LONG LIVE FREAKONOMICS!

The headline “May This be the End of Freakonomics” that screamed in the ET dated 13^th May 2014 was bemusing. Leaves us nonplussed and disheartened! This headline adorns an article by Nick Summers, reviewing the third book in the Freakonomics series, by Levitt and Dubner, and is syndicated by, tut, tut,  the Bloomberg Businessweek. The words militate against the egalitarian beliefs of YT as a third world citizen, and represent a line of thought seriously distorted by a Capitalist mind-set. We explain what this means below, if we have understood it properly, he, he, he..

IK has a pucca affiliation bordering on bonding, with the concept called Freakonomics. We always treated the word as representing a concept rather than being a brand out of the stable of Levitt and Dubner. If we remember aright, we have written two posts on local Freakonomic ideas in IK , and intended to repeat the khataa ere Nick Summers threatened to throw a spanner in the works! For us, Freakonomics offers a startling and unsuspected insight into a commonplace phenomenon, which goes against the grain of common sense, but once exposed, rings true. It is a whiff of fresh air, unshackles your mind from stereotyped mental processes, and hence as a concept, is to be valued. Another merit is that it is ideology-neutral. The rightist, the leftist, the gay, the intellectual, the nincompoop Carl, the housewife, the artisan, the artiste can only smile, nod and applaud the explanation in the same sense. It doesn’t bear upon complex phenomena like say the Michelson-Morley discovery, or the Lorentz Transformation, but applies to little universal observations. The plain and simple explanation is an authentic signboard in life’s journey. .

The learned reviewer would have Freakonomics given a burial, because the third book in the series talks of explanations which are common beliefs. For instance the conclusion that obesity, more than anything else, stems from a surfeit of carbs in the victim’s diet. What Nick’s observation logically implies is that the explanation is a non-Freakonomic explanation, and hence not to be incorporated into a Freakonomics book! What has to be jettisoned is therefore (~ Freakonomics), rather than Freakonomics I sayyy... The boot is on the other foot, maaan! To recall that limerick about the lady from Corso, one should be in favour of moreso.! Is a good one! [please see * below]

What has led Nick Summers to the convoluted conclusion, nay, even the misguided inclusion of a non-Freakonomic explanation by the authors, is the perverted tendency of our management thinkers and their victims to include every bit and parcel of holy thought as grist for humanity’s money-making machine. The authors want to milk the concept to the last drop, when they have no fodder left for the cow. The reviewer catches the bug, and concludes that the concept itself is now beyond redemption. They would rather dissect the goose which lays the golden egg, than let the masses enjoy the exciting ideas for perpetuity.

 

 Everyone can, and does, contribute to this unique stream of thought, no? The following is from the post Bande Mein Tha Dum and explains why one gets watchmen at such low wage rates, and why even emaciated chaps succeed in keeping miscreants at bay..

 

There was a spate of burglaries in our area. Mom hired a chowkidar within her limited means. He happens to be ‘visually and auditorily challenged”. We expected our building to be a target of the miscreants, yet we remained, touch wood, safe. Our (Freakonomic) explanation goes thus: our man hails from the same sections as some of these miscreants. To violate his turf would mean exposing a relative to police excesses, and will be socially unacceptable… Hence the mercy upon us!

Nick Summers's idea amounts not just to throwing the baby away with the bathwater. It's like harbouring a death-wish for the  poor little darling!

Let a thousand Freakonomists Bloom!
_________________________________________________________________________
[*]
There once was a lady from Corso,
Who exposed overmuch of her torso,
A crowd soon collected,
But no one objected,
And some were in favour of moreso
 

The Secret Weapons of Pt. Bhimsen Joshi

The above link transports you to the studios of Door Darshan or is it Doordarshan, in the august presence of    the   Shahenshah of  Hindustani  Vocal, you  guessed  it  right   boys, our beloved Pt. BSJ. Panditji  looks especially handsome today, the jet black hair neatly combed back. Thanks to  DD, and not  to  forget  Youtube, Panditji  will not just be heard by posterity, but also   seen and  observed   carefully. For,  Panditji’s   recital   is   not   just  eminently  nice to heed, but  also specttacccular. प्रेक्शणीय! The auditory  experience  is incomplete without the visual input, so to say. Panditji having an animated conversation with  swaras of Puriya Dhanashri. Every frame is riveting. If you really want to enjoy this blog today, you must  click the musical links. Now and then, Panditji encourages the  tanpura playing shishyas  to  participate. The lady is surprisingly good. In fact she appears to be a professional gharana singer with plenty of riyaaz behind her. Could she be Gangubai Hangal’s daughter, we aks Missus. Looks and sounds like that. ‘Sounds’ like that, if you can guess. Booming masculine voice...

