Monday, February 16, 2009
The Amte family
Baba Amte
Prakash and Vikas Amte
Prakash Amte, his wife Mandakini Amte have been awarded the 2008 Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership. "In electing Prakash Amte and Mandakini Amte to receive the 2008 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, the board of trustees recognizes their enhancing the capacity of the Madia Gonds to adapt positively in today's India, through healing and teaching and other compassionate interventions," the board of trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Foundation said while naming the couple for the award.
"Prakash Amte grew up in Anandwan, an ashram and rehabilitation center for lepers in Maharashtra founded by his father, the renowned Gandhian humanitarian Murlidhar Devidas Amte, or Baba Amte. Prakash was busy with post-graduate surgical studies in Nagpur when Baba Amte called him, in 1974, to take over a new project among the Madia Gonds. In a leap of faith, he and his wife Mandakini abandoned their urban practices and moved to remote Hemalkasa," the citation reads.
This is a remarkable family. Baba Amte died last year at the ripe age of 94.This extraordinary man lived the last 40 years of life as a virtual cripple ridden by the illness, ankylosing spondylitis. His indomitable spirit and ability to work hard never died. Drs Prakash and Vikas are his sons. They, along with their equally dedicated wives, are carrying on the legacy of Baba Amte.Those of you who have lost faith in human spirit and what it can achieve should do a Google search and read about his family.
Secret of success
Everyone wants to be successful. How is success measured? Is it by the accumulation of wealth and material pocessions or is it by what one has achieved in his or her chosen field of activity or is it simply by the way he has lived?.There are no clear cut answers and the definition of success thus depends upon how one looks at it from his point of view. I look at it this way. If one has led a life in which he has helped more and harmed less, is contented in what he has done or doing and has learnt to forget and forgive, he is a success. Often, success has nothing to do with school or collegiate education. It could be a way to show you how to succeed. This reminds me of a story told of an Oxford don [professor].
The faculty and students held a dinner to honor this don who had produced many successes in all walks of life. He was asked his method of evaluation of his students. He said, ‘I tried many but over the years I found one method which never failed. He stopped to take a breath. The eager audience wanted to know what this method is. The Don continued,’ I took the answer sheets to the top of the stairs and placed the bundle there and gave it a kick to scatter the sheets. One year I gave maximum marks to those which fell on the top of the stairs and next year to those which fell at the bottom’.
The audience was mute.
The message here is: Success doesn’t depend on formal education.
The faculty and students held a dinner to honor this don who had produced many successes in all walks of life. He was asked his method of evaluation of his students. He said, ‘I tried many but over the years I found one method which never failed. He stopped to take a breath. The eager audience wanted to know what this method is. The Don continued,’ I took the answer sheets to the top of the stairs and placed the bundle there and gave it a kick to scatter the sheets. One year I gave maximum marks to those which fell on the top of the stairs and next year to those which fell at the bottom’.
The audience was mute.
The message here is: Success doesn’t depend on formal education.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Slum dog Millionnaire and White Tiger
I saw the movie, slum dog millionaire. This movie shows vividly the human depravity in all its nakedness. This is abundant in all societies and my country is no exception. Had the movie been made keeping only this in mind I would have rated this movie much higher than I did or do now. If you show filth and scum and try and vicariously titillate the audience [both Indian and western] and win plaudits for having done so, I don’t much care for it. This is one such movie and that it won so many awards shows that we want to hide behind the depicted shame and get some satisfaction by awarding the moviemakers who I am sure will not lift one little finger of theirs to improve the conditions of life depicted in the movie.
The much acclaimed novel, White Tiger, is more realistic but follows the same theme. Arvind Adiga, the author of this novel tries to bring the reality of India in this novel and he does a much better job than then the movie slum dog millionaire does. The writing style is also unique and one has to get used to his style to really appreciate the depth of the novel. The brutal reality of the unsuccessful India which we try to hide stands exposed in this book. It is a must read not because it is on the best sellers list and has won the award but for the realism.
Incidentally, Mr Sainath, journalist, writer and social activist and author of the much acclaimed book ‘everybody loves a draught’ has refused to accept the Padma Shri award by the Indian Government, befitting reply to the official hypocrisy, I thought.
