The spirit of music at Thiruvayaru

It was five in the morning. I was walking through the narrow lanes of the veedhi sloshed with dregs of sleep, thrusting my legs forward amongst the early risers of this holy town. The cold air was suffused with the divine chants breezing from the typical antiquated wide mouthed speakers hanging at tall poles throughout the mud lanes of Thiruvayaru. The mud lanes looked more intense; thanks to the sodium vapour lamps hanging from the towering iron towers. I had started from Chennai to Thiruvayaru with my IT pals. This time, the Bahula panchami, the auspicious star for the Thyagaraja Utsavam befell serendipitously on a Sunday, making it very convenient for working folks like me. Sankar, the dulcet voiced classical singer, Sriimathy, the pretty mellifluous singer and Yashwant, the tall, perky, pencil line moustached violinist were my comrades in this musical jaunt. 

Sankar began to set his Canon Digital Camera on roll and started capturing what all his eyes laid on. Cloth banners of various organizations like THE HINDU and STATE BANK OF INDIA hung in the air welcoming us to the 161st Thyagaraja Aradhana with the immortal words of Lord Thyagaraja “Endharo Mahanubhavulu Andhariki Vandhanamu”. We trudged through the narrow roads leading to Ammal Agraharam where we stayed in Sankar’s relative’s place. The green fields on both the sides of the narrow roads soothed our eyes which were fed on a staple diet of flickering monitor screens and never ending lines of incomprehensible code. We stayed in an orthodox Brahmin family taking care of the Veda Patashala there. After tantalizing our senses with larger than life davaras of filter kaapi and pongal, we started our journey towards the Brihadeeshwara Temple

As soon as I reached the entrance of the temple, the incongruity of the texture of the sanctum disturbed my eyes. It was blatantly evident that the main Raja Gopuram had been renovated recently. The dull and morose brown hues defiled the beautiful imposing structure. As I went inside, I however found that more than one half of the temple was under renovation. 

Movies often have that indescribable power to blur reality with fantasy. As I walked past the big black Nandi statue, I could see my favorite thespian of yester years, Shivaji Ganesan (aka Raja Raja Chozhan) walking around in his inimitable regal demeanor inspecting the construction works of Nandi. As I walked by the Devi Sannadhi, the devotional vocal strains coming from the prahaaram beguiled me. 

The divine Lalitha sahasranamam was blended with bass guitar chords and Rahmanesque techno frippery. It was as if, the pious lady with big bindhi and vase of jasmine flowers in her head, L.R.Easwari was replaced with a chic sporting kurta and jeans, junk jewellery, a small dash of vibhuti on her forehead, singing with full vigour. I fell for the song, the moment I heard it. I never knew slokas could sound so rocking and youthful.

Just like any other famous heritage monument, this temple was full of scores of foreigners with sleek, sexy video cameras, enchanted by the astounding architecture of the temple. Many NRIs, desirous to get back to their roots had also thronged the temple. The temple pujari, enamored by their desi-firangi connections, performed archanai with slokas like “C2C Project Management Namyaha!!” While we were returning in our rented car, the driver proudly claimed that his car was a favorite among doyens of carnatic musicians. He recalled with fervor, how Sriram Parasuram and Anuradha Sriram would move around in his car, singing carnatic numbers zestfully, reveling in the spirit of Carnatic music. 

We went to the Kallanai (stone dam) where the good ol’ Kaveri river flows through. Carnatic music shares a special bonding with Kaveri. Several composers like Shyama Shastry and like have composed sonnets praising the beauty of Kaveri. During our journey, we came across several villages which had become an inseparable part of musicians’ name. Interestingly most of those villages came under the Cauvery belt. I was thrilled to see a small plaque written Umayalpuram as my car zoomed past the titular small village. As my car vroomed along the narrow muddy lane of the village, I wondered if I could hear the perfectly shruti aligned, singing mridangam of Shri. Umayalpuram Sivaraman amidst the rustling of trees. The incoherent chants of the village women folk sounded like ghumiki*. 

