Artist's creativity vs Audience expectation - T.M. Krishna

Art forms flourish based on the creativity of the artistes. If the creative endeavors of artistes are too closely trammeled, it could end up stultifying the art itself - since any creative endeavor needs an atmosphere that welcomes change to flourish. The obverse of this is the fact that art flourishes only when it communicates to a large audience for all art is, inherently, a mode of communication. People, though, are normally averse to change and, thus, any change attempted by the artiste is bound to face opposition.

Thus, any art flourishes as an exquisite balancing act - one that allows creative freedom to the artiste while simultaneously meeting audience expectations. This, in effect, means that the creative freedom of the artiste shall, by and large, lie in pushing the boundaries rather than in a wholesale redrawing of the boundaries. When the boundaries are sought to be redrawn, the endeavor is always fraught with tension and the risk of failure is high.

One of the foremost Carnatic musicians of the age - T.M. Krishna - is currently in the process of trying to redraw the boundaries of the way Carnatic music is performed on stage. His points relating to the attitude towards women vocalists and to the treatment of instruments like the Nadaswaram. Points well taken and needing some change.

My brush with T.M. Krishna's unorthodoxy, though, comes as a ignorant rasika of the oeuvre. I cannot really say that the freedom for the artiste to cut short a concert to half the scheduled time appealed to me. One does understand, and recognize, that an artiste may not always be inclined to practice his art. A painter or writer, for example, can take a break and get back to it when he feels he can give his best. When it comes to performances on stage, though, there is a problem. The least of audience expectations that a performer needs to meet is the time for which the performance is held. People do choose where they spend their time and, if you make them rue their choice by not meeting even a basic expectation, you are doing no service to the art. This, in his defense, I need to say happened last year.

T.M. Krishna has gained an reputation for setting the entire concert procedure on its head. The regular expectations of how the concert would start, when the smaller length Kritis would be sung, when and how the Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi would be sung and what would be sung to tail off the concert - nothing is predictable in a Krishna concert these days. The one thing that seems almost certain these days is that he will NOT adhere to the regular modus operandi. But for that, the theme seems to be to expect the unexpected.

Creation changes and evolves by someone breaking the tradition. The current modus operandi was also an innovation in its time and, probably, much reviled then. The changes now being wrought by T.M. Krishna could well be the harbinger of another change. The only problem is that any audience needs SOMETHING to expect. It may not be the existing modus operandi but there needs to be a Krishna modus operandi, at least. There is no point in saying that the audience need have no expectation but to hear good music - what constitutes good music OR a good concert is always a matter of taste.

Creativity is not merely an exhibition of chaos. It is judicious use of chaos to upset and improve the existing order. If there is no order that the audience can pin itself to, then the change that Krishna brings shall work only for a genius like Krishna but will fail in the intent of bringing any lasting change to the Carnatic landscape. It is only when other and, dare I say, lesser musicians are also able to do what Krishna does, and still attract an audience, can the change become lasting.

Human beings still do not readily adapt to change. How much more hide-bound will both the organizers and rasikas of what calls itself a traditional system of music be? The only way to really change a traditional system is to bring in a new 'tradition'!

The irony is that a creator fighting for creative freedom can only succeed when he himself sets up a new pattern that sets a discipline - and not a sing-as-you-please system - for others to follow. Failing which, he shall remain merely an eccentric one-off experimenter.

On Editing

(Khoty Mathur was saying that I ought to write a piece on editing to communicate how important it can be for an author - on the strength of my having 'edited' Sirens Spell Danger. Do not know how well this piece serves that purpose)

I have felt like saying, "That looks like no tree I have ever seen" when I looked on a painting. I have had the wisdom keep my mouth shut because I have realized someone would say something like, "That is a Cubist painting not a #@$% landscape". I have felt like saying, "No-one has a nose that long" but have known someone would say, "That is a freaking cartoon not a damned portrait." That element of wisdom was there because, like most arts, painting is something that is not a part of your normal routine unless you make it so and, thus, it was easier to 'know that you do not know'.

Writing and reading, though, ARE a part of my regular routine. That, in effect, means that I feel competent to be an author because I know writing, and to be a reviewer because I know reading (Reviewing as in saying something more than 'I did not like this book'). I do not feel lonely any longer, though, because I have discovered I have a bit of company in the first illusion and a lot in the second. The supreme folly - of considering an experience of reading as sufficient to edit a book - I reserved for myself.

The problem with editing is that you cannot, like a reviewer, taste rum, spit it out and call it bad quality only because it does not taste like wine, and you like only wine. Even if you knew enough to restrict yourself to wines, you cannot disparage a sherry for not tasting like champagne. You have to see whether the rum (or the sherry) is good AS a rum (or a sherry) and, if not, tell the author what is missing and, ideally, what needs to be done to make it good. To revert to the painting example, one needs to tell the Cubist something like, "I think that bough actually looks like a bough, which is spoiling the effect. Maybe you should try to make it look like an octopus tentacle shooting flames" and the cartoonist, "This will look better if you make the ears pointed and add a couple of horns."

Editing involves a lot more than merely copy-editing - to check grammar, redundancies and monotonous repetition of words - and Proof-reading - to rectify typos and punctuation errors. A good editor actually should identify, if not suggest means to rectify, plot logic errors; suggest modifications in narrative structure to enhance the effect; check for narrative consistency; verify whether the book gets boring in parts and suggest corrective measures; and check if what the author intended telling will be clear to the readers. All of this needs to be done and modifications suggested while maintaining the style, tone and basic story idea of the author intact. If, as an author, the emendations required in your book are more than the size of the book, you may either get the book thrown in your face or blood all over the book when the editor shoots himself in the head.

The basic genesis of the story is a story idea. To illustrate from the 'best' story in the book I edited, the story idea would be "A molested young girl - forced into it for money by her father - takes revenge on her molesters". You can conceive of multiple plots for the story, involving why her father forces her into this situation, the way she takes revenge, what happens to her at the end etc. The exact set of incidents dreamed up by the author would be the plot. You could have a good plot with an unoriginal story idea OR a great story idea can be messed up by a bad plot AND, as an editor, you need to know which of the two has happened or if everything is fine/messed up.

You can conceive of a further change by the manner in which you stress different things. For example, you could write of what is going on in her mind in great detail and the murders as a way in which she is trying to find closure. You could make it a revenge drama, with the police closing in on her and write in enough of her mental trauma to make the reader want her to succeed before she gets caught. Or, you could go at it from the investigative point of view, and make her identity and motives the twist in the story. So, with the same plot, you have various stories that can be written.

Even given the plot and the sort of story you intend to tell, the story can read differently depending upon the order of the incidents. You could write everything from the beginning to end. You could write the story with her starting her murders and, for each murder, go back to what happened with that victim and, then, the way she kills them. Change the order in which you tell things and you change the story that is getting told. If a tale is boring, it could well be merely because the narrative structure does not make it interesting, while an alternative could. So, an astute editor can, sometimes, rescue a story without junking the plot by suggesting changes in narrative structure.

The rest depends on technique - choosing the right point-of-view characters, making the characters believable, the narrative flow smooth etc. The thing to note, though, is that if you conceive a plot that requires characters to do some things at various times, the characters ought to be such that they can believably do those things OR believably change over the course of the story to be able to do them. You cannot have a rank amateur at espionage change over two days into a Dead-eye Dick who can storm a citadel of terrorists shooting down a man with each shot. Movies seem to have the liberty, novels do not.

