Ripples on the brain

Sri Unnikrishnan gave a wonderful concert at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan yesterday (Nov 29). The hall was overflowing with huge expectations and he didn’t disappoint at all. He chose very well-known compositions like Kurai onrum illai and Pulli Kalaabamayil and those that he himself had sung in his albums (Nee irangaayinil and Eppo varuvaaro). Everytime he began singing the next composition, there was an immediate buzz in the audience as they recognized the song.

The balcony of the hall where I was sitting was so crowded in the beginning of the concert that I was afraid it might just give away. I must say the balcony is so steep that most of the elderly found it very difficult to walk around.

The IT companies in Chennai seem to be competing with each other in making their employees commute the maximum distance possible. I remember in the 90’s most of the offices used to be in and around Sardar Patel Road, Arcot Road and the area around Anna Salai after the Gemini flyover (Cathedral Road, Nungambakkam High Road, Whites Road and Greams Road). And mostly the organizations had single offices in the city.

In early 2000, when TIDEL Park was constructed, invariably all IT companies had at least one branch in it. That, alas, turned out to be a temporary office place for most of the employees, for, most companies, when they moved to TIDEL Park, already had a construction activity in progress in their own spaces somewhere along the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR). Soon a distance of 15-25kms became very common and office buses started plying within the city. For the next 5 years, the companies consolidated their presence in the OMR by increasing the office space in the same premises, acquiring alternate premises on the same road and completely shutting out their operations in the rented spaces within the city. The employees were stretched in their daily commute, from a distance of 25kms to 35kms as their work locations moved closer and closer to Mahabalipuram along the OMR.

After 2004-2005, even the elaborate complexes along the OMR seemed insufficient to accommodate the ever increasing employee strength. The companies have now started to move further South along OMR and even NH-45. My organization, which has a single prominent location in Tambaram Sanatorium, makes me commute around 25kms everyday using 3 modes of transportation – a two-wheeler, a suburban train and a staff van. While I rued over the fact that I’d to commute such a long distance, I ran into an erstwhile colleague from my previous organization, who stays near my house but works in Mahindra City which is close to Paranur station (just before Chengalpattu). I can take solace from the fact that he travels more than twice my distance, 47kms, everyday to work. It was funny to know that he compares himself with some of his team members who commute up to 75kms everyday using up to 5 modes of transport to reach office and feels better.

What’s coming next? Offices in Tindivanam?

I read two books this week. Since I have a very bad memory I thought I’ll register my current impressions about them here.

The Tipping Point
I think this one by Malcolm Gladwell was a suggested reading in some Marketing course (was it “Customer Focussed Product Development”?) during my MBA. I got a chance to read this only now. In my opinion, wikipedia gives a concise and almost comprehensive summary of the book. The book analyses some important events (which the author refers to as “social epidemics”) and arrives at the factors that the author thinks were the immediate causes for the rapid transitions in those examples. The author then advocates applying the lessons learnt from those examples for things such as social campaings and sales promotions.
As an aside, when I read about a class of people categorized as Mavens, I couldn’t but think about the desis, when they go to the US for the first time. Even for buying things such as vegetables, they derive ultimate satisfaction by visiting atleast 4 shops to identify the lowest priced products where the difference between the highest price and the lowest price might be in the order of 2-4 cents. They then call up all their desi acquaintances and provide them with the “market information” that they gleaned out of their shopping experience:).
I think the ideas suggested by the book to combat ills like nicotine addiction and alcohol addiction can be given serious thought by the governments.

One night @ the call centre
After I finished reading this book today, I searched the net to read some of the reviews and was surprised to find that my impressions matched most of the reviews.
1. The book opens up very well with well thought out characters, with the kind of humour that Chetan Bhagat is known for (especially associated with that Bhakshi character), but loses the plot somewhere in the middle.
2. The first half of the book compels the readers to finish the book in one go.
3. The climax is contrived, and not digestible even given the fact that the story is a fiction.
4. The book seems to be specifically written for Bollywood with a well-packaged love story with a happy ending.
5. In the end, invariably, the readers seem to be betrayed by a story that somewhat began well and ended up being so lousy that they cannot believe that such a book was published.
For me, both the books of Chetan Bhagat give similar kind of feeling towards the end. On both these occasions, however, the opening was so good that I couldn’t leave them till I completed them.