Inspired by the romantic number from the film Sangamam which showed Patteeswaram as the perfect setting for romance, Sankar was hell bent in going to Patteeswaram. We reached the small village near Kumbakonam and went to the famous Durga Temple. As we entered the serene sanctum of Vedha Pureeswarar, we were so gob smacked by the nishabd and pious atmosphere of the sannadhi that we decided to sing a kriti together in the name of Lord Shiva. Sankar in his velveted voice reverberated the sannadhi with divine fervor in his viruththam Kripa samudhram sumukam Trinethram. We joined with him in the rendition of Bo Shambo Shiva Shambo after the **viruththam. The experience was ineffable. While singing, in front of the divine, I felt the naadham of Sambho reverberating in every cell of my body. After our rendition, we were gifted with garlands and Prasad of the divine by the temple authorities. Smug with blissful happiness, we left for Thiruvayaru. 

Our journey was spiced up by Sankar updating my raga database with fresh ragas and providing interesting trivia about ragas. Sample this. If a carnatic music aficionado were to marry a Hindustani music obsessed gal and borne twins by their marriage, they can probably name them as Madhuvanthi and Dharmavathi (because Madhuvanthi is the Hindustani equivalent of Dharmavathi.) Sriimathy also sang some melodious ragas with élan and several forgotten numbers from Cine music. To my surprise, my car driver played that rocking Lalitha Sahasranamam which I heard in Brihadeeshwara temple. Influenced by the likes of Apache Indian and Blaaze, I tried to rap (or should it be rave??) in the praises of Ambal with the divine Sahasranamam setting the right chords for it. I really can’t comment more about this interesting experiment (you have to ask my friends). Yashwant enthralled us too with his favourite melodious numbers, animated with typical Bhagavathar expressions and calisthenics. 

After tasting the famous Ashoka Halwa - a sensuous red slimy gelly served with namkeen, in the reputed halwa stall of Thiruvayaru, we returned back early to our house to freshen up, lest we should miss any part of the action because of fatigue on the most anticipated day for lovers of Carnatic Music.

As I woke up on that lovely day, I found the glistening rays warming up my skin through the movable slits of the window. It seemed as the divine rays were eager enough to warm our bodies to make our souls receptive to the divine warmth, this special moment would suffuse us with. I made sure I dressed up royally for this grand occasion. I sported my favorite red kurta, and smattered my forehead with divine ash to immerse my mind in the divine. Sankar was in Seventh Heaven as he got ready for the day. He donned a typical Bhagavathar’s attire with the typical mild brown journalesque khadi kurta, spec less and neatly starched zarigai angavastram, traditional gopi chandan and topping it all with javvadhu scent.

Sriimathy sported a nice traditional green sari, matching with the luscious green fields which surrounded our house. Yashwant, like a typical mridangist, sported a sober white shirt and white light. I knew however for sure that none would match the sartorial sense of the legendary Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, whose flair for flashy clothes would belittle that of Giorgio Armani’s. Though Kadri Gopalnath would give him stiff competition, Kunnakudi wins them all hands down. Be it the scores of gold coins he wears in his pity-worthy neck or the golden rings in every finger of the hand embossed with various stones or the huge monstrous golden kada he wears in his right hand, Kunnakudi wins hands down. Infact the commencement of the Aradhana gets the pomposity of a royal Wagnerian Opera with his ringed fingers moving in sync for thalam, while the dazzle of those luminescent stones moving southwards seem to bless us all with his shiny golden aureole. However all this sartorial flamboyance is of no match to his impeccable talent in making the violin sing mellifluously as per his command. His violin is his faithful, sultry (I can see your expression…I mean, considering the sexy figure of the violin….you know those curves at the right places) Nightingale who obeys to every command of her master.

As we walked past the tall grilled gate with the metal inscription of Lord Thyagaraja, musical fervor ran in my veins faster than a trailblazing korvai in the final round of Thaniyaavarthanam of the legendary Palghat Mani Iyer.
The path to the main mandap was full of stalls of various kinds offering slice of Indian traditions right from filter kaapi to carnatic audio CDs to LIC policies and antique brass Nataraja Statues for the Indian heritage devouring foreign folks. In a corner near those stalls, I found an unusual Ambassador car painted in gold with a miniature violin embossed in the chassis. I wasn’t so dumb to realize whom it belonged to. Few stalls were offering erratum filled lyric sheets of the Pancharathna Kritis (which I realized while singing, courtesy my friends) to all the people who had come to witness the spectacle.

