The Mumbai Spirit?

 On one of the groups was shared this video of the 9.10 Dombivali Fast as it reaches the railway platform. There was a dare, too. 'Try getting in to this local train.' Honestly, it was pathetic. People were attacking the bogies as if their lives depended on it. 

In a way, they did, too. The local train would take them to Mumbai, and fast. Yet the very sight was inhuman(e) because the scenario totally desensitised, dehumanised and objectified people as living skeletons! 

Those who stay in Mumbai would maintain that such behaviour is a matter of habit. Each one would have his/her story about it. In general, such insensitivity, pushing others so that one gets in to the bogey, literally mowing down someone who falls down in that crazy hustle n bustle to catch the train, just moving on even if someone dies on the tracks, and much worse, the subtle, unstated yet obvious gangster like behaviour inside the bogey! Alll these phenomena revealing the dormant 'Flee it or fight it' animal instinct!

Often all these compulsions are sugar coated and glorified as the Mumbai Spirit. Is it really so? Luckily, for the last decade or so, there have not been any bomb blasts or riots or underworld gang wars in Mumbai. Otherwise, people would travel in the same trains, on the same tracks as if nothing had happened! 

Is such habit formation that leads to a hard, rough core within, such desensitisation, such dehumanisation desirable? Why must life be so mechanical? How (much) must it hurt the idealists, the sensitive, if at all they survive the so-called Mumbai Spirit. 

Honestly, the video reminded me of T.S.Eliot's "Preludes", "The Waste Land" and the "Hollow men". What cost money when human lives are easily dispensable, and cheap!

Pratima@ Have you noticed that all the acidic jokes on all groups about the Pune 'attitude' are from Mumbaikar's?!? Must be a case of lower self-esteem disguised as a superiority feel! 

Quote of the day:                                                         'Those who follow the crowd are usually lost in it! ' The author is anonymous! 

Word of the day:  expeditious.                                Expeditious  means done with speed and efficiency.

As usual, we learn grammar Monday through Friday. See you on Monday for the "Let us learn" section.

Unki awaz hi pehchan hai

 Remember that immortal song from the film "Kinara"? That lovely assertion "meri awaz hi pehchan hai" has over the years grown to be the signature tune of Lata Mangeshkar. This tribute to her on her death anniversary would like to state that unbelievably varied are the moods of that voice.

 A truism this statement may appear to be.  Let us hence in our blog try an appreciation which possibly is a little different. Very rarely are Lata's "naughty" ditties discussed, right? Sure, she avoided the oomph songs. It seems, she found "abhi na jao chodkar"  'suggestive'! To be very frank, till this date, I have not deciphered why/how! 

Hence this attempt to understand her "bahon me chale" from 'Anamika'. Well, listen to that refrain. The hook line is " baho me chale aao". The queen of pronunciation, rather enunciation, that she was, Lata takes a slight, almost unnoticeable, pause after "aa", and it is heard as "aa o". In my opinion, that pause adds a cute naughtiness, without the open invite sounding vulgar. 

In fact, she has sung the entire song as if it is more a chatter than an overtly seductive 'come hither' type. The whisper effect, enhanced by the impossibly high note (she alone could manage it so musically) stanza finally, adds a subtle allure to that naughtiness, right? May be, it adds to the mystery in the film, too, I suppose. 

Yet another interesting facet of Lata's artistry is that her voice enacts the screen emote, right? Well, the song is picturised on Jaya Bhadhuri. Then she was the sweetheart of Bollywood, surely not the "angry old woman" (just a take on the famous Amitabh persona, no ageism/no aspersions meant, please!) much derided now. 

In my opinion, Lata's rendering of the Majrooh Sultanpuri verse manages to capture the cute innocence (notice, please, in this context Lata's smile in the song. She does not laugh, nor does she simper, she cutely smiles, right?) of Jaya's sweet face then. This R.D. Burman product in the Lata version of naughtiness has all the charm of the Asha sizzle without the sensual provocation, right? No wonder, "unki awaz hi pehchan hai" as our title puts it!

Pratima@At the BMCC, the Internationally renowned project n light artist, Herr Philip Geist from Berlin, Germany, literally performed magic in the evening. 

With two haze machines, four projectors, and a software programme, it was graphic design as the witchery of light, accompanied by lovely sound effects. The College building appeared 'ethe-real'! Beautiful beyond words!

Quote of the day:                                                       "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life, " asserts  Pablo Picasso.

Word of the day: exclusive.                                        Exclusive refers to  something unique, restricted to the person, group, or area concerned. Lata's rendering of the naughty ditties is exclusive, for instance.

Let us learn grammar:                                               A di-transitive verb, as the very name suggests ('di' in Latin means two), uses two objects, direct and indirect. A direct object is necessary for the meaning of the sentence to be complete. Let us look at an example. We learn grammar/music/painting/cookery/gardening, and so on. Unless the object is stated, " we learn ..." would be incomplete. Hence it is the direct object (" what" is the question often asked to locate it).

Now look at this sentence. "She explains grammar to students". The "to students" is extra information, not necessarily crucial to the meaning of the statement. Hence the indirect object ("whom" is the question that places it).

Cancer Cure

  February 4 is the world cancer day. Cancer is the cruellest disease, whatever might be the type or the stage. No doubt whatsoever about it! How do I know it? For the New Indian Express, I wrote articles on cancer. I met a lady whose dis-ease began with breast cancer to morph in to uterine cancer as well. It was tough listening to her lament about how the disease relates to her very i-dentity as a woman. 

Much worse was writing about childhood cancer. Be it the six month old baby with eye cancer or a six year old who played innocently without knowing what was imminent, meeting such victims of the cruel disease was heart-rending. 

Equally tragic is getting to know the last stage, beyond cure cases. Palliative care, the inevitable use of morphine as the pain killer at that stage were issues which moved me beyond tears when I wrote an article on palliative care, a rather novel idea in India in the early years of the twenty-first century. 

All these are instances of cancer assaulting physically. Much worse is the cancer cruelly cutting in to the societal space. Do you know its nomenclature? Yes, it is the fear of, the avoidance of, the rejection of excellence. 

Yes, take any field of the public sphere, or private space for that matter, the hunting down of excellence is unmistakable. The worst case scenario, however, is in academics. This cancer is so wide-spread that, at times, its morbidity is frightening, especially because its nodes, hence spread, are everywhere!

What is the panacea? Tough to tackle as there seems to be an apathy at all which is terribly terrifying, what with the AI shrinking possibilities galore! 

Pratima@ Cancer is an auto-immune disease. That is to say, the body seems to rebel against itself. Hence this metaphor!

 Mathew Arnold had a beautiful image for such a tragic trajectory, 'ignorant armies clashing by night', not knowing whom they are fighting, finishing off, friends or foes!

Quote of the day:                                                        "Not all monsters hide in the shadow. Most smile soothingly during the day." An anonymous but apt quote!

Word of the day: stellar.                                          The word, close to the celestial, that is, the starry firmament, means 'of the best quality', excellent.

Let us learn grammar:                                              What is a transitive verb? The very term explains it, right? 'trans' is 'across'. A transitive verb hence is a verb whose action/activity, whether corporal/physical or abstract, is carried across the object. Let us look at examples. Children love pizzas. Students bunk lectures. I love reading. Poets use imagination. 

Incidentally, the thumb rule is to ask " who" to find out the subject of the sentence, and  "what" to find out the direct object. Tomorrow we shall further discuss the direct and the indirect object(s) when we shall try to understand di-transitive verbs.

The Best of Bhimsen Joshi

 How to decide the best one by Bhimsen  Joshi? Simply impossible is such a futile exercise, right? Well, to begin with, his range is literally infinite. He sings the classical ragadari sangeet to perfection. His Marathi abhang and Hindi bhakti sangeet mesmerise one and all. Why, the film song "ketaki gulab juhi" is as beautiful as the flowers it describes. 

Neither musical genres nor even his Kirana gharana is a limitation for his brilliant art in to which he pours both technical perfection and deep emotion. May be, hence, it is difficult to decide the best of Bhimsenji, right?  

Yet each one of us has her/his favourite, right? Well, mine is the Bhairavi which begins as "jo bhaje hari ko sada". This composition by Bramhananda truly guides us towards, and in to, both bramha, the ultimate truth and the beatific anand, the ecstatic joy when Bhimsenji renders it absolutely inimitably. 

The "rasa" this Bhairavi creates is a kind of deep peace which allows you to be both within and beyond this world made of imperfections. The "bhava" Panditji generates is both "nirgun" and "sagun" bhakti, that is, devotion. 

In other words, whether or not you are a devotee or a believer, this Bhairavi as rendered by Bhimsenji is sure to lead you to be as close as is possible to the divine feel. 

You need not know either the technicalities of a bhairvi nor need you be entrenched in to the religious literature. Yet this bhairvi is sure to carry you on the wings of sur and drut gat teen taal (at times drut gat Dhumali, too) in to the world of exquisite joy and ultimate peace. Hence this tribute to Panditji on the occasion of his birth anniversary!

Pratima@ I must confess that it was the story shared by  our C.M. Devendra Fadnavis which reminded me of the special occasion. Indeed it is a very nice feel to have a Chief Minister who is so artistically sensitive, what with all the issues circumscribing Maharashtra politics right now!

Quote of the day:                                                   "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything," says Plato.

Word of the day: harmony.                            Harmony is the combination of simultaneously sounded musical notes to produce a pleasing effect.                                                                        No wonder, any good relationship is always known as 'harmonious'. 

Let us learn grammar:                                          Since we have discussed dedicated depiction of devotion deeply, why descend down to something as prosaic as grammar, however 'basic' it may be to communication, right? Let us learn more about transitive verbs tomorrow.

Why infantilise?

 Have you noticed a rather funny pattern? After Ajit Dada Pawar's sad, and sudden, demise, there is a weird competition to predict the future of his party. Forget day in and day out, literally it is hour in and minute out, that crazy news items about what is happening, or not happening, in that camp are shrieked, yes, indeed, 'shrieked' is the word! 

Why would it be so? The rather obvious answer is that the t.v. channels need something to show 24 x 7, and this unfortunate event is obviously their milch cow, right? The more sensational the coverage, the better the TRP. Anyways, ours is the post-truth era! No need hence to worry about any veracity, right? 

I find editorials about what Sunetra Tai should, or should not, do/say, how right/wrong she is, quite some 'game'. Obviously, the hidden agenda is unmistakable. More than that, does it occur to these so-called intellectuals that they are rubbing salt in to her wound? 

Why not let her be? Why think that she is not capable of (or responsible enough, for that matter, to think of) deciding what could be good for the party of her husband, for herself,  for her children? After all, she is in her sixties. Why infantilise her?

Why do these self-declared intellectuals overlook the fact that she, too, comes from a political family, both from the parental and marital ends. Why forget the lifetime, and thus practical, advice she would thus get, in addition to the suggestions by the party functionaries?

Why deny her any acumen,  political and/or otherwise? Why reduce her to a non-thinking nobody? Why not grant her some sensibility? Honestly, all this media circus smacks of, rather, smells of, a prejudiced attitude to women, and not merely as leaders!

Pratima@The entire episode proves how there is not only glass ceiling for women,  but also ropeways that are cut off at every step. Oh, yes, I better clarify that the ropeway I here refer to is of the Tanaji Malusare and Sinhgad variety!

Quote of the day:                                                         "The view that women are infantile and emotional creatures, and as such are incapable of responsibility and independence is the work of the (societal) tendency to lower women's self-respect," says Karen Horney. I could not have found a better quote to go with our discussion today.

Word of the day: infantilise                             Infantilise means treat (someone) as a baby, as a kid, and in a way which denies her/his maturity age-wise, or her/his intellect, forget wisdom!

Let us learn grammar:                                             Today onwards,  we are going to look at a few examples of the transitivity of verbs. The wind howls, the sun shines, the door opens are examples of the intransitive usage. Sure we can add adverbs of time, of manner, et al. These sentences, actually verbs in these sentences, do not, however, need an object. We can say, for example, "The sun shines brightly in the morning in India". We have used all sorts of adverbs, right? An object, however, is not needed.

Tomorrow let us look at the transitive verbs which would further clarify the notion of an object. Oh, yes, we shall explain all the adverb types as well.

In Times of Trouble

 Generally I avoid news about this "Ma", that "Kunwar" types. In other words, I am rather allergic to news about groups that deal with spiritual prowess. May be, I am wrong, but it is my firmly held belief that such inner strength, garnered after lots of mind efforts, cannot be a consumer item to be advertised like some two minutes stuff. It becomes business then, right? 

In other words, that sad saga of the recent unnatural death of a sadhvi can never be my kind of stuff. Yet I am going to write about it because it points towards a terrible danger sn(e)akily lurking for women who are, as it is, more and more victimised as technology develops! 

Well, this lady had installed in her "kuti" a cctv camera. Using this safety device, there was some objectionable video shooting of her. Apparently, the person responsible is the mechanic who installed the camera, in cahoots with the menials working for her. 

The intimacy thus videographed was with the 'pater familias' in her opinion. It got morphed to spread the vilest rumours against her. May be, it was to extract money from her. Possibly it was out of professional jealousy. I would not know such details.