The much acclaimed novel, White Tiger, is more realistic but follows the same theme. Arvind Adiga, the author of this novel tries to bring the reality of India in this novel and he does a much better job than then the movie slum dog millionaire does. The writing style is also unique and one has to get used to his style to really appreciate the depth of the novel. The brutal reality of the unsuccessful India which we try to hide stands exposed in this book. It is a must read not because it is on the best sellers list and has won the award but for the realism.
Incidentally, Mr Sainath, journalist, writer and social activist and author of the much acclaimed book ‘everybody loves a draught’ has refused to accept the Padma Shri award by the Indian Government, befitting reply to the official hypocrisy, I thought.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
A music concert
This incident occurred more than 30 years ago at a small town in coastal Karnataka. A small group of music enthusiasts had formed a body to promote classical music. As the people who reside there have an ear of Hindustani classical music [a form of classical singing which is different from that of carnatic [south Indian classical] music, this is the form of music that they were organizing every month. It was not easy. Organizing a concert meant raising resources and the music lovers were high in their love for music but low in finances and generally, it was cheap local talent that was available, and they had to be satisfied with this.
On one occasion, on the day of their anniversary, they decided to get Bhimsen Joshi. Bhimsen Joshi even those days were famous but gettable [recently the nation has honored him with the highest civilian award, Bharath Rathna]. But it meant spending upwards of 25,000 Rs, a lot of money those days. Without a sponsor it was impossible to get Joshi.
The richest man in the town was businessman Ganpathi Kamthi. Ganpathi was known to donate funds for worthy causes. A delegation of music lovers went to meet Mr. Kamthi. After the preliminaries Ganpathi asked the secretary of the organization a simple question. ‘Does this Joshi fellow sing devotional songs [Bhakti geeth]? Joshi is well known to sing these [Abhangs] though he did it in classical style which is very different from the usual form of rendering devotional singing by the uninitiated to classical form of music. There was enthusiastic,’ yes, yes, he does’ from the group which was from their point true. Ganpathi agreed to sponsor the meet. But a problem arose. As the chief guest he was expected to speak. Ganpathi’s knowledge of music was confined to occasional hearing of Hindi or Kannada film music and devotional songs. The organizers told him that they would prepare a written down speech which he can refer to when he was asked to make his speech.
On the appointed day there was a huge gathering of music lovers and Ganpathi Kamthi was well received and obviously he enjoyed all the attention he was getting. He was profusely thanked and was asked to speak. Ganpathi may not have knowledge of classical music but he knew how to impress the audience, having spoken at many business meetings. Referring only briefly to the written speech, he extolled the virtues of Hindustani classical music and its evolution and praised Bhimsen Joshi and thanked him for agreeing to give the concert. He got the deserved applause. The secretary escorted him to the front row where he sat in high expectation of listening to the maestro.
The concert began with rag Malhaar. A single line of a Marathi [another Indian language] abhang [devotional song] was taken and Joshi elaborated this in this raag for over an hour. There were several times thunderous applause and when he stopped there was nonstop clapping for more than five minutes. There was five minutes break and the secretary came to Ganpathi and asked him Kash asa [How is it going?]. Ganpathi gave a noncommittal smile. He was just having the beginning of a raging head ache. The devotional song he expected had not even begun. After this one hour of torture, he could not understand the ecstasy of the audience. There was no escape as the next session of the programme began.
Joshi selected the first line of another song and began rendering it in rag Malkauns. Malkauns is a popular rag in Hindustani classical music and it is like watching a slow flowing river and there are not many highs and lows in it. Joshi spent another hour in exploring the intricacies of the rag. He did not go beyond two lines of that song to the utter disappointment of Ganpathi whose head ache by now was raging. The musician was in his elements and seeing the audience so appreciative and the bond between the performer and the listeners was so intense that after he finished this piece he took another raag without a break and this time he chose to sing in Bhairavi. Bhairavi is raag when sung with intensity and emotion can bring ecstatic tears to the eyes of the listeners. Seeing so many crying, Ganpathi thought that here must be something very sad in what this fool of a singer was doing. Upset, he called the secretary over and asked why they were crying. He was told that they were tears of joy and not sorrow. Ganpathi’ s head ache now was at a crescendo. He sat with his head held in his hands and the onlookers mistook it be of intense involvement.
At last the concert was over and the audience gave a standing ovation to Joshi. After the formalities of seeing the performer taking his leave, the secretary came over to Ganpathi and in all sincerity asked in Konkani, the language of Ganpathi Kamthi,[Kash laglo] how was it?. Ganpathi brought all his pent up emotions to the surface, ‘you ask how was it [kash laglo, kash laglo mantha], that son of a wh----e pulled and pulled [thantha, thantha] and pulled, it is a surprise his throat did not split and if you ask me another such silly question I will break your head, bloody waste of money’ he said this with venomous intensity and walked away, leaving the poor secretary dumbfounded.
My friend Gnandev Kamath told me this real life story in Konkani and I am afraid the translation does not bring the same flavor of the original.
On one occasion, on the day of their anniversary, they decided to get Bhimsen Joshi. Bhimsen Joshi even those days were famous but gettable [recently the nation has honored him with the highest civilian award, Bharath Rathna]. But it meant spending upwards of 25,000 Rs, a lot of money those days. Without a sponsor it was impossible to get Joshi.
The richest man in the town was businessman Ganpathi Kamthi. Ganpathi was known to donate funds for worthy causes. A delegation of music lovers went to meet Mr. Kamthi. After the preliminaries Ganpathi asked the secretary of the organization a simple question. ‘Does this Joshi fellow sing devotional songs [Bhakti geeth]? Joshi is well known to sing these [Abhangs] though he did it in classical style which is very different from the usual form of rendering devotional singing by the uninitiated to classical form of music. There was enthusiastic,’ yes, yes, he does’ from the group which was from their point true. Ganpathi agreed to sponsor the meet. But a problem arose. As the chief guest he was expected to speak. Ganpathi’s knowledge of music was confined to occasional hearing of Hindi or Kannada film music and devotional songs. The organizers told him that they would prepare a written down speech which he can refer to when he was asked to make his speech.
On the appointed day there was a huge gathering of music lovers and Ganpathi Kamthi was well received and obviously he enjoyed all the attention he was getting. He was profusely thanked and was asked to speak. Ganpathi may not have knowledge of classical music but he knew how to impress the audience, having spoken at many business meetings. Referring only briefly to the written speech, he extolled the virtues of Hindustani classical music and its evolution and praised Bhimsen Joshi and thanked him for agreeing to give the concert. He got the deserved applause. The secretary escorted him to the front row where he sat in high expectation of listening to the maestro.
The concert began with rag Malhaar. A single line of a Marathi [another Indian language] abhang [devotional song] was taken and Joshi elaborated this in this raag for over an hour. There were several times thunderous applause and when he stopped there was nonstop clapping for more than five minutes. There was five minutes break and the secretary came to Ganpathi and asked him Kash asa [How is it going?]. Ganpathi gave a noncommittal smile. He was just having the beginning of a raging head ache. The devotional song he expected had not even begun. After this one hour of torture, he could not understand the ecstasy of the audience. There was no escape as the next session of the programme began.
Joshi selected the first line of another song and began rendering it in rag Malkauns. Malkauns is a popular rag in Hindustani classical music and it is like watching a slow flowing river and there are not many highs and lows in it. Joshi spent another hour in exploring the intricacies of the rag. He did not go beyond two lines of that song to the utter disappointment of Ganpathi whose head ache by now was raging. The musician was in his elements and seeing the audience so appreciative and the bond between the performer and the listeners was so intense that after he finished this piece he took another raag without a break and this time he chose to sing in Bhairavi. Bhairavi is raag when sung with intensity and emotion can bring ecstatic tears to the eyes of the listeners. Seeing so many crying, Ganpathi thought that here must be something very sad in what this fool of a singer was doing. Upset, he called the secretary over and asked why they were crying. He was told that they were tears of joy and not sorrow. Ganpathi’ s head ache now was at a crescendo. He sat with his head held in his hands and the onlookers mistook it be of intense involvement.
At last the concert was over and the audience gave a standing ovation to Joshi. After the formalities of seeing the performer taking his leave, the secretary came over to Ganpathi and in all sincerity asked in Konkani, the language of Ganpathi Kamthi,[Kash laglo] how was it?. Ganpathi brought all his pent up emotions to the surface, ‘you ask how was it [kash laglo, kash laglo mantha], that son of a wh----e pulled and pulled [thantha, thantha] and pulled, it is a surprise his throat did not split and if you ask me another such silly question I will break your head, bloody waste of money’ he said this with venomous intensity and walked away, leaving the poor secretary dumbfounded.