We had a green slip which provided entry to the rasikas enclosure. Sankar tried his luck to get entry into the exclusive coterie of musicians. However, It didn’t work and we had to move towards the over full Rasikas’ enclosure. Several people who couldn’t get inside, settled down in the muddy grounds outside the mandap. We walked by the Thyagaraja Sannadhi to reach the gents area in the enclosure. Supported by large wooden poles with flags of various consumer durables, the royal white shamiyana cloth with its zari and hanging clothed pillars spread over the banks of the Kaveri river. Few things never change in life, despite engulfing changes sweeping over the world. One such is the traditional blue banner which hangs at the centre of the stage. Everything was same. The same white font on the faded blue cloth with the photo of Lord Thyagaraja in the centre; Nothing had changed a bit. As long as my memory recalls, this blue banner has been a ubiquitous part of the Aradhana. The corners of the huge mandap were swarmed with RCF-Linear Ray System speakers. In the left hand corner of the stage, AIR folks were getting ready to broadcast the event. Sankar, Yashwant and I settled in the penultimate row of our enclosure and Sriimathy had to sit alone at the ladies’ enclosure. 

However this didnt fizzle out our enthusiasm. We had come all the way for this grand event and we made sure we enjoyed every moment to the core. My eyes rummaged through the likes of rasikas and singers and few firangi folks, trying to locate my favorite musicians who were all ready to bask in that musical moment. Much to my discontent, I could see only tall hands holding digicams and other recording devices in the sea of moving heads, mostly silvered, few blackened. However nothing could stir me a bit. Sankar’s CANON digital camera came handy and I spotted the stars sitting in the front rows. I rejoiced like those star hungry paparazzi folks when I spotted T.N.Seshagopalan, Sudha Ragunathan in the circular preview of my zoomed in lens. I couldn’t get a glimpse of the violinists and mridangists as they were sitting in my side. But they made their presence felt as they were busy setting the shrutis straight with amplified speakers. Soon Nadhaswaram players began playing the introductory notes, creating the perfect mood for the divine moment. After waiting for several minutes impatiently, it began.

The beginning, defying all my gargantuan expectations turned out to be a damp squib, with Sudha’s straining, unconfident, high pitched voice resounding ‘Jagadaanandakaarakaa’. I guess this must have happened because of the confusion regarding who would start the proceedings. However this minor glitch seemed like a peccadillo of a faithful devotee who is waiting impatiently to embrace the divine. Soon million hearts soared high in bhakti bhava, singing the Nattai Composition with its regal grandeur. Sankar rendered the composition heart fully with full passion and beans along with the millions. More than dozens of violinists, mridangists, and ghatam and ghanjeera players joined with the soaring voices adorning the bejeweled compositions at the right places with right expressions. All these voices along with the instruments soothed my visibly excited mind distracted by the attractions. I went into deep prayerful state and reveled in the Eden of Bhakti. This was the moment, the perfect spiritual moment, when all the singers ranging from the poor singers hailing from Thiruvayaru, with dirty dhotis and betel stained mouths seated in the corners of the mandap to the little heavenly creatures in pavadai chattai squatted near their mothers who are humming the lines they learnt long long ago to the front row, TV posing singers of the patnam, with flashy clothes and jewels, merge into one divine voice of Carnatic music.

All those differences melted in the ambrosia of bhakti and they realized the true Brahman pervading within each and every soul. My excitement again effervesced in, as soon as I heard the Aarabi strains of Saadinchine. It was the only pancharatna krithi, I knew fully and obviously it was my favorite. As soon as I started singing it, my fingers longed to play the mirudangam. I recalled with nostalgia, how much I thoroughly enjoyed playing the charanam and anupallavi whenever my sister played at my guru’s residence. The riveting tone, replete with its instant charm makes this a favorite amongst every carnatic aficionado. Yashwant became so smitten with the energy of kriti and we both sang the pallavi and charanam to our hearts content moving our heads and hands in glee. The poor lyrics note book which was given at the stall served as some sort of consolation for my fingers as it ran past on the surface like a kanjeera with full pizzazz. 

