On My Plate : Vikram Doctor

Sample these few juicy lines: This one protests about buffaloes being overlooked in favour of cows. Buffalo milk is the source of mozarella cheese. And inspite of having so many buffaloes in India, we are still importing from Italy. Dhikkaar!

I believe in buffaloes. Not so much in their existence, since they do a good job of existing whether or not anyone believes in them, but in their importance. I have lamented in the past in ET the prejudice that so many Indians, sadly even Mahatma Gandhi, have had for cows over buffaloes. The cultural and religious reasons usually advanced for this strike me as dubious , if not downright racist (or speciesist).

And then taste this, a narrative on the consumption of the humble banana in Germany (East, West and Unified):

Fruit at least was one thing they could buy, and that’s probably why so many bananas were bought in those first days. East Germans were soon eating double the amount of bananas than West Germans – whose consumption was already the highest in the EU. But bananas would also feature as the realities of reunification sunk in. West Germans patronisingly called East Germans ‘Bananen’, while Easterners accused the Westerners of practising patronising banana politics – one former Communist leader accused West German parties of handing out free bananas to lure voters in the 1990 elections.

Now, when one writes about food, it does not have to be about recipes or about cooking. It has to be about the place in culture and to use a Hindi word in the zahan of people. Finally, after much pleading, we have this blog by Vikram Doctor called On My Plate. Immediate bookmarking, adding RSS feeds to Google Reader, etc etc is recommended. And I believe Doc doesn’t mind the odd comment here and there, especially if there is a lead to another topic on food.

Appreciating Gulzar – Masoom

As I continue to listen to Gulzar’s songs, old and new, every time one hears a song, there is a new meaning that one discovers. Today I was listening to songs from Masoom, Shekhar Kapur’s first Hindi film as a director.

Each one of the songs is a delightful piece by itself, besides the music of the LoRD. Let’s have a few sample lines from the different songs.

One of my favourite songs, not just of this movie, but of all time is the one sung by Arati Mukherjee – Do Naina Aur Ek Kahani.  This song in the film is picturised as a lullaby sung by the mother Shabana Azmi for her two daughters. The lines are ostensibly a story for the kids. But there is something deeper in it. Have a look. There is antara which goes like this

chhotee see do jheelon mein wo
bahatee rahatee hai
o chhotee see do jheelon mein wo
bahatee rahatee hai
ko_ii sune yaa naa sune
kahatee rahatee hai
kuchh likh ke aur kuchh zubaani

Between two lakes (jheelon – tear drops? remember the song starts Do Naina aur Ek Kahani) flows the story (story of life?). Whether any one listens to it or not, the story goes on and on, sometimes in letters sometimes in voice.

The rest of the song you will see borders on distress and sadness.

Another favourite song, also with explicit nonsense lyrics, reminiscent of Sukumar Ray’s Aabol Taabol is Lakdi Ki Kathi. Song sung by kids having fun. Gulzar has done this many times. Earlier was one in Kitaab – remember VIP underwear banian?

ghodaa thaa ghamandee
pahunchaa sabjii mandee
sabjee mandee baraf padii thi
baraf mein lag gai thandee

The arrogant horse reaches the market, the market is covered with snow, in the snow the horse catches a cold. To what end was the arrogance? Only to catch a cold? Nice.

Finally I will end with Huzur Is Kadar.

koi manachalaa gar pakad legaa aanchal
zaraa sochiye aap kyaa kiijiyegaa
lagaa dein agar badhake zulfon mein kaliyaan
to kyaa apanii zulfein jhatak diijiyegaa

This song was one of those drinking songs when one is a little elevated from the ground.

(All lyrics taken from www.smriti.com and due credit to all respective contributors)

Durga Puja 2009

With an injured leg, movement was curtailed. This translated into aborted puja pandal hopping this year. However, one did go to nearby puja pandals viz. Chembur and Shivaji Park

From Durga Puja 2009

Chembur took up the design of an old Bengal estate. One can still see some of it in upcountry Bengal.

In Shivaji Park, under the auspicies of the Bengal Club, the main attraction for me are the food stalls. However, the crowd was immense and the ground was muddy. Hence, for the greater good, it was ditched. One also had to head home in the traffic.

From Durga Puja 2009

Well, one will have to wait for next year for the grub.

John Le Carre – A Most Wanted Man

I just finished John Le Carre’s A Most Wanted Man, his latest novel. Le Carre has found a new canvas – the Jihad and the blundering of the intelligence community. In my view, this is one of his best in the post-Smiley era. My personal top three would include this book along with The Russia House and The Constant Gardener.

A key element of Le Carre in the post-Smiley era has been the clear focus on the people and lesser importance given to the tradecraft of the intelligence community. The characters have a more deeper and more human personification. There is more to read about how each character is thinking. It was there earlier too but there were fair number of pages devoted to tradecraft.

A Most Wanted Man continues this. Who is a terrorist? And who is killing for a just cause? The lines are blurred. There’s a British private banker who discovers that not all the funds he has are being used or were used for legitimate purposes. There is a lawyer who does not want to believe that her client can be anything but a victim. There are spooks who want to remove anyone with even the slightest of “Islamic” tradition in their life. There are governments, allies in the “war on terror”, who don’t trust each other.

As in Le Carre’s novels in the past, there is no winner or losers. There are victims who move from one state of being to another. There are political winners, winners because of their self-proclaimed righteousness and dedication to their “war on terror”.

I suppose a film based on this book would be coming soon.

AR Rahman – The Musical Storm

Kamini Mathai’s “AR Rahman – The Musical Storm” is a fascinating book on many counts. At times it is slow, repetitive and seems to be full of eulogies. But it also opens up AR Rahman’s world with some interesting insights into one of the most brilliant individuals of our times.

As a fan of AR Rahman and , there are many questions I have e.g. how does he get that song to a level where even if one tries, one can never just listen casually and get away with it?

Take for example the song Jaage Hain from Guru (2008).

I have the song on my phone and have had the opportunity to listen to it while traveling to office or returning back. It starts with a simple soft prayer like chant. And then the strings team start. And there’s a break. Then ARR’s voice breaks in, again slowly, almost cracking up. And then he jumps to a high pitch. By this time you have goosebumps, your mind is jammed trying at one level to keep pace with the musical journey while gathering the meaning of Gulzar’s lyrics. And then all hell breaks loose with the choir.

Listening to every song made by AR Rahman is an experience, an experience that is both spiritual (in the sense it takes into the meaning of the song) and material (in the sense that it entertains you).

Answers to such questions is what one seeks when one reads any writing on the man. Kamini does not disappoint. I was able to discern three main insights into the man from the book.

1. AR Rahman (note: He does not like to be called Rahman as it is the name of Allah. Instead AR, ARR or AR Rahman in full) takes music as a form of devotion, one with his faith. A pious Muslim, his faith is a source of strength and peace and for him, composing music is a holy act of creation that serves as a focal point of all his energies.

He is known for taking enormous time with his tunes, often delaying movie releases. When people come to meet him, they have to wait because he is busy inside his studio. Even though he says he will be out in 10 minutes, it is not always so. Quoting from the book, AR Rahman says he immerses himself into the music and the act of composing music. When he is in that state, he will get out only when it is done – to his satisfaction.

That immersion, on hindsight, can be felt in every composition of his.

2. AR Rahman never filches from anyone. Everyone is given a credit. Even the person who does backing vocals and only does “la la la”. And he does not direct. He just says “Play something”. Or “Just be free”. Or “Make it wild”. And his musicians, singers, lyric writers, engineers do just that.

Naveen, a flautist, was asked to “play something”. A few notes were given. So he played. You can hear his “something” in the Bombay Theme

All this means that not only is AR Rahman creating, he is getting everyone around him to be creative as well.

3. There was one line in the book “every song should be a masterpiece”. That kind of says it all.

I duly recommend reading this book – to really understand how an individual can create brilliance.

Rediscovering Pink Floyd with Songbird

Songbird, an Open Source Music Player offers the feature called MashTape where for the song that is being played, it pulls hajaar stuff from the web including bios, reviews from Amazon, videos from youtube, etc. I had installed it earlier but had not used it so extensively. Now, I was issued a new laptop and while setting up my favourite applications, decided to opt for Songbird as against default Windows Media Player.

So did that and then imported all my music into the library. I started with Pink Floyd. Immediately, I was offered all kinds of content. As I started going through them, I realised that this is not just an application where you leave the music playing in the background and continue to do your work. This application engages you. And you engage with it. In the process, you go deep into your music.

I would like a feature for lyrics and for microblogging about the song / artist that I am listening to. There is a last.fm addon but I haven’t figured how it works.

