Being a girl

 'Being human'! Is not it the case that the title of our blog today reminded you of this much used phrase? Well, quoting that phrase, 'being human', can be very dangerous, right? You might crush a few unfortunate poor under the influence of liqueur, and much worse still, the Bishnoi gang might be looking for you to finish you off.

Being a girl sure is not that criminal. It is equally dangerous though. Why, the world over, the reality, supported by certified statistics, is dismal enough. Female foeticide is rampant, for instance. Apparently only one in five girls can reach the middle school. Child marriage is a fact. 

In an era when the urban, educated girls consider feminism as a passe movement, the world over the status of a girl child is deteriorating, and rapidly. 'Being Malala' is the fate most girls face even today!

Hence the relevance of the World Girl Child Day on October 11! How did it begin? Well, 1975 to 1985 was the 'decade of women'. During that decade, an international organisation, 'Plan International', encouraged girl children to be vocal about their lives.

So dismal were the facts thus found that the U.N. realised the need for an international day to raise awareness, to sensitise the world about the injustices girl children face across the globe. Realities, they are changing now as a result, though very slowly. The world over, women do face terrible violences.

Look at Iran, for instance. It can literally blow billions in encouraging Hezbollah, Hamas, and all such horrible terror groups to harass Israel. It continues to harass its own girls, too! Remember, last year itself a young girl in Iran succumbed to police brutality just because she had not covered her head 'properly'!

High time these realities change! It is the need of the hour that girls get at least the basic amenities such as, no, not primary education, but the still more basic right, the 'right to be born' at all. Though the Indian realities appear quite better, at every crossroad in a Pune aspiring to be a metro, you would find a girl child offered by her family to be 'god's'! Beginning with beggary, it is not difficult to imagine their future fate! Hence the relevance of October 11! 

Pratima@Despite apparent modernisation, the attitude to girls needs a huge overhaul, and the world over, at least via the ripple effect!

As luminous as ...

 Oh, yes, even if you have hated poetry as if it is poison itself, for sure you would have studied the figure of speech called 'simile'. Yes, it consists of a comparison between two dissimilar things, and the similitude is openly stated using terms such as 'as (luminous) as'.

All this jazz and the title should clarify to you that I am comparing two dissimilar concepts, right? What are they? Well, they are the mother love and the moonshine. Why so? Well, there are so very many similarities between these two dissimilar items. Okay, let me explain a little.

Both are unbelievably  beautiful. Both are quiet and peaceful. Both can calm down the most agitated. Both are so all-permeating that they can be taken for granted. Both are eternal and ever-alive. Like divinity itself, both are omni-present, omni-potent, and omni-scient. Just as the moonlight can illuminate gently but surely the darkest secret of the night, a mother does know her child's innermost heart.

Why all this comparison? Well, yesterday was the Kojagiri. This Ashwin full moon is the most luminous. So lovely it is that poets pen paeans to it. For me, however, it is also a reminder of the Hirkani tale.

Hirkani's story is an astounding story of a mother's love. A young milkmaid, as part of her daily duty, she climbs up to Raigad to deliver milk. She lingers back a second, given the glory of the fort, given the full moon day celebrations. Thus gets closed the main gate.

Her tiny baby is all alone in her hut at the foot of Raigad. She pleads every which way. The guards do not listen to her. She has no alternative now but to climb down the steep ridge that would directly take her to her child. It is the toughest steepest ridge of the fort. So sure is everyone that it just cannot be scaled that there is neither any bulwark nor any foot soldier.

She scales down the steep fall. One mo(ve)ment wrong, and certain death is for sure. Nothing deters her, neither the tough ridge nor the howls and roars of the wild animals nor the possibility of a cobra or a scorpion bite. With the full moon and the vision of her baby's eager lips as her only alibi, the determined mother manages to get back to her baby in no time.

What a grand tale of love, courage, determination, and sacrifice! Hidden in it is also the story of commitment to one's role, as a mother, as a milkmaid, while the soldiers at the gate are more in to following the letter rather than the spirit of the law.

In my opinion, hence, the Hirkani love is a metaphor, okay, a synonym for, in case you hate poetic discussions, genuine love for one's real self, one's genuine 'i'dentity which does not compromise with easy solutions. So Hirkani's tale is not merely a glorification of biological motherhood. Rather it is a saga of an all-encompassing passion that makes a milkmaid in to a legend.

Pratima@Look at the tale a little more carefully, and you would find many more such deep meanings in to it, as luminous as and as quiet as the midnight moon on the Kojagiri day.

Timeless Treasure

 How to describe Kishore Kumar's voice? Is that your question? Well, my answer to such a query would be a counter question. Why not just listen to him? Thus would all get said, and beyond typical cliched words, right?

Kishore Kumar's death anniversary falls on October 13. Such is the timeless allure of his voice that 1987 looks like just an ordinary number. Difficult indeed it is to believe that he left us some thirty-seven years ago. Why, so eternally young is his voice that he appears to be truly timeless.

Ask anyone of any age, and each one would have a unique Kishore Kumar favourite. He has that personal connect with each one of his listeners. Therefore I wrote in the earlier paragraph, he left 'us'. He appears like immediate family, right? His voice creates that uniquely intimate bond with every listener.

Apparently he was not trained in classical music. Tough to believe it may appear though. No, I am not going to give a huge list of songs that can counter such a claim. Instead I would like to maintain that so effortlessly emoted he every shade of each emotion that his classical training, or the lack thereof, hardly matters, right?

