Bharat Ratna Bismillah Khan's last interview

The death of his wife fourteen years ago had left Bismillah Khan, the shehnai maestro, shattered and inconsolable, but he came to terms with the tragedy by treating 'shehnai' as his 'begum'. ''Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan used to keep his shehnai on his bed and under his pillow. It inspired him. It gave him power to think about 'ragas' and music,'' says the couple-- Neena Jha and Shivnath Jha - who took possibly the last interview of the maestro before his death early yesterday. The Jha couple, who has set up 'Bismillah'', an NGO dedicated to the welfare of forgotten artists, spent over 16 hours with the Ustad on August 18-19 to inquire about his health and other issues, including his desire to perform at the India Gate -- a wish that remained unfulfilled. ''I am still practising...I am trying to produce a new 'raag'' -- ''raag bhadai'' -- at India Gate,'' he had told the Jha couple while lying on the bed in Room No 101 of Heritage Hospital in the temple town of Varanasi.

The Jha couple was to be the organisers of the August 9 concert that could not materialise. Terribly weak and fragile, the shehnai meastro, during the long-drawn interview, cried, slept, reminisced his past and talked about his yearnings and dreams. In particular, he wanted to meet melody queen Lata Mangeshkar before his death. ''...woh (Lata) meri choti bahan hai. Uski awaaz mein jaadu hai. Kash main mil pata", (She is like my younger sister. Her voice has magic. I yearn to meet her) he said.

Asked about his favourite singer, Bismillah Khan said, ''I like Begum Akhtar...Lekin Lata to Lata hai. No one can replace her even today. She has a magic in her voice that very few have.'' He also recounted an event in this connection that happened two decades ago. ''We (me and my wife) were asleep. It was midnight. Somewhere, someone was playing one of the Begum's records -'Deewana Bana De.' I suddenly woke up and started enjoying the song. I woke my wife up. Kafi gussa ho gayee (she got incensed)...'aadhi raat mein kya ho raha hai (What is happening at this ungodly hour ?' ''I told her: yeh tumhare samajh se baahar hai...Jahannum mein jao (This is beyond your comprehension. Go to hell.'' Asked whether he used such a language for his wife, he said, ''Yes. She was my wife. I loved her very much. Next day I came to know that what I heard in the midnight was not a record but Begum Akhtar was herself singing. I can't forget that night.'' Bismillah Khan also regretted that he had not been able to visit the Vishwanath temple and Mangla Devi temple.

About his family members, he said his eldest son Mehtab Hussain was a good player of shehnai. Nayyar, according to him, was also good. But he doted on his granddaughter Kehkashan. ''She is a good girl. She cares a lot for me.'' To a question why he did not want to leave Benaras, Bismillah Khan said, '' Yaah Allah...Can you live without your mother? Can you live without your relatives? I like Benaras. I like Vishwanath temple, I like my family, I like my sons and daughters and their children. I have a big family and I want to die before them.'' In fact, the Ustad used to look after a family that has 66 members. In a sense, he was running the 'Bismillah Hotel'', said one of his sons.

Asked what would happen to his shehnai after he was gone, the maestro said, ''My sons. Mehtab bahut achcha bajata hain. Nayyat bhi achcha hai. But they will have to concentrate on sur and riyaaz (melody and practice.'' A man with impeccable secular credentials, he said his message to the people of the country was that all of them - Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians - were the creation of the Almighty. ''It is our social system that has divided them in various castes and creeds. Samay badal raha hai...jis din logon ko yeh baat samajh mein as jayegi hamara paidaish ek hai tabhi shanti aur prem aayega...intezaar karo (we are in a phase of transition. Once we realise that we all are the creation of one, harmony and unity will come. Let's wait)''.

The throne he left will be vacant forever. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOXDJwu3HKs&feature=related Enjoy the divinity.

The Sights and Colours of Geylang

In the minds of most people, Geylang is often associated with the red-light district (i.e. prostitution) and everything sleazy. Personally, I think the saddest thing about this is that people just avoid this place altogether thinking that it’s nothing but sleaze.

I acknowledge that the sleaze of the area is there, but it is often the focus of most people that the other side is usually over-looked to the point that Geylang and sleaze are almost synonymous. I do acknowledge that its sleaze has indeed been around for a very long time and has even shaped Geylang to some extent. However, I think it is important that we do not be too narrowly focused on the sleaze. There is, as the article will show, more to Geylang than that. Sleaze is a factor, but not THE factor. Instead, it is a combination of several factors that play a role in shaping Geylang into what it is today. It is for this reason that I will not offer any further commentary about it since it is not the purpose of this article.

