You are currently browsing the monthly archive for July 2010.
Twitter has a scheduled maintenance going on as I write this.
There won’t be a better moment to update the blog. So here we go.
Sample this headline (on the allegations of sexual harassment against the women’s weightlifting coach)
Women lifters throw weight behind coach.
I could find 3 puns. How many do you see?
I’m visiting Seattle (as a part of another weekend road-trip). Within 5 minutes of reaching a friend’s place, I heard of an Ustad Amjad Ali Khan concert taking place, and attended.
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Amjad Ali Khan has played several times at Sawai Gandharva in Pune. In 2003, I happened to get a video of one of his performances. He played the Raga Khamaj. During his performance, he was precariously close to the tune of Ekla Chalo Re. So he took a detour, and played Ekla Chalo Re for a minute before going back to the piece he was playing. That was the first time I heard Ekla Chalo Re, and I still vividly recall that performance.
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Yesterday, he played Ekla Chalo Re. After a wait of almost 8 years, I heard it live. Worth every dollar I spent and the 15 hour drive.
The concert was in 3 parts, Khan saab solo, Amaan and Ayaan, and all of them together.
Khan saab avoided a raga vistaar in his solo, and instead played compositions. He started with Hamsadhwani, then played Ekla Chalo Re in Raga Khamaj, and last, a tune in Raga Kaafi. Stellar, as always.
Amaan and Ayaan were less amazing, and played Puriya Dhanashree (I think Hai Rama from Rangeela, Ruth Aa Gayee Re from 1947 Earth belong to this raga). The three together varied from great to cacophony.
But as I said, I got my money’s worth well before all that.
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The concert inspired me to get off my laziness and devote time to playing the instruments that are lying around in my room. I hope the inspiration lasts until I go back to California.
After two less-than-amazing episodes in the third season, Coke Studio hit the third one outta the park.
I immensely loved Mori Araj Suno. It is an emotionally draining song — because of the musical structure and the prominent use of Ni without hitting the Sa.
Abida Parveen’s earlier Ramooz-e-ishq was better than Nigah-e-Darwaishaa, Chori Chori was nice, Pritam was better than nice, and ADP’s Sultanat was surprisingly very good (In fact, it is the theme song for the road-trip I’m currently on).
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In Episode 4, I liked Hor Vi Neevan Ho the most, for its use of sagar veena. It is a soothing listen. It brought down my breathing rate in its first 10 seconds.
I can’t believe I’m inflicting this on my readers. This is Chetan Bhagat’s latest offering for the Times of India, in which he has some solutions for the Indo-Pak problem:
The political parties and the Pakistani people may also have some anti-India sentiments but one can work around that. India can actively provide aid to all major Pakistani political parties in exchange for the peace agenda being included on their manifesto. That will mean whoever comes to power is pro-India. We can expose Pakistanis to what India is all about — a fast-growing, democratic, free country. We have a far stronger media. Every Indian channel should be made free-to-air in Pakistan, with signals strong enough to ensure they reach everyone there. The more India they see, the less likely they are to hate us or get swayed by hate speeches. India can take affirmative initiative, such as scholarships for Pakistani students, making sure they are advertised heavily in order to create a better image of India in Pakistan.
I won’t comment on the writing. For all the mockery that is made of his writing, it clearly works for millions of his readers. I have no problem with that. He admits too, that he is not the best writer around. Peace.
However, I have several issues when he pens a piece on geopolitics. Even folks well versed with politics fail at geopolitics. That it is not Chetan’s arena is obvious.
But I don’t see how he is okay with being reduced to moronic levels of intelligence. Voluntarily.
This will spoil your day, more so if you’re a woman:
You might have to head over to YouTube to watch the video. It requires age verification.
Link via @cgawker.
Remember the super-thief Bunty whose story inspired the movie Oye Lucky Lucky Oye?
You’ve got to hand it to the folks at Bigg Boss. Take all the controversies of 2010, all the lead characters in them must have been approached with a blank cheque.
As an intermittent viewer, the more the merrier, I say.
BJP might have realized Ayodhya has no relevance today, but it’s little cousin VHP isn’t giving up:
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has decided to organise public awareness campaign on constructing Ram Mandir all over the country from August 16 to November 15.
With the BJP, they have a tangible way of gathering feedback (votes) to course-correct themselves. The VHP, which calls itself the premier body of Hindus worldwide (and those on other planets), is so narrowly defined that religion is a zero-sum game for them. If all religions were equal, their USP ceases to exist. That they are desperate about the Ayodhya issue is reasonable, in context.
I don’t know how it’ll all end. But my best guess is that it will follow the pattern that is now clear in America. As religion loses its relevance in the mainstream, those who hold on to their religion will be pushed to extremes. 15% of Americans identify themselves as irreligious (That’s around the percentage of Muslims in India). If I had to take a guess, I’d say over the next two decades, the same will gradually happen in India.
And that is a good thing.
Unless you have some stake (Hah! Pun.) in the VHP.
You can’t make such stories up:
Indonesian Muslims have been praying in the wrong direction for months, facing Somalia when they should have been facing Saudi Arabia, the country’s highest religious authority said. A cleric from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) admitted the body made a mistake last March when calculating where Muslims should turn to when praying. He said new instructions had now been issued and that people only had to shift their position for the correct alignment.
I do hope they’ve accounted for the earth’s curvature. They should be praying into the ground to reach Mecca, else their prayers will just be directed at the stratosphere.
After yet another train accident, Mamata Banerjee accuses the CPI-M of ‘scientific’ sabotaging and .. well, read on:
They (Marxists) are not planning development, but opening clips on tracks. Some comrades are drawing up scientific plans.
…
They have been planning sabotage. They are trying to ruin the (reputation of) Railways by letting cockroaches into food.
This has got to be the baap (or didi) of all conspiracy theories. It even beats the one which says all news channels are funded by money from Saudi Arabia and therefore, they are biased against BJP and Modi.
