Why 'Ga' and why not 'Ma'?

Couple of days back my daughter started learning raag Bhupali [called as Mohanam in Carnatic music].  She has been learning raag Durga [called Shuddha Saveri in Carnatic music] for the past 3 months.  Just to make her understand the notes of Bhupali, told her to replace the note "Ma" in Durga to "Ga" to get Bhupali.  That's when she started asking this persistent question, Why 'Ga' Bappa?  A very difficult question to answer.  Her Sitar teacher made her play the notes of Bhupali, in ascending and descending orders, for her to get comfort.  It took her few sessions to get over the 'Ma' and play 'Ga'.  

I was struggling within myself on how to make her understand the differences in raagas.  I got hold of few audios / videos of Bhupali and Durga [vocal as well as instrumental], and made her listen to them quite a few times, and get feel for the two raagas and the differences.  

According to music therapists, raag Durga is supposed to give a 'joyful' (आनंद) mood and help in dispelling depression, and ushering in positivity and in addition to renewing the energy centres in the body.  While raag Bhupali is supposed to give a feeling of 'Shant' (शांत) i.e., Serene, Quite and Peaceful.. So changing of note "Ma" to "Ga" changes the mood from आनंद to शांत.  

Now the big question in front of me is, how to measure these effects, claimed by music therapists? Want to do a small experiment, where I want to measure the effect of these two raagas on people, especially those with neudo-developmental disorders.  

Here are two hindi film songs one based on Bhupali and the other based on Durga.  One of my all time favourite song "Sayonara.. Sayonara.." from the movie 'Love in Tokyo', is based on raag Bhupali.  

The song बृंदावन का कृष्णा कनैया (by Hemant Kumar, Md Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar) from an old movie 'Miss Mary' is based on raag Durga.  The music is originally created for a Telugu song, and then used in Tamil and Hindi.  Those who have an ear for nuances in music, might be able to feel the differences - 'Ma' in place of 'Ga', leading to शांत and आनंद.  

Now let me add here two lovely short classical presentations, one vocal rendition in raag Durga and the other Bansuri rendition in raag Bhupali.  I am making my daughter listen to these many times (of course, she enjoys too 😀), leading to, she imbibing the differences, so that, on some day, it can inspire her in her playing Sitar.

Raag Durga by Sushree Anuradha Kuber.. 

Raag Bhupali by my Guru Shri Himanshu Nanda

Surname Bemusements!

I like most things of Mumbai... The "Live and let live" attitude of people, making room for a fourth person in a 3 person seat in trains, neighbours responding positively to difficult situations, celebrating festivals together, work ethics of people, kind of freedom that children enjoy (compared to other places I saw), sense of responsibility showed by many youngsters etc. etc.. One thing that makes me uncomfortable in Mumbai is the lack of "individual" touch while addressing people.  Many people of Mumbai prefer to address others with surnames rather than by names.  When people call me "Mr Kamath" or "Mr Sreenivasa", I feel very odd and uncomfortable.  I am Rajeev, and why don't call me by my name?  Before coming to Mumbai, I worked in Bokaro, Bhilai, Visakhapatnam, and Chennai.  And I was born and brought up in Kerala.  All these years never felt such odd, because of the way people address me.  This socially vibrant Mumbai seems to have lost personal touch in this aspect..  

Picture credits:  Google search

Not many people in South India have surnames in their official records such as School Leaving Certificates, Degree Certificates etc. They face an uphill task when they apply for passports or any such document.  They struggle to discover their surnames / last names, and ultimately ends up with being called as something else.  

Picture credits: Google search

In south, for many, the house name becomes their surname.  Many communities in Kerala uses father's name as surnames.  Many don't have a surname at all; they just use initials, that indicate father's name and/ or house name.  I have seen in one community, they need just two names, to take care of any number of generations.. Mathew George's son becomes George Mathew by default.  Father's surname is George and son's surname is Mathew, and that continues for generations.  Chandy Oommen is the name of the son of former Chief Minister of Kerala Oommen Chandy!

In my case the expansion of my initials 'S' became my surname ['Sreenivasa'] in all official records, and actual surname [which should have been 'Kamath'] got lost.  I use it unofficially, only to satisfy the surname obsessed people.  To avoid further confusion, I ensured that my children do have the right surname along with their names in official records. So they have no confusion in their official records.  But, the passport office decided to change whatever was given in the application form of my daughter, and replaced it with my official 'surname'.  Have to live with it for now.  

People from south, really struggle to fill a form where they are expected to provide First Name, Middle Name and Last Name.  I know, it's a challenge for many.  In Andhra Pradesh, it's bit more complex.  Cricket legend V V S Laxman [Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman] has fist name, last name and two middle names? I think, Laxman must be his name, and not surname.  Lucky guy; people call him as Mr. Laxman.  Have seen names which has even 5 or 6 parts.  

I know a person as 'Suresh N' for many years.  Got a bit of shock when heard people calling him as Mr. Nikarthil.  Absolutely no connection with his name.  Nikarthil is his house name.  

When I was working in IIT Madras, happened to meet one guy with name Namboodiripad, and this guy was from Andhra Pradesh.  As this was one of the famous surname in Kerala, I became curious.  It was surname of the first communist Chief Minister of the state.  As I was curious, asked him how did he happen to get this surname? His answer gave me a bit of shock. Seems his father was a staunch communist, and chose the surname of that communist leader for his son!  This solved another puzzle of name of a student of mine, which was Kamarajan Nehru. Kamarajan is the name of an ex. Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, and Nehru is that of our first Prime Minister.  People have freedom to choose names [both first name and last name].  