So, what has all this to do with editing? A good editor needs to see exactly what sort of story the author is trying to tell, and see if the way the author is saying it makes the story credible and interesting. The author may just write without conscious cognizance of the elements of his writing. The editor has not only to read the story to see if it appeals but has also to see what changes are needed to make it appealing OR enhance its appeal. This means that the editor HAS to be able to parse the story to check out the appeal of the story idea, the appeal of the plot and narrative structure, the believability and appeal of the characters, and the efficacy of the narrative. The great difficulty is in setting aside your own personal tastes in stories, types of characters and narrative styles.

This, then, means that the editor should point out whether and why a story is not working and, ideally, the suggest changes in the WAY the author writes to make the story workable; if THAT is not possible, then change around the narrative structure to make it a more workable and interesting story; if EVEN that is not possible, then see what portions of the plot needs to be modified.

The process actually involves getting INTO the author's world; see how the author WANTS to tell it AND help him do it. An editor is not good if he edits a tale of 'literary fiction' and suggests changes that will modify it to 'pulp fiction' OR the vice versa. The result MAY be a better story but it would NOT be the author's story.

Of course, at the end of it all, the copy-editing and proof-reading HAS to be done.

THAT, in short was the job I took on when I chose to edit "Sirens spell danger" - instead of merely putting my name as editor and leaving it at that. The result WAS a lot of heartburn from my co-authors, I suppose, because of the rewrites I was forcing on them BUT I sure hope that the stories still remained the respective authors' stories and were no worse for my intervention.

One thing the process taught me, though. A good editor (not me :) ) can make a great difference to a story - and not merely by way of clean copy. It, incidentally, also taught me that the editor's job, in addition to being thankless, is a lot more painful that I thought it would be.

The seven of music

I have always loved listening to music but never had the ear to appreciate the nuances. Ever since I took up listening to Carnatic Music I have longed to join that throng of people who listen to the first three notes of the rendition and exclaim knowledgeably, "Ah! Abheri" or some such name of a raga. Sadly for me, all I can manage is "I liked it" thereby labeling myself that most crass of people - the "I know what I like" brigade.

Well - if I could not recognize ragas I could at least get into the math of it. Idle curiosity had always existed about how the seven swaras - Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni - could give rise to multiple sampoorna ragas (meaning ragas containing all the seven notes) particularly when the swaras had also to be sung in the same order. I mean if I had seven things and I also had to arrange all of them in only one order, I could only have one arrangement, right?

It is later I learnt that these seven swaras are actually to be used on a scale of 12 notes. Once you thought of it as arranging seven items in twelve slots according to preset rules, the possibility of multiple arrangements seemed credible.

The first of the twelve had to be Sa and the and the eighth had to be Pa. Either the sixth or the seventh could be used for  Ma. So, between these three swaras you had only two possible arrangements.

The game gets interesting - or boring, depending on where you stand on permutations and combinations - when it comes to Ri and Ga. The four notes after Sa (second to fifth on your scale of 12) can be used for these two swaras and, of course, Ga can only be played on a note subsequent to Ri. Thus, if the second note is used for Ri, you have three options (3rd to 5th) for Ga; if the third note is used for Ri, you have two options (4th and 5th) for Ga and if the fourth note is used for Ri you have only the option of the fifth for Ga. Thus, between Ri and Ga, you have six alternative arrangements.

The same thing applies Dha and Ni with respect to the 9th to 12th notes on your scale. So, you have another six arrangements for these two swaras. Thus, the total possible sampoorna ragas is 2 x 6 x 6 = 72, which is the basis of the Melakarta system of classifying Carnatic Music ragas.

Of course, you do have ragas with six swaras, five swaras etc. (4 and below tend to be rare to non-existent since the output tends more to cacophony than symphony) leading to an infinity of ragas. These ragas are called 'janya ragas' since they are considered to be born of a Melakarta raga (Sampoorna raga as above) from which one or more of the swaras are shorn. In this context, the concerned Melakarta raga is called a 'Janana raga' - the parent raga.

Having dazzled you all with my 'command' over the lexicon of music let me go back to wondering about how one identifies ragas from the singing.

I am taking part in The Write Tribe Festival of Words 1st - 7th September 2013

The days of the week

Another product of my non-productive curiosity is the reason for the names of the days of the week. I mean I can understand that Sunday is probably Sun's day and Monday is probably Moon's day as is Saturday Saturn's day. But, where do Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday come from?

All these four days are named of the Germanic Gods. Thanks to the recent spate of myth-based movies, people seem rather familiar with Thor and Loki at least. Well! Tuesday is named after Tiu (or Tyr) the Germanic God of war. Wednesday is Woden's day (Woden is Odin) named after the Germanic king of Gods. Thor is, of course, the God for whom Thursday - Thor's day - is named. Friday is Freya's day - the Venus-equivalent in Germanic lore.

There is almost identity in the planets after which the days are named in India as well. Sunday is named after the Sun; Monday after the moon and Tuesday is based on Mars in India as well - as is Friday named after Venus and Saturday after Saturn. The Germanic lore differentiates between the King of Gods (Odin) and the Thunderer (Thor) - so, it could be assumed that Woden is Mercury and Thor is Jupiter which would be identical to Indian names for those days. At best, these two days have been inter-changed.

By the way, I knew of all this even when the Internet was not even a blip on the horizon so I owe nothing to Google for this information. In fact, there is a whole lot of interesting words for which the roots are in myth, which I explored in an earlier post - Etymology and Mythology.

For example why is January January or May May? That, as school teachers are wont to say, is beyond the scope of the current syllabus!

I am taking part in The Write Tribe Festival of Words 1st - 7th September 2013

A seven day week?

All through school I have been remarkable for my lack of curiosity. If education is the process of stimulating the curiosity of the student, I qualify among the most uneducated people that has been the misfortune of any school to turn out. Yet, I am periodically afflicted by curiosity about the most absurd of things.

Why is it that a week has seven days? In a world remarkable for people finding almost any flimsy excuse to violently disagree about anything, why is there such a unanimous acceptance since eons about this idea of a seven-day week? It is not even as though we are born with seven fingers making it easy to count up to seven and no more - else we would have adopted base seven math instead of the base ten math that we do use.

Perhaps it is because we are all lunatics - insofar as we all started off following the lunar month of 28 days. If you wanted to break down this number to smaller manageable proportions you had a choice of 2, 4, 7 and 14. So, unless you wished to spend five minutes to count back to some point and say, "13 days back" instead of "About two weeks back" in a jiffy, you had the choice of

1. Fourteen 2 day weeks in the month.

2. Two 14 day weeks in the month.

3. Seven 4 day weeks in the month.

4. Four 7 day weeks in the month.

The first choice, of course, must have been quite popular with the workers. With one day off per week, they would only have to work half the time. The problem, of course, would be with people who needed two days off per week. These people would have starved to death, perched on a tree with fruit hanging in front of their noses, because they would have to wait for a working day that would never come in order to do the job of picking the fruit and eating it.

The second choice would have been the employers' favorite. It is well-known that the employers of yore were wildly upset about night - and the need for sleep - coming to the working classes as much as it did to them. A fourteen day week with just one day for Church would have been just the ticket.

If they could not get that ideal 2-day week, a 4-day week would have been all right for the workers. It is the sad tale of the world that what suits one does not suit the other and the employers were quite put out by the idea of getting work done only 75% of the available time at best.

Thus, as in everything else in the world, a 7-day week was probably the compromise that left everyone moderately unhappy.