Contrary to the popular belief that Geylang is nothing but sleaze, I personally think that Geylang is a very interesting place which has so much to offer.

It’s a completely different world altogether. Singapore, as a whole may have changed, but Geylang has preserved so much of Singapore’s old history and culture, that it is as if you are walking through a parallel world – a world which offers us a glimpse of how Singapore would have been like if it underwent slow and organic growth instead of a major revamp.

In almost every other part of Singapore, the historical connection with the old is simply lost due to the Government’s major revamp in the 1970s-1980s, replacing almost every single thing with high-rise buildings.

There are heritage sites which have conserved important places of history. However, many of these heritage sites do not offer a kind of authentic experience of the richness of Singapore’s history and culture. Heritage sites have a particular goal in mind, and are usually designed to offer a particular narrative of the history and culture. Yet in doing so, everything else that is not related to the required narrative is chopped off. In the end, what is presented is an artificially created experience meant to support that particular narrative.

As such, Geylang is one of those few places free from an enforced narrative. Unlike a heritage site, one is able to be there, stand still and soak in the sights and the sounds of the place, and have a glimpse and feel of what Singapore was like and might have been like if Singapore had gone down a different route.

Geylang – for reasons unknown to me – was spared from the major revamps as well as the artificiality of enforced conservation. What we have is about 40 streets worth of richness – historically, culturally, and more!

Have a look at the photo below and just imagine how Singapore used to be like in the days when horses used to roam around. Imagine the days when early automobiles used to zoom down such roads. This was what Singapore was like then.

Isn’t it amazing?

My eyes opened to this vast richness because of the regular need to go there for kungfu and calligraphy lessons. Just going there a few times already made me aware that apart from the sleaze, the entire area is bursting with a myriad of activity – religious rituals of various kinds, martial arts (turns out there’s so many martial arts federations housed there), painting, calligraphy, metal works, wood works, musical performances/rehearsals, and more! There’s so much excitement going on, and they’re scattered all over the place. It’s simply amazing!

So… What I would like to do is to take you on a little photo tour around Geylang, to introduce you to the richness of its history, culture, the arts, and of course, food!

I’ll start first with food, since it’s our favourite past time as Singaporeans. The entire road of Geylang is filled with so many cofffe shops and restaurants, that I’ve not beem able to try everything. But I’ll like to highlight my two favourite places which are definitely worth eating at.

The first place is the Lorong 9 Beef Kway Teow:

Unfortunately, it was closed when I went around to take photos. But this place offers the best beef kway teow ever! It’s about $5 for a plate (I don’t know if the price is still the same, I’ve not eaten there for about a year). What I love about it is the tenderness of the beef. It’s so soft and so juicy! It’s the perfect harmony of flavours. Simply amazing! You have not tasted heaven until you have tasted this.

The second place, which is of greater interest to me is this – The LDM Charcoal BBQ Restaurant, between Lorong 15 and 17.

This place sells, what I call “Chinese Satay”, where you can barbeque the satay by yourself in air-conditioning comfort! How it works is that each table has a BBQ pit. This pit is fitted with an exhaust pipe that will suck away excess heat and smoke, so that you won’t feel as if you’re burning in hell, nor come out of the place smelling like a burnt meat patty. It’s amazing. Here’s a photo I took some time ago eating here with some friends:

You’ll need to tell the person that you want to BBQ it yourself, otherwise, they will do it for you. They even have spices for you to add to the satay to enhance the flavour. It’s really awesome!

Here’s an interesting fact: Did you know that Satay is actually Chinese? It’s not Malay at all! Originally, some Hokkiens/Teochews came to Singapore/Malaysia and sold barbequed meat for a living. They called it, “Sah Teh” (literally, three sticks 三碟 [I think this is the Chinese characters for it]), because they used to sell these BBQ-ed meat in sticks of 3. Eventually, the Malays adopted the style of cooking meat on skewers and adopted the name which the Chinese used, hence the satay that we know today!

While still on the topic of food, Geylang is also popular for its durians! But there’s something very odd about the stalls here (and elsewhere in Singapore, for that matter). While it’s indeed very good for them to switch to those environmentally-friendly energy saving lightbulbs, the irony is that they use a whole lot of them, in addition to other flourescent lighting!!!