The final jewel praising the great men who have lived through the ages, Endharo Mahanubhavulu in Sri Ragam gave the perfect fitting finish for this splendid spectacle. As I came out of my mandap, my stars and planets came at the favorable moment by blessing me with the perfect time frame coinciding my entry to the ground outside the mandap with that of the legendary Shri T.N.Seshagopalan’s. I made best use of the moment and ran towards the legend for an autograph. There were many eager enthusiasts standing like me. As I stood near the legend waiting for my turn, I recollected all the lovely moments I spent levitating in air at the creaky wooden chairs of various Sabhas listening to the legend himself. I recalled how much I gaped in awe, whenever the legend painted the notes of the lowest octave with panache. He courteously obliged and penned his autograph in my note pad. 

I pinched my skin to see if this was any dream. With mouthfuls of smile, I shook his hand and took leave from him. Sankar, unable to get out of the excitement the moment suffused with, was still humming in mini alapanas of his favorite ragas as we came along and went back to Ammal Agraharam. After sumptuous meals and thanks giving for the amazing hospitality we were given with, we packed our bags to Chennai. Before leaving I ensured that I didn’t lose any of my stuff in our guest’s house. However I knew for sure, my heart was lost in the zeitgeist of carnatic music.
* unique sound created in the left hand side of mridangam ** a sonnet

The great Indian Heritage

PS: Wrote this post way back in the year 2008. Although I still hold some of my views expressed in this  post, my perspective about looking at traditions has changed. It seems quite naive as I read this post today. However, I haven't done any change into it.

I happened to read a blog post recently by a distant friend of mine who shared his cynical observations on the mysticism surrounding India. His views are perfect reflection of the generation (which I belong to) which grew up caught up in the rebellious battle between the fascinations of the science and technology offered by the west and the parental mystic-religiosity of Indian culture.
Many folks of our generations endorse a similar view. Any talk regarding Indian heritage and spirituality is jettisoned in the garb of the sheen of the Western Rationalism. They talk about the technological sophistry, economic superiority, and opulence of the west and juxtapose it with our relatively poor economy, conservative attitudes and our obsessions with spirituality, rituals, Gods, Astrologers, and God-men et al.

Any mention about God, Religion or Tradition by our parents is often looked with scorn by the Gen X Generation. “Which world are you living in?”, “Things have changed” are some of the common phrases that can be heard in the living room arguments between the younger folk and the parents folk. In a conservative environment like Chennai, such arguments are often heard. It’s a common sight here to see youngsters rebelling against religious practices, deriding them with all arguments within their intellectual reach.
 
This simply denotes the lack of knowledge and awareness of our great heritage. We have such high regard for the western thought that discussions about our culture seem so vapid and foolish. This syllogism mainly works on the premise of economic inequality which distances the west and east. My single piece of advice, for all those folks who rant incessantly about these, is to go and grab a copy of The Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen.
 
Let me however make myself clear. Yours truly doesn’t claim to be a superior authority in deciding the value of the Indian heritage and contrasting vis-à-vis with the Western thought. Yours truly is still a student and will continue to be so in the future too.

Having made this clear, let me try to illuminate in the best way I can, about the glory of the great Indian heritage by pointing out to some common actions which we do in our daily lives and the significance of it.
 
Let me first talk about holy Ash. Well, Im not talking about “mannequin” Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. I am talking about the sacred ash which can be seen in the foreheads of several south Indians. It can be seen in various sizes, either as a small white stroke of paint in the forehead, or three equidistant lines resembling the road marker lanes, mostly seen among Brahmins. In many Brahmin families, parents force the children to wear these symbols, much to their distress, who find it embarrassing to wear in multi cultural schools where people from various religions study together. Parents, in supporting their argument would cite Sanskrit slokas like ”Vibhuthi sarva bhooshaanaam yamalogam bayam naasthi”(if u apply this holy ash (aka Vibhuti), the fear of death would be expelled). The very first syllable of this verse would sound like thuds of hammer in the rebel’s ears. His typical response would be “What Crap”!!