Can you tell what Picasso meant when he painted those cuboids? How is one to judge the contents of a maestro's khayal? With what fathom? Does anyone really understand what he strove to convey in his recital..?

One of our immutable beliefs runs as follows: if you can appreciate, comprehend or empathise with the gesticulations and gestures of the vocalist (instrumentalists do not have the luxury) , you are really following her..understanding his or her music...comprehending what he strives to communicate...sharing a mother-tongue...

Musicologists have annotated the ragas. Foremost amongst the Gwalior band who did this yeoman job were Pt. Bhatkhande, Pt. Ratanjankar, Pt. Poonchwale and Pt. Balaji Pathak. However the gestures exhibited by vocalists on stage have received scant attention, leave alone getting annotated or compiled. Probably it’s not considered good manners to talk about them. Unmentionables. ‘Gestures’ is too mundane a word in fact, and we are looking for a more appropriate term, just as we have exhorted cognoscenti to find a better word for ‘theka’, the most consistent, unobtrusive, decent  and self-effacing of rhythms, which found its rightful place only in the repertoire of MaryadaPurushottam Shaik Dawood. Can we christen ‘theka’ as warkari, after the disciplined soldiers of Panduranga? “अब आप सुनेंगे सौ मालिनी राजुरकर का गाया राग सो ऍण्ङ सो...ये रचना वारकरी त्रिताल मे निबध्ध है” -sounds neat?! Leave it for posterity to decide, I sayyyyy......

Returning to Panditji's gestures. Is there a pattern in these gestures or gesticulations? Is it an art or a science ? How do they correlate with the swaras, taans, the bhaav? Do they enhance the listening experience or impede it?

Back to Panditji’s visuals!

The Puriya is graphic and we, in association with Missus try to decipher those endearing gestures. No levity, we are all attention and respect. No Bharatnatyam dancer can recreate those mudras.  At one stage, Panditji reaches out for the chanchal Komal Rishabh upp there, grasps it, and angrily makes him sit before him. Komal Rishabh realises, says shhh...shhh..and sits down with his finger on lips. At the cost of repetition, we’ll say no disrespect meant, and if one is supposed to enjoy and critique his swaras, why now the hav-bhav and mudras? The mudras accompanied by the music make it the headiest amalgam ever heard, which you have to experience, not just hear or witness. The complete comprehension of Panditji's music emerges only when you watch him, not just listen! Then Panditji also lost calories in the process!

We now move over to the Sawai Gandharva Festival 1975- thirty and seven years ago... 

 .....Tirtha Vitthala...!

This is an abhang by Naamdev Maharaj. The ambience appears to be so dry and hot, we say and Missus says ki भैया it is hosted in Pune, that too in winters! The audience and Panditji are enjoying every moment. We spot Nana Patekar, nodding his white Gandhi-capped head. The ‘Khode Radio’ crescent appears to be all smiles as well, gathering TRPs gratis. Bet it ends with his favourite Vitthal chant, we say, and Panditji obliges...!

Sawai Gandharva was Panditji’s guru.  This is one of the landmark music festivals held in the country, name taken in the same breath as Tansen of Gwalior, and maybe ITC also.... It was mooted and launched in 1953, a year before we were born, by none else than Panditji, and is now called the Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Festival, after Panditji’’s departure. It’s held at PUNE samajla ka? In November December each year.

Panditji’s bol-taans leave us awe-struck. Transfixeddd. We remember some lines from Ganapati atharwa-sheersh stotra -Panditji, twam vaastunaam Taj Mahaalam asi...

There were times, maybe in the late 60s, when inventing new ragas, mince tweaking old ragas was the test of the greatness for many. More important to the critics, didn’t matter so much for the artistes we suspect. Naturally the bandwagon was led by Kumarji, with his ‘Gandhi Malhar’ put up for display on the 100^th birth anniversary of the Mahatma. The beginnings of the trend of course lie in the cross-pollination of Hindustani and Caranatic ragas engendered by मरहूम Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Vilayat Khan, to name only two.

