You might know the "300", but have you heard about the "21"?

Today is India's 65'th Republic Day.

After watching a video shared by my friend Deepak Sharma on Facebook several months ago (I think it was on Independence Day on how the brave Sikhs beheaded their own women (sisters, daughters and mothers) to avoid being captured and persecuted by the marauding Muslims) I don't think it is fair to delay any longer the publishing of this post.

This year the viewers of the Hollwood film "300" are eagerly awaiting the release of its sequel. For those of you who have seen "300" you may recall that it was a landmark film in the history of films for the depiction of "Graphical Violence". Inspired by a comic written by Frank Miller, the film extolls and eulogizes the Spartan King Leonidas and his men, a total of 300 warriors for their bravery in resisting Xerxes and his army and in the process, all get killed.

As many of you might know 300 was based on Miller's graphic novel and the makers of the film have agreed that the purpose was to glamorize and fantasize the event and not adhere strictly to the historic facts. What the movie does not mention is the fact that some 700 Thespians also laid down their lives after pledging their alliance to Leonidas. Some others Helots and Thebans also died for Leonidas although a good number of Thebans deserted him and defected to Xerses in the final moments of the battle.

I clearly remember "Leonidas" and the Battle of Thermopylae was the first lesson in my History text book at school (don't know which class though) but what many Indians don't know is that one of the greatest or probably the greatest of the "Last Stands" involved 21 Sikh soldiers, of the 36'th Sikh Regiment, who then as part of the British Raj fought 10,000 Afghan and Orakzai tribesmen in a relatively unknown and unpopular battle called the The Battle of Saragarhi. The battle was fought in the North West Frontier Province, now in Pakistan, when it was part of British India.

The ratio of the Sikh soldier versus the adversary  was 1:476.  All of the 21 soldiers fought till their dying breaths.  All were posthumously awarded the Indian Order of Merit, equivalent to the Victoria Cross and the Param Vir Chakra. Fortunately, the complete story of their heroic and tragic battle can be viewed online on Wikipedia. You can find it at the link below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Saragarhi

One of the most hardy and enterprising people I have known, and of whom India can be proud of are the Sardars. In 1996, when I first stepped outside India to Singapore, I was surprised to see in the local newspaper, "The Straits Times", the picture of the Businessmen of the Year, a couple of Sardars (I recall their last name was Takral) in all their turbans and beards and gait that they are most popular for. I even recall the gatekeeper at Singapore's popular Raffles City Hotel, dressed regally, was a tall well-built Sardar. Even in the seven cities I lived in the U.S, and Toronto, Canada, there wasn't a place where I couldn't find a Punjabi-Daba, or restaurant run by a Sardarji. Only the ubiquitous Malayalee comes close. Even in a small town such as Cypress (on the outskirts of Houston, Texas) I found a restaurant run by a Sardarji and his wife. He was friendly but talkative and he would also tell me how one of his sons was a self-made millionaire in the U.S. I wasn't surprised.

In India anyone would tell you that the entire city of Ludhiana was built with the hands of these able Sardars. Two of the biggest industries that require manual labour, the Automobile and the Argriculture industries thrive there.

When I was in school I cannot tell you how many of the brave Sikhs were my heroes. Thanks to Amar Chitra Katha, Ranjit Singhji, Hari Singh Nalwa, the Sikh Gurus - Guru Nanak, Guru Tegh Bahadur, Guru Gobind Singh, and my favorites Bandha Bahadur and Satwant Kaur were stories I would read over and over again. Years later when I read an abridged version of Amrita Pritam's novel "Pinjar", I actually thought it was the story of  Satwant Kaur. And of course, the stories of Sikh bravery and sacrifice during the Partition is legendary.

Back to the Battle of Sragarhi, The Indian Army has been trying hard to get this story of courage into the History Text books in Indian schools but in vain. This post is just a tiny effort of mine to spread the awareness of this historic battle.

Quoting from the Wikipedia, Saragarhi Day, is a Sikh military commemoration day celebrated on 12 September every year to commemorate The Battle of Saragarhi. Sikh military personnel and Sikh non-military people commemorate the battle around the World every year on 12'th, September. All units of the Sikh Regiment celebrate Saragarhi Day every year as the Regimental Battle Honours Day. The Saragarhi Memorial Gurudwara (temple) was built in memory of the 21 Sikh soldiers that fought at The Battle of Saragarhi

So next time someone tells you that silly Sardarji joke you may just have the best reason to brush it aside or better still think of those "21" and say a prayer for them for laying down their lives in probably the greatest "last stand" in History.
 