However behind this simple religious symbol, lies the great philosophy of living.
 
Most of us would have read the famous inspirational book, 7 habits of highly effective people by Steven R. Covey. The book had sold more than 15 million copies in 38 languages since the first publication. The second habit of this book talks about “Begin with the End In Mind
Applying this holy ash is nothing but putting the second law of Steven Covey into practice. When you apply holy ash, you realize the evanescence of this world and its multifarious cruel machinations. It is to remind us that everything will get over soon and we will turn into ash one day. The most interesting part of this traditional practice is that we do a service to the society. When someone wears this, everyone except him can see this mark on his/her forehead. When we do our actions with the awareness that everything is going to perish, then our actions would be devoid of feverishness and frenzied excitement. It would bring equanimity in our mind, and our actions would lead to favorable results. By this, I am not implying that everyone should wear this mark on the head. It’s simply one’s expression of his faith. When we become truly aware of this truth, we need not wear it. However, caught up with the world’s luring schemes, we often forget this truth. Hence the necessity arises. In simple terms, it is a gentle reminder of the profound truths of life.
Let us come now to the world of poojas. We have pujas for every God in our pantheon and we have tonnes of literature detailing on the procedures to be followed. I am not going to get into detail about the procedures, but simply talk about a simple procedure which have been doing since time immemorial. Breaking a coconut is said to be an auspicious form of worship. In south India, people make deals with Lord Ganesha with the help of these coconuts. 108 coconuts for passing the exam, 1008 coconuts for winning the constituency are some of the atavistic deals that have passed across the generations.

However, very few people understand the significance and the meaning behind this ritual. The hard shell of this coconut with all its coirs enmeshed around its surface gives a perfect picture about our lives. Our lives are so entangled with attachment over fame, wealth and our dear ones. Frustrated by the machinations of this cruel world, our hearts have become hardened with hatred and apathy. When we go to a temple and pray to the Divine, we break all our hardened shells and bring out our true and sweet nature. When we break the coconut, there is a small tuft left behind with the shell. This small tuft signifies the petty desires we pray to the divine for our lives. There is divinity within your self. This truth is brought to light by this ritual. A beggar who lives by the temple looks at the same thing with different light. Whenever any person brings in a coconut for the puja, he anticipates it with full eagerness, as he would run and pick the pieces of coconut for his meal. 

In simple terms, the rationale behind pooja can be explained as a game of gratitude for the Mother Nature. Have you ever seen children playing with miniature kitchen? They play a game wherein they cook food with those tiny stoves, utensils and crockery and serve it to the mother who endearingly makes food for them. We play a similar game towards the Mother Nature. Our mother earth is blessed with the Sun for its infinite source of energy. We pay our gratitude to the Mother Nature by moving a form of light around a statue immortalized as the God who created this abundant nature. Our Mother Nature has blessed us with abundant supply of milk, sweets, fruits and vegetables and we show our gratitude towards the nature by offering these to the Divine.
 
One of the greatest myths of our times in India among the Gen-X, that we have the perception that most of the traditional practices are devoid of reasoning and logic.

Our ancestors have understood the profound truths of life and have incorporated these truths in every facet of life which has been bequeathed to us as so called traditions. Similar deconstructions can be made for almost every other ritual we have in our tradition. These interpretations are mine and I have accepted these with my reasoning. Any one can critically analyze these practices and can derive their own logic and reasoning. I can go on and write more about my interpretations of other traditional events. However it would be nothing short of spoon feeding the logic. My main intent through this article is to provoke some interest in our rich cultural legacy and showcase the need for preserving the priceless heritage we possess. I hope it has served its purpose.