I am taking part in The Write Tribe Festival of Words 1st - 7th September 2013

Missed-out posts

For a person who feels that any writing he does is wasted unless it is put up on his blog - even unto seriously thinking of uploading his shopping list - I have been sadly remiss in not linking a guest post that I had written in 'the-NRI'. Maybe because it was an exceptional post for me - what else can you call a post from me that actually rails against a sense of humor? Anyway, here it is.

http://the-nri.com/comment/item/3323-a-sense-of-humor

While I am at it, let me also link an interview that Rahul Miglani did of me recently. Considering the amount of writing I had to do on that interview (Some 30 odd questions, can you believe it?), it would be sad if I did not strive to inflict it on every single possible reader.

http://bloggerinterviews.blogspot.in/2013/08/interview-with-cs-life-is-like-this.html

In line, of course, with the persistent illusion that people just cannot get enough of me, I also offer the link of the Facebook Page for this blog for you - to Like or ignore as the mood takes you - where I not only post my latest posts but also link some of the old posts that I like the most.

https://www.facebook.com/Jambudwepam

With pious wishes that this does not put you guys permanently off my blog!

A sense of humor?

After a long stint of hunting for jobs, Ajay bags one with a call center operation and rings up his close friend to share his joy.

"Dude! I got a job with ...."

"Pleeaase tell me you are not calling me to sell me insurance"

Ha Ha Ha

Ajay let his friend down badly by not laughing heartily at this sally. A shocking lack of a sense of humor! His friend was aghast.

Vinay's boss was at his home for a dinner.

His wife says, "You know Vinay is the only guy I have seen who can add two and two and bring out a different result every time. I am surprised that he works in finance."

You have no idea how ridiculously serious men can be. They just cannot take a joke on themselves.

Rahul and his wife are at a party.

"You look gorgeous"

"She'd better after the fortune she paid to the beauty parlor"

Well! If men cannot laugh at themselves, women are worse!

There have been occasions when Indians have been accused of lacking A Sense of Humor due to the manner in which they reacted to some comments. That link there constitutes my own rebuttal to that accusation in the-NRI - the only guest post that has not been linked from my blog and, thus, the only one that very few of my readers would have come across. A strange piece for a so-called humorist to have written!

The whole point about a sense of humor is that people do not have a uniform attitude to all jokes on themselves. Every person has some sensitive areas and someone who can take a joke on his baldness may be unable to see humor in his physical ineptitude. As a generalization women do not take to jokes on their looks while men find it difficult to laugh off a joke on their ability at work. Such sensitivities change over time but, whether they are gender-specific or not, sensitive areas do exist.

Some jokes cease to amuse at some times. Like in the first case, a joke about call centers is unlikely to be amusing when the concerned person is expecting to be congratulated. Some jokes are misplaced depending on the audience. As in the second case, where the wife's joke characterizes the husband as inept in front of his boss.or the third case where the husband jokes about his wife's looks in a party.

In my mind, there is a difference between a wit and a humorist. A wit is someone who makes people laugh and, for him, it does not matter whether he makes people laugh at someone or not. That sort of wit is abhorrent to me (though I have been carried away by a line and done it too often myself) since it is a joy that comes out of someone's hurt and any sensitive person is bound to feel guilty even as the punchline makes her laugh.

A humorist on the other hand is someone who makes people laugh with him. Normally, the joke is an alternative lighthearted way of looking at circumstances rather than a dig at the foibles of people. To me, this is the best part of humor. If a humorist can succeed in making people take a lighthearted view of life, he has contributed more to the happiness of people than if he made them laugh at someone else.

Satire, for example, is a dig at people and Society. There is no denying the fact that it hurts the target - but, then, it is intended to since it seeks to drive in a message and, perhaps, alter the behavior. Theoretically, a joke that hurts a person may well be said in order to change behavior - though jokes about height etc. do not seem like they can be very efficacious in changing anything. As in everything else in the grey area, the perpetrator alone knows his motives - but to accuse the target of lacking a sense of humor when you full well know that your joke would hurt him seems like a bit of cynicism.

I do not intend saying that everyone who reacts badly to a joke is correct in doing so. There are too many people in the world who really do lack a sense of humor and go out of their way to seek injury where none was intended. I only intend saying that when a 'humorist' accuses another of lacking a sense of humor, there is a good possibility that it is the 'humorist' who was lacking in sense.

Humor in Fiction

What does a humorist do when he runs out of ideas? He can bemoan his lack of ideas and shed copious tears all over a blog post. Been there, done that in the "Lament of a Jester". What other options does he have to keep writing?

Well, if one cannot write humor the next best option is to write about it. After all, hasn't someone said that "If you cannot do it, teach it"? So, there I go talking of the various forms of writing humorous fiction with no more than a reader's perspective of writing.

http://indifictionworkshop.blogspot.in/2013/05/humor-in-fiction.html

I have, at least, illustrated the various forms by essaying examples in writing the story of "Troy" humorously. I am sure you will find it funny - either the humor or the fact that I thought this was humor.

Bangalore for Women?

Sometimes you find that what you thought was your world is proved to be so totally wrong that it is shocking. Sometimes what you thought you knew about other people’s problems is shown to be so totally inadequate that it is humbling. The TOI meet on ‘Bangalore for Women’ proved to be one such experience.

It is not that I believed that the problems of women were only exaggerated versions of hyper-sensitive people. On the one end women need to deal with criminal behavior like domestic violence, eve-teasing and its worse manifestation up to rape and sexual harassment at office. On the other end is the struggle for equality – the lack of which denies choices and opportunities to women.

In “A Ravaged Society”, I had tried to explain what attitudes need be changed and what behavior needs to be fostered. In my “Guest Post forRachna Parmar: In defense of Men” I had also tried to point out the fact that the social system also binds men in stereotypes that make it difficult for them to change.

The TOI meet, however, shocked me in quite a few ways. One of the things that I did expect to hear was of the lack of safety for women in public places and I did hear quite a few instances of that. That did not shock me but not because of a ‘Boys will be boys’ attitude on my part nor a dismissive attitude to the complaints. I realize that a criminal element exists and such criminal tendencies are on the increase. What shocked me was the sheer callousness with which ‘normal’ people could treat women.

The one incident that stuck in my mind was that of a woman on whose innerwear a neighboring boy had written lewd comments when it was hung out for drying. She complained to her landlord and the boy was taken to task. The aftermath was shocking. The landlord, apparently, evicted the woman in the middle of the night. That inexplicable callousness shocked me to the core. What was it in Society that made it possible for people to even consider such behavior? Whatever other impression had been created about the woman in the landlord’s mind later what could justify such cruelty?

Society is changing and the position of women in Society is changing. The increasing presence of women in the corporate world and their increasing assertiveness tends to challenge the existing power structures and, in some men, evokes the desire to convert their own feeling of impotence into sexual aggression as a means of asserting their ‘superiority’. Stereotypes about the character of a woman based on how she dresses and comports herself appear to give these men license – the ‘she was asking for it’ defense. Add to the mix the increasing influx of rural people to cities in search of employment with their prejudices about ‘good women’, the increase in of woman-targeted criminal activity is explainable.

It can be explained but it certainly cannot be condoned. But, if the so-called ‘law-abiding’ members of the Society will feel comfortable about acting in the manner that the landlord behaved with the concerned woman, it is time for serious introspection. It has become common for the ‘common man’ to refuse to intervene in cases of molestation or even in blatant cases of rape. This inclination to stay away from involvement is bad enough but to also become active participants in harassing women is certainly the sort of change that needs condemning in vigorous terms.

In times of Social change, the management of the attitudes of Society ought to be done by the leaders. Given that Society is moving towards more equality to women, outmoded ideas about their role in Society as well as ridiculous attempts to categorize them based on how they dress need to be changed. Unfortunately, we have a lot of leaders who are themselves incapable of changing. Even the well-meaning ones have this incorrigible habit of putting their feet into their mouths with great frequency.