Let me hence try to answer the question with which began this blog. Well, yes, his voice is like an uncut diamond which may appear like a piece of glass. Shape and sharpen it even a wee bit, and the dazzle can illuminate any darkness.

Want proof of my assertion? Okay, listen to two of his songs from an obscure 1972 film entitled "Annadata". Nor have I watched this film. Hardly it matters though because these two Saleel Choudhary greats are timeless treasures. They are "guzar jaye din, din, din" and " o, meri pran sajani, Champavati, aa ja", and you would know why Kishore Kumar is forever, a timeless treasure.

Pratima@My feel is that his yodelling is the real forefather of the much touted breathless singing. What say?

The Mistress of Ghazal

 Yes, today let us talk of Begum Akhtar. Her birth anniversary, on October 7, happens to be just a week old. Why then talk of a singer (yes, she did act in Bombay Films. Hardly is famous as an actress though. She is etched in to the ears of classical music listeners as the thumi, dadra, ghazal maestro), the mallika-e-ghazal, who passed away in 1974, and is now a relic of the past, born as she was in 1914?

I would say her appeal lies precisely in the fact that in the early twentieth century when India was shackled both by rigid patriarchal traditions and the colonial British masters, this daughter of a 'tawaif' gave the 'kotha' tradition of thumri and ghazal the acceptability and, greater still, the respectability of the AIR, later the broadcasting mode of the newly independent  nation.

Indeed single-handedly is this 'mistress'  ( in both the senses of the term) of ghazal responsible for making the music of the 'badnam galli/mohalla' a major part of the repertoire of the classical music baithak . All her four hundred plus songs are a treat to the ear, even when you may not understand each and every Urdu word therein.

The most loved, however, are "woh jo hum me tum me" and "eh, mohabbat, tere naam pe". Her honeyed voice, with its slight husk, brings out beautifully the deep emotion the two songs elucidate. No wonder, given her contribution, the ghazal is now a much loved sub-genre of the tradition. Due to her path breaking artistry, the ghazal gayaki, continues to be loved ad infinitum by both, the congnoscenti and the uninitiated avid listener.  Long live the tradition of ghazal!

Pratima@ There forked two roads, the dual paths. The one less travelled she chose. And that has made all the difference!

The Lighthouse

 The Lighthouse is a beautiful place. Imagine, it is a no-moon night. Somewhere far away from the city lights, aboard a small, or even a big, boat on the treacherous sea, it is an infinity of darkness, made more dreary because of the weak torch with you, going weaker by the second. As it is a no-moon day, the strong currents, unknown and unseen, are pulling your bark deeper in to the threatening sea. The shores seem a distant dream.

As the receding waters 'appear', though really are not, shallow, there is every creepy possibility that you may meet the Titanic fate. Suddenly, out of nowhere, there are zooming lights, going round and round, showing that there is great guidance here which nullifies the boat-bashing boulder beneath. 

 Nothing now threatens. The distant stars, that seemed so very far away, are now friendly companions absolutely within your ambit. There is a goal now to your rudderless route. Fully assured you are that the shore is just a few feet away. 

That is the magic of a lighthouse. It can make the witchery of a threat in to an absolutely accessible promise. No wonder, 'lighthouse' is a standard metaphor for life. In our life, too, often there are moments that can beat the deep sea typhoons, and make them look like a storm in a teacup.

 As long as there is that someone (preferably your own self-reflexive and resilient 'i'dentity) there who can positively guide you, at times just by being there, every nightmare can magically turn in to a dream that makes a baby smile angelically. Here is to the lighthouses, and the vision behind it, a zillion gratitudes!

Pratima@How apt appears the title of Shantanu Naidu's book on Ratan Tata, though I have not read it.

What does the Dasara mean?

 What is the meaning of Dasara? The mythological stories related to Dasara  are twofold. One is related to the Ramayana ( it was on this day that Rama attained victory over Ravana), while, the other is as if by definition from the Mahabharata. It was on this day that the Pandava brothers could renounce their terrible year of anonymity, and reclaim their identity, so to say. 

Beyond the mythology, what is its importance, its relevance now? I would like to maintain that now it means a better self-control. The Ravana is hidden within. Can be, the excessive ego, laziness, the tendency to constantly procrastinate, for instance. 

Overcoming such vices, becoming more self-aware, and thus being a better individual means the real Dasara now. What say?

Pratima@ New meanings would make our culture existentially relevant to the Gen Z, Gen Alpha,Beta, Thêta, whatever, right?

New Navratri Boons

 Navratri ends, and Dasara is just a few hours away. I am sure the Garba dancers would have loved to dance the night away. The untimely rain, however, has destroyed their hopes. Since the evening of the Navami, it has started raining really badly. Actually, it does rain during the Navratra, but never this intensely!

May be, now the "asuras", the demons, Devi Durga has to assail are different.  Number One demon to be defeated has to be the factors that are leading to the climate changes, and hence to such untimely rain, for instance. 

Yes, in the blog today, let us list the devils that the modern day (interpretation of) Durga must destroy. Number 1 is climate change factors. Number Two would be Wars. Number Three would be nukes and other such hyper destructive war weapons. Number four would be vector borne diseases. Sure we have not yet forgotten the COVID lessons, right?

 Number five should be the ill-treatment of women and the other vulnerable societal species. Number six should be constant politicking over everything. Number seven should be the 'jugad' and the 'everything goes' attitude. Number eight could be the danger posed by the AI. Number nine has to be the individual factors such as malice, jealousy, viciousness, and so on, right? Hope all that is holy in this universe accedes/ grants me these boons!

Pratima@ At the personal level, too, I have my own wishes. It is said that such should never be made public, right?