I’m falling in love with this song, especially with the picturization. I think Bhoomika Chawla has pulled off as a charming, and bubbly girl in the song (I haven’t watched the film yet!). Surya too looks good. This is in stark contrast to the Newyork nagaram picturization which has wasted the song altogether. I don’t see the New York I know anywhere and Jyothika looks pathetic.

Suppu: Kuppu mama, what is this Mullaperiyar issue? Is it similar to the Cauvery issue?
Kuppu: No pattamma, this issue is slightly different.

Suppu: In what ways?
Kuppu: See, for one, the Periyar river on which the dam has been built is not a multi-state river. Its entire course is in Kerala only. The Mullaperiyar dam is, hence, situated in Kerala.

Suppu: So, Tamil Nadu is not even related to the project?
Kuppu: No, the dam and the water storage area belong to Tamil Nadu and the state is entitled to “all” the water that flows through the river.

Suppu: A river that flows entirely in Kerala whose water belongs to Tamil Nadu? Now that is pretty interesting!
Kuppu: Yes, pre-independence, the Madras Presidency belonged to the British. The Periyar river used to flow in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore. The British realized that waters from the river could be used in the rain shadow and parched areas of Theni, Madurai district, Sivaganga district and Ramanathapuram district. So, the British forced Travancore to sign a treaty in 1886 to lease the dam to the Madras government for 999 years…

Suppu: Doesn’t that sound very familiar?
Kuppu: You’re right. That is very similar to the way the Cauvery water sharing agreement was signed between the Madras Presidency and the princely state of Mysore. Even there, the water sharing agreement initially favoured the British Madras Presidency.
Coming back to Mullaperiyar, then the British constructed the dam to store the water and elaborate tunnels to transfer the water into its territories (under Madras State). The dam that is present now was constructed in the year 1895.

Suppu: Oh, I think I understand. So, post-independence, Kerala wants a share of water that flows in Periyar.
Kuppu: Though Kerala probably wants water from the river, even as late as 1970, they inked an interstate agreement with Tamil Nadu which revalidated the agreement of 1886.

Suppu: So, in effect it agreed that it doesn’t require water from the river. Anyways, they have 43 other rivers and are fed by copious rain from South West monsoon every year, so Kerala need not worry.
Kuppu: Wrong. According to Kerala, the other rivers are “minor rivers” and are not sufficient to meet its demands. They even constructed a Idukki hydel project 50km downstream of Periyar dam. The settlements along the river course have also increased and they require water from the river.

Suppu: Shouldn’t have Kerala government regulated the development in the area around the course of river knowing well that the water from the river is not guaranteed? Isn’t the problem very simple now? Kerala and Tamil Nadu need to enter into another water-sharing agreement…
Kuppu: No Suppu. The world is not as simple as you think, especially if the politicians of the country are involved. In 1979, Kerala discovered leaks in the dam and promptly questioned the safety of the dam. Then, as a matter of precaution, Tamil Nadu was asked to lower the water lever in the reservoir from 142ft to 136ft until measures were taken to strengthen the dam.

Suppu: I see. So, Kerala found an easier short term route to getting more water downstream from the dam instead of laborious re-negotiations with its neighbour. But, mama, isn’t the safety of the dam important to Kerala?
Kuppu: Absolutely correct. That is the reason Tamil Nadu has carried out strengthening activities as was recommended by the CWC (Central Water Commission). As per CWC recommendations, after the strengthening activities are completed, the reservoir can store upto even 152ft.

Suppu: Let me try to guess what would have happened next. After the completion of repair activities, Tamil Nadu would’ve claimed that the storage level can now increased from 152ft whereas Kerala would still doubt the strength of the dam and want the level to be maintained 136ft.
Kuppu: Yes. You’re more intelligent than what I thought. Moreover, in the interim period when the storage was reduced, it has been observed that some property developers have constructed multi-storey structures in the area that was once occupied by the water in the reservoir which has also been inhabited. Moreover, Kerala claims that the additional storage will also threaten the vegetation and the wildlife in the Periyar tiger reserve.
Tamil Nadu took the matter to the Supreme Court which has allowed for the storage level to be increased to 142ft, but Kerala objects to this decision and hence the present “talks”.