Happiness Inside, Sorrow Outside

PS: Yet another posts which make me feel awkward as I read it today. 
I know at the first blush, this title seems like the famous Intel’s quote Intel Inside…Idiot Outside. However, this seemingly innocuous quote contains the entire mystery behind happiness. Happiness simply lies within. I am sure most of you reading this, wouldn’t accept this. You would say, how can I be happy being inside, simply looking within? Come on, Happiness lies in enjoyment to the core. It lies in savoring the best things the world has to offer to us.
 

Well, I don’t blame you. Let me try to explain this with an example. We all love sweets. Yours truly is an addictive chocoholic. Let us imagine. I give you a big rosagolla (For the uninformed, it’s a famous Bengali sweet. No amount of description would suffice the beauty of rosagolla. Just run to any Indian sweet stall and you are sure to find one) You take it in your hand; you look at its spongy elliptical shape. You put it in your mouth. You take the first bite. Your molar tooth pierces through the milky skin and juices flow through your tongue and the crevices of your teeth. You squeeze the slimy skin and extract all the juice in it and it gradually slips down through your mouth. Yummy!! It feels great. You feel so elevated. Now, I give you twenty rosagollas and I ask you to eat it. You’ll feel ok when you are eating the fourth one and by the time you finish the twentieth, I am sure you ll feel bored and sick of eating. Now, let’s analyze this.
 

If happiness were inside the rosagolla, it should have multiplied with eating more. However it didn’t happen…Why? What does this prove? Rosagolla is just an object which makes you feel good. Rosagolla, when in touch with your senses, secretes the enzymes which make you feel good.

I know I’m making you feel hungry. Let us think of another example. Many of us love to smoke. When the day is bad, you exhume all your frustrations through the smoke of nicotine. One of my friends used to say that whenever he smoked, he felt that he was exhausting all the iniquities outside. I am sure all the gals reading this, would frown at me, reading this. Blame it on genes, or Anbumani Ramadoss, most of the gals hate smokers. A very close friend of mine whenever she saw someone smoking felt averse towards him. Let’s analyze this, the same cigarette which gives pleasure to one, gives pain and hatred to the other. So does happiness lie in the cigarette?? The answer is a big NO. It lies within one’s perception.

If we were to look at the ambitions of most of the people, it can be easily summed up as the pursuit for happiness. However we attach too much baggage to the external objects for our happiness and end up being miserable. We become so much dependent on the extraneous environment for our happiness that it begins to bind and enslave us. Caught up in this quagmire, we lead our lives in desperation. Remember this; you don’t need any reason to be happy. You need a reason however to feel sad. Infact, there is nothing called as sadness. It is simply dearth of happiness. Sadness grows on words. Without words, you cannot be sad. You don’t believe me?? Now simply recall the saddest moment without describing about it to yourself. I am sure it won’t last for long.

You may ask, how do I bring about happiness from within?
 
The whole world is gung-ho these days about Yoga. It has in fact overshadowed the famous aerobics and other exercises. What is the difference between exercises of those kind and yoga?Awareness. When you do any exercise with full awareness, then its effects manifold. In a similar way, whenever you do anything, just ask yourself “Am I really aware that I am doing this?” Bring in a sense of awareness in every action. Happiness will automatically spring up in every action that you do.

I often read in newspapers regarding huge parties thrown for birthday. I am not against it. We 
celebrate our existence in this world with our loved ones. Think about this: Why not let the whole world celebrate your birthday? Let time celebrate your presence. If we are happy and full of life, every organism in this world will celebrate our presence…Not just a single day, every moment of life then becomes a celebration.

Reflections on Taare Zameen Par


Update on 11/25/14: Written six years earlier, these are some of the fading memories of how I used to write, once upon a time...

Actors have a responsible role to play in the society. Corporates have begun to look at their obligations towards their society. Amidst actors who are so confused between their social responsibility and creative liberties..(Yes..U heard it right.. I am talking about Shahrukh Khan)..its indeed refreshing to see that few actors apart from the world of entertainment..look for messages that can be sent easily to the masses through their Star Power. Aamir Khan after provoking the consciousness of Youth in his Rang De Basanti, he is now back on screen, this time focusing towards the 'stars living on earth'.