OH!!! The irony!!! This really defeats the purpose of being environmentally friendly.

The next thing I’d like to show you is the diversity of cultures and religious practices. Prior to land reclamation works, Geylang used to be very near the coasts. Apart from Chinatown, many Chinese immigrants stayed in this area. In thanksgiving for the long and ardous journey, many of them built temples all over in gratitude for the safe journey.

Here’s a Chinese temple:

Another Chinese temple:

Yet another Chinese temple:

I don’t know what to call this. Officially (on the Internet), they call themselves a charity organisation, but it’s a Chinese temple with a blue cross as their symbol. It’s not even the Buddhist swastika. It’s a cross, like a Christian cross. They’re not Chinese Christians. I really don’t know what to make of this. If you carefully observe the photo, you can find their symbol.

Here’s a Chinese Buddhist temple:

This is my favourite. It’s a Zen Buddhist temple. I love it’s architecture a lot because it’s a place of worship that is modern in its design, and yet it retains every aspect of its Zen philosophy. Even if you do not know much about Zen, the architecture speaks volumes about its key principles. It’s very difficult to find modern places of worship that actually achieves this.

Here are the couplets at the entrance of the temple:

Here’s the translation (done by my friend): This house of Zen/meditation accomodates my inner tranquility, forget about the hustle and bustle of this busy world.

In Geylang, you can find all the various strands of Buddhism. It’s interesting just looking at the way their temples are designed, and the elements arranged within. It’s almost as if you are looking at different religions.

Anyway, moving on… Over the years, people of other races started to live in the area, thereby springing up other places of worship like churches, mosques, and Hindu shrines. (I didn’t take photos of them because most of these places are occupying existing shophouses, or do not look very interesting.) The rise of this mixture has resulted in a very interesting and colourful mix. You have places of worship all congregating around the same area, and on certain days, different festivities taking place along-side each other.

And while all that is taking place, other things are going on as well! I have kungfu lessons here during the semester break (it’s usually done on campus during term time).

Even within buildings, you have religious instruction or rituals taking place together with other activities like the training of martial arts. This building belongs to Lorong 29, and just along this street, you have several martial arts centres/associations. But martial arts is not confined to this street. Oh no… There are several other martial arts centres/associations all over Geylang, nicely hidden in buildings like this.

This is where I am currently learning Chinese calligraphy.

It’s not very sightly now because they’re installing an elavator on every floor (there was never one in the beginning). In this building, there is a school that teaches painting, a calligraphy school, a tea appreciation class, martial arts associations, Chinese orchestra society, and some Chinese clan associations.

Speaking of Chinese clan associations, here’s a building filled with nothing but these Chinese clans.

I love how really old shophouse buildings were so well-decorated with all kinds of motifs. The motifs will hint at the ethnicity that used to reside in there.

It’s simply amazing! Every single day, the entire Geylang is packed with all kinds of activity – music, kungfu, cooking, eating, painting, calligraphy, and more! It’s a place just bustling with activity and life. And more so on weekends. I’m quite amazed by how the whole place comes alive in so many ways, even in a single building.

Speaking of buildings, allow me to share the story behind the architecture of shophouses. Shophouses are very interesting. The first floor is usually used for commercial/public activity, while the upper floors are used for residential purposes. The shophouse is actually quite big. You could actually cram a very large number of people into it. And that was basically what happened in the days before public housing. It wasn’t very hygienic, but this was the best arrangement when one lived in poverty.

I don’t know very much about architecture, but what I do know is sufficient to be amazed at what we have in places like this!

As a general rule, you can determine the age of a shophouse by the amount of intricate designs and motifs. The more modern, the more abstract its design, and hence, the less details present. Buildings such as the one shown in the previous photograph is one of the oldest designs. It’s dated 1929 A.D.  Shophouses since the colonialisation of Singapore till the 1930s are of such designs. Here’s another shophouse that is of that era:

Notice how the motifs (the details/decorations on the facade) in this photo and the previous photo contain similar yet different elements? This is a very colonial design, and not a uniquely Singaporean thing. I find it odd that it’s usually marketed as if you can only find this in Singapore. I actually saw a lot of houses looking like this in Australia too.
Anyway, the point is that these were originally a colonial design, and as such, there are Western elements incorporated, e.g. French Baroque motifs.