My friend Gnandev Kamath told me this real life story in Konkani and I am afraid the translation does not bring the same flavor of the original.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Appreciation of art and adding meaning to life
One way of assessing maturity or positive progress of any civilization is to look at its achievement in the various art forms
This may be music, literature, dance, sculpture and painting. It is not enough if there are performers in these fields. There should a larger participation of lay persons in that civilization who know how to appreciate and enjoy these art forms.
Not all of us are fortunate to be exponents of art forms. It is reserved for the privileged few who have the perseverance, talent and single-mindedness to pursue these interests often at great personal sacrifice. But if we don’t have the talent or perseverance, the next best thing is to develop a feeling for appreciation of art. Everyone has eyes but few can appreciate a work of art or the abundant beauty that is around us. To give one personal example. I must have seen the painting of Sunflowers by Van Gogh at least a thousand times. I am still not tired and can see it again with the same pleasure many times more. It simply dazzles me. Same is true of the painting of water lilies by Claude Monet. What is this feeling which so uplifts my spirit that is contained in these paintings? I cannot say it; it has to be experienced and cannot be easily described.
I have seen and heard musicians performing. The expression on their faces is one of intense pleasure. They are so involved that they are oblivious to their surroundings. To experience of listening to some of the great musicians is the same as one gets one views a great painting. I can say the same with dance forms.
I recently had the pleasure of viewing a recorded performance of Bharathnatyam [a form of classical Indian dance] by a young relative of mine, Mithila Ballal [Mittu, as she is known to us]. I sat transfixed for more than one hour watching and listening. It was a soul filling experience and I felt I was in the presence of a great talent.
Our lives can often be boring because it consists of many repetitive acts. Some of these are necessary to live and some we are forced to because to live we have to do these. Our humdrum lives can become interesting and meaningful if we develop interest in one or other form of art. This is true for all ages but especially so when one grows old!
This may be music, literature, dance, sculpture and painting. It is not enough if there are performers in these fields. There should a larger participation of lay persons in that civilization who know how to appreciate and enjoy these art forms.
Not all of us are fortunate to be exponents of art forms. It is reserved for the privileged few who have the perseverance, talent and single-mindedness to pursue these interests often at great personal sacrifice. But if we don’t have the talent or perseverance, the next best thing is to develop a feeling for appreciation of art. Everyone has eyes but few can appreciate a work of art or the abundant beauty that is around us. To give one personal example. I must have seen the painting of Sunflowers by Van Gogh at least a thousand times. I am still not tired and can see it again with the same pleasure many times more. It simply dazzles me. Same is true of the painting of water lilies by Claude Monet. What is this feeling which so uplifts my spirit that is contained in these paintings? I cannot say it; it has to be experienced and cannot be easily described.
I have seen and heard musicians performing. The expression on their faces is one of intense pleasure. They are so involved that they are oblivious to their surroundings. To experience of listening to some of the great musicians is the same as one gets one views a great painting. I can say the same with dance forms.
I recently had the pleasure of viewing a recorded performance of Bharathnatyam [a form of classical Indian dance] by a young relative of mine, Mithila Ballal [Mittu, as she is known to us]. I sat transfixed for more than one hour watching and listening. It was a soul filling experience and I felt I was in the presence of a great talent.
Our lives can often be boring because it consists of many repetitive acts. Some of these are necessary to live and some we are forced to because to live we have to do these. Our humdrum lives can become interesting and meaningful if we develop interest in one or other form of art. This is true for all ages but especially so when one grows old!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Manmohan Singh
Many many years ago, we had a prime minister called Lalbahadur Shastri, who had all the attributes of a leader. He was honest, efficient, noncorrupt, and humble and knew how to delegate responsibility and remain calm in the face of adversity. He was the last of the true Gandhians.
The present Prime minster of my country is a gentle Sikh called Man mohan Singh. He like Shastri became the prime minister by default 4 years ago. He belongs to the ruling party whose moral antecedents have always been suspect is another matter altogether. He speaks less, has no personal charisma, his oratory skills needs much to be desired, diffident and has no mass base. Why is it then he has captured the hearts of many like me who have a gut dislike for his party?