I mean, if there is a major robbery at, say, Anil Ambani’s house, is that the time for a leader to mouth off about amassing of wealth? You may have your attitudes about wealth but to say that at that time is to condone the robbery. When you realize that you can't blame the guy whose pocket was picked for tempting the pickpocket by carrying money why does it seem so easy to blame a woman for tempting a man into molestation? At least from ‘leaders’ I expect that they need to keep their personal opinions aside when it comes to condemning crime – instead of giving the appearance of lending social sanction to the crime.

Changes in attitudes are difficult and take a long time in coming. That is not to say that attempts to do so need to be abandoned. The point, however, is that changes in behavior can be enforced and government needs to put in place the systems and procedures whereby, no matter how inclined a man is to molest a woman in a bus, say, he is constrained from doing so. The problem is that government sees it as only a problem of making laws – when the real problem is in the enforcement.

There is a serious disconnect between the law enforcement agencies and the ordinary citizen. All the women in the TOI meet seemed reluctant to take their cases to the police or, indeed, believe that any action would result. The government cannot merely put up its hands and say that if they will not approach the police, it is their problem. Managing perceptions is as much the job of government as any politician ought to know.

Attitudinal changes are necessary and should be pursued. Given the short attention span of the public, I think that any specific action plan should target the putting in place of some system whereby there is more assurance that improper behavior will be punished. If that can be done by a dedicated help-line of the Police department for women and prompt action on their complaints - coupled maybe with an NGO which works specifically as an interface and a watchdog – then pushing for that now would be useful. If the deterrent can be in place, then we shall have the leisure for changing attitudes without paying a high cost for the delay in doing so.

The developed countries do not have lesser people with criminal tendencies than we do. It is just that the law can be invoked by the victim without fear and the criminal faces punishment with more certainty than obtains here. Let us, at least, move forward on being developed in this one area for a start before aiming to become a super-power.

Guest Post for Rachna Parmar - In defense of Men

Any more of this and I shall start believing that I am an immensely popular blogger myself. Again I have the privilege of writing for another truly immensely popular blogger - Rachna Parmar. Like all the others who have hitherto carried my guest posts, she has so many nice things to say about me that I am having difficulty recognizing myself in the description.

For her, I thought I would do a bit of defending of the male sex after all the bashing and battering they went through on International Women's day. How effective my defense was you can check out in the link below

http://www.rachnaparmar.com/2013/03/in-defense-of-men.html

Rasikas - Chennai’s Classical Music Extravaganza

If the musicians keep the knowledge alive, it is the discerning audience – rasikas – who keep them on their toes as well as give them the informed feedback that is so necessary for any artist to thrive. I, unfortunately, make up the crowd for the musician but am no further help. I have the greatest regard for the cognoscenti and, if I am taking digs at them in this piece, rest assured that they are most respectful digs.

The Sabha audience comes in various types. I shall ignore the young couples walking in to the free concerts to do their dating in the A/c confines of the hall. They are more like people who have strayed in – though not by mistake – and, thus, do not deserve mention in a ‘serious’ dissertation such as this.

The one thing that you need to know is that each rendering of a piece is not to be listened to in rapt silence. There are various sections to each piece after which applause is mandatory even if muted. After four years, I am able to anticipate the end of the section and start applauding along with the cognoscenti instead of having to wait for the applause to start and joining in, in order to appear knowledgeable.

What I have not yet mastered – and never shall – is to utter those words ‘Balae’ and ‘Baesh’ every now and then when the musician has, apparently, touched some intricate part of the raga. To me it all sounds the same – melodious, yes, but nothing particular at that point in time compared to any other – and I am unable to understand why others felt impelled to vocalize their appreciation. It is not even like they all appreciate the same part. Different people seem to take to different portions making it all the more difficult to understand. Sometimes I have been tempted to add in a few ‘Balae’s and “Baesh”es of my own – the only thing stopping me is the possibility that I may do it when the musician is merely clearing his throat.

There are those rapt rasikas who can only vocalize “Tch!Tch!Tch” and move their fingers like palm fronds trembling gently in the breeze. There are those who can hardly refrain from addressing the perfect stranger sitting next to them and inviting him to join in their appreciation. There are those who fling their hands in gay abandon when the ecstasy hits them.

For me, the worst sort of rasikas to sit near is the quiz competition group. In Carnatic concerts, the raga of the composition is not necessarily disclosed at the beginning. So, when the alapana is going on, the quiz competition groups start guessing the raga. There is invariably a quiz master – who can be identified by the smug look on his face – and his judgment is resorted to by all the members. The buzz can become so loud that the musician is practically drowned out by them. I am awaiting the day that an app is devised to identify the raga from the beginning of the alapana putting paid to this nuisance. They would, probably legitimately, be angry that their pleasure has been robbed. After all, it is a point of view as to whether the concert is a soulful experience or a variant of the Brittania Quiz contest.

I forget the failed musicians – by whom I mean those who believe that their vocation is music and they had been lead astray into other areas of work. These are the chaps who maintain the beat with claps like pistol shots or sing along with the musician or hum along with the violinist. I thought I had met the worst of them till the day came when this guy drummed on both sides of his chair, sang, hummed and stamped his feet. Why, he was a one-man-orchestra and poor T.N.Seshagopalan could not compete with him that day.

The Sabha-hoppers are inevitable in the season. They sample a bit of this in one Sabha, rush away to sample a bit of that in the other and, probably, sing the mangalam at home. Since I am the sort who can’t even stand surfing channels on TV it is understandable that I am unable to fathom the pleasure that sabha-hopping gives them.

All in all, the Music Season gives you a grand exposure to a fascinating and vibrant sub-culture in our midst. To me, all the rasikas are worth their weight in gold since it is their interest that is still keeping these wonderful creative arts thriving.

Sabha Canteens - Chennai’s Classical Music Extravaganza

If ever there was a win-win-win situation in the world it is this marriage of the sabhas and those who run the sabha canteens during the music season. December, in the Hindu tradition, is not an auspicious time for weddings. Thus, the caterers who handle the cooking for weddings are normally bereft of orders in this period. It is these caterers – and the crème de la crème of them – who take on the job of providing food during the music season.

Most major sabhas have an all day schedule. It is, thus, inevitable that they need the services of the caterers to keep their audiences happy with food and beverages. The caterers, in their turn, not only find a market but also use this period for a practical advertisement of their capabilities thereby paving the way for future orders.

And the audience? The audience gets sumptuous food at very affordable prices, gets to relish dishes not normally served in hotels and also, maybe, finds the right caterer for future weddings. To my knowledge, this is the only advertisement that provides value to the customer as much as to the producer.

There is a huge section of Chennai dwellers whose only knowledge of the Music season is where to go for food. In fact, quite a few people come to the sabhas only to eat or pack up food and totally ignore the rest of what happens at that time. All that they are concerned about is whether ‘Mountbatten’ Mani Iyer’s meals were better than ‘Padmanabha’ or whether Narada Gana Sabha had Gnanambika for this season or not.

Do you smell a bit of envy there? If you did I must laud your nostrils! Thanks to a fractured right hand, I could hardly try out these delicacies in this season – eating with my left hand off plantain leaves not being my forte – so, you can hardly blame me for the vituperation against those who were fortunate enough to be able to relish the food.

For the out-of-towner December can be a great culinary experience in addition to being a great cultural experience. And, believe me, Chennai in December may not be truly as hot as you fear it will be.

Sabhas - Chennai’s Classical Music Extravaganza

It is a tough ask to learn the nuances of Indian classical music in order to throw your weight around as an expert. Far easier to pick up the incidental knowledge surrounding the Music season and put on airs. About the first set of incidental knowledge one needs to acquire is the location of the Sabhas, the schedule of concerts as well as when and how to buy the tickets for the concerts.

