avoid a puddle of water while visiting the blast victims.If only he was as dilligent with the affairs of the nation. How many meetings did the PM call to discuss national security as opposed to the NSG waiver?

its not the nation’s problem with malnutrition, poverty , corruption, reservations or the umpteen other factors that bothers me much. As an Indian you learn to  accept that as a part of your nation. Its the lackadaisal attitude towards national security that hits me hard. The new set of politicians are no better. I had an encounter with Mr.Sachin Pilot once, in the Outlook Debate finals. He wasnt even willing to take criticsm against the Congress!

Last time i travelled by train, a tiffin box carrier was left unclaimed near my seat. five minutes, ten minutes and a fifteen, and passengers around me started to get worried including me.it turned out to be the pantry car’s.Every time i see a madarassa outside in kerala ,i view it with suspicion. with a deep resentment that its there and imagining terror plots spewing .I see it as the changing face of Indian demography. Once, i saw a couple of young boys playing shuttle in one such place. it surprised me greatly. Our train stopped by and a small boy climbed the wall and waved hi. it took an effort from me to return it.A delay that saw the boy’s smile falter ,till i returned it.He would have hardly been seven. Who is to answer for that hesitation on my part or pay the price for the fading smile of that young boy? Definitely the set of incompetent  people in Delhi cant.

Kunnakudi.S. Vaidyanathan , a maverick genius and a scintillating entertainer is no more.  Any one having listened to him play would definitely agree that he knew exactly how to keep the audiences engaged. He was a master performer , born for the big stage. He was versatile and adapted the violin to different styles as no one before him had.

He had been often criticised for diluting the violin and the sanctity of the mahasabhas where artistes often believe they are amidst a ritual of worship rather than merely performing. But none deny the genius of the great man. He was also an able administrator and a successful music director.

For people like me not steeped in the traditions of carnatic music, his concerts were the most regaling, the nearest proximity to sublimal performances on the violin. it would indeed be a great loss to not see him in his jarringly bright shirts made of his ‘ponnadais’ or colourful silk shawls rendering masterful performances.But, his music shall always remain with us.