Anyway, let’s have some Pink Floyd. Anyone remember this album.

Dan Epstein of Amazon.com gives the editorial review (which Songbird has pulled up for me). It says

The last release from the Roger Waters-led incarnation of the band, The Final Cut is easily the most darkly provocative entry in the entire Pink Floyd catalog.

Dark it definitely is. And personal. The criticism, at times rabid, of Maggie Thatcher, the Falklands War, etc. is overpowering to ignore.

Atom Heart Mother, Pink Floyd

I first heard AHM when I must have been in 5th or 6th standard. An old cassette of a family friend found its way to my hands and I was extremely fascinated with the cow. So I put it on my tape recorder and heard Roger Waters intone If. The only piece in the album with any lyrics. And what a song. I take the liberty of posting the lyrics here.

If I were a swan, I’d be gone
If I were a train, I’d be late
If I were a good man, I’d talk with you more often than I do

If I were asleep, I could dream
If I were afraid, I could hide
If I go insane, please don’t put your wires in my brain

(Gilmour flirts with the guitar here)

If I were the moon I’d be cool
If I were a road, I would bend
If I were a good man, I’d understand the spaces between friends

If I were allowed, I would cry
If I were with you, I’d be home and dry
And if I go insance, will you still let me join in with the game.

Over and out for now.

Book Review: My Friend Sancho

All this week, Amit Varma’s My Friend Sancho would be hitting stores across the country. It has already hit Mumbai and yours truly had the good fortune of picking up a copy (signed by the author, of course). You can catch up with Amit around the country. The schedule is on his blog

Cover Art of My Friend Sancho, Image Owner: The India Uncut Blog

Here’s my review (without any spoilers)

This book is recommended for the free and light writing style. The story is tight and short. There is no meandering and wastefulness. The language is open and accessible. No big words. No flaunting of one’s vocabulary. Not surprisingly, the writing style is consistent with the India Uncut style.

I have lost the reading habit over the last few years with all the heavy stuff I need to read at work. Reading long posts in blogs are extremely tiresome for me. This book addresses that problem. I finished the book in one sitting briefly interrupted for lunch.

It may be passed off as another pop fiction. But then, that’s what Amit aims for. I don’t think he really cares about it being a literary classic. Hell, I don’t think it should make into English language textbooks. But then, why not?

For fans of India Uncut, a short message (spoiler warning)

Many references to the author incorporated in the book. The repeated browsing by the protagonist of the India Uncut blog is a plug for the author’s own blog. Repeated oft. Can be after a point irritating. Other references include black coffee, visiting a large book store in a mall in Andheri, playing poker online and the Bongness.  References to a certain elite mailing list that Amit is part of including one on infant sacrifices.

Final Verdict

It was a good entertaining read. And it has triggered an appetite for more of the same.

On the subject of Pirates

Pirates have been part of popular culture for centuries. They make memorable characters in comics, books, movies, amusement parks and video games. Recently too, pirates have been in the news. The Somalian Pirates have been ruling the waters off the Horn of Africa for the last few years. Americans have taken an interest recently as one of their ships was hijacked. The Navy Seals came in to rescue the captain.

Johann Hari makes an interesting theory about these Somalian pirates. He says there’s some redemption happening for all the environmental and economic devastation that the western powers have caused in Somalia. I quote from the article:

The story of the 2009 war on piracy was best summarised by another pirate, who lived and died in the fourth century BC. He was captured and brought to Alexander the Great, who demanded to know “what he meant by keeping possession of the sea.” The pirate smiled, and responded: “What you mean by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, while you, who do it with a great fleet, are called emperor.” Once again, our great imperial fleets sail – but who is the robber?

The debate of course continues with governments and Navies of the world breaking their heads on it.

Across the world, Pirate Bay founders were sentenced to 1 year imprisonment and a fine as well. Of course, it hasn’t detered anyone. The Swedish Pirate Party added 3000+ new members within seven hours making them the fifth largest political party in Sweden. It seems the ruling has only made online piracy more active. And one can still use Google to find unauthorised copies of any music or video.

Coming back to the fun we have with pirates in popular culture, Morgan Meis does a piece on this fascination. He writes

Abdi Farah Juha, a resident of Puntland, puts it succinctly: “They wed the most beautiful girls; they are building big houses; they have new cars; new guns.”
And why shouldn’t they? These men are pirates, and pirates are cool.