ISKCON Jagannath Rath Yathra in Chennai

I was there last Monday on January the 13'th and it was indeed an experience participating in my first ever Jagannath Rath Yathra.

For the folks at ISKCON who have been conducting the rath yathra for several years it was yet another event, efficiently handled. They had conveniently picked a day when the traffic on the roads was dull, the next day being the holiday for Pongal. There were traffic jams but these were resolved efficiently with the help of the Traffic Police and the regular cops who were assigned duty that day. On two occasions I did watch the devotes cutting branches of trees that were obtrusive to the rath's "Gopuram" and was also wondering if that was ethical or right. Even as per ISKCON's beliefs isn't God present in the tree too.  Even a simple gesture of worshipping the tree before cutting its branches or saying some "shlokas" would have made a big difference to me.

I have to admit, the enthusiasm of the devotees was something that deserved to be mentioned, several of them, singing and dancing (sometimes frenzied) throughout the 4 hour journey of the "rath" and these include ladies and small children. Not to forget devotees and volunteers controlling the pulling of the "rath" and managing traffic, singing, chanting and distributing "Prasad" to passers by and people on the roads, in autos, buses and cars. And talking of "Prasad" which was copiously overflowing not only during the rath's journey but at the halls of the destination (Kuchalambal Kalyana Mandapam, Chetpet) also makes me believe that all this is possible only with the hand of God. The expenditure must have been staggering.

Enroute I was even wondering what if there was some emergency as rushing someone in a critical state to the hospital, wouldn't the procession be a hindrance? Fortunately I did not witness any such untoward incidents for the two hours I spent on the journey. And when I am wondering if such "Rath Yathras" are necessary I am only reminded of Swami Vivekananda's message on charity when he said that the greatest gift that one can give away in charity is the dissemination of spiritual knowledge. Srila Prabupada, the founder of ISKCON also advocates the same.
 

Meeting a legend

I have one more Saarang (used to be Mardi Gras) related post before the cultural fest begins at IIT Madras in another couple of weeks.

Before I begin to write about it, I hope you all had a wonderful New Year. I pray all your wishes come true this year.

And so it was Mardi Gras in 1983. I was in the Xth Std at school and for the pro-show, Ananda Shankar and his troupe comprising his wife Tanusree Shankar and company were to perform. I went there with my brother, sister and parents and till date I can say that is was probably the best pro-show I had ever watched at the O.A.T, IIT Madras. The dances were unbelievable. I didn't know that there was someone (credit actually goes to Ananda's parents Uday Shankar and Amala Shankar) who could take all the dance forms of India and present the amalgamation in such a colourful, beautiful and delightful manner. For the first time in my life that I fell in love with Indian dance. To top it all was Ananda's incredible sitar-meets-rock fusion music that never lacked melody or that classical classical touch. For the first half of the show, dances were accompanied to music being played in the background. This probably went on for an hour or an hour and a half. There was a break and what we treated to for the second half was even more unbelievable. Ananda Shankar and his entire band were on stage, with the dancers performing in front of the band. The lighting was incredible for a show staged way back in 1983. Ananda and Tanusree would come a second time in the 90's but this time their music was more modern but there was no band on stage, nevertheless the dances were spectacular.

After the passing away of Ananda Shankar in 1999 I was even told that the troupe's days were over. It was heart-breaking to hear from some folks who had been living in Calcutta too but that was far from the truth. Tanusree Shankar has only taken Ananda's dance company ever forward. On Monday I was fortunate to witness a short but lovely performance (not on the scale of the previous performances with Ananda) at the Kalakshetra in Chennai. It was also a privilege to have had the opportunity to have interacted with the legend herself and her dancers after the show. I did mention to her about the 1983 show and she was so excited to talk about it and about the green campus of IIT Madras. Tanusree choreographs most of the dances and also takes part in some of them. I actually couldn't help admiring her English too. I was given her card and will be writing to her. In fact one of the first albums I reviewed on my great-anonymous-albums.com website was Ananda's classic debut album. The link to the review is here.

