ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರೀಯ ಸಂಗೀತದಲ್ಲಿ ಕೃತಿ ಪ್ರಸ್ತುತಿ, ವಾದ್ಯ ಸಹಕಾರ, ತಾಳ ಇವೆಲ್ಲವೂ ನಮ್ಮ ಅರಿವಿಗೆ ಸಂತೋಷವುಂಟುಮಾಡಬೇಕಾದರೆ ಶೃತಿ ಶುದ್ಧತೆ, ರಾಗ ಶುದ್ಧತೆ, ಕೃತಿ ಪಾಠಕ್ಕೆ ನಿಷ್ಠೆಯ ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಆ ಕೃತಿಯ ಮನೋಧರ್ಮಕ್ಕೆ ಒಪ್ಪುವ ಹದವಾದ ಕಾಲಪ್ರಮಾಣವನ್ನೂ ಸಾಧಿಸಬೇಕಾಗುತ್ತದೆ.  ಲಯ (tempo) ಮತ್ತು ಕಾಲ ಪ್ರಮಾಣ (duration with its time units or time volume)  ಯಾವುದೇ ಸಂಗೀತ ಪ್ರಕಾರದ ಜೀವಾಳ. ಈ ಲೇಖನದ ಉದ್ದೇಶ ಕಾಲ ಪ್ರಮಾಣದ ಪ್ರಾಮುಖ್ಯತೆಯನ್ನು ವಿವರಿಸುವುದಲ್ಲ.  ಬದಲಿಗೆ, ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರೀಯ ಸಂಗೀತದ ಎಳೆಯ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳಿಂದ ಹಿಡಿದು ಘನ ವಿದ್ವಾಂಸರುಗಳವರೆಗೆ ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ಆ ಕಾಲ ಪ್ರಮಾಣವನ್ನು ಕೈಗೂಡಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಯಾಕೆ ಅಷ್ಟೊಂದು ಕಷ್ಟಪಡಬೇಕಾಗುತ್ತದೆ ಎಂದು ಚರ್ಚಿಸುವುದಾಗಿದೆ.

ಶೃತಿ ಶುದ್ಧವಾಗಿರಬಹುದು,  ಕಂಠ ಸಿರಿ/ಕೈ ಚಳಕ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿರಬಹುದು, ತಾಳವೂ ಗಟ್ಟಿಯಾಗಿರಬಹುದು.  ಆದರೆ ತಾಳದ ಕಾಲ ಪ್ರಮಾಣವು ಕೃತಿಯ ಆರಂಭದಿಂದ ಅಂತ್ಯದವರೆಗೆ ಒಂದೇ ಮಟ್ಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಉಳಿಯುವ ನಿದರ್ಶನಗಳು ಬಹಳ ಅಪರೂಪ.  ಕೆಲವೊಮ್ಮೆ ಬೇಕೆಂತಲೇ ವಿಳಂಬ ಲಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಆರಂಭಿಸಿ ಕೃತಿಯ ಮಧ್ಯೆ (ಉದಾ: ಚರಣದಿಂದ) ಮಧ್ಯ ಲಯಕ್ಕೆ ಹಾಯುವುದುಂಟು. ಆದರೆ, ಅಂತಹ ಸಂದರ್ಭಗಳಲ್ಲೂ ಕಾಲ ಪ್ರಮಾಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಗ್ರಹಿಕೆಗೆ ಸಿಗಬಲ್ಲ ಮಟ್ಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಏರಿಳಿತಗಳುಂಟಾಗುವುದು ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯ.  ಮಾದರಿ ಪ್ರಪಂಚದಲ್ಲಿ ನಾವಿದ್ದೇವೆಂದು ಭಾವಿಸುವುದಾದರೆ, ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರೀಯ ಸಂಗೀತದ ಆಶಯಗಳು ನಿಸರ್ಗದಿಂದ ಪ್ರಭಾವಿತಗೊಂಡು ಬೆಳೆದವು ಎಂದು ನಂಬುವುದಾದರೆ, ಕೃತಿಗಳ ಪ್ರಸ್ತುತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅಥವಾ ಲಯ ವಾದ್ಯ ವಾದನದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಮಬದ್ಧವಾದ ಕಾಲ ಪ್ರಮಾಣವನ್ನು ಸಾಧಿಸುವುದು ಯಾಕೆ ಅಷ್ಟೊಂದು ಕಷ್ಟಕರ?

ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಜೀವಿಗಳಲ್ಲೂ ಅಂತರ್ಗತವಾದ ದೈನಿಕ ಕಾಲ ಮಾಪನ ಶಕ್ತಿ ಇರುವುದು ತಿಳಿದಿರುವ ವಿಚಾರ.  ಬಹುಪಾಲು ಉದಾಹರಣೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಆ ಅಂತಃಲಯವು ಸೂರ್ಯನೊಂದಿಗೆ ಓಡುವ ಹಗಲು-ಇರುಳಿನ (ಹೆಚ್ಚೂ ಕಡಿಮೆ ೨೪ ಗಂಟೆಗಳ) ಬದಲಾವಣೆಯನ್ನು ಆಧರಿಸಿರುತ್ತದೆ.  ಸೂರ್ಯೋದಯ-ಸೂರ್ಯಾಸ್ತದ ಬಾಹ್ಯ ಸಮಯ ಸೂಚೀ ಸುಳುಹುಗಳು ವಾರಗಟ್ಟಲೆ ಸಿಗದಿದ್ದಾಗ ಜೀವಿಗಳ ಅಂತಃಲಯ ಮಾಪಕವು ತನ್ನ ಸ್ವಾಭಾವಿಕ ದೈನಿಕ ಕಾಲ ಚಕ್ರದಿಂದ ನಿಧಾನವಾಗಿ ದೂರ ಸರಿಯುತ್ತಾ ಹೋಗಿ ಕ್ರಮೇಣ ಆ ಚಕ್ರದ ಕಾಲ ಪ್ರಮಾಣವು ಹಿಗ್ಗುವುದು ಅನೇಕ ಸಂಶೋಧನೆಗಳಿಂದ ದೃಢಪಟ್ಟಿದೆ (ಉದಾ:  ೨೪ ಗಂಟೆಯ ದಿನವು ಸೂರ್ಯನ ಪರಿವೆಯಿಲ್ಲದ ಮನಸ್ಸಿಗೆ ಕ್ರಮೇಣ ೪೮ ಗಂಟೆಗಳ ದಿನವಾಗಿ ಪರಿಣಮಿಸುವುದು).

ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರೀಯ ಸಂಗೀತದ ಲಯ-ಚಕ್ರಗಳು ನಮ್ಮೊಳಗಿನ ಲಯ ಚಕ್ರಗಳಿಗಿಂತ ಭಿನ್ನವಾದುದೇನಲ್ಲ.  ಎರಡೂ ಲಯಗಳೇ.  ಎರಡಕ್ಕೂ ಬಾಹ್ಯ ಸಮಯ ಸೂಚಿಗಳ ಆವಶ್ಯಕತೆ ಇದೆ.  ಅಂತಃಲಯಕ್ಕೆ ಸೂರ್ಯನ ಸೂಚಿ, ಸಂಗೀತ ಲಯಕ್ಕೆ ತಾಳ ಸೂಚಿ. ಕೊನೆಯ ಪಕ್ಷ ಆಗೊಮ್ಮೆ ಈಗೊಮ್ಮೆಯಾದರೂ ಆ ಬಾಹ್ಯ ಸೂಚಿಯ ಆಸರೆ ಸಿಗದಿದ್ದರೆ ತಮ್ಮ ಕಾಲ ಪ್ರಮಾಣವನ್ನು ಅವು ನಿಧಾನವಾಗಿ ಕಳೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತವೆ.  ನಮ್ಮ ಅಂತಃಲಯವು ಸೂರ್ಯನ ಆಸರೆ ಇಲ್ಲದಾಗ ನಿಧಾನವಾಗುತ್ತದೆ ಎಂದು ಒಪ್ಪೋಣ.  ಸಂಗೀತದ ಲಯವು ತಾಳದ ಆಸರೆ ಇದ್ದಾಗ್ಯೂ ಯಾಕೆ ಓಟ-ಎಳೆತಗಳಿಗೊಳಗಾಗಬೇಕು?