Even the Chennai dweller may well fail to recognize some of the sabhas since they tend to masquerade as school or college auditoriums till the Music season arrives and they throw off the camouflage and bloom into centers of culture. A huge cluster of these Sabhas are present in the Mylapore and T-Nagar areas, which have been my normal haunts during the season.

One can hardly fail to notice the Music Academy – one of the few non-masquerading sabhas – at the intersection of Cathedral Road and TTK road or the Naradha Gana Sabha on TTK road. The Mylapore Fine Arts opposite Vivekananda College and the Brahma Gana Sabha on Luz Church road are just round the corner from the Narada Gana Sabha. Chennai’s oldest Sabha is the Parthasarathy Swami sabha – if I am right – for which you travel down Cathedral road beyond the Music Academy and take the right at the next flyover. The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan auditorium near the Kapalishwarar temple also hosts concerts – even free ones during the end-November period. Rani Seethai Hall near Gemini and Kalaignar Arangam in the same vicinity have also taken to music in the season. T-Nagar is another area rich with concert halls. Vani Mahal, Sri Krishnagana Sabha, Bharat Kalachar, Nungambakkam Fine Arts, German Hall – a whole host of choices await the music lover.

You could choose to buy the season tickets for a sabha or two or you could choose to buy the tickets as and when you feel free to attend a concert. To the best of my knowledge, almost all the sabhas sell advance tickets for all concerts. The Music Academy, however, sells tickets only in the morning of the day of the concert or just before the concert starts. The Narada Gana Sabha starts selling tickets from the day before the concert – again in the morning or just before the concert. Both these halls, however, hold two programs in the evening – starting 4-4.30 PM – and the ticket is valid for both programs unless otherwise stated. Incidentally, the tickets can come as cheap as Rs.100/=  and, thus, is not really a huge drain on your exchequer.

If you merely want to check out the music – without incurring the expense of the tickets – you can try out the afternoon concerts in most sabhas where aspiring singers give free concerts. No need to sneer at those concerts – the current hot star, Abhishek Raghuram, was not too long ago singing in the afternoon. Some singers get the prime slot in lesser-known sabhas while still singing in the noon slots at major sabhas.

In addition, the Music Academy also has yesteryear stars singing in the morning 9.15 AM slot for free. If you want to hear a T.N. Seshagopalan, Nedunuri Krishnamurti, Vedavalli, Bombay Sisters or T.N. Krishnan for free, this may be the slot for you. The cognoscenti also flock to the lec-dems in the sabhas but most of them are more like post-doctoral courses requiring a very strong base in the arts.

Concert schedules are put up outside the concerned halls. Nowadays, they are available on the Internet and, I believe, there are even apps that help you schedule your concerts. How about a carnatic music concert this season, Chennaiites, instead of another visit to the multiplex?

Chennai’s Classical Music Extravaganza

Chennai is probably at its coolest in December and, thus, it is great for me that the Chennai’s largest cultural festival is scheduled then. The Classical Music and Dance festival starts somewhere near the end of November, peaks during the latter half of December and ends in January.

Connoisseurs of any art look down their noses at the people who claim to appreciate the art on the I-know-what-I-like basis and, probably rightly so, since that normally connotes I-don’t-know-anything-about-the-art. I, unfortunately, belong to that ubiquitous category. Despite four years of listening to Carnatic music, I still cannot make out one raga from the other. It is, however, true that the performances enthrall me.

A Carnatic music concert normally starts with short songs (Do not think I do this to make the terms understandable – it is just that I, myself, have no real knowledge of the appropriate terms to apply). As the concert progresses, the initial alapana (the Tha-Dha-Ri-Na-Na or open-throated humming, if you will) gets longer, the lyrical parts remain about the same and the swarasanchara (sa-ri-ga etc.) gets longer as well.

A typical concert – the prime time variety – normally lasts about two-and-a-half to three hours. The centerpieces of the concert – there are normally two – consist of detailed rendering of the raga in the alapana by the vocalist, followed by the violinist; rendering of the lyrics - with one line picked out for detailed exposition in various phrases of the raga called the Neraval and a swarasanchara. If the vocalist chooses one piece to be a Ragam-Thanam-Pallavi (RTP, for the cognoscenti), the lyrics are replaced largely by the Thanam (Aa-nam-tha-tha-nam etc. Normally the usage is of Aa, Tha and Nam – the latter two being the reason why it is called the Thanam) with a mere 2-4 line pallavi sung as lyrics with the Neraval done of the same lines.

The RTP actually shows off the musician’s creativity. When the normal Kritis are sung, the composer has detailed the manner it which it is to be sung and, thus, the musician showcases his creativity only the alapana and the swarasanchara. In the RTP, the musician explores the raga through the entire piece. Sometimes the RTP is also done as a ragamalika – sung in multiple ragas – and the dexterity of the musician in shifting from one raga to the other seamlessly is on view. Almost invariably, the RTP is the piece in which the thani-avartanam (thani, for the cognoscenti) – the solo by the percussionists with the vocalist, violinist and the audience just keeping the beat – is played. Where no RTP is rendered, one of the two long pieces is chosen for the thani. After that the concert tails off in a series of smaller compositions – the thukkadas, thillanas, abhangs, bhajans – till the mangalam is sung signaling the end of the concert.

I have always wondered at the fortitude with which the musicians sit through the entire period without taking a break. The audience, however, walks in and out as it pleases. The thani, unfortunately, seems to be the signal for dinner/coffee and the percussionists give of their best to an audience that vanishes into the canteen for food. Given the structure of the concert – where there are no intermissions – it is inevitable that some part of the concert is likely to be selected by the audience for a break and the tradition appears to be the thani as evidenced by the fact that it is played in the first of the long pieces when the concert starts at around 6-6,30 PM and in the second if it starts at 4-4.30 PM thus ensuring that it happens around the normal dinner time for the audience.

A Carnatic concert is a blissful experience for me and I have not found my inability to make out the nuances any hindrance to my joy in listening. In addition, however, it is an impressive sight to see at least one part of Society where achievement in the chosen area of expertise takes on an importance well above the monetary benefits.

Indian music is deeply rooted in Classical music – Carnatic or Hindustani – and almost all the movie songs that have stood the test of time are based on ragas. A tradition the needs keeping alive and it is a heartening sight to see so many young musicians vying to make their place in the sun in this arena.

A ravaged Society

(Very rarely do I venture into writing on topics of current interest. A humorist, I am afraid, tends to be taken for a joker and is very seldom taken seriously unless his humor takes the form of Satire – which mine doesn’t. Sometimes, however, there are things that refuse to remain unsaid)

The horrendous incident in Delhi and the aftermath have left us all questioning ourselves about the sort of Society that we have built. Yes, it is not merely a Society we live in but a Society we have had a hand in making – with our thoughts, deeds and the behavior we build in our children. In particular we need to be concerned about what is in the minds of the youth of this country.

Four questions, I think, require answering before we talk of how we can make things better.

Should men be sexually attracted at all to women? If not, what in Society gets them so attracted and what needs to be changed?

On the face of it, it seems an absurd question. It seems obvious that men will be sexually attracted to women. Almost all religions, however, view such sexual attraction as taboo – except in the accepted manner between husband and wife. Even when it comes to that, there are some religions that seem to consider it as sinful and think that sexual activity – other than for procreation – is sinful.

Further, when it comes to sexual attraction, it is considered the weakness – not a sin - of men alone. A woman’s sexual interest – even for her husband – is considered unnatural. In short, they are seen as 'objects of sexual desire' and not as participants. It is further assumed that the dress and behavior of women can either provoke the libido of men or not. Thus, women tend to get labeled between the Sati Savitris and the temptresses – with no other category possible in-between.