If you were to look closely at the previous photo, there are additional designs – ethnically distinct artwork crafted onto the facade. These artworks are very interesting. They either speak volumes about which ethicnity used to stay there (e.g. The Peranakan or Straits Chinese, the Chinese, the Malays, and the Indians, will all have their own unique motifs that are easily identifiable as belonging to their culture) , or they would tell you a story, be it from a legend/myth or an actual encounter. It’s very fascinating to look at them! Here’s a close-up of some Chinese-looking motifs juxtaposed on very Western, Neo-classical designs on a shophouse:

From the 1930s till World War II, the art deco style flourished greatly all over the world. What is Art Deco? Think of Batman’s Gotham City, where geometrical shapes take the place of detailed designs. For example, the repeated patterns of flowers in a pre-1930s shophouse would be replaced by repeated embossed squares. Here’s are the best one that I’ve seen so far:

As the years progressed, the designs became more and more simpler, to the point that it looks like very cheaply done Art Deco. Perhaps it could be due to the extent of poverty after World War II, that made it very difficult to design buildings as nicely as people wanted to. In addition, the rise of abstract design came to dominate many forms of art, including architecture. With this, the emphasis was placed more on function than on form. And thus, as the next few photos will show, the designs become more and more simpler.

Simpler…

Simpler, yet again.

But regardless of how simple and abstract (and, some would even say: ugly) the buildings became, there are certain features that have remained constant. The most striking is the feature known as the “5-foot way”. What most of us Singaporeans do not realise is that this 5-foot way was decreed by Sir Stamford Raffles himself. He issued four ordinances on in 1822 regarding city planning and building guidelines, one of which regarded the implementation of a 5-foot walk way.

This was meant to shelter pedestrians from the tropical heat and rain. The problem, as one of my tutors described, with most Chinese and Indian shopkeepers is that when you give a certain amount of space for sales, they will usually try to use up every square centimetre to display their goods. You can see this even today – or for that matter, anywhere else around the world where the shopkeeper is Chinese or Indian (excluding supermarkets and 24-hour convenience stores). I’ve been to other countries, and I myself have seen it happening! This prevented people from having any shelter whatsoever. It was so prevalent that Raffles had to issue a decree to ensure that these walkways were made and cleared up so that people could walk through.

But this decree had such a great lasting effect that even today, we see the 5-foot walkway (sometimes broader) all over Singapore. It has become a very unique architectural feature. We can find it in HDBs (public housing), modern shopping centres, and more!

It’s amazing how some things just don’t change despite the progression into modernity. One of them is the use of bamboo poles to hang out our laundry to dry. I don’t know where and when this practice began, but seeing old photos of kampong (village) Singapore, the practice of hanging clothes on bamboo poles has been around for ages. Today, we still do it regardless of where we live in – HDBs, condominiums, terrace houses, bungalows, etc.

If Singapore had not progressed this quickly, we’d probably still be living in such shop houses, hanging clothes out to dry like this:

And for that matter, we’d install air condition units at the back of our shophouses like this:

Welcome to air-conditioning land!

But perhaps the progress into modernity is unavoidable after all.

Here, we see the unique juxtaposition of old shophouses with the prototypical modern shopping mall – basically, a shophouse on steroids, where you have a large commercial space on the lower floors and residences on the upper floors.

Just imagine how Singaporeans back then felt when this tall building first appeared in the midst of all these two/three-storey shophouses:

It was an icon of modernity, of progress. It was an icon of hope where we – the citizens of Singapore – shall go from here onwards. This building, this icon, marks the start of a new era. An era where we begin to soar up high to touch the sky. Here we begin our climb to achieve the fullest expression of our humanity. Here we begin our climb to soar above suffering and the trials of life. This is what we shall be working for. All that effort for the future, for our children and for our children’s children. Life has been tough, and we’ve gone through the sufferings of the war. For the love of my family and friends, I do not want them to suffer as much as I did. Modernity is my hope, the answer to my prayers – it is the way to go.

A utopian idea indeed. But nonetheless, it was the very thing that drove Singapore to accept the necessity of the major revamps in the 1970s-1980s. Such tall buildings in the midst of all those shophouses were the very beacons of hope. In a couple of days, weeks, or months, an entire kampong or clusters of shophouses were easily demolished, and much of the old Singapore was gone to make way for modernity, for progress, thereby erasing much of the memories, histories, and even friendships that were forged over the ages.