ನಾವೆಲ್ಲರೂ ಮಾಡಿ-ನೋಡಿ-ಕೇಳಿ ಅನುಭವಿಸಿರುವಂತೆ ಕೃತಿ ಆರಂಭವಾದಾಗ ಇರುವ ತಾಳದ ವೇಗ ಕ್ರಮೇಣ ಓಟಕ್ಕೊಳಗಾಗಿ ಮುಗಿಯುವ ವೇಳೆಗೆ ಕೃತಿ ಬೇರೆ ತೆರನಾಗಿ ಕೇಳುವುದು ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯ.  ಸಂಗೀತದ ಲಯವು ನಮ್ಮೊಳಗಿನ ದೈನಿಕ ಲಯದಷ್ಟೇ ಪ್ರಾಂಜಳವೂ, ಚಿಕಿತ್ಸಕ ಕರಾರುವಾಕ್ಕುತನ ಹೊಂದಿರುವುದೂ ನಿಜವೇ ಆದರೆ ತೊಂದರೆ ಇರುವುದು ಆ ಲಯಕ್ಕೆ ಆಸರೆಯಾಗಬೇಕಾದ ಬಾಹ್ಯ ಸೂಚಿಯಲ್ಲಿ… ತಾಳದಲ್ಲಿ ಅನ್ನಿಸುತ್ತದೆ.
ನಮ್ಮ ತಾಳವು ಸೂರ್ಯನಷ್ಟು ಪ್ರಜ್ವಲವಾದ ಭೌತಿಕ ಲಯ ಸೂಚಿಯಾಗುವುದು ತುಂಬಾ ಕಷ್ಟ. ಸೂರ್ಯನ ಚಿತ್ತವನ್ನು ಕದಲಿಸುವ ಶಕ್ತಿ ಎಲ್ಲಿದೆ? ತಾಳ ಒಂದು ಜೈವಿಕ ಕ್ರಿಯೆ, ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಅದರ ಚಿತ್ತ ಸೂಕ್ಷ್ಮವಾದುದು.

ಅದೆಲ್ಲಾ ಸರಿ.  ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಕಾಡುವ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ ಇನ್ನೊಂದಿದೆ.  ನಾವು ಮನುಷ್ಯನ ತಾಳದ ಚಂಚಲತೆಯನ್ನು ಮೀರಲು ಯಂತ್ರದ ಸಹಾಯವನ್ನೂ ಪಡೆಯುವುದನ್ನು ನೋಡಿದ್ದೇವೆ.  ತಾಳದ ಯಂತ್ರದ ಕಾಲ ಪ್ರಮಾಣವು ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಕಡಿಮೆ ಆಗವುದು ಬಹುತೇಕ ಅಸಾಧ್ಯ.  ಅಂಥದ್ದರಲ್ಲಿ ಯಂತ್ರದ ತಾಳಕ್ಕೆ ಹಾಡಿದರೆ ಅಥವಾ ನುಡಿಸಿದರೆ ಯಾಕೆ ಮನಸ್ಸಿಗೆ ಹಿಂಸೆಯಾಗುತ್ತದೆ?  ಸಂಗೀತದಲ್ಲಿ ಆ ಚಿಕಿತ್ಸಕ ಕರಾರುವಾಕ್ಕುತನಕ್ಕೆ ಜಾಗವಿಲ್ಲವೇ?  ಸಂಗೀತ ಲಯದಲ್ಲಿ ನಾವು ಬೇಡ ಎಂದರೂ ಬರುವ ಮಾನುಷ ಏರಿಳಿತಗಳು ಸ್ವಾಭಾವಿಕವಾದುವೇ ಎಂಬ ಅನುಮಾನ ಉಂಟಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಅದು ಸ್ವಾಭಾವಿಕವೇ ಇರಬೇಕು.  ಆ ಏರಿಳಿತದ ಮಟ್ಟಕ್ಕೆ ಮಿತಿಯಿದೆ ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಬಹುದೇನೋ.  ದೊಡ್ಡ ಸಾಧಕರೆನಿಸಿಕೊಂಡವರು ತಮ್ಮ ಸಂಗೀತದ ಲಯದ ಏರಿಳಿತಗಳನ್ನು ಸೂಕ್ಷ್ಮಾತಿಸೂಕ್ಷ್ಮ ಮಟ್ಟಕ್ಕೆ ಕೊಂಡೊಯ್ಯುತ್ತಾರೆನಿಸುತ್ತದೆ.  ಅಂಥಾ ಸಂಗೀತವನ್ನು ಅನುಭವಿಸಿದಾಗಲೇ ನಾನು ಆರಂಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಹೇಳಿದ್ದ ತೃಪ್ತಿ ನಮಗೆ ಸಿಗುತ್ತದೇನೋ.