Therefore, for a woman, if your dress or behavior does not fit the strait-jacket image of a Sati Savitri, you are by definition a temptress. It is this mind-set that causes the ‘leaders’ to mouth off the absurdities that we have been hearing these days. Since they consider sexual attraction as somehow sinful, they seek to offer solutions that will, in their ‘considered’ opinion, avert the possibility.

Obviously, what needs to change is that mind-set. Even assuming that this idea of a completely channeled sexual interest is desirable – and assuming that requires an infinitely elastic stretch of the mind particularly when you consider that it, inter alia, includes the absence of any sexual interest in a woman’s mind – it is an ideal that can be aspired to but not achieved by all, as in the case of any ideals. An unforgiving approach to the non-achievement of this ideal – and the consequent diatribes about the dress and behavior of women – is totally unwarranted.

Should men be free to force sexual attentions on women – ranging from molestation to rape? If not, what in Society makes some feel like doing it and what needs to be changed?

The fact that it is considered natural for men for feel sexual interest for women does not necessarily mean that it is equally as natural for them to force their attentions on women. The first right of any person is the right over her own body – life, bodily harm whatever – and there is a vast difference between wanting to have sex and feeling entitled to do so.

How then do some men feel free to force their attentions on women? One major reason is the assumption – built over the generations – that women are subordinate to them and exacerbated by the fact that they see women who refuse to accept this subordinate role. Another is their own sense of impotence in their social roles and the need to regain some measure of power by exercising it over those whom they think they can subdue.

The one thing that the ‘leaders’ of our Society seem to be unable to understand – always crediting them for having the necessary equipment to understand – is the fact that, when they mouth off about how women act as temptresses, the message they pass on to the fringe elements is that it is ‘all right’ to molest or rape a woman who does not behave like the ideal ‘Sati Savitri’. This sort of assumption of tacit social sanction to such behavior can only exacerbate the situation.

Not that the attentions of molesters is restricted to the so-called ‘temptresses’. I mean, it is difficult to see how three year-olds and five year olds could have appeared like the Rambhas and Menakas of yore. The other reason that contributes to this behavior is the fact that they assume the silence of the victim – which they may consider near-certain in small children and highly probable even in adults considering that there is still a lot of social opprobrium attached to having been a rape victim.

Lastly, of course, is the fact that the molesters may be confident of not being punished for their crime even if the crime is exposed.

Unless the views about acceptable behavior by women as well as the status of women changes in Society and Society learns to treat victims with compassion, a radical reduction of such crimes may not be possible. The certainty of being punished would, however, go a long way to reducing such crimes.

In case there are laws in place to avert undesirable social behavior, should the Police be an arbiter of whether to accept the lodging of such a case or of the manner in which they treat the person lodging the case? Is an underlying mindset in Society a sufficient excuse for the Police not doing its duty in the manner prescribed? If not, what are the measures to be put in place to ensure that the laws are enforced as prescribed?

The problems in getting the perpetrators punished start from the time the attempt is made to lodge a complaint. Considering that getting the perpetrators punished largely depends on the investigative process, the behavior of the Police is crucial to this issue. The news and views about Police behavior makes it difficult to believe that a victim can even muster the courage to go and lodge the complaint in the first place.

One of the major reasons that seem to crop up is that the Police come from the same Society we come from and are informed by the same opinions. Does that mean that any change in the perceived behavior of the Police can come only if the underlying structure of Society is improved?

It is undeniable that a change in Society will necessarily improve the behavior of the Police. But it does not seem to me to be a necessary pre-condition. I have yet to hear that it is understandable for a Police constable to not salute a Woman MP or Minister because he comes from a Society with male chauvinistic tendencies. If organizational discipline can instill one sort of ‘unnatural’ behavior, it can instill others as well. It is, then, for the Police department to ensure that discipline in such behavior is instilled in its officials – by punitive action if necessary.

Of course, it is also necessary to ensure faster processing of cases in the legal system – fast-track courts, if need be. I am not a votary of the belief that stricter laws and strict and efficient enforcement serve no purpose in reducing crime. To me it appears much like arguing that since there is so much crime anyway we might as well dispense with the Police.

Is it acceptable behavior - in the Society that we want to live in - for the common man to sidestep a scene of crime and go about his business? If not, what needs to be changed?

The fact remains that a lot of crimes – including molestation – happen in public and the public prefers not to get involved. This avoidance of involvement may have become an ingrained cultural trait – a sort of misplaced sense of allowing other people their privacy – or it may have its roots in selfishness or fear.

Society needs to assume that people will be selfish to an extent. If the involvement in the stopping of a crime requires too much investment in time and inconvenience, it requires a far higher quantum of selflessness on the part of a person to get himself involved. This, in effect, mean that the organs of Government with whom such people may need to interact must instill confidence in the public about being considerate of their time.

The fear of getting involved arises from the distrust in authority that has been built into our psyches. Unfortunately, government officials – including the Police - have been seen and have seen themselves as people with authority rather than as public servants to such an extent that the phrase public servant seems to connote Royalty to Indians. Thus, even without the perpetrators threatening dire consequences because of who they are, the public prefers to avoid getting in touch with any organ of government unless absolutely necessary.

Yet another problem is that there is no real sense of community in India. We have family, we have friends and then we have the rest of the world. There is no real sense of ownership to the area or city we live in. Unless a sense of community is developed, we will continue to ignore crime around us.

It is perhaps time that we started developing community institutions –community service and what have you - that shall not only help develop a sense of community but shall also bring us in touch with public servants as people instead of authority figures, thereby eliminating in part, at least, that ingrained fear of authority.

The discussions I have heard, hitherto, seem to consider social change and changes in the legal system as some sort of either-or alternatives to the issue of attempting a solution of this problem. Social change is most necessary and every possible step needs to be taken in this regard. That is a long-drawn process, however, and there will always be fringe elements who shall indulge in crime regardless of what Society thinks of it. Stricter laws and strict enforcement, therefore, need to go hand-in-hand with any attempt at Social change.

If you liked this you may like to check out the index of other posts of this genre or read a selection of similar posts.

Direct Cash Transfers (Concluded)

(I am not often drawn into writing about matters of government policy or, indeed, into lapsing into the esoterica of my working days. Having worked for a long while in the area of fertilizer subsidies and having been considered something of an expert on those policies, I am somewhat obsessed about this area – even unto typing this with my left hand!)

What I find difficult to understand is this insistence on directly transferring cash. You need all beneficiaries to have a specific bank account; you need a monitoring system for ensuring that they do use the subsidy for the intended purposes and you need a mechanism for penalizing such defaults and for reversing such penalties.

How would the monitoring mechanism work? Does the dealer maintain a physical record of transactions which is periodically audited? Or do these records get entered into a database by some authority and defaults identified by filters set in the system? Or does the dealer directly enter into such a database? Or would you give the beneficiaries a card that can be swiped at the dealer’s place to obviate deliberate and accidental errors by the dealer in capturing data related to transactions by the beneficiaries?

The best way that I can see is to issue smart cards to the beneficiaries instead. The dealer sells at market prices and, upon swiping the card, the subsidy amount is deducted from the bill payable by the customer. The total subsidy payable is then credited to the dealer periodically. Much the way credit card payments function.

Since subsidy is paid only upon purchase, the entire rigmarole of monitoring for defaults and all that is avoided. Banking transactions are significantly reduced since transferring cash to only the dealers instead of all beneficiaries should cut down on the transactions significantly. Data capture is more authentic and fine-tuning the system easier.