After taking her blessings I requested for a picture to which she gladly obliged.

While leaving Kalakshetra I was only wondering what a nice beginning it was to 2014 when I have also planned my first trip to Mayapur via Kolkota. Will I get a chance to visit Tanusree and Ananda Shankar's dance Company? Let me see.
 

Where is the Carnatic Music in a live show?

This has happened many times to me. I plan to write an article or a post on a topic and someone else beats me to it. This was one of them, Sushila Krishnamurthi's article "Sober dress for soulful musc?" that appeared in "The Hindu" on January 6'th, 2013 (yes, early this year) under the "Open Page" section. A week later, on January the 13'th, V.Kalidas responded to Sushila Krishnamurthi's article and titled his article "Clothing soulful music in colourful format".

To summarise the two articles in brief here goes. In her article Sushila had pointed out how today's artistes particularly women were making such an ostentatious show of themselves in live classical music performances that Thyagraja's "Bhakthi" marga and Dikshithar's "Moksha" marga (devotion and liberation) the very foundations of Carnatic music were completely lost.

In Kalidas's rebuttal he talks about artistes (including MS) who took pains to dress immaculately during their performances and that a certain amount of ostentation was not a bad idea and that it only added to the personality of these performers.

So what's my take on this?

Obviously I am going to go with Sushila's article although I am not saying that Kalidas does not have a point. It is just that Kalidas is either oblivious to several things or pretending to be oblivious to things just to contradict Sushila. I also think Sushila was also limited in the openness of her article due to the bindings, restrictions and censorship from "The Hindu". Luckily for me, on my blog I am more free to voice my thoughts.

Let me get straight to the point and explain. Around the end of 2012 and when the "sabhas" in Chennai were overflowing with carnatic music concerts I made a visit to one of them after being invited for a performance. On that day several concerts were scheduled. On arriving at the venue I was actuallly surprised to notice the sparsely populated hall. An instrumental performance was already in place. Among the artistes that evening, the famous Ranjani-Gayatri duo were also to perform.

After meeting with one of the performers (who incidentally had invited me) I was introduced to another performer who was to perform later that evening. After exchanging greetings it took me a while to identify her. This was the same lady I had been watching on the internet for several months and I couldn't even recognize her.  She looked as though she had walked straight out of a movie-set. No one there could avoid noticing her just-been-to-the-parlor-straightened-hair, gorgeous sari worn sensuously, make-up on her face and eyes and lips done seductively. When did carnatic musicians desire to be titillating to other senses besides the aural?

It is not just a "certain amount of ostentation" (as Kalidas has written) that goes into the attire and make-up of several of today's artistes but hours and hours of preparation and that includes time spent shopping for saris, costumes, make-up kits, jewelry and sessions with their beauticians.

When seated in the audience I can easily hear "maamis" commenting and discussing on the singer's "mookuthi", chain, necklace, sari and I wonder whether this what they came to see in a concert. Not to forget receding lines of blouses and constant adjusting of the saree on stage.  Sure our artistes need  not drape the saree around both shoulders but they can still dress modestly and avoid embarassments for themselves on stage and for the viewers watching them.

When I see undue ostentation as this, that artiste's music to me instantly flies out of the window. I try sometimes to look away (mostly down) and focus on the music but the moment I look back at the performer or the ostentation my focus on the music just goes away.

The worst is with twins, particularly ladies where diamond for diamond, colour, dot for dot on their costumes is matched. There are patterns too. Readers will instantly recognize who I am talking about. One sister's sari color matches the color and pattern of the blouse of the other and vice versa. And how many such combinations of saris and blouses do you think this duo may have, just a few? One wonders then, how much time and laborious pains have been undertaken to facilitate such attire and their accompaniments. Kalidas mentions of how MS had a well stocked wardrobe of Kancheepuram silks. Now here is where Kalidas has completely missed something very important. For a non-violent and devotional form of art such as Carnatic music why should it involve so much of violence? Wondering what I am writing about? Read on...