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A classical composition (kriti) in Carnatic music can satisfy the senses of the performer and the listener when the singer/the instrumentalist does justice to his/her pitch (shruti) and maintains the purity of the raga (an assemblage of musical notes that are expected to behave in a characteristic manner) in which the kriti is composed. It is also expected that the composition is presented in its original form with special care given to its lyrical meaning and maintaining a suitable and consistent tempo and its degree of duration (per aavartha) that indicates the mood of the composition.  Tempo and the sense of duration are at the heart of any form of music.  My intention is not to highlight the importance of these indicators that qualify music.  I would rather discuss the difficulties faced by students and experts in achieving consistency in time volume, which affects the tempo of a composition.

A consistent pitch, a pleasing voice/ a skilful handling of an instrument, a firm taala that supports meaningful arithmetic may augour well to support a composition.  However, to listen to a composition that is rendered in a consistent tempo from the beginning until its end is a rare phenomenon.  Sometimes artistes deliberately change the tempo of a composition from slow (vilamba) to medium (madhya) while it is in progress.  Even then, it is frequently noticed that the time volume (which is a measurable time unit shown through taaLa- could be in seconds or minutes for example) of their taaLa varies a lot even when they are singing in either slow or medium tempos.  If we assume for a moment that we live in an ideal world and if we also believe that the elements of Carnatic classical music have evolved under the deep influence of natural forces then it is hard to understand why we fail to maintain the time volume of a taaLa and that too after putting in loads of effort (in vain).

We know that all living organisms have an internal clock and a sense of rhythm in everything their bodies do.  In most cases the biological rhythm follows the day night cycle, which is guided by the Sun.  Therefore, the internal rhythm follows a cyclical time volume of 24 hours that takes its cue when the Sun rises and when the Sun sets.  When living beings are deprived of their external indicator of cyclicity their clock slows down and the size of their rhythmic cycle (time volume) expands.  For example, many scientific experiments have confirmed that when people are exposed to artificial environments with no external indicators of day/night their sleep/wake cycle is shown to expand from 24 hours to gradually become 48 hours.

The sense of musical rhythmic cycles is not very different from our internal biological rhythms. Both have a tempo and both need an external indicator to maintain their tempo.  In case of biological rhythm the external cue is provided by the Sun and in musical rhythm the indicator is the taaLa.  Their sense of time volume will be lost if they don’t get the support of their external indicators at least once in a while.  Let us agree that our internal clock slows down when we lose touch with the Sun or any other proxy for the Sun.  Then it begs to be asked why does the tempo of a musical composition fail to maintain its sense of time volume even when its essential external indicator the taaLa is continuously active?

All of us have experienced variation in the taaLa’s speed during the rendition of any composition and usually the shift tends be from slow to fast.  If musical rhythm is meant to be as precise and as balanced as our internal biological rhythm, then the observed inconsistency in musical rhythm must be due to a problem in its external indicator, which is the taaLa.  Our taaLa, which is a biological activity, cannot match the punctuality and precision of the Sun, which is a physical object.  It is almost impossible to distract the Sun (who can dare!) from its ways.  The taaLa’s  concentration is very fragile and it loses its course with the slightest of perturbations.  To give you a light hearted example…during a performance if the guru (teacher) of the main artiste walks into the concert hall as the singer is still singing, then his taaLa’s heart will start beating faster for sure (now, that is not a good example for a small purturbation…a guru walking in must cause an exciting shock).