But somehow, in that crazy frenzy for modernity, Geylang was spared from the carnage of demolision, and given a chance to grow organically over the next few decades. Because of this, it is one of the few places in Singapore to offer us a completely different world, a completely different culture, and thus, a glimpse at how Singapore might have been had it not been too caught up in the mad rush for modernity.

Gaddafi, French revolution and google

Well, we are one less in count of number of dictators on earth from today morning.  Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi was killed by some unknown person after dragging out of a hiding place which was a sewer pipe. He has been hiding 2 days in sewer pipe running for his life and was then found and killed in Sirte.  The ending of a ruler who ruled for over 40 yrs was bit weird. Revolution led by Intrim PM Mahmoud Jibril has been guided and motivated to not suffer against any kind of oppressions and state must accept the rights of the people.

This reminds me of yet another revolution from History when my fav teacher (G Jha) taught us about French Revolution. France in 1789 was one of the richest and most powerful nations in Europe. Only in Great Britain and the Netherlands did the common people have more freedom and less chance of arbitrary punishment.  Nonetheless, a popular rebellion would first to bring the regime of King Louis XVI of France under control of a constitution, then to depose, imprison, try, and execute the king and, later, his wife Marie Antoinette. Everything else is written in history book and is easily available online.

Also, French revolution was inspired by American Revolution. American Revolution, which was first time served as a great lesson- tyranny could be challenged. This is described in many books including R.R.Palmar, 1959 wrote “It inspired the sense of a new era. It added a new content to the conception of progress. It gave a whole new dimension to ideas of liberty and equality made familiar by the Enlightenment. It got people into the habit of thinking more concretely about political questions, and made them more readily critical of their own governments and society”. But what served as an inspiration for Libya Revolution and what is being extended to Yemen Revolution? Is challenging autocrats’ looks simple after hanging of Saddam Hussain (before trail in any court). He was threat to international peace, at least this was projected. He had false allegations of chemical weapons, biological warfare etc. I have no personal views against removal of dictatorship but there is something more that worries me.

Iraq : Oil reserves in Iraq will be the largest in the world according to recent geological surveys and seismic data. The Iraqi government has stated that new exploration showed Iraq has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, with more than 350 billion barrels.Officially confirmed reserves rank third largest in the world at approximately 143 billion barrels (22.7×10⁹ m³). As a result of military occupation and civil unrest, the official statistics have not been revised since 2001 and are largely based on 2-D seismic data from three decades ago. International geologists and consultants have estimated that unexplored territory may contain vastly larger reserves (Wiki)

Libya : Oil reserves in Libya are the largest in Africa and the ninth largest in the world with 41.5 billion barrels (6.60×10⁹ m³) as of 2007. Oil production was 1.8 million barrels per day (290×10³ m³/d) as of 2006, giving Libya 23 years of reserves at current production rates if no new reserves were to be found. Libya is considered a highly attractive oil area due to its low cost of oil production (as low as $1 per barrel at some fields), and proximity to European markets. (wiki)

Yemen: Yemen's oil reserves are estimated at 11.9 billion barrels of oil, a dramatic jump from earlier estimates, a government agency said Tuesday.The Petroleum Exploration and Production Authority said a new study had estimated Yemen's reserves, indicating the country's oil industry requires more investment. (http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2010/10/19/Yemen-oil-reserves-at-119B-barrels/UPI-21271287510649/)

few more in the list to come as we see people fighting over ignited crisis and then forces like NATO and UN peace keeping support them and then indirectly get their work done.

The demand for oil has been increasing despite the increase in technology. Reliability on crude Oil makes it an important fuel, at least for another 30 years. US & Europe has been running in losses and Asia and middle on the path of increasing GDPs. What would I do if I were the policy maker of US or UK or G8 or some powerful and debt nation?  I will predict future and try to change it by changing present. Future is countries ruling with fuel. Burn them now and trade internationally in open market. I think it’s getting too much between the lines. But to support my argument, I always go with the intentions of the person or thing in question.

French revolution was for resentment of royal absolutism & Resentment of the seigniorial system by peasants, wage-earners, and a rising bourgeoisie. Food Scarcity & debt was prominent. It was guided by motivation of liberty which was later declared as the right of birth of people “Liberty, equality and fraternity”. The case in modern area is different. It is guided by political motive, misguided for religious aspects and used for personal motives. No wonder average conditions of citizens are going to be the same or worse and indirect exploitation.