[...]

The pirate is, quite literally, taking a chance. In doing so, pirates reenact the basic process that everyone goes through in becoming a person. You start out with very little sense of the world, and you gradually gain experience and put it all together. Pirates are simply less complacent than the rest of us.

I will leave with visuals of some of my favourite pirates (or representation of pirates)

Captain Jack Sparrow

And this one for the laughs

Red Beard

Cheerio, Mateys

Prasoon Joshi – Hey Kaala Bandar

There were days when one didn’t know which way to turn – there was Shailendra, Majrooh, Shakeel Badayuni, Hasrat Jaipuri, Sahir, Gulshan Bawra, Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, Rajinder Krishan, Anand Bakshi – legendary poets writing for the masters of music – Salil Chowdhury, SJ, Naushad, SD Burman, RD Burman et al. From that age, today we have only Gulzar and Javed Akhtar holding the fort.

Personally, I prefer Gulzar’s metaphors “zariwale neele aasman” to Javed Akhtar’s verbosity “albele albele tan, lachchkile lachchkile tan”.

One person who seems to be proving to be a strong contender is Prasoon Joshi. His usage of the metaphor is quite impressive.  I am have been listening to the soundtrack of Delhi-6, especially Hey Kaala Bandar. I present my observations of the lyrics (the melody part, not the English rap lyrics).

Here’s one snip

Ghoonghat Ki Gehrai Mein
Tan Failaye Kaun Hai
Jab Safed LibaaS mein
Kaala Sa Sach Moll Hai

Another snip from the song

Kasme To Moongfali Hai
Jab Jee Chhahe Hum Khaate
Upar Se Na Na Na Karte
Par Thaali Aage Sarkate

“Moongfali” – peanuts, eh? In the Mumbai local trains and bus stops, the peanut fellow comes in small 1 rupee / 2 rupees rolled packets. They are sold as “timepass”. So in effect what Prasoon is saying that we make promises as timepass, whenever we want – it’s just another trivial part of our lives.

“Thaali Aage Sarkate” – holding up the plate while saying no. A typical trait in everyone – saying no, I have eaten and yet not resisting when more helpings are given.

Going down to the end of the song

Saare Reeti Rivaaz Hatakar
Dekho Apne Ghar Ke Andar
Shaayad Kahin Kissiko Kone Mein
Ghoom Raha Hai Kaala Bandar

It is my conjecture that “Kaala Bandar” refers to the monkey man scare in Delhi. I would like to be corrected. Assuming this conjecture, the above snip has some insightful words – “Saare Reeti Rivaaz Hatakar” meaning jettisoning rules and customs; by extension throwing away one’s dogma; and even more, opening up one’s eyes.

He is saying, you open up your eyes and you will see the monkey inside you – all the hoaxes, the fears, the inhibitions, the dread.

Nice stuff. And then Prasoon Joshi closes the piece with these two lines

Jaane Kaunse Rang Mein Range
Hamaam Mein Hum Saare Nange

Touche

Sukhwinder Singh – Chhaiya to Jai

Consider the following list, not exhaustive

1. Kaava Kaava
2. Chaiyya Chaiyya
3. Ramta Jogi
4. Chak De India
5. Dard-e-Disco
6. Fashion Ka Jalwa
7. Jai Ho

They are all Sukhwinder songs, no doubt. And all hit numbers. But there is more – the phrases specifically are so well entrenched into our consciousness. No doubt the lyricist is to be complemented. But a major reason for these phrases to have such enduring resonance in our minds is the voice that sung them originally.

Sukhwinder Singh is one of those apecial singers who gets tunes made for him i.e. music directors do not call him for all and sundry songs. They call him when there is something significant, something challenging, something that only Sukhwinder can do.

Among the others in the current generation, there’s Sonu Nigam, Shaan and KK who invoke the best out of all music directors.

But back to Sukhwinder. (I am not linking you to the wikipedia page as it is very shoddily written. Instead I have linked to the imdb page.) Now, “Jai Ho“, the song from Slumdog which has been nominated for Best Song at the Academy Awards has the full Sukhi (as he is called by his peers) energy and vitality required for the song. As I have written about Jai Ho in the previous post, the song opens up the undying spirit of the young street smart slum boy. And the singer had to bring it out and it was done.

So next time there is a phrase that becomes a war cry, it would most probably be a Sukhwinder song

Jai Ho!!