All of these arguments may make some sense.  Given all of this, there is still one question that bothers me all the time.  We have used and seen others use machines that provide taaLa support that acts as the essential external indicator that maintains tempo.   A taaLa machine (unlike our hands) can concentration on its task and be very accurate and precise.  But, many of us feel very uneasy when we play or sing for a machine generated taaLa or even listen to something that is composed using a machine.   It makes me wonder whether there is no space for clinical precision in music.  Probably there isn’t.  I think inconsistency and variation in time volume of a taaLa is a natural phenomenon that cannot be and need not be perfected.  However, such variation has an acceptable threshold and it is supposed to be so minimal that it should be beyond the resolution of human senses.  Some of the best ever legendary Carnatic musicians were able to take their inconsistencies to the most minimal level, which could not be detected even by the most trained minds.   Probably only such music can fully satisfy the inner thirst of human senses.

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PS:  I am not happy with the phrase ‘time volume’ to stand for ‘kaala pramaaNa’.  I could not think of any thing better.   I have introduced the simple term ‘duration’ to refer to the absolute time represented by tempo (laya). If you have a better phrase in mind, then please do let me know by a comment.Thank you.

Image courtesy:  AFP and Getty

Quotes: ಗೋಪಾಲ ಕೃಷ್ಣ ಅಡಿಗ (A 20th century Kannada poet)

p 165. Francis Crick, The discoverer of the genetic code:  A biography by Matt Ridley (2006, HarperCollins)

an untiring conversationalist

Crick, a physicist by training  is said to have realized this fundamental difference between the physical and the living world during his interactions with many biologists including Jacques Monod (the co-discoverer of the lac operon).  I would like to add here that we know in a very crude sense that those living gadgets simultaneously undergo correction of old errors (adaptation/selection) and further accumulation of new errors (mutation) at different scales.

I have always had a fascination towards Francis Crick, who is considered by many as one of the best scientific minds of 20th century.  Recently I read a well written biography of Francis Crick by Matt Ridley and it helped me understand the man from many perspectives other than just the DNA double helix and the triplet code, which no doubt are discussed at length in many places including this book.  The biography has compelled me to share some excerpts from the book and add in some of my own perceptions.

The credit of the discovery of DNA double helix went to Crick and Watson and the story of Rosalind Franklin is now in the history books of science.  There was Maurice Wilkins, a strong adversary of Rosalind Franklin who also came very close to building a correct DNA model himself.  Crick’s story made me think that for his entire life (since DNA) he could not get away from this dilemma,  the unsettling dilemma of ‘first come first credited‘.  He fought this dilemma in many forms for most of his life and Matt Ridley also gives many examples for Crick’s territorial possessiveness when it came to his research interests.   The contradiction is very interesting  and I quote

“As 2003 approached, and with it the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of the double helix…Crick stayed well clear [of the celebrations]…He granted only two published interviews at the time of the actual anniversary…In them he emphasized the futility of unreliable reminiscence.  Far more important was what people wrote down at the time, he stressed.  And the celebrations had gone too far:  it was the molecule that mattered, not who discovered it”   p 203

It is true that Crick’s shift in emphasis from the ‘discoverer’ to the ‘molecule’ came mostly because of the time since its discovery in 1953 and the impact DNA had on the way biology was practised in 2003.  I have a strong feeling that the shift also came about to a minor yet significant extent because Crick had a close friendship with Rosalind Franklin.  Franklin had become a family friend of the Cricks and more so because she had succumbed to cancer in her 30s.  When Crick is reported to have made the above remark in an interview he was undergoing treatment for cancer and was 87 years old.  Some of the most moving passages in the biography are in its last chapter…

“When cancer of the colon came in April 2001, Crick did not flinch…it was soon clear that Crick’s cancer had spread, and chemotherapy was necessary. Though frail and ill from chemotherapy, Crick continued to work as hard as possible throughout 2003 and into 2004…on Monday 19 July 2004, surrounded by piles of papers on the dining table at home, still mentally lucid but physically weak, he finished the first handwritten draft of a manuscript [he had been working on since late 2003]…Its last words were…”What could be more important?  So why wait?”  A week later…on 26 July, Crick was taken to the hospital.  On Tuesday he made corrections to a typed version of his draft…on 28 July, he worked a little more but then became semicoherent, imagining that [Christof] Koch was there and arguing with him…Half an hour later Francis Crick lost his consciousness for the last time and a little after seven o’clock that evening, he died”  p 205

Crick was relentless.  He thrived on intellectually stimulating one on one conversations with individuals who spoke passionately about things that interested him and spoke only sense (!).  It could be equated to a duel between two sharp minds.  Whoever fired (sparked) first and fired accurately and consistently used to win the day.  I find Crick’s love for conversations the most endearing aspect of his personality ignoring all of his other mortal flaws that are in all beings.

“Crick saw something of his own younger self in Christof Koch’s intensity and self-confidence.  Perhaps Koch was the partner, the chief conversational partner he was looking for… a role once held by Sydney Brenner and James Watson… [Koch] would play the role for [the last] 18 years of Crick’s life”  p 195

There have been great discoveries and their discoverers…but the genetic code is an icon and Crick became an icon because of it.  It remains to be seen whether a new alphabet and an alternative language of life exists somewhere and if it does, whether we would ever be successful in finding it.

Image courtesy:  www.bbc.co.uk

I have penned many more articles than those that appeared on CanTHeeRava and they are still in my books and on sheets of paper.  I prefer the verb ‘penned’ to ‘typed’ because writing is more intimate than blogging.  In a way, I discriminated against my own blog.  Being a classicist at heart I did not see my own blog worthy of publishing something I thought deserved a better place and by better I mean a place that will be real (a book or a news paper).

Did I also feel insecure that I might run out of ideas one day if I just continued to type them loud on my blog?…well…the thought did cross my mind on a few occasions.  However, I don’t think I will run out of ideas soon…at least I hope…   The quality of those ideas could be debatable and that debate existed in the past as well.  However, the fact remains that I chose not to publish those articles on my own blog.

Am I aiming for critical approval by experts, by people I respect who are not online (many who will never use internet because they are past that age)?  May be I am….  Another thing must also be made clear here.   As mentioned earlier I wrote many things over the last year or so.  A tiny percentage deserved a place relatively more permanent than CanTHeeRava.  A lot of them were not ready to be read and I just put them in cold storage so that they can undergo slow decay.  If there is any life in them they can be revived later.   What I publish here at CanTHeeRava has been mostly factual reflective commentary (how obvious!).  That will continue in future.  The effort will be to add in a fresh dimension wherever possible.  As long as that effort comes to me effortlessly, I will publish them here.

I respect my blog hence I cannot write something that just looks new…I discriminate against my own blog because I think discriminating against your own kind (when they are at an advantage) is acceptable and is expected of a level headed fair minded individual.

I know I am too young to call you Tiger but I know you like it.

I never saw you play…I heard you speak…I heard your peers speaking about you…

Just adored you…

My father had once told me that you had one eye made of glass!  Although factually incorrect it wasn’t notionally false.  As a young boy that had created a special place for you in my book.  Leaving cricket aside, you had an aura that I cannot describe.  An aura of a man, a man many of us can just marvel at.

I have not felt this way before.  The sense of loss caused by your demise has been overwhelming…I miss you Tiger.

You had many more years in you. I wish you could pull through…

with love,

CanTHeeRava

A Lawyer and An Economist

:: Barack Obama and Manmohan Singh ::

:: 9/11 to 9/11/11 ::

I think today, the day after a decade since 9/11, it is the right time to reflect on Barack Obama’s first shot at the presidency of USA.  When Barack Obama became the president of the United States in 2009, when he won the Nobel peace prize (I still don’t think it was a wasted investment by the Nobel committee), many including me were very happy that we have found something that could change our negative perception of the United States.  There is no denying that President Obama has suffered from inheritance of loss.  He has been hit from all sides…be it global economy, be it the wars in the middle-east, be it sections of hard line domestic opposition.  However, I must say that Obama has not followed his eloquence in speech with complete credible action.  Barring a few anecdotal and symbolic successes here and there, the current stand of the Obama administration and the global situation makes me wonder whether the first term in office for Barack Obama has almost been a failed attempt at the presidency of USA.

Unlike the USA that saw a new president in Obama after the Bush era ended, India continues to have Dr Manmohan Singh as its prime minister.  With all their limitations and drawbacks both George W Bush and Dr Singh had a fantastic professional relationship.  Although Obama struck all the right notes when he spoke to Dr Singh in the sidelines of the London summit (soon after he was elected) and then during his visit to India (2010), he has a left a lot to be desired when it comes to tangible difference in the USA’s approach to many things including its ties with India (at least the way it is perceived).  Frankly, I don’t know the specifics.  However, I see a lot of similarity between the way in which Dr Singh and Mr Obama are struggling with their respective jobs.