Suppu: Mama, I thought talks should take place between two parties, not with the media as a mediator. As you had told me earlier, media conveniently interprets news and views that way it wants. In Kerala, it creates an unnecessary panic everyday by telling the people that the dam might burst any moment now (in fact it has been doing that for that last 15 years). In Tamil Nadu, the same media claims that Kerala wastes the water from Periyar river by draining it into the Arabian sea.
Why can’t these two parties avoid pretensions and take proper actions? Like checking if the strength of dam is an issue at all at the moment. For the to happen, I think Tamil Nadu should realize and accept that it can no longer be the sole beneficiary of water from the dam (and then see if Kerala still has a problem with the dam strength). Then a forward-looking water sharing agreement should be worked out between the states. Instead of doing that the politicians are arguing on a trivial issue.
Mama, whatever happened to Cauvery issue now.
Kuppu: That issue will crop up only if there is a deficient rainfall kannamma. Otherwise there’s no problem.

Suppu: Oh ok. Everything is very clear to me now. Whenever there’s a deficient rainfall Cauvery issue will raise its head. If there’s a normal/excess rainfall, the Mullaperiyar issue will crop up. Shouldn’t it be the other way round? Can’t these issues be looked at better when there’s less sensation surrounding them? Also, shouldn’t Tamil Nadu now simultaneously look at other ways to manage its water resources? For example, Palar and Tamaraparani rivers almost entirely flow in the state. Shouldn’t it improve the storage of rivers like these and use it for agriculture? Instead of desilting the rivers, it is a mute spectator to illegal sand quarrying. Look at how the Cooum river has almost been destroyed. Whenever I think of thatha-paati’s house, that foul smell comes to my mind. Moreover, some people are advocating this river-linking to solve all water problems. Even assuming that herculean engineering feat is achieved, how do we manage the interstate water conflict given the fact that there is no comprehensive water policy in the country even now?
Kuppu: err.. pattamma you are asking too many questions. Why don’t you go to sleep now? If your amma finds out that you have still not slept, she will scold both of us. Here listen to this music and sleep.

“Omana thingal kidavo” song from Bombay Jayashree’s Vatsalyam album plays on the CD player as both of them doze off.

Source: wikipedia, Frontline, Countercurrents

I attended the second session of the Music Forum last Sunday. (The details of the first session can be found here). The topic for the day was “Identifying the raaga”. The session was held in Raga Sudha Hall in Luz again and Dr. Sunder, Mannakoil Balaji and Smt. R. Vedavalli were the speakers for the day.

The following were the takeaways for me from the session.

1. A raaga should be associated with the lakshana or the unique character associated with the it. Raagas were, for example, associated with specific moods etc. Even a century ago, raagas were taught by making the students learn a lot of krithis in the same raaga and then asking them try singing alaapanas as they understood it. Some arbitrary corrections were made (like “you cannot shake at this position”, “you cannot continue in this swara for a long time” etc.), but there was no set structure in black and white.

2. Aarohanam and avarohanam can, at best, only be a representation of the raagas and cannot define the raaga structure. They were not even used to teach the raaga a century ago. That is, in fact, the reason why though a film song might traverse a particular sequence of swaras that conform to a raaga, it may not be considered to be in that raaga as it may miss out on the raaga lakshana (by not employing the signature gamakas at specific swaras).

3. Musicians should sing the signature swara phrases at the beginning of the alaapanai itself so that audience can identify the raaga right away. Smt.R.Vedavalli demonstrated how raagas with difference in just one swara can be distinguished even when the artiste doesn’t traverse the said swara by identifying the characteristic gamakams in the other swaras or characteristic swara phrases. She used some raaga pairs (I don’t exactly remember which ones; were they shankarabaranam and kalyani, todi and shankarabaranam, purvikalyani and pantuvaraali?) to substantiate her point.

4. The katapayathi scheme of classification of melakartha raagas were a recent innovation. A lot of raagas existed even before the scheme came in vogue and the names of these raagas tweaked to conform to this scheme (In this scheme, the melam number and hence the swaras of the raaga can be identified using the name itself). Hence kalyani became mechakalyani and todi became hanumanthodi.