My guruji used to say...We in the process of becoming intelligent lose our innocence gradually. We were all born with lots of innocence. However with all the machinations in this world, we gradually bartered our innocence with anger, jealousy, frustration and loads of stress. Whats even intriguing is that (out of jealousy probably..) we are not letting the lovely, innocent children lead simple lives.

Parents thrust their dreams in their children right from the day their children are hardly ten years old. Last year, I remember meeting a parent in a music school who had come to enroll her daughter. While she was made to sing her first music lesson, she quickly tells me what she is looking forward. She tells me that she will participate on Little Masters Musical show and then later will go for Ragamalika musical show and movies. I could hear the child's straining vocal chords as a background music for her mother's future plans.. Poor gal..what all troubles will she be made to endure ??

The problem lies on the educational system on the whole. Our educational system can be simply named marks system. 'WITHOUT MARKS THERE IS NO FUTURE' is the loud message we give to the children..n this is shown beautifully in the movie where the parents lose their brains out when they realise that their kid is not the complan boys kind who faithfully finish the homework sippin complan..this kid throws his homework to the street dogs. He is fascinated by small things happening in the world. Kudos to Mr. and Mrs. Amole Gupte for devoting their heart and soul in this project. We too begin to look at the small things of this world as Ishaan looks at them with his amazing imagination and creativity. Those small attention to details reminded me of the lovely movie Amelie, wherein similar protagonist derives pleasure in noticing the unconventional stuff like dropping of the paint from the street painter's brush n stuff. Every paintings painstakingly created by the husband-wife duo show the commitment they had in this project. Today I read in the Sunday Magazine regarding their journey towards the making of this movie.. Its evident that they had done ample amount of research. While they were enlightened of the problems faced by the children, they ensured that they didnt stand against the concepts they are trying to promote in the movie. This move realy impressed me. The four finalists who were selected for the screening of the role of Ishaan were given appreciation certificates by Aamir Khan and Amole Gupta.

I want to get to the present issue regarding creative liberties and social responsibility. In a country like ours where the difference between actors' role on screen and off screen is blurred, actors should be very responsible. They make huge impresssion in impressionable minds and adults alike. Actors should take care on how they project themselves on screen. Its indeed shameful to see king khan behavin like one hypocrite making contradictory statements and making a fool of himself.

Remember Amitabh Bachchan's Polio Campaign which was telecasted in TV..On a similar route Aamir's Campaign for dyslexia has worked very well and now parents are looking at their children with more sensitivity. Schools should also take a lesson or two from the movie. Schools determined to show 100 % results literally squeeze the students to perform well. UNit tests, Special tests et al ruin the playful nature of the kids. Kids are made to stay late evenings in school and by the time they go home, they only think of playin some time in PS III or catch up with Nickelodeon..No body thinks of goin out to play..No wonder we find obesity levels rising amongst kids. Recently when I had been to Singapore, I interacted a lot with my cousins' kids who are studying at Singapore American School. The kids were intellectually far superior to their peers who could be in chennai. one of them, tara 13 years was preparing 4 Model United Nations. she discussed about the North Korea situation with such aplomb, that I found it hard to believe that I was talkin to a 13 year old. MY point is other educational systems as per my observations let children express their potentials. However our system gives little room to express one's talents.. The educational system in Chennai as per my observation gives competent students a choice between Engineering and Medicine. Those who are not so good in academics end up taking up Arts. ARTS suffers a serious image breakdown in South. These perceptions should change..Children should be let to choose their profession based on their interests..Aamir Khan deserves applause for taking such a contemporary subject and handling it with utmost sensitivity and care..

Wish all actors take a lesson or two from Aamir..

CSR - No longer Corporate Sins Redemption ???

At the recently concluded World Economic Forum Annual Meeting held at Davos, Corporate honchos joined hands with global leaders, evangelists and rock stars to show case their commitment towards fighting against poverty and improving lives of the ‘bottom billion people’. Microsoft’s Chairman Bill Gates stressed on ‘creative capitalism’ and talked about directing the powerful forces of capitalism towards the betterment of lives of the people. Pepsi Co’s chairman Indra Nooyi too echoed the same view and she talked about the benefits accrued by the companies when companies involve themselves in socially responsible efforts. Cisco’s Chairman John T. Chambers talked about the obligation of companies to give back to the society. He said that it isn’t just the right thing at do, but also good for business. 
While I was reading about these in the World Economic Forum website, I couldn’t stop wondering about the metamorphosis of CSR in the present business scenario. With the beginning of the 21st century, the chemistry between CSR and Capitalism changed and the relationship reached a new plane. I decided to trace the journey of this phenomenon. Its indeed interesting to note that CSR and Capitalism share a typical Bollywood bhai bhai schmaltzy story. The movie starts with the endearing mother in the form of Adam Smith conceptualizing the inception for both Capitalism and CSR in his book The Wealth of Nations and The theory of Moral Sentiments respectively.
 
It wouldn’t be audacious to state that CSR owed its raison d’etre from The Theory of Moral Sentiments. It begins with a bold statement “How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortunes of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it” thereby laying a basis for socially responsible actions.The Invisible Hand theory explained in The Wealth of Nations paved the foundation for the establishment of market forces which ensured that self interest could also lead to the unintentional benefits for the society where the market is operating. 

Capitalism, the younger brother of the two (Well, I can see ur impish smile...Considering the fact that The Theory of Moral Sentiments came during 1739, much earlier than the Wealth of Nations) soon began to grow up, with the help of several foster mothers- economists like Ludwig Von Mises, Keynes, Friedman etc.and philosophers like Ayn Rand. They helped capitalism break its cocoon and acquire widespread appeal as the viable social and economic system of the world.
 
Although CSR had its inceptions in the early 16th century, it took more than three hundred years for it to come out of its shell. It came into being during early 1970s (as per Wikipedia). To put it in the typical Bollywood way, the estranged brothers who forgot that they were conjoined twins reunited after a long gap of 300 years. However this bonding came in only when corporate honchos felt the need to ward off the evil karma of their profit oriented capitalistic practices. They used this CSR as an effective tool to salve the collective conscience of the company and smother the social activists who raised voices against the companies.

While Microsoft’s image was always under the scanner, thanks to various controversies on antitrust laws and business tactics; the establishment of charitable Melinda Gates Foundation considerably improved its reputation.

However many companies couldn’t continue with this strategy, thanks to network organisations like SOLIDAR. Forming a chain of NGOs; SOLIDAR works to ensure that companies bring CSR within their bureaucratic framework, rather than employing it as an knee jerk reaction for their avaricious pursuits. As a result of such concerted efforts, companies which took CSR as a timely PR exercise began to take it very seriously. 
 
With passing of the time, CSR has seeped into the atomic lattices of what Corporations are made of. Companies apart from the timely philanthropic acts looked inward and focused on making their operations environmental friendly. Companies have started to look at the larger picture when they think about the benefits of CSR related activities. Companies have now begun to believe that it is possible to be commercially successful even if they follow ethical values and respect people’s rights. They have realized that profit is not the only motive for companies to survive. In one of the speeches made by Anu Aga, Chair person of Thermax, she explains this with a wonderful analogy. “If breathing is must for survival”, she says “can we say that purpose of life is breathing?
 
Though historians- looking at the huge time lag to bring socially responsible actions -might accuse the companies of the past for not being socially responsible, it is indeed difficult for me to blame them. It’s Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs at play here. Companies during those days simply had to focus on survival. Now that companies have risen up the pyramid, the time has now come to look on various other issues other than surviving.

 
At the present juncture, Corporate Global Citizenship is the latest mantra. Companies are now interested in making themselves accountable not just to shareholders and investors but to the society in whole. In board meetings, Companies nowadays refer to Triple bottom line of good governance-involving financial responsibility with social and environmental responsibility. This indeed augurs well for societies which were less fortunate to reap the benefits of globalisation. The good news is that the growth will be more inclusive. The issues discussed at the Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum clearly testify this fact. The dream of seeing a fairly equitable society in this flat world isn’t far fetched anymore.