There is no doubt in the sincerity with which Dr Singh has tried to address the issues facing India.  There is no doubt that President Obama has the right beliefs and has tried to take his country along the best path.  Unfortunately, both of them have been let down by themselves and their colleagues.  Dr Singh has no personal mandate from the people of India because he never contested a Lok Sabha election to be the prime minister and as a result he has lacked authority both within his party as well as the parliament.  Ironically Dr Singh’s first term (UPA 1) although had a lesser numerical strength in the Lok Sabha, could deliver on many things.  An improved political stability at New Delhi has not yielded an improved government performance from his government.

On the other hand, Obama has had to fight with a divided US senate on all domestic issues.  He is almost fighting a majority in his country that does not want to change.  “Yes we can” has gradually become “May be, let’s see”.  To be fair to Obama, three years in office is a very short time to change some of the problems (US’s own creation) that have taken decades to ferment.  He still has around 12 months to convert some of his policy vision statements to reality.  One can only hope that Obama would not be bogged down by US’s internal political conflicts, which has increasingly become a theatre of the absurd.  The same cannot be said of Dr Manmohan Singh.  I personally wish Dr Singh well and hope that his legacy both as a bureaucrat and as a PM will be judged with due fairness and sympathy by India’s history in the making.

India has fought terrorism for a long time.  I remember former British Prime Minister Tony Blair replying to a question during the Iraq enquiry.  He had said that the calculus of risk changed after 9/11.  It may have.  I would just say that the perception of risk changed after 9/11 and the world has not been the same since.

*Image courtesy:  www.guardian.co.uk

I am not going to dissect either India’s slide from the top or the overall mismanagement of the team by the BCCI.  I don’t think India were the top test side in the first place.  Let the cricket experts debate that.  I will just focus on the demoralizing effect of a white-wash (this was indeed a white wash, because it was England who did it!).  The margins of India’s defeats were astonishing.  When the series began around four weeks ago the expectations were really high and rightly so.  We expected a close contest between bat and ball and many believed it could be 2-1 series either way.  Nothing of that sort happened rather it took four weeks of carnage for India to lose four test matches.  As a result, the already depleted Indian test fan base may have depleted further towards obscurity.  The belief of an average Indian cricket fan in test match cricket has taken a beating.

The advent of IPL, India’s victory in the T-20 and ODI world cups have already made a huge impact on the new generation of cricket fans in India.  I don’t want to talk about their impact on the aspirations of upcoming cricketers (it makes me sick).  Test matches have increasingly got decreasing attention from Indian public.  The cricket stadia are usually half empty for test matches (even on weekends) and the viewership ratings (reported) are not promising either.  When a test series between England and India with such great (potential) significance becomes as distressingly  one-sided as it turned out to be, it would be fair if many 12 to 18 year old Indians said ‘it is a depressingly boring sport’.  Those who still love test cricket (many people from my father’s generation and a few from my generation) also went through tremendous agony as the series progressed.  I have to acknowledge the pain of the Indian cricketers who were on that tour.  I am sure they were the most disappointed of all.  However, it appears that many players don’t realize an important responsibility of an India test cap holder.  They may be dropped, rested or ultimately retire from the game someday but they always will have to make sure that cricket fans do not retire from the game ever.

If India wins a test series in the near future against any side, then it might make many Indians ignore the misfortunes of this tour (selective forgetfulness).  But, a four-nil score line on any day against any opposition would have taken its toll on the fan psyche.  It is unbelievable.  Those who understand Indian cricket will be very worried.