Further, in the specific case of fertilizer subsidies, one can even see a portion of farm credit being passed on through giving additional credit through the smart cards. Defaults on credits given through smart cards can be reduced because loan defaults could be tagged to inactivating the card and, thus, interest rates can be reduced because default risk would be significantly lower. Lastly, drought relief and the like could be passed on either by way of reducing/waiving payback of credit or by extending additional credit to the target group.

The issues related to usage of smart cards could be infrastructure and education in the use. Neither of these can be considered as insurmountable and, if GOI has the will, it could provide the choice to the beneficiaries of opting between cash transfer and smart cards where possible for a beginning.

If it is only the instant attraction of handing over cash – the political dividend – that drives the policy, nothing further can be said!

Go here for the other part

Direct Cash Transfers

(I am not often drawn into writing about matters of government policy or, indeed, into lapsing into the esoterica of my working days. Having worked for a long while in the area of fertilizer subsidies and having been considered something of an expert on those policies, I am somewhat obsessed about this area – even unto typing this with my left hand!)

The GOI sees direct cash transfer of subsidies as means to avoid leakages of subsidy en route to the beneficiary. In the current system – with specific reference to the PDS, LPG, Kerosene and fertilizers – the material is subsidized at the manufacturer level and material is sold at subsidized prices to the customer. This, in effect, means that the people in the distribution chain can sell the material at a premium to those who are not intended as beneficiaries of the subsidies and reduce/deny supplies to the intended beneficiaries.

When the subsidy amount is directly transferred to the beneficiaries and the material is to be sold at market prices to all comers, there is little point in diverting supplies to non-beneficiaries – unless there is a significant difference between the MRPs at these outlets vis-à-vis the market prices. Thus it would appear that there is validity in the GOI claim that subsidy leakages would be significantly reduced.

The system also seeks to ensure that the subsidy does not get diverted to other uses. To ensure that, the GOI seeks to monitor whether a beneficiary has indeed purchased the intended material and, if not, to deny the subsidy to him going forth. This measure would have been deemed necessary in order to avoid, say, usage of LPG subsidy for the purchase of intoxicants etc.

The problems in the system would be related to (a) Identification of beneficiaries and possible corruption at the stage of adding your name to the beneficiaries list (b) Identification of defaulters – those who fail to use the subsidy as intended – removal of their names, re-addition and attendant possibility of misuse of the powers by concerned officials (c) Addition of unintended people as beneficiaries (d) Errors and rectification in the cash transfers and attendant issues of corruption. (e) Treatment of itinerant work-force.

Two strong future possibilities exist, however, and it cannot be denied that the GOI could well be considering them. The first relates to reducing the number of beneficiaries. At the moment quite a few goods are sold at subsidized prices regardless of the income of the recipient. Going forth, it may be sought to restrict subsidy to only people below a cut-off income level. This move may, in itself, not be objectionable. After all, it is difficult to argue that a family which goes on an annual foreign jaunt, say, would be significantly impoverished by paying an additional Rs.10000 per annum for LPG. The prescription of the cut-off will, however, need debating if and when the GOI does come out with it.

The second is a more serious possibility. Hitherto, the subsidized price of the goods has been fixed – varied only by Government diktat – and, thus, any increases in the market price increased the subsidy bill. Now, it is likely that the quantum of subsidy shall be fixed – and varied only by Government diktat – and thus any increase in market price will be to the cost of the customer. Unless the Government links the subsidy amount to an appropriate inflationary index or is swift to increase the amount by diktat, there is a definite possibility of increased burden on the consumer.

Overall the system does have its advantages. It may be best for opponents to address themselves to procedures that redress the perceived flaws – behind closed doors at least – while maintaining their rhetorical opposition.

Go here for the other part

Salad Variations

I never knew what I had let myself in for when I promised myself to attempt every single contest on Indiblogger this year! There I was, happily thinking that I would be writing essays about various matters of utter disinterest to the populace at large, and what do I find? First I have to write about ‘Internet is fun with Vodafone’, when the jury in my mind was out – and scattered to the four winds – on whether Internet was fun at all! As though that were not enough, I had to write about Lakme sunscreen lotion, in which I even managed to win a consolation prize. Then came the Dove Hair Care contest – and only someone who has lost almost all his hair can understand how vexing a topic it can be for him. Thereafter, the bachelor had to gird up his loins for a dissertation on Love Marriage vs. Arranged Marriage.

With an imaginary trip to Melbourne done, I heaved a sigh of relief only to remember that there was yet another contest that sought recipes!! RECIPES!! Ye Gods, was it necessary to drive in the lesson about the risks of making thoughtless promises so thoroughly. Admittedly I had not proved a bright student in the past but does this not seem like too much of over-kill? Should I roll over and die like Caesar and leave Anthony to say, “This was the unkindest cut of them all”? Should I, like Cain, bemoan “My punishment is more than I can bear”?

With my fingers crossed that none of the readers, who actually read Cooking Woes, would turn up to read this one, I sally forth into the contest to win stomachs. Mmm! Fruit slices, fruit drinks, pasta, sauces and corn! Now what does one make with all this and find edible? I commune with my brain and find that it stubbornly refuses to consider pasta edible! Now what? Maybe drowning the protests of my brain in alcohol would help!

Ah! Now, that is a brainwave.  Why not give recipes for cocktails? Vodka, Pineapple juice, crushed ice with a pineapple slice stuck on the glass – now that would use pineapple juice and fruit slices, would it not? Vodka, Green Apple juice and crushed ice? Having drowned alcohol in every possible beverage and consumed it, I could think of even a vodka and prune juice combination. So, maybe, I do have a few recipes!

Hang on a second, though! Is it likely that any possible manner of drinking alcohol has been left out of the reckoning by the eons of drinkers? Do I not remember P.G.Wodehouse mentioning a combination of whisky and Orange pop in one of his pieces? I mean, if even that weird combo has already been tried out, what chance do I have of having any combination of alcohol and beverages being considered unique? Mmm! Not such a brainwave, after all!

What had I ever done in the kitchen using sauces? Avoiding thoughts of my kitchen exploits had become second nature – after all, one is not too interested in exploring a series of one’s own debacles – but I force myself to go through that painful process. Try as I might, the only thing I can remember is adding water to tomato sauce, boiling it, adding a dash of pepper and then convincing myself that it was tomato soup! That can hardly be a unique recipe considering that every other restaurant does the same thing, if it offers tomato soup on the menu!

Corn! Ah, I remember having used corn – and, for once, maybe it is worth mentioning. Not that, of course, it is necessarily unique but I do not remember hearing or reading anything about this salad variation that I made of the ‘Kosumari’ that is commonly served in Karnataka weddings. So, here goes!

Split Green Gram- one cup

Del Monte Corn  - half a cup

Grated coconut   - one cup

Grated carrots     - one cup

Green Peppers    - 2-4 (finely diced)

Lemon                 - 1 (medium)

Salt                     - to taste

Oil                      - One table spoon

Coriander leaves, Asafetida and mustard seeds.

Soak the split green gram for two hours. Boil the corn in salt water. Drain the water. Mix the soaked gram, boiled corn, grated coconut, grated carrots and the diced green peppers. Add salt to taste (Ah! That gives me great satisfaction! How much I have suffered from the various recipes on offer which give this enigmatic line!! Tell me, if I take moderate salt, is it a teaspoonful to a kilogram or a ton? No one seems to bother to mention the range of usage for salt!) Add the juice of the lemon to the mix! (Ah! How easy that sounds! When I first tried it, I squeezed the lemon directly on to the mix and de-seeding operations on the salad are worthy of a separate post!)

Add the mustard seeds to the oil (you could use Olive Oil, if that suits your pocket! In which case you probably need only a teaspoonful!) and wait till it sputters. Add a hint of asafetida (How broad a hint you take is up to you. Some can do without any hinting!!). Season the mixture above with this.