Innovation mattered a lot to people like Raghava R. Menon, the leading critic of the 1960s, so far as Hindustani was concerned.  Hence his special affection for Kumarji. For Kumarji, that was a way of making up for his unfortunate loss of singing prowess. म्हणजे मला असे वाटायचे, j’accuse..having watched him from close quarters- when in Delhi he would either stay at Gandhi Peace Foundation Guest House, or at our Garibkhana. Wasn’t so much of a deal for Pandit Bhimsen. Of course, he created ‘Kalashri’ recall “dhana dhana bhag subhag tero...” On one of these occasions, when Panditji sang a new raga, he did receive Menon’s approbation. In fact he almost condescended to keep him in Kumarji’s class.

Discussion with Missus meanders to the subject of inventing new ragas. All new ragas emerge from the womb of a older one, says she! For example if you use shuddha dhaivat instead of komal, Bhairav becomes Anand Bhairav.

In fact, Bhairav is an adi-raga, and comes with a large caboodle, being a thaat, a ragaanga, and of course a raga. Within the parameters of the swaras- the entire saptak with re and dha komal, there are innumerable variants including rarely heard ones like Devata Bhairav, Viraat Bhairav, Prabhat Bhairav, Saurashtra Bhairav etc.etc.etc... (parrikar.org)-another nice site for rare classical music is warrensenders.com.

Here is another gem from Sawai Gandharva1977 

The accompanists are none else than the faithful Nanasaheb Mule on tabla and Purushottamrao Walawalkar on the harmonium.  The stage atmosphere is absolutely homely, number of kids on the stage. Who could they be, must be pretty old now, older than us perhaps? Muses Missus. Nana fumbles at times but Panditji only smiles indulgently, and repeats the taan for the benefit of Nana, and he gets it right of course...

As we wind up, Missus remarks swaras for Panditji were 'people'- Srinivas remarked in an interview that father seemed ever to be  surrounded swaras, as if he were donning an ethereal musical cloak or veil or mantle...“And look, Panditji rarely looks beyond his accompanists!” say she.

Finally click the following link, it’s ‘ultimate’ in Senior’s parlance:

 - yaaj sathi kela hota attahaas!
Quarter of a century in between, the exchange of secret glances between Pandit BSJ and Pandit Walawalkar endures- just click this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3JFp-wqY-Q

This is a special abhang from Panditji. It's recorded in Chicago (Chickago as Kamat says). The audience is so well mannered, so are the organisers. Camera sits unobtrusively, video is therefore wanting in clarity. Panditji's demeanour is loving and benign. His gestures for a change, are so fluid and philosophical and musical! No kite-flying or gliding in air! The words are divine:"yaaj saathi kela hota attahaas, shewatcha dis gode zawa"- this is what you went through all those tribulations for: that the last day should be 'sweet'- now  abandon care, rest a while...something like that, what Tuka says can't really be put in a different set of words. The use of the word 'sweet' is itself sweet- 'day' being called 'sweet' is no recognised usage in Marathi, hence it is repeated literally in the translation.

Recall the blog on Panditji by Carl von ‘Bailiff entitled ‘Bande mein tha Dum’? Here it is- http://indrayanikaathi.blogspot.in/2011/12/bande-mein-tha-dum.html

TAILPIECE:

Report dated 19^th February 2006 in The Telegraph:

One jugalbandi of titans that ended, not with a bang, but with a bad taste in the mouth. On February 11, sitar legend Pandit Ravi Shankar and tabla virtuoso Ustad Zakir Hussain, two of the greatest names in Indian classical music, were to have wrought collective magic at Mumbai’s Shanmukhananda Hall. What happened, though, was an unseemly incident in which Hussain, upset with the volume of his microphone ? he felt it was too low ? took it off its stand and continued playing without audio support...((in the past...) Ravi Shankar had once rebuked the audience when it clapped after a vigorous tabla flourish, “Sum pe aane se taali kyun bajate hain, yeh koi football ka goal nahin hai.”

 

The Frankenstein who created the monster was none else than Robida! CVB. 

Now a corroboration of our views on tabla by the greatