Phir wahi dil

As I made the bed this morning, loath to waste even five minutes to a mundane job, I played on YouTube the superlative ‘Aawaz deke humein tum bulao’. Just under five minutes and it sucked me into a vortex of nostalgia. 

Movies in India have morphed so much. There are grim, dreary, bleak reflections of society, there are political statements, social statements… always, always pontificating on something or the other; revealing the underbelly of something or the other, taking a stand on something or the other. In a sense, they have all become very masculine: hard, primarily concerned with the outside, with the larger picture; rather than feminine, which is soft, and more about the particular, the subjective and individual experience.

Are we never to see any particular stories about human beings anymore? Or for that matter even a genuine lip-sync song? Have we been embarrassed out of our natural and spontaneous musicals? It seems the only songs that are sung out are those performed on stage, or item songs. The rest are background scores. Am I wrong?

I don’t remember the plot of ‘Professor’ and don’t remember the context for this intensely romantic song set in Raga Shivaranjani. How inspired were Shankar-Jaikishan with this one… the faintly ominous large drum in the beginning, yielding space to the tabla and Lata Mangeshkar’s soaring voice… The song pulls you in, makes you wonder what is up with these two people…
How wonderful would it be if we could have such mellow, romantic stories made with all the wonderful filmmaking techniques and technology we have today!


 

***

I was discussing this with my sister the other day. How is it that OTT platforms, which have mushroomed in such large numbers, have not yet tapped into this wonderful bank of old classics in any language? Where are the Hitchcocks, the Gene Kelly musicals, the b/w favourites? The Shammi Kapoor hits, the Joy Mukherjee must-watches, the Best of Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Filmfare awardees of 4-5 decades ago? Where are the Telugu mythologicals and socials? I don’t know about the economics in connection with Hollywood fare, but surely Indian goldies must be low hanging fruit? 

Maybe they'll get there eventually?

Ram naam ras paan

Kumarji has been an acquired taste for me. Although I’d hear some pieces repeatedly, the unique aesthetic that he crafted escaped me with the more technical renditions. But he’s grown on me over the years. During the Samyama program (one of the advanced programs at Isha), they played on loop a few Nirguni bhajans by him. In the state I was in – open, empty – my Master seeped into me in Kumar Gandharva’s voice.

For a few days now I’ve had this earworm. Raga Kalyan in which Kumarji sings a small tukda from Ramcharitmanas. A gorgeous gorgeous piece. Someone in the comments elucidates that the whole verse goes like this:

देखराबा मातहिं निज अद्भुत रूप अखंड।
रोम रोम प्रति लगो कोटि कोटि ब्रह्माँड॥
अगनित रवि शशि सिव चतुरानन।
बहुगिरि सरित सिंधु महिकानन॥
काल कर्म गुन ग्यान सुभाऊ।
सोउ देखा जो सुना न काऊ॥

This, I understand, is from an episode from the Baal Kanda, where Kaushalya is given a glimpse of the Lord’s vishvaroopa:

She saw therein countless suns and moons, Sivas and four-faced Brahmas, and a number of mountains, rivers, oceans, plains and woods, as well as the spirit of time, the principle of action, the modes of Prakrti (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas), the spirit of knowledge and Nature and many more things of which she had never heard before.
(Translation from Ramcharitmanas.org)

Of Krishna’s vishwaroopa darshanam I had heard many times but I had not known that Tulsidasji describes Rama showing his mother the Truth as well.

Listening to these four lines leaves me in a jumble of replete bliss scrubbed in with shades of longing, regret, and a certain grasping greed. If four lines, taken out of context can be so beautiful, the mind wishes to acquire all of Ramcharitmanas. It doesn’t work that way, but that is the mind’s way.

Anyway, here it is, Kumar Gandharva with Aganita Ravi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyWhNcKGmHY

Bin Sataguru aapno nahi koi

This Guru Poornima, sharing this exquisitely imagined and executed song video from Sounds of Isha.

Kabir, singing again in the female voice of the seeker, says the comforts of the maternal home will no longer do. The maternal home, traditionally considered to be among the most secure and comfortable places to be... where you are well looked after, where you are pampered, allowed the freedom to simply be. But even this haven will not do.

There is a 'nagari'...  Saeein ki nagari, the Master's Realm, where none of these physical symbols apply - no sun, no moon, no elements that make up our physical world... she seeks that place.

 

Who would tell the beloved of my longing? Who would show my the way? Who would take me there? 

Presenting Naiharwa...

https://youtu.be/5h2566_fTDw

 

Nan anju maram valarthen…

It was borne on me a couple of days ago that I’d been living under a rock. Completely unaware of a viral song, Enjoy Enjaami, a production from AR Rahman’s initiative Maajja – a tech platform for independent musicians. (And what a start!)

My friend Sriram introduced the song to us with a bit of a backgrounder. The poet-singer Arivu draws from his own life and the accounts told to him by his grandmother – tales of humble farm workers employed on lands that they did not themselves own. Lives sweetened with the joy that being close to the land brings, but also insecurity and a looming fear and dread of being dispossessed. 

The song has caught me by the gut. It is so many things at once – on the surface a catchy, well-made music video that ticks all the ‘good entertainment’ boxes. But also a powerful song celebrating the earth, a lament for old griefs, a tribute to ancestors who bequeathed their precious seed and land to us.

Like all hugely successful things, many aspects come together to make this work. Santosh Narayan composes it in intricate layers, weaving in parai drums, reggae, rap and a Tamil art form called oppari. Singer Dhee is a revelation with her raspy airs and Arivu clutches your heart with the keening lament of the oppari. The video by Amit Krishnan accentuates the beat, the lilt and places the song in its natural surroundings – the land. The effect is simply stunning.

This is a quintessentially Tamil song, about the Tamil people’s deep and profound connection to the soil, water and all creatures. It reminds me of what Sadhguru says about ‘looking up’ and ‘looking down’ cultures. The Tamil people exemplify the second sort – those who look down at the Earth as mother, as the source of their sustenance and all divinity. 

 

=========

Nan anju maram valarthen is from this song, translating 'I planted five trees...'

Remembering Pandit Jasraj

The news of Pt Jasraj's passing came yesterday and it seems indeed like the end of an era. He has always been on my go-to playlist of favourites. His classical performances but equally his bhajans and chants never fail to move me.

As a journalist, I met him in 2001 in Nizam College, where the Pt Maniram-Pt Motiram Samaroh used to take place in those days. I remember his warmth and affection. He was speaking and I was nodding at everything he said. Suddenly he broke off and asked, "Why aren't you writing all that down?"

"Mujhe yaad rahega, Panditji," I had smiled. I seldom made notes apart from dates and specific references. 

"Yaad-dasht achchi hai tumhari, hein!?" he had patted me on my head. 

Jai Ho, Panditji!

This piece appeared on 28 November 2001 in Hyderabad Times, Times of India

Acharya devo bhava

It's like clockwork. Come November 30 every year, the city is fortunate to welcome into its midst, some of the country's most talented and most promising musicians. Because every year, Pt Jasraj, the stalwart of the Mewati gharana pays tribute to his father Pt Maniram and grandfather Pt Motiram with a sangeet samaroh. The man behind it all, Pt Jasraj, is in the city and Hyderabad Times met up with the maestro for a chat.

These past few days, Panditji has been holding long sessions with students in Hyderabad, imparting his knowledge of a lifetime. It's a curious fact, but of all the masters in the world of Hindustani music today, no guru has yielded quite so many disciples as Pt Jasraj. Of them, Sanjeev Abhyankar and Tripti Mukherjee are seen as worthy successors. Rattan Mohan Sharma is yet another promising singer.
"Yes, I find as much pleasure in teaching as I do performing," says Panditji, in response to that observation. "You see, some time or the other the human body gives up," he explains, "and what will we leave behind us, if we don't impart our knowledge to younger people?"

He has an interesting story to tell about why he regards the guru-shishya relationship so highly: "When I was 11, I had been playing the tabla for five years. One college student asked me if I would teach him and I agreed. We had this little ceremony of tying the 'ganda' (a sacred thread) and he gave me a dakshina of Rs 3 with prasad, etc. When I came home, my mother was so annoyed with me. She explained what a responsibility it is to accept a student, and what a deep bond it creates. Since then, I have never taken that role lightly."

He has four schools in the America alone - one each in Vancouver, New York, New Jersey and Atlanta, where he teaches. He teaches in Mumbai also. But for all the time he spends on his students, he doesn't charge a paisa. "Vidyadaan is a very special thing," he says, "unlike money it doesn't get spent. And it enriches the giver as much as the recipient." His sincerity strikes you, when he narrates, "I've always hated to accept money for tuitions but till 1963, I had no option. But once, I prayed to God, asking him to give me enough to run my household, so that I wouldn't be obliged charge my students. He listened to me, for that very day, I got a telegram offering me Rs 800 per month."

His children Durga and Sharang haven't taken to classical music, but then you know he means it when he says, "All my students are my children."

Andaz-e-bayan aur!

Know what I've been tripping on this past month?

Ghawwalis! (ugh, I know, I know!)

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and group have sung a whole lot of ghazals by Ghalib as qawwalis and what fun they are!

As it happens with qawwalis, they sing the main ghazal through but now and then pick up key words from the preceding sher and intersperse with couplets from elsewhere, either stressing the sentiment, or taking off from it on another tangent altogether.

These are the efforts, I understand, of Yousuf Salahuddin, culture-lover from Lahore, under a series called Virsa Heritage Revived

I share here two videos:
1) Rahat and co singing Koi umeed bar nahin aati



2) A full concert called Nawa-e-sarosh with four qawwalis



Caution: Dost ghamkhwari mein meri is a potential ear-worm! I haven't thrown it off in days.

The other way round

हम परदेसी पंछी रे साधु भाई
इनी देस रा नाइ! 
-Kabir

Now, you believe you are a material person dabbling with spirituality. But essentially, you are a spiritual being dabbling with the material world.
-Sadhguru

Dheera sameere...

Very so often random browsing of the internet and youtubing is a fairly useless occupation, yielding an hour's entertainment perhaps but very little of enduring quality. But today I've hit upon a sublime album called Tranquility by L Subramaniam. Five ragas, all creations of the master violinist himself.

On Wynk Music, if you have access to it: https://www.wynk.in/music/album/Tranquility---Dr-L-Subramaniam---Violin/si_9206

I am not blown away but rather, wafted away on calm, scented breezes.

Bharatam, Mahabharatam!

Now listening to a superb Vrindavani Sarang by Pt Venkatesh Kumar, and it's lulling me into something approaching rest.

For otherwise, this last month has gone leaving me running very fast and gasping for breath. I was on the Rally for Rivers for a couple of weeks and even after I got off, I was so much with the convoy in spirit, there was an uncomfortable feeling of still being in movement... coupled with the even more disconcerting conviction that 'real life' was happening elsewhere. That's new because usually for me, where I am is where the universe is centered.

But the Rally has been accomplished, well-accomplished. A good start and it seems we'll be able to bring back our rivers after all into their former mighty glory.

Jai Hind!

Dogged

Khasam apne da darr na chad'de
Paven sau sau maaran jutte tenthi utte
Uth Bulleya oy, chal yaar mana le
Nai te baazi le gaye kutte tenthi utte

They leave not the master's door
even when they've been hurled shoes at...
Come, Bulleya! Cajole and win the beloved
Or the dogs will have won this round

Rasika balama...

sajani
rajani
piya
barkha
megha

Sometimes, I want to leave this century and run away.
But it rains here also. Here also, the wet comes down in downpour that envelops the world in a haze of grey. Here also, there is mist. There are walls, and moss, and love in the hearts of people.

Here too, the strings of the swarmandal chime, a thin layer over the roar of pattering water. Here also there is beauty. Here too are songsters capable of holding out notes of long magic.

There is romance but the problem is I have to sift nuggets of it from the mundane, and the determinedly practical era of today. There are other centuries that would suit me.

Aap jaisa koi meri zindagi mein aaye...

I'm too late talking but Phantom, but I was laughing and foot-tapping a while ago over Afghan Jalebi. The film didn't do great business, and nor can I see that the song fit in too well with how it was picturised, but what a song! What lilt, what arrangement and what 'lachak' these singers carry off! There are four versions, I believe, and I can't decide which one I like the most.

And while on Pritam, I went to an old favourite, Raabta from Agent Vinod. Again there are multiple versions, all of them alluring (and potential ear-worms). And these words by Amitabh Bhattacharya! I thought I was listening to a love song, and it transformed somehow into one of those 'eternal love' songs.


मेहरबानी जाते जाते मुझपे कर गया
गुज़रता सा लम्हा एक दामन भर गया
तेरा नज़ारा मिला, रोशन सितारा मिला
तकदीर की कश्तीयों को किनारा मिला

सदियों से तरसे है जैसी ज़िंदगी के लिए
तेरी सौहबत में दुआएं हैं उसी के लिए
तेरा मिलना है उस रब का इशारा
मानो मुझको बनाया तेरे जैसे ही किसी के लिए

कुछ तो है तुझसे राबता
कुछ तो है तुझसे राबता
कैसे हम जाने, हमे क्या पता?
कुछ तो है तुझसे राबता

तू हमसफ़र है, फिर क्या फिकर है
जीने की वजह यही है, मरना इसी के लिए

I find the phrasing so piquant, genteel almost: Mujhko banaya tere jaise hi kisike liye... not 'I have been made for you' but 'I have been made for someone just like you...' - the lover is throwing himself wantonly at the beloved but some remnant of a sense of decorum stays him perhaps... and a small concession is made to modesty.

I must just say also: excellent work by lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya these past years. The style of poetry in Hindi films has changed so much since Sahir, Shakeel, Hasrat Jaipuri and Shailendra... but no matter! At least we can congratulate ourselves on seeing the backs of Sameer and his ilk. Amitabh Bhattacharya, Swanand Kirkire, Prasoon Joshi, Irshad Kamil... so many poets this decade.
Super like!

Appa deepo bhava

"Mann se Ravan jo nikale Ram uske mann mein hai...”

I woke up with this line ticker-taping through my mind yesterday morning. A sub-conscious reminder that it was Deepavali perhaps, but there was no very coherent train of thought leading to or away from Javed Akhtar’s words in Swades.

It is a traditional, oft-repeated sentiment, of course. That, for Ram to reign, Ravan must go. And typically, as we tend to do in India, sophisticated ideas and concepts get distilled into names, into personifications – powerful receptacles and representatives of everything that the dialectical process that preceded it bestows upon them.

Naraka Chaturdashi is named for a powerful and evil man who met his death at the hands of Krishna – and realised, in his dying moments, what a fool he had been. In a message for this day, Sadhguru says that what happened centuries ago can’t surely be relevant to us but we mark it because we must remember – now rather than on the death bed – to purge ourselves of negativity. Consciously sit down and remove accumulations, prejudices that have gathered when we weren’t looking.

In today’s Deccan Chronicle, Swati Chopra writes that in his dying hours, his disciples asked Gautama, the Buddha, for one last teaching. He uttered: “Appa deepo bhava!” Be lamps unto yourselves.

She says:

This Deepawali as we light our homes, let us take a moment to think about the inner illumination the Buddha pointed to in his last words. How might we become lamps unto ourselves? There are two points of emphases in this statement — “lamps” and “yourselves”. In saying “unto yourselves”, the teacher is laying the responsibility of working towards enlightenment upon the student. Do not think of the teacher as the one who will illuminate you. Do not outsource your spiritual work. The teacher can point towards the path; it is you who has to actually walk on it. Thus, the dying Buddha asks his students to look beyond him, the form of the teacher, which will die soon. The real illuminant is within.

+++

This song, Ishq di booṭi, from Coke Studio Season 6 is very special to me. I love every note, every detail of the arrangement, I love the words and I am blown away every single time by the climax. Written by the singer Abrar-ul-Haq himself, there is one succinct passage that tells you what you must do to advance.

The song is laid upon an imagery that was invoked by the Sufi mystic-poet Sultan Bahu:

Alif Allah chambey di booṭi Murshad man vich laayi hoo...
My Master has planted in my heart a jasmine plant... in the name of the primordial one...

That ‘chambey di booti’ is very precious seed, from which the spiritual quest begins. It must be looked after, it must be nourished, it must become the focal point of your life. When that plant grows, when it blossoms... there is havoc but oh, “jaan phullan te aayi hoo” – the very life-breath comes aflutter, Bahu says.

Abrar-ul-Haq goes further with the horticultural theme:

dil di kheti de wich pahlaan niyat da hal waah
khoṭ adaawat nafrat jhagṛe saare maar muka
nafs jiya dushman wi koi naeen, zahr da ṭeekah la
laalach badla hasad kameenah choolhe de wich pa
ishq di goḍi kar ke te hanjuaan da paani pa
te booṭi beej lai
chambe waali booṭi beej lai
haq wali booṭi beej lai

First plough the field of your heart with your sincere intention
Falseness, enmity, hatred, strife: send them packing!
There is no enemy like your own ego – feed it some poison
Greed, revenge and envy are vile – cast them into the fire
Cultivate the field of love, water it with your own tears
And sow the seed!
Sow the seed of the jasmine flower!
Sow the seed of Truth!

The CS video is here, but I recommend closed eyes.

Chal Akela

ज़िंदगी की राहों में रंज-ओ-गम के मेले हैं
भीड़ है क़यामत की, फिर भी हम अकेले हैं 

#throwback #SabaAfghani


When my parents bought me my first-ever tape recorder, I carefully chose six cassettes to buy along with. A very nice starter kit! And this tape  'Anup Jalota - In Concert' was one of them. 

I discovered just now that there is a Sonu Nigam version of the ghazal. But... not a patch on Mr Jalota's version.

Man laago mero yaar...

I have most fun, I've found, in the throes of an obsession. When I'm hung up on one song, or chasing the meaning behind a haunting, intriguing piece of poetry in a language I have no access to.

Last week it was Adi Shankara. I had heard 'Guru Ashtakam' before but I had not engaged with it as I did now. How direct is this saint-poet, how severe, how unequivocal! In Bhaja Govindam, he begins by chiding: "Chant Govinda, you fool!" 

I am slain by his conviction, the force of his statements... and I lean on him, borrowing – no, taking – from his unshakeable stance some strength for my own shaky base. He is right, he is right! there is no other way to be! No use being turned in any direction but this...

Here are the eight verses as rendered by the wonderful Uma Mohan and group (who have my gratitude for their offerings that come with perfect enunciation and a proper respect for the material. This one is a bit over-orchestrated arrangement-wise but it's grown on me).

https://youtu.be/M9DZ_-K5gTA

Sareeram suroopam thatha va kalatram,
Yashaschaaru chithram dhanam meru thulyam,
Manaschena lagnam Gurorangri padme
Thatha kim? Thatha kim? Thatha kim? Thatha kim?

A beautiful body you may have, and a wife as beautiful,
Great fame and a heap of money the equal of Mt Meru,
But if your mind does not bow at the lotus-feet of the Guru...
Oh, what is the use? What is the use? What is the use? What is the use?

Kalatram dhanam puthrapothradhi sarvam
Gruham baandhava sarvamethadhi jaatham
Manaschena lagnam Gurorangri padme
Thatha kim? Thatha kim? Thatha kim? Thatha kim?

A wife, wealth, children, grandchildren and all
A house, relations, birth in a great clan,
But if your mind does not bow at the lotus-feet of the Guru...
What is the use? What is the use? What is the use? What is the use? 

Shadangadhi vedo mukhe saastra vidhya
Kavithwadhi gadhyam supadhyam karoti
Manaschenna lagnam Gurorangri padme
Thatha kim? Thatha kim? Thatha kim? Thatha kim?

Knowledge of the six angas etc; Vedashastras at the tip of your tongue,
Expertise in the composition of fine poetry and prose...
But if your mind does not bow at the lotus-feet of the Guru
Then what is the use? What is the use? What is the use? What is the use?!

And he goes on thus... dissing our 'accomplishments', what we think of as our successes, piercing the bubble of self-satisfaction. Nothing is worth anything unless you have turned that way, and sent your mind to stick like glue at the Guru-Charan.

It reminded me of a fairly stark statement I came across recently:

The only useful purpose of the present birth is to turn within and realise the Self... There is nothing else to do.

That is Ramana Maharshi speaking.

They've all been saying the same thing, over and over, haven't they?

==========

I had more ear-worms to speak about but this post is laden already. Next time, perhaps.

विनती

सूर कहे, श्याम सुनो... शरण है तिहारे
अब के बार पार करो, नंद के दुलारे...

Reproach

 ग़ैर को दर्द सुनाने की ज़रुरत क्या है ?
अपने झगडे में ज़माने की ज़रुरत क्या है ?

To the Reclining Lord

Saagara shayana vibho...

I've just heard three versions of this lovely composition in Bageshree by MD Ramanathan. That's the way to best acquaint myself with a song, I've found - find the lyrics, translation and exposition, and follow each singer through the nuances. It's a fun exercise.

I'll include one of them here: this croony rendition by TM Krishna.

Baar-e-hasti

बेक़ारारी सी बेक़ारारी है
दिन भी भारी है, रात भारी है

आँख से छुप के दिल में बैठे हो
हाए, कैसी ये पद्रादारी है!

After effect

Still groggy.

Now that I'm back home in Hyderabad, and the system has the luxury of rest and time, it has collapsed into the most torpid languor. I'm going to play some Rafi and unpack.