If you are not too pernickety to use your hands (and if you really think that eating with your hands will not cause undue damage to your sensibilities) you could use your hands to mix this up properly. Else, of course, I shall ask you enigmatically to toss the salad and leave the means to you!

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

You could substitute Split Green Gram with Split chick peas – in which case you soak them overnight. Grated carrots may be replaced with diced cucumber. You could use a chilli sauce instead of the Green Peppers – but I shall not be responsible for the results (Not that I am, even when you use Green Peppers!)

If you are interested in anti-oxidants more than taste, then you could substitute sprouts for the Split Green gram. If, on the other hand, you wish this to be a meal rather than a salad, you could boil a potato or two, peel, mash and add to the mix.

Ah! Looks like I have given the recipe for dozen salad variations- all in one recipe! Hail, Master Chef (Now, who else will call me that?)! The only thing that remains is to give this thing a name. Not knowing French or Italian is a great handicap in giving appropriately impressive names to dishes. I shall have to call this a “Corn Kosumari” and leave it at that!

If you try this dish and find it inedible, you have the option of drowning your sorrows in one of the cocktail variants that I have outlined earlier!

Bon Appetit!

Hemophilia Care in developing countries – A speech

This is a speech given by my sister about the problems of hemophilia care in the developing world. My only claim to post it is that I helped a bit in drafting it

The most incredibly brave people I have met in my life are the persons with hemophilia I met in India while working for Hemophilia Federation (India).

Imagine 

· a life with the certainty of periodic painful incapacitation;

· a life with a significant probability of becoming permanently disabled;

· a life where the possibility of being infected by Hepatitis or HIV was high considering the need for repeated blood transfusions or contaminated factor usage and

· a life which could be cut short any time because of Hemophilia.

Being required to lead such a life and managing to lead productive and cheerful lives is an impressive demonstration of courage.

My first direct exposure to the bravery required of a person with hemophilia was when Ashok Verma, the founder of HFI injured his one remaining leg in a car accident. The major bleed in that leg left him confined to bed for 3 months. Staying with him for that period to help him out was an eye-opener to the small and large indignities and problems that persons with hemophilia undergo periodically. Needing help every time you need to go to the restroom in a concrete house designed with no concept of disabled-friendliness is refined torture. If Ashok, who was relatively well-off, could not manage any better the majority of the person with hemophilia in India must have been in dire straits. Laurie’s photographs would have shown you a glimpse of what those persons with hemophilia in the developing countries go through.

The requirement of extra-ordinary bravery to live with hemophilia is higher in developing countries like India. Ashok, himself, lost his leg in the eighties thanks to the fact that there was no appropriate treatment then for a person with hemophilia with a fractured leg. By the time he was referred to leading hematologist Dr. Manucci there was no option left but to amputate the leg. Thanks to Dr. Manucci’s encouragement and persistence, Ashok was enthused to set up HFI. It is largely thanks to HFI and its 65 associated societies that incidents like Ashok’s loss of his leg have reduced, at least in Indian cities.

Reduced, yes, but not entirely eliminated. Factor availability in India is still not sufficient to ensure availability for prophylactic usage for all known persons with hemophilia. Thus, unlike in the developed world, factor usage is largely done only when there is a bleed. Even though the government and HFI have ensured that factors are available at a fraction of the cost in the developed world, the cost of factors is still prohibitively high for most pwhs. This, in effect, means that even now bleeds are treated by some pwhs with ice and rest. Thus, one cannot entirely rule out the possibility of children getting crippled due to lack of adequate availability of factors, when timely usage could have enabled them to lead a healthier life.

The factors in use in India are, by and large, human factors. Thus, the attendant risk of contaminated blood products leading to unknown infections continues to exist. Availability of safer recombinant factors is next to non-existent, unlike in the case of the developed world. It is not sufficient to make these factors available. It is also necessary to make them affordable to ensure that they gain wider usage.

There is a bigger problem with regard to identification of persons with hemophilia. The known persons with hemophilia in India number about 15,000 whereas, going by the population of India, one should have expected a population of about 100,000 pwhs. If known persons with hemophilia still face more risks in their day-to-day life, the problems of the unidentified persons with hemophilia are bound to be multi-fold.

I still remember one of my early incidents at HFI. A six month old baby had fallen off his bed in Bhopal and gone into a coma. Since he was continuously bleeding he was put on a shunt. The family transferred him to a major hospital in Delhi, where the doctors were intending to operate on him. Luckily a pediatrician known to the family suspected hemophilia and sent the father to us. The baby survived thanks to factor treatment. Chance had favored this little one but I shudder to think of the various other cases where there was no coincidental pediatrician to advise the family.

Identification of all possible Pwhs is another area where the developing world lags behind the developed world. A further issue is the lack of knowledge about hemophilia amongst doctors, which is a contributory reason for the lack of identification of hemophilia in patients. God knows how many lives have been lost and how many children crippled simply because of the lack of this information!

Support groups in India have their hands full in ensuring that factors are made available as inexpensively as possible as well as in ensuring the spread of awareness about hemophilia. In fact, despite unrelenting efforts by support groups it has not been possible to ensure that hemophilia care centers are available within a reasonable distance for every pwh. This, in effect, means that pwhs, particularly in rural areas, have to travel sometimes for days before reaching the nearest care center. Thus, it is understandable that these support groups do not have enough time or resources to safeguard the rights of pwhs by

· lobbying for improved care and quality of treatment

· support with their employers and the rest of Society.

The pwhs of the developed world are much better off in this regard.

A pwh in the family can actually set back the entire finances of the family and reduce them to poverty even with all the help that support groups can extend. This is an area where Save One Life plays a major part. Save One Life tries to ensure that the daily needs of the pwh are met, without cost to the family, and also that the pwh is enabled to lead a productive life.

To illustrate the sort of work SOL is doing one can take the case of the boy from Pune, who could now go to college thanks to SOL. When I met the father, he was so grateful for the sponsorship that made it possible for his son to become a productive member of society. It was embarrassing for me to be so effusively thanked for contributing what amounts to lunch money here but which had so totally changed life for a young boy in India.

Sometimes the impact of our sponsorship is even more heart-warming. There was this boy in a slum who had lost his father. He was unable to walk and had to be carried around by his mother, who also had to earn money to sustain the family. A couple of years after sponsoring this child I had the opportunity to meet this boy again. Surgery, sponsored by the local chapter, and physiotherapy, sponsored by SOL, had enabled him to move around on crutches. The smile on his face as he almost ran to meet us will stay in my mind forever.

The biggest frustration for us in SOL is the fact that we do not have the resources to help out every deserving case that comes to our attention. To know how life-changing a minor financial infusion can be to the concerned person and family and to have to turn them down due to lack of resources is one of the most depressing things that happen to us.

Much needs to be done to narrow the gap in the lot of pwhs in the developing world vis-à-vis the developed world. Some of the more crucial things that need attention are

· Training for the medical fraternity for identification, treatment and improved care.

· Making anti hemophilic factors available that are affordable and sometimes free of cost.

· Sponsoring persons with hemophilia to help those lead productive lives.

In the normal course one would expect the government of the concerned country to play a major part in doing what needs to be done. Developing countries, however, have multitudinous calls on their limited finances. Thus, neither the government nor local support groups can do all that is necessary to bridge the gap between the lot of pwhs in the developing world and the developed world. What has, hitherto, been done would not have been possible without support from the international fraternity. Such support in the areas outlined earlier would be necessary to enable pwhs in the developing world to lead a life of dignity that their courage gives them the right to lead.