The impact is similar to one of the most admired face of modern technology Google. I like Google. Half of my brain’s memory is filled with information from Google. In globalization, it tries to diffuse into ourselves, mix in our culture, parasitic phenomenon delves in ourselves and then we are so much used to it that we can’t abhor it. You use google and then you are part of it. That’s globalization for me. China is resistive to google and it’s very uncertain making world bit polar in nature.

I am not refuting the international diplomacy but incessant greed for oil, water and search into veins make everyone sick. We need a controlled policy which has an insight of future, and that future has a mark of present.

Thanks for reading till the end….Since my blog are not that popular(I don't make effort to make it popular, I am lazy guy), you are among the few to reach this point.

Live,Laugh,Love : Natural Expressions of our faces!

I was testing camera of my friend and trying my hands on her Nikon 26X zoom. Then I decided to take some faces with natural expression without letting them know. I cliked on uncountable photos and later found out that actually the faces with natural expressions when clicked unknowingly looks much better than trying-hard-to-look-better faces. The Clicks were amazing and then weekend of course!
My favorite out of all is the photo below (unedited, i'll edit later...) Hope You like it!

Father and Daughter is very different kind of affection. Father is always looking for his daughter to grow like him while a daughter always tries to find a love of a mother and between these two lies a Pure care and love for each other. Sometimes, we just need not express, we need to feel,laugh,love and live. Cherish every moments! 

Excerpts from Nathuram Godse’s speech

Nathuram Godse assassinated Gandhi on January 30, 1949. I came across a mention of Godse’s  speech in the court in Chapter 1 of Ramachandra Guha’s book “India after Gandhi”. I became interested in reading the speech and understanding Godse’s motivation behind the assassination. A quick google search will take you to several web pages that contain the full speech. Here, I would like to present some excerpts which I thought are important.

But first, I would like to say that it does not seem to me that Godse merely pulled the trigger in an assassination planned by bigger players. He seems to be a well-read man, who had convinced himself by several reasons that it was time for Gandhi to go; he says in his speech, “After having fully considered the question, I took the final decision in the matter..”.

His motivations and reasons fall in two distinct categories: (a) bigoted Hindu fanaticism, made worse by the troubled times of 1947, and (b) pragmatic political reasons against Gandhi’s dominance of the Indian political scene. Personally, I have no take on Godse. To me, his Hindu doggedness seems as foolish as his political acumen seems praiseworthy.

The main reasons seem to be (a) Gandhi’s defence of Muslims under attack from Hindus and Sikhs in India and (b) Gandhi’s acceptance of the partition. Here are some excerpts:

• “Born in a devotional Brahmin family, I instinctively came to revere Hindu religion, Hindu history and Hindu culture… I worked actively for the eradication of untouchability and caste system based on birth alone.”

• “Since the year 1920, after the demise of Lokmanya Tilak, Gandhiji’s influence in the Congress first increased and then became supreme…”

• “it is nothing but a mere dream if you imagine that the bulk of mankind is, or can become capable of scrupulous adherence to these lofty principles (of truth and non-violence)”

• “in dubbing Rama, Krishna and Arjuna as guilty of violence, the Mahatma betrayed a total ignorance of the springs of human action”

• “In condemning history’s towering warriors like Shivaji, Rana Pratap and Guru Gobind Singh as misguided patriots, Gandhiji has merely exposed his self-conceit”

• “The accumulating provocation of 32 years, culminating in his last pro-Muslim fast, at last goaded me to the conclusion that the existence of Gandhi should be brought to an end immediately”

• “If the country wanted his leadership, it had to accept his infalliability; if it did not, he would stand aloof from the Congress and carry on his own way… Either Congress had to surrender its will to his and had to be content with playing second fiddle to all his eccentricity…or it had to carry on without him… Thus the Mahatma became the judge and jury of his own cause”

• “When top leaders of Congress, with the consent of Gandhi, divided and tore the country which we consider a deity of worship, my mind was filled with direful anger”

• “…when Hindus in Pakistan were subjected to violent attacks he did not so much as utter a single word to protest and censure the Pakistan Government or the Muslims concerned”

• “I stoutly maintain that Gandhi has failed in his duty. He has proved to be the Father of Pakistan…. His doctrine of non-violence crumbled before Jinnah’s iron will”

• “I felt that Indian politics in the absence of Gandhiji would surely be proved practical, able to retaliate, and would be powerful with armed forces.”

• “I had no respect for the present government owing to their policy, which was unfairly favourable towards the Muslims”

Kajari : A feeling of Timelessness Classic soundpiece.

I was listening to some of the classical music and happens to like one of the genre of Hindustani classical Music. I read about it and wanted to share few things.

According to a folk tale of Mirzapur, there was woman called Kajli whose husband was in a distant land. Monsoon arrived and separation became unbearable. She began to cry at the feet of the Kajmal Goddess and these cries took the form of the popular Kajri songs.
Come monsoon... and it brings relief from the sizzling hot summer.
Come the black clouds... and separation from the beloved become unbearable.
Each bolt of lightning hits straight at the heart and makes it beat faster.
Kajri, the songs of longing are the outbursts of a woman overwhelmed by desire.

Derived from the word Kajal meaning Kohl, Kajris are sung by classical and semi classical musicians. There are two forms of Kajri singing in UP, one that is sung on a performance platform and the other sung by women dancing in a semi-circle, the 'Dhunmuniya Kajri'.

Noted Singers of Kajari are : 

Girija Devi 

(A small introduction to a living legend)

Girija Devi (b. May 8, 1929, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India) is an Indian singer and represents the Banaras Gharana of singers. She is adept at different genres of Hindustani vocal music including Khyal, Thumri, Dadra, Chaiti and Kajari, but she excels in the Poorab ang Thumri. She has been described as the last living queen of thumri. Her father Ramdeo Rai was a local Zaminadar and interested in classical Indian music. He initiated his daughter's musical training when she was five years old. Her gurus were Pandit Sarju Prasad Mishra and Shrichand Mishra. Her first public recital (1949) from All India Radio, Allahabad, followed by recitals from stage at Arrah, Bihar, were highly appreciated. During her active singing career, she has rendered her recitations in several parts of India, as also in other parts of the world, including the U.S., the former USSR, and several countries of Europe. Girija Devi was rendered Padma Shree in 1972, and the Padma Bhushan in 1989, which are among the highest civilian awards of the Republic of India. A documentary - Girija, has also been made in her honour by the government of India.

Litsen to this classic timeless music of all time

Channulal Mishra

If you have seen Aarakshan and liked this Song:

then may be you know, Who is Channulal Mishraji. Pandit Chhannulal Mishra is one of the greatest and most gifted classical vocalists of India. He can be reckoned among the all time great vocalists to hail from the ancient city of Varanasi, Playing on the ‘Swarmandal' Shri Mishra holds his audience spell-bound with his mellifluous rendition, He has the distinction of being a Versatile Vocalist, equally proficient in classical and light classical music such as Khayal, Dadra, Thumri, Chaiti, Kajri, Sawani, Holi and Bhajan.

Pt. Chhannulal Mishra was born on the third of August 1936. He had his first lessons of classical music from the late Pt. Badri Prasad Mishra, his father, Having been initiated into the nuances of music by his father, he moved from his place of birth (Village Hariharpur in district Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh), to learn music at the feet of Ustad Abdul Ghani Khan of the Kirana gharana until the renowned musicologist, the late Padmabhushan Thakur Jaidev Singh offered to groom his adolescent prodigy into the subtleties of Indian Classical music. This bond of the teacher and the taught, the master and the pupil was nurtured in the time honoured tradition of Guru-shishya parampara'. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandit_Channulal_Mishra)

Indian Government needs to spend more on classical music academy and its training. Our culture and past is subliming into the broad lightening of modern advancement. Despite new toys like computers, space missions and Cellular phones, our inner self doesn't changes. Our classical music has been more Divine! 

to be continue....

Randomness & Psyche

This article describes how, in our search for order and purpose in life, people sometimes assign meaning to events that are objectively random and devoid of meaning. Consider these two images — one dot pattern is random, the other isn't:

Sample A

   

  

Sample B

One of the two images above shows a random pattern of dots, the other has been manipulated to resemble a random pattern but isn't really random. Which image is random?

In perception studies, most people choose Sample A because Sample B shows tight clusters of dots that don't really seem random. But it turns out that Sample A has been artificially arranged to avoid normal clustering, and Sample B shows a truly random ordering of dots.

The meaning of this experiment is that, when people see tight clusters of dots (or of events), they conclude it isn't a chance grouping but has special significance. But in reality and in nature, events often cluster purely by chance.

The following sections show examples where, for psychological reasons, people assign meaning to meaningless groupings, significance to insignificant coincidences, even invest in outright frauds based on mistaken perceptions of reality.