Most of today's south Indian classical musicians come from Brahmin families (by the way, this goes out for non-Brahmin classical singers too) who according to the Vedas and Hindu Culture epitomize non-violent living. Many or most of them are vegetarians and they abhor animal killing and yet in their wardrobes are stacked dozens and dozens of saris and "pattupavadais" and other attire, made from silk, that is produced by killing tens and thousands of silkworms. The killing is actually very tragic and graphic in that that the silkworms that generate the cocoons are killed by drowning and scorching them in boiling water. On an average 10,000 silkworms are killed to make just one silk sari. It is for this very reason that the Maha Periyava of Kanchi refused to wear anything made of silk and refused gifts such as the "Ponnadai". I am told that he even refused to grace functions that involved felicitating him with the traditional silk shawl, just to discourage the use of silk. Unfortunately his followers don't seem to pay any heed to this non-violent attitude of his. You can imagine the wardrobes of our popular singers and can also picture the mass-killing of silkworms that had to be done to fill their wardrobes with items made of silk. Ironically, one of the very popular singers in the Carnatic music scene was even modeling for one particular brand of Silk sari (you know who).

With all this ostentation, in my opinion, the genuine music I long to hear in a live concert is certainly taking a back seat.

Since both Sushila and Kalidas left their email addresses in their articles, I will be writing to both of them to take a look at my article and comment on the same.
 

When Shakuntala Devi visited IIT Madras

Shakuntala Devi passed away in April, this year. I wanted to post this article then but as it has been happening of late, it looks like I always have a post about IIT Madars around the Saarang season and boy do I have a story to tell, when Shakuntala Devi visited IIT Madras in the 80's.

The Indian born Mathematics genius and child prodigy who was named the Mental Calculator was even mentioned in the Guinness Book of World Records for her unbeatable feats with numbers (which I assume stand unbeaten till date) but at IIT Madras something happened that I wonder if she was ever aware of. Sounds odd? Read on... (By the way this is no urban legend, because I WAS THERE.)

It was the early 80's. I am not sure in which class I was studying but just as I reached home from school that evening (I was studying at Vana Vani, inside the IIT Madras campus) my neighbor "Ammu akka" tells me that Shakuntala Devi is scheduled to arrive at around 6:30 PM at the CLT for the Extra Mural Lecture. We had all heard so much about Shakuntala Devi and her super-human skills at computations and numbers and I just couldn't wait to see her. I don't recall if  I took Sathish (my brother ) along but after washing up, changing clothes and taking a quick bite I pedaled to the CLT from my home in Velachery with all the energy and speed I could.

Outside the CLT was a huge crowd as if a "free Amitabh Bachchan" movie was being screened inside. There was no way anyone could even get near the doors of the CLT. All chairs inside were filled and the rest were standing on whatever standing space they could find. I even wondered how Shakuntala Devi was going to make it inside. In the air was this feeling as if some God was going to appear. IIT M Students, Professors, Lecturers, and school students from Kendriya Vidyalaya and Vana Vani were there waiting with bated breath.

Meanwhile the management pro-actively fearing such a turn-out to the show had the prudence to wire the stage with CCTV and had a T.V monitor (luckily with a big screen) positioned outside the CLT so that everyone outside could watch the proceedings going on inside. Knowing that there was no way I could get inside the CLT, I managed to get a vantage position near the T.V monitor.

What a feeling it was when Shakuntala Devi walked through the doors and onto the stage. All of a sudden we became little children looking forward to an awesome "Magic Show" and a "Magic Show" it indeed was. After a formal and brief introduction including details about her feats and Guinness records, Shakuntala took over the mike like the host of some modern day "Reality Show". For the next one hour or maybe more, she swayed the crowd like no other. It was entertainment par excellence. We just wished it would go on forever. It was not with just numbers that Shakuntala was good at. She could easily get the crowd into raptures with her irresistible humour, most of the time she would use numbers and mathematics in them as well. It looked like the audience just couldn't get enough of her.

The best was yet to come and it can only happen in a place of geniuses, as IIT, Madras. Shakuntala picked up two IIT students from the audience. She insisted that both be poor in mathematics. Obviously, how can that be, right? Unknowing to her and to the audience one of the two guys that volunteered was no ordinary math guy at all. Remember this was a time when "aam juntha" were only into calculators, maybe college students had scientific ones. Meanwhile Shakuntala was spitting numbers and answers for math questions from members in the audience like a Gatling gun. Every time someone was asked to give her numbers to calculate her assistant would write the numbers on the blackboard behind her so that the audience could see and probably do the computation on paper or on their calculators. The assistant would also write down the answer as Shakuntala would say it. For the audience's sake Shakuntala would repeat her answer only slowly.