When I was working in Bokaro, I use to talk to local people in my workplace (Bokaro Steel Plant) on their culture, lifestyle, way of life, social celebrations etc..   I remember, one staff member, whose surname was 'Prasad' telling me that he kept his son's surname as 'Choudhary'.  The reason he gave was, the surname 'Choudhary' has a better chance of getting a government jobs, at that point in time. Things might change when the boy gets to the age of 18 or 20 for him to get a job!

Because of different cultures and ways of life in India, there is no single structure for naming people. We are trying to fit that diversity into a uniform structure [which is not bad], that leads to bemusement.   

Would love to see a system, where people are addressed with their names rather than the so called surnames!

2016 - Looking Back

Every year I use to do an introspection during the year-end period.  Thought of putting it down as a post for me to refer later.  Though I don't make any resolutions, but wanted to show some improvement in satisfaction levels in my own life, and my contributions to other's life.  I think, I'm quite satisfied on those fronts.

The year started with giving second stem cell shot to Pratibha, with a hope that her improvement would get accelerated.   The highlight of February was attending the Chinmaya Naada Bindu Fest at Kolwan Pune (CNB Fest).  I'm not able to find a word for expressing my feeling. Yes, the experience was musical, spiritual, pleasant, satisfying and very inspiring.  Meanwhile got an entry confirmed at the 'Konkani Sammelan of North America' for Pratibha to perform Sitar for 15 minutes.  Thanks to Rajesh Koppikar for making this happen.  This lead to putting focused effort on Pratibha's practice and me starting on Tabla to accompany her.  

In the month of May we participated in a press conference organised by Neurogen Hospital regarding stem cell therapy and Pratibha's progress.  The Malayala Manorama newspaper published a full page article on Pratibha highlighting her improvements. 

Coverage about Pratibha's story, on Malayala Manorama Mumbai Edition

This lead to me getting many (close to 80 to 90) phone calls from 'parents of children with special needs'., over a period of few months.  I patiently explained to them my understanding of stem cells therapy and asked them to take decision based on their own conviction.  Though it was very taxing to explain in details to each and every one of them, that gave immense satisfaction to me, as I could be of help to many such parents.  It was very satisfying to say that more than 25 - 30 of them got stem cell therapy done for their children, and are doing good.

Three weeks (end of June to beginning of July) were spent with Prashant and Kruti (Son and Daughter in Law) in the US.  Stayed for couple of days with my good old friends (Bhasy and Shyamala) in Dallas.  Our first time stay with friends.  Also met another good friend / class mate Prof. Jacob with family at Atlanta.  It was a delight to meet Venkat, another associate of mine, who worked with me at IITM many years back.  Enjoyed all the three occasions.  Felt extremely happy to be at Georgia Tech University for some time. That academic smell was intoxicating.  

Pratibha performing at the Konkani Sammelan, Atlanta, USA

14th and 15th of August this year was another musical experience at Kochi.  I could attend "Raag Rang" organised by good friend Uday. It was an opportunity to listen to day time raags, that too by young musicians Dr. Shashank Matkedar, Smt. Anuradha Kuber, Shri Mukul Kulkarni and Shri Kailas Patra. They were some of the best hindustani music concerts I have ever heard.

Performance by Anuradha Kuber at 'Raag Rang' Kochi [Photo credit: Shri Uday Shenoy]

Another major project that gave me immense satisfaction was Tarang, the music band of differently abled persons.  Driving Tarang has been an awesome experience.  We could present few major stage shows, two of them exceeded one hour.  Choosing the songs, creating musical bits to them, training the members on Sitar, Vocal, Tabla and Bongos gave me immense delight.  

Tarang Performance at Chinmaya Naada Bindu, Kolwan, Pune

Training Pratibha for preparing her perform an hour of performance was quite tedious, but very enjoyable.  Pratibha did perform at Trivandrum, in a get together of my friends, which was attended by well known Hindustani vocalist Smt Abhradita Banerjee.  A major observation was that, Pratibha could realize the mistakes and herself correct and proceed as if nothing has happened!  I consider this to be a major progress in her music journey.  

Pratibha performing at Sree Moolam Club Trivandrum on 29th November [Photo Credit: ananthapurionline.in]

Meeting students, whom I taught more than 25 years back at IIT Madras at Chennai was very nostalgic and relishing.  Another 'Aha' moment was a fabulous tabla duet by Pt Nayan Ghosh and Pt Swapan Dasgupta at the Nehru Centre on 29th December.

Tabla Duet by Pt Nayan Ghosh and Pt Swapan Dasgupta at the Nehru Centre [Photo credit: SMB Family Whatsapp group]

The top 3 of the year are:

• Preparing Pratibha for a one hour Sitar performance
• Working with Tarang team and preparing them to perform stage shows
• I started saying "No", where I should.. I generally find it difficult to say "No".. 

Bottom 3:

• Couldn't put enough time for my Bansuri practice.  [hardly any practice this year]
• Not been reading much
• Wanted to write more frequent blog posts. Couldn't...

Breakthrough:

      Found a right Sitar teacher for Pratibha.

Actin Plan for year 2017:

• At least 6 visits to Chinmaya Naada Bindu this year for intense Bansuri practice
• More blog posts... short ones..
• Read more and spend less time on social media..
• More music practice