5. Dr. Sunder mentioned 3 ways in which rasikas can approach identification of raagas: (i) From known to unknown, (ii) from unknown to known?? and (iii) from the aarohanam and avarohanam. I don’t exactly remember if these were the 3 ways (I didn’t take any notes during the session, so some details may be wrong because of my screwed memory).
From known to unknown: Listen to a lot of krithis in a particular raaga and then see if you can identify the raaga when you hear an alaapanai. After all an alaapanai should consist of phrases of different krithis of a raaga
From unknown to known: Listen to the alaapanai of a raaga for 45 minutes continuously and let your ears get used to the prayogams (usage), pravagams (traversals) and gamakams (characteristic shake at specific swaras).
From aarohanams/avarohanams: Don’t remember what he said here.

6. Balaji gave the theoritical details of the Shankarabaranam raaga, giving its melam number 29 (in the scheme, the raaga is called Dheerashankarabaranam), its aarohanam/avarohanam, famous krithis in the raaga and the janya raagas formed out of this melakartha.

My impressions of the session:

The objective of music forum is to “demystify Carnatic music”. Though the first session was a step ahead towards this objective, I don’t think the same can be said about this session. There were a lot of places when I felt completely lost and couldn’t follow the discussion that was on.

1. I think the introduction for the session by Dr.Sunder wasn’t crisp and tight. It was loose and this allowed a lady to put some useless questions on shruthi bedam. The subsequent discussions completely put me (and I suppose laymen like me) off.

2. I think the forum should decide on its target audience. If they want complete novices and laymen, they should avoid somethings during the session. Like Smt. Vedavalli singing an alaapanai and asking the audience to identify the raaga at the beginning itself. After she received the response from a section of the audience , she claimed the audience knew enough while people like me were in the dark. I feel the session cannot be so much interactive if novices are present since the discussion invariably proceeds in a tangential direction.

3. Though the concept of raaga is abstract (in spite of giving it some structure) and there cannot be a single way to learn it, the speakers should not try to make it more abstract. I don’t need to attend a session to know that I have to listen to a lot of music to distinguish and identify the raagas. The speakers should come up with a way to help audience identify the raagas. They can probably list some important raagas in which 70-80% of the krithis are sung in concerts and display the characteristic swara phrases in the raagas. Though an attempt was made towards this, I don’t think it was successful.

4. Lastly, a lot is being said about audience leaving in between in a concert and this affecting the concentration of the singers. In my opinion, each person has several reasons to leave the concert in between. A typical concert goes on till 9:30pm-10pm and most people cannot obviously sit through the entire period. Also, some concerts begin very late, thanks to elaborate felicitation functions and speeches preceeding them. All live performances (concert, plays etc.) have the problem of audience leaving midway. I think the artistes should take it as a given and proceed with their concert.

This continues from the previous post.

• The stage decorations were beautiful and created an instant impression in the minds of the audience. Traditional Carnatic concerts can take a cue from this. I know that this festival had a host of sponsors and the tickets were priced unlike in the traditional concerts. Even then I believe traditional concerts should also have some visual appeal.
• The percussionist should have planned for a much better fusion between themselves. Shri Sivaraman played the traditional tani avartanam for a long time. Instead they could have evolved something that they could play together. The session where one of the percussionists vocally recited and the other played was good.
• Shri Ravikiran accompanied Pandit Bhat whenever he took the lead or when he sung the Rajastani folk song “Kesariya…” in his chitravina. In fact, Shri Sivaraman also played along with the tabla when the Pandit was singing. The Pandit and the tabla player chose to listen when Ravikiran played the last piece “Krishna nee” inspite of Ravikiran’s gestures requesting the Pandit to play. It probably points out the difference in the concert format between Carnatic and Hindustani music.
• When he sang, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhat paused to even explain the meaning of the stanzas he was singing (as the accompanists were playing in the background). I personally felt it was an excellent gesture to connect with the audience and engage them. Carnatic musicians should take a cue from Pandit Bhat, leave their practice of not communicating with the audience during the concert. Vijay Siva’s contention that musicians need to move between silence and music and hence cannot talk to the audience during a concert is all humbug, in my opinion. If you cannot engage the audience, you are not an artiste. No wonder the Pandit had such a loyal fan following in the crowd the just wanted him to play continuously prompting Ravikiran to ask, “Tomorrow is Monday. Don’t you need to go to something called work?”.
• Both the string instrument players are also excellent vocalists. Their voice can compete with that of any mainstream vocalist. I learnt that Ravikiran used to sing in concerts before he started playing the chitravina. But Pandit Bhat’s song was a pleasant surprise.