Oblivious to Shakuntala (because she was facing the audience) something was going on behind her, and not many very noticing. Every time Shakuntala was giving the answer to a computation, the assistant was tryring to beat Shakuntala by trying to write down the answer before she could finish. Sometimes the assistant would get a few of the numbers wrong in his answer but sometimes he would get it right. Amidst the applause and the focus of attention being on Shakuntala not many were paying attention to what the assistant was doing but to the people who were observant it was a double delight.

Then came the multiplication of two 12 digit numbers. We were told that this was the one where Shakuntala beat the Omega Computer (I may have got the name of the computer wrong). Not only did Shakuntala beat the computer but she also indicated that the computer  had generated a wrong answer. Anyway, two random 12 digit numbers were sourced from the audience and the answer obviously was going to be a long one. Now comes the best part. Believe me, even before Shakuntala had read out her answer,  the assistant had already WRITTEN HIS DOWN. As I had written earlier,  Shakuntala was indeed reading the answer out slow but watching this guy outsmart the legend was something unbelievable. This time though several people watching the T.V set took notice of what had just happened. As Shakuntala read out the numbers of her answer the assistant did change a couple of numbers in his answer but the amazing part was that all along Shakuntala was oblivious of what was going on behind her. It's a pity she left the show without knowing that. I wonder if she ever did.

Once back at home while discussing the show with "Ammu akka" I mentioned the assistant but she had no idea of what I was talking about, but for me and several others that day who took notice of the volunteer, it was a sweet icing on the cake.
 

Another Delhi trip in the offing and more of Hansi

If things go well I could be visiting Delhi again in September. I still haven't forgotten my previous trip to Hansi (Haryana), Delhi and Agra early this year though.

Will I be lucky and be able to visit The Taj a second time this year?

Meanwhile here is more of Hansi.

Like the cattle up North their feed also is big. Cattle feed is transported in the wee hours of the morning when there is less traffic on the roads. Got this picture of the rear of the vehicle at a Petrol station.

(Click the pics to view them in their original sizes)

And naturally the cattle dung is of much bigger size too. The dung in some places is stacked in the shape of a small hut.

Food in Hansi - Food is a delight with good quality water and milk. Probably the best panneer I ever had was here. Awesome Panneer Pakoras are available on the streets. Hansi is famous for its "Milk Peda". We got some but what really blew my mind away were these coconut pedas sold in shops. I got an entire bottle of them. Once you've had one, I'll bet, you won't stop with one. By the way, they are made in Panipat (yes, that infamous place we studied in History where the three famous and decisive wars were fought).

This peda also comes in a brown oval shaped coin like disc which is similar in taste and very good too.

At home my cousin's home-made biscuits were a treat.

These salty mini samosa's with hardly any oil were great too.

The best Sugarcane juice I ever had, was in Hansi. To the sweet mix they also add a greyish powder which I was told was powdered rock-salt. This particular vendor had a mobile unit which was also mechanized.

Pickles being sold. Never tried them though (not a pickle lover anyway).

Places in and around Hansi -

A walk to the Fort of Prithviraj Chauhan is worth it. The fort is in such a sorry state of affairs and I am not sure how the article on Wikipedia or elsewhere on the web can one mention that it is in a good state of preservation. There is a notice board put up by the government of India about the do's and don'ts at the place but no one seems to be bothered about it. I saw two cricket teams playing inside. People with pets (dogs) are all over the place and were using it like a recreational park. It was pathetic. You also need to watch out from this hill top as you could also seriously injure yourself if you lose your footing up there or try to get adventurous. No guards or security are present to check any of this.

View of Hansi town and the Amti Thalaab from the fort.         

I  was told that these were the impressions of Rani Lakshmi Bai's (Rani of Jhansi) trusted horse's hooves, located near the entrance of the fort.

One of the gates (two pics) to Hansi, again neglected. It is a sad sight with all the modern encroachments. A road goes through it.

 

And of course, the statue of Rani Lakshmibai and her horse on one of the main roads in Hisar.

And finally here's the most widely circulated newspaper of Central India (published from Nagpur), The Hitavada, founded by freedom fighter Gopal Krishna Gokhale in 1911.