What I find appalling is not only the invasion of her privacy but also the involvement of the mechanic. True, these are the DIY times. Yet not everything you can do it yourself, right? If you have to call a mechanic, how to know whether such a person is trustworthy, is not up to some creepy crap?

Our country does not have enough certified guilds of the "blue collar" workers. How to believe such gig workers? How far safe it is to allow them inside your home? In addition to the legit fear of robbery, there is this additional trouble of such camera fixing for some pervert, right?

Softwares such as photoshopping, not to forget the AI enabled Grok, can online create an alternate reality that never existed. Now such trouble offline is truly a bother. Hence the Marquez like title of our blog today that opens up  subtle victimizations of women!

Pratima@'Eliza' type of mini robots, too, transmit their surroundings, it seems. Your own mobile, too, can be tapped to trap you, and beyond that notorious digital arrest. If technology is going to get better by the minute, while human perfidy would be worse by the second, it is indeed times of trouble for women, what with the "no work" times looming ahead, and very soon, what with the five years upper limit by M/S Musk, et al!

Quote of the day:                                                        "Toxic people," argues this anonymous quote, "attach themselves like cinder blocks tied to your ankles, and then invite you for a swim in their poisoned waters." Given such sicko's around, you can never stop being wiser!

Word of the day: perfidy                                     Perfidy refers to the negative state/quality of being deceitful and untrustworthy.

Let us learn grammar:                                              As we noted last week, the subject drives the sentence, and determines the verb. Before we discuss this issue further, it is necessary to understand the basic types of verbs. Verbs can be transitive, intransitive or di-transitive.

Intransitive verbs do not have/need an object. Transitive verbs have an object, while di-transitive verbs require two objects, direct and indirect. Tomorrow we shall explore this concept through examples.

An evening in the realm of music

 February 1! The budget day! Till the cows come home, the entire discussion everywhere, on the roads, on the radio,  on the internet, on the t.v. channels to youtube groups is about what would cost more, the eternal grouse that travels times. 

This year though, despite it being Feb First, in the fab evening, I could calmly crawl in to the spaces between better 'notes', and curl my back to worries about dirty monies. Maya Angelou would sure forgive me my take on her famous quote. 

The occasion was the "Swar Utsav", an evening of simply superb music, orchestrated by the "Sapthak" ensemble in Bangalore, in association with the Pune based "Mitra Foundation". 

The first of its kind, the "Swar Utsav", which initiated the Mitra renditions this year,  was a sheer celebration of music, what with the life time achievement award being given to flautist Pandit Nityanand Haldipur, a disciple of the great Annapurna Devi. 

The evening performance was a mix of the vocal and the instrumental. The evening began with Dhananjay Hegde singing the Bhimpalas. This disciple of the Kirana-Atrauli gharanas made the evening meditative with "ab to badi der" and "lagan lagi". His "Yaman" made the longing pulsating in the evening absolutely poignant. 

He was accompanied most lyrically on the harmonium by Suyog Kundalkar, while Pranav Gurav's tabla complimented them both most ably.

 Though the break was too long, what with the air conditioners making it truly wintry, the wait was worth it because what followed after the break was 'sense'-ationally superb. Rakesh Chaursia's "Jog" made the auditory abilities of the audience surfeit with superb sur's. 

While his disciple, Ms Joshi, ably proved what it is to be trained by a 'guru', Ojas Dhadiya's tabla complemented n complimented the magic that a genuine jugalbandi of sur n tal can create. I felt real sorry to have to leave with the "Hamsadhwani" just flute-ing in.

I cannot thank my colleague, Rajeshree Gokhale Madam, the compere of the evening, for the invite. Absolutely looking forward to many such mesmerizing memories, Ma'am!

Pratima@What truly created the 'mahaul' of the 'mehfil' was the cute fact that both the artists, masterful as they were, refused to take themselves too very seriously. While Hegdeji reminded us of our shaky footsteps in to classical music before he began his majestic "Yaman", Rakesh Chaurasia's fun filled raillery made his superb rendition of the classical absolutely en-'light'-ening!

Quote of the day:                                                     "One good thing about music is," asserts Bob Marley, "when it hits you, it causes no pain."  

Word of the day: melody                                             Indian classical music is melodious, not symphonic, it is always argued. 'Melody', the principal part in harmonized music, is an aspect of musical composition concerned with the arrangement of single notes to form a satisfying sequence. So says the dictionary, while artists en-'live'-n it.

Let us learn grammar:                                             Let us not to the melody of music add our daily dose of grammar, okay? We can break that rhythm for a day, right?

N.B.: a blog by Pratima Padmaja-Ramchandra Agnihotri, Pune