Overall an excellent experience on a Sunday evening. The review on the concert that appeared in The Hindu today is here.

…is an apt caption for the Hindu Friday Review November Fest which leads the rasikas to the Margazhi music festival in December. I was very fortunate to attend the final concert “Meeting of minds” of the Hindu festival - a sort of fusion between two novel instruments, the chitravina or the gotuvadyam and the mohana veena and the percussion instruments of the South and the North, the mridangam and the tabla respectively.

The instruments

Chitravina: This instrument is older than the popular veena. Though it resembles the veena, it doesn’t have any frets unlike the veena. Now, the frets indicate the swarastanas in a conventional veena. Without them, the player has to be absolutely sure of the positions of the swaras, which would make mastering the instrument more difficult. The other major difference is that chitravina has more strings when compared to the veena which enables the artiste to play in more octaves in the former. There are other minor differences like veena is played by placing the gourd on the lap and by gliding the fingers over the strings whereas the chitravina is placed on the floor and a block is glided over the strings while playing it. The gamakam that instrument can create is much better than the effect of the veena to the ears.

Mohanaveena: This instrument has a body of the guitar with a gourd fitted at the strings-end. The strings of the guitar are, however, replaced with exclusive strings for the mohanaveena and unlike guitar, the instrument is played by plucking individual strings. I think this instrument has frets and Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhat (who is also the inventor of the instrument) mentioned that he runs a lever from his old LML Vespa scooter over the strings of the instrument. The pandit keeps the head of the guitar on his lap and the fitted gourd on the ground (exactly opposite to the way a conventional veena is placed) while playing the instrument. To me, the instrument sounded like a sitar. Its sound had more shrillness when compared to the chitravina.

The artistes

All the artistes were probably one of the greatest to play their respective instruments. Chitravina and Ravikiran are inseparable from each other (a search for either in Google will return results with the other before or after). It seems Ravikiran played for the first time in the Music Academy at the age of two. Umayalapuram Sivaraman, as the announcer himself mentioned, is the emperor of all the mridangam players at the point in time. He has played from the time of Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar. Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhat is himself the inventor of the instrument he plays. I don’t know much about the tabla vidwan, Sri Ramkumar Mishra though.

The songs
The following songs were featured in the concert: Vatapi ganapatim of Hamsadhwani raaga, Pavanaguru in Hamsanandhi, a composition of Ravikiran himself (initially SaRiGa Ma… which he improvised to Ravikiran Mohana Mishramu Sivarama to include all the artistes on stage) in Kiravani, a Rajastani folk song sung by the Pandit and finally Krishna nee begane in yamunaa kalyani played by Ravikiran.

I will write about my impressions of this concert in the next post.

Last weekend, I was chatting with my brother-in-law and sister when we discussed about this post of mine on one of Karan Thapar’s earlier interviews. We contrasted the interviewing styles of Karan Thapar and Vir Sanghvi.

During that chat I told them that I wanted Ram Jethmalani as the next guest and that it would be fun to watch them pitted against each other. CNN-IBN obliged and here’s the interview. No, you must actually watch the video for a better effect. Half the words in the text cannot be even heard in the video . Actually, I guess, CNN-IBN was licking its wounds after Jethmalani ripped apart Sagarika Ghose, CNN-IBN’s answer to NDTV’s Barkha Dutt, when she attempted to interview him last week. So, it probably forced Karan to knock the doors of Jethmalani (who tries to emphasis several times that the interview was taking place in his house and not in the studios) to try its luck one more time…

There is a suburban railway station called “Pazhavanthangal” in the Chennai Beach to Tambaram railway route that I pass through everyday when I take the train to office. Whenever my train, enroute to Tambaram, stops in that station in the morning, I hear an station announcement that says “Passengers, for your kind attention please. A suburban train towards Tambaram will arrive shortly“. The announcement continues for sometime even after my train starts to leave the station.

I am amused by this annoucement because it doesn’t make any sense. Trains in a single direction arrive once every 5 minutes or less during peak hours. Unless the announcement specifies a time, shortly here doesn’t make any sense.