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Tyagaraja  “Naa jayammunu joochi nammare devuni” Last August, senior musician O.S.Thyagarajan was performing at Mumbai’s Shanmukhananda Sabha. One after other Tyagaraja kirtanas flowed. It was blissful, but was a surprise as well. It was not specifically a Tyagaraja festival, but one was delighted. Just a few days before that an article appeared that tried to portray a composer, revered as a Saint by singers of many generations now not in the right spirit. The writer had tried to show Carnatic Music is inherently casteist and how it is proved from what Tyagaraja himself had written in his famous Gowlai Pancaratna Kriti, ‘Dudugukala’ in one of the Caranams. Coming soon after the publication of that article, perhaps many in the audience would have been grateful to OST for making his whole concert a homage to Tyagaraja. OST brought out the greatness of Tyagaraja in all his true colours. When he sang ‘Sattaleni dinamulu vaccena’ in Naganandhini, Tyagarja’s lament on the nat...

I got a lesson in how not to tell stories to our children about our past, about our puranas, itihasas and our festivals recently. My cousin who grew up in Kerala, went to school there apparently commented that what a state it is to celebrate a fall guy. How insensitive, arrogant it is I thought when I heard his mother say this, and immediately told her, don’t we celebrate Narakasura on Diwali. There is a problem about how we look at our festivals, and how we narrate our puranas and itihasas to our children. For long I have been irked by, should I say the western way of looking at every festival as “victory of good over evil”.  We have no clear good and evil, for an evil can transform to good, a saintly soul can turn a sinner. I am still angry at what my cousin had said, for his parents now live not very far from the Thirukatkarai temple, the Lord who graced Bali. When we were there last week, Onam utsavam was in full swing and we had darshan of Thirukatkappan as Nar...

I had to write this as a follow up to the Slander post that I wrote in June. Sunday, September 4th Raghuram Rajan will leave Reserve Bank of India, handing over the reins to Urjit Patel. By now many questions would have been raised on the choice of Patel, markets reacted, and Prime Minister’s detractors taking their usual potshots at the Ambani connection. But, in all this the man who went against Rajan, first mainly on him being not fully Indian has endorsed Patel. Subramaniam Swamy has no problems with the fact that Patel didn’t “officially” become a citizen till 2013 when he had to assume office as deputy governor of RBI. The charge against Rajan was he held on to his green card, that was akin to being a US citizen for Swamy. But, Patel having worked with the government in various capacities since 1998 opted for Indian citizenship only in 2013 is immaterial. Patel was also educated in institutions abroad, from London School of Economics to Oxford and Yale. ...

It is the beginning of Paryushan parv when members of Jain community abstain from a food, and ask for forgiveness. There is a raging battle about ban on slaughter and sale of meat in Mumbai. I am not getting in to the politics of it. But, during a recent trip to Kazhugumalai and Azhagar Kovil in South Tamil Nadu, the practice of animal slaughter in public spaces, and that to spaces that are associated with communities that don’t kill or eat meat was shocking. This is like a resurgence of those who want to assert their right to kill. Once again, it may be politically incorrect to point this out, but I have to express what I felt - to see bloodstained floor just in front of rocks carved with Jaina saints was sad. I don't know who occupied the space first, the Jainas or the local deity and followers who believe in animal sacrifice. But, can't we even have that much respect for a faith that believes in extreme ahimsa? A board put up at the site states no alcoh...

“On the best of the mountains on which hang multitudes of waterladen clouds, which is inhabited by the lords serpents … in the thickest of the slopes of which … by the lord of the goddess of heroism. Which is adorned with windows, doors, beautiful picture galleries, ledges, statues of nymphs of Indra and the like, which is ornamented with beautiful pillars and stairs and has a temple of the Buddha inside” – Inscription on Cave 16 walls                                History and fiction don’t meet, but what do we do with the genre of historic fiction. Historians obviously would hate it, but to ordinary folks they can be just another story, and at times engrossing and inspiring. I might belong to the last of the generation that read Kalki Krishnamurthy’s ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ as a serial in the magazine Kalki. When Kalki, t...

Few weeks ago, an announcement by young Vidwan T.M.Krishna to withdraw from the famous Chennai December season shocked a lot of rasikas, stirred a controversy in the (English) media, a few murmurs in the corridors of Sabhas. So far it has not shown any signs of becoming a great controversy to hit the Carnatic Music scene since the Tamil Isai controversy in the mid-twentieth century. Chennai music season, though a political by-product of Independence Movement, survived on the strength of great musicians, waned a little over 70s & 80s, revived in the 90s, and developed in the last two decades as one of the largest global cultural festival. The revival since 90s, explosion in the number of Sabhas, increasing number of day long concerts, great number of young performers, good amount of money have been a result of few things – one large corporate sponsorships, NRI money and enthusiastic crop of young artists from India and a few NRIs. One of the complaints Krishna makes is abou...

Why should I be writing any on this when the chapter is over and everyone from top economists to Bollywood stars have expressed their views. Just pouring my thoughts out and nothing else. First, when Raghuram Rajan’s appointment was announced as the Governor of Reserve Bank of India Subramaniam Swamy and his supporters started a campaign saying Rajan was an American citizen and hence should not be allowed to occupy one of the most important posts in the country. If Raghuram Rajan was indeed an American citizen either at the time of appointment or was found so later when the party supported by Swamy came to power, how difficult was it for them to establish that and sack him. Is this country so poor with its record keeping, that a simple fact like Raghuram Rajan’s passport could not be verified. Rajan said he has always held only Indian passport and didn’t take any other citizenship ever. Our MEA cannot verify if this is fact or not in a day? If Rajan was accused of...