It is because the way he deports himself in public and personal life. Never makes it an issue that he was the chief of London school of economics, that he is responsible 20 years ago for the country’s economic turnaround, doesn’t mind if others hogging the limelight and the credit for the work he has done and is doing, and more than anything else, his behaviour when he fell seriously ill a fortnight ago.
He has had a coronary artery bypass graft surgery done 15 years ago and a stenting procedure few years ago. Investigations revealed that the grafts had blocked and he was in serious trouble and needed a redo surgery, a highly risky procedure. In this kind of circumstances what would an Indian dignitary do? He would scout around the world and would land up in some institution in the US or UK. The Indian public is used to such health jaunts by our politicians and other bigwigs. But Dr Singh did nothing of that kind. He chose a government institution called all India institute of medical sciences and an Indian cardiac surgeon called Ramakanth Panda to do the redo surgery. The surgery took 15 hours and was successful and today, after only seven days, a beaming prime minister was seen shaking hands with the team of doctors before leaving for his home.
By this act this prime minister has sent a message to all Indians. That we have the best medical care and please make use of it.
Foot note. This is true we do have the best. But one must know where the best are. Health care in India is like a haystack with needles. The needles are the excellent professionals. To get to know who are these and where are they working is important and the prime minister was lucky in having found an institution and Dr Ramakanth Panda.
The present Prime minster of my country is a gentle Sikh called Man mohan Singh. He like Shastri became the prime minister by default 4 years ago. He belongs to the ruling party whose moral antecedents have always been suspect is another matter altogether. He speaks less, has no personal charisma, his oratory skills needs much to be desired, diffident and has no mass base. Why is it then he has captured the hearts of many like me who have a gut dislike for his party?
It is because the way he deports himself in public and personal life. Never makes it an issue that he was the chief of London school of economics, that he is responsible 20 years ago for the country’s economic turnaround, doesn’t mind if others hogging the limelight and the credit for the work he has done and is doing, and more than anything else, his behaviour when he fell seriously ill a fortnight ago.
He has had a coronary artery bypass graft surgery done 15 years ago and a stenting procedure few years ago. Investigations revealed that the grafts had blocked and he was in serious trouble and needed a redo surgery, a highly risky procedure. In this kind of circumstances what would an Indian dignitary do? He would scout around the world and would land up in some institution in the US or UK. The Indian public is used to such health jaunts by our politicians and other bigwigs. But Dr Singh did nothing of that kind. He chose a government institution called all India institute of medical sciences and an Indian cardiac surgeon called Ramakanth Panda to do the redo surgery. The surgery took 15 hours and was successful and today, after only seven days, a beaming prime minister was seen shaking hands with the team of doctors before leaving for his home.
By this act this prime minister has sent a message to all Indians. That we have the best medical care and please make use of it.
Foot note. This is true we do have the best. But one must know where the best are. Health care in India is like a haystack with needles. The needles are the excellent professionals. To get to know who are these and where are they working is important and the prime minister was lucky in having found an institution and Dr Ramakanth Panda.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Moral policing
There have been reports in several of parts of the country of acts of coercion against women for acts which the conservative [bigots, extremists, fundamentalists] elements take exception to. These include not following the prescribed dress code, being seen and friendly with men, going to pubs and parties and in extreme cases even going to schools.
For a person who is steeped in the belief that all humans are equal [some times women even better than men], I find these acts abhorrent to say the least. Sex and its ramifications and interpretations and beliefs of purity etc related to sex are the root cause of these problems. Women are not property of men to be traded and victimized at their whim. Unless human beings treat sex as another desire and keep it in its place, this kind of nonsensical and deviant behaviour will continue. All women and all sane men should use all the means at their disposal to counter these elements in our societies.
This is the worst form of cancer that has afflicted our social fabric.
For a person who is steeped in the belief that all humans are equal [some times women even better than men], I find these acts abhorrent to say the least. Sex and its ramifications and interpretations and beliefs of purity etc related to sex are the root cause of these problems. Women are not property of men to be traded and victimized at their whim. Unless human beings treat sex as another desire and keep it in its place, this kind of nonsensical and deviant behaviour will continue. All women and all sane men should use all the means at their disposal to counter these elements in our societies.
This is the worst form of cancer that has afflicted our social fabric.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)