Note that both are failed attempts.  If they are successful in what they intended to do, then these acts of self harm do not qualify to be a comfortable punishment rather they prove to be fatal.  In case of a depressed suicide, the person generates sympathy and achieves nothing (only ghosts can empathize with them, if they exist).  In case of a human bomb, the person needlessly kills innocent people, causes permanent disability in many people, damages public properties and in the end generates anger and hatred and achieves nothing.  The traditional and ancient methods of slow bodily punishments that were believed to give mOksha were so difficult and so selfless that they harmed no one other than the person who was undertaking the act and they were a sort of awareness campaigns where the person who underwent self imposed punishment advertised the meaninglessness of human greed and materialism (to put it in simple terms).  You might say in principle there is no difference between a slow suicide and these ancient methods.  I don’t like the idea of obtaining mOksha through slow and self inflicted bodily harm myself but, given their intention (not done out of desperation or depression or selfishness), I would say they had a place in their time.

Somewhere between these extremes, we invented the hunger strike. It causes slow bodily harm.  It does not harm others. It attracts attention from people who care.  Children do it at home for 15 minutes almost once in a week (to get their way) hence can identify with it (!).  An adult, who can remain hungry and not die for weeks, when takes up hunger strike highlighting a big public issue (as Gandhi did), then it attracts more attention and gathers (if has a noble cause) public support.  It fits well with human time references, since desirable decisions can be arrived at and action can be taken (if people are serious) in a couple of weeks.

Protesting through fasting may be an accepted form of hostility.  Like any antibiotic, hunger strikes work well when they are used sparingly.  If one over does it or many people (with no public standing) do it in parallel or sequentially then people who usually care to respond become resistant to it and may even become hostile.  The cause may be worthy of selfless (semi-altruistic) acts of protest through fasting.  We should not forget that people who we elected need some space to work with.  Unlike the case of independence to India, a piece of legislation against corruption cannot become non-negotiable.  The only similarity I see between the fasts that Gandhi undertook and the current series of fasts against corruption is the fact that Gandhi more often than not, needed to control his own people when they went on rioting (although the original idea was a symbolic act of disagreement with the British) and the ongoing series of protests are also against our own people, people we elected as our representatives.

On the hills and on the frozen lakes.

There stood a wooden henge,

Shining dark defiant revenge.

With pillars down deep, biting the snow

As the plot thickened, crying out ‘now’,

Lands slid, quietly, then galloped

Bringing bright burying slopes.

The henge disappeared in time, in a nick

And the flakes stayed frozen still

The wooden roof breathed its cover away

To the plot’s dismay stayed non-stick

Facing the skies, expecting more, until

The pillars gathered strength to make way.

What a script!  Dropped once, twice, thrice…and believe it or not we also saw it dropped the fourth time…  Tendulkar’s team had dropped the cricket world cup not four but five times unlike South Africa’s Herchelle Gibbs who had dropped it once (1999).

I am confusing the issues here.  It was Tendulkar who was dropped four times in the India vs. Pakistan semi final match on Wednesday.  I rarely agree with Sanjay Manjrekar (a cricket commentator these days) but as an exception, I  could not agree more with him when he observed that Tendulkar had lost interest in his innings against Pakistan by the time he was dropped the second time.   I wonder whether Tendulkar had lost his interest in this World cup when he was dropped the fourth time.  Hmm…I don’t think he did.

We have heard talks about ‘destiny’.  Destined to be the world’s finest, the greatest, the poorest, the biggest, the smallest and what not..  Sachin Tendulkar has come one step closer to be a part of the Indian cricket team that could win a cricket world cup.   This time, it has to be India.  It has to be Tendulkar’s cup.  I remember Hansie Cronje (the late South African captain, The World cup, 1999) saying in an advertisement “Yeh cup mujhe dede Thaakoor” with a funny accent.  I am sure Tendulkar will be saying this in his dream and I am sure he can do Gabbar Singh’s accent (not his voice though ).

The reason why I am referring to 1999 again and again is the fact that South Africans were the favourites to win it in 1999.  South Africa should not have lost the semi finals against Australia.  South Africans were destined to win it in 1999 and they ruined it.   2003 was close enough for India.  2003 had the best Indian team ever to have played in a world cup final.  Yes, you heard me right.  2003 team was much better than the team of 2011.   I have heard  Sir Vivian Richards (the West Indian great) say and I quote, “being a tournament favourite does not give any team a divine right to win it”.   Well, I would like to add and say “do your duty and see your rights turning divine”.    My only worry is the possibility that India could ruin its destiny to win the World cup in 2011.  Listen to me.  It is very easy…”don’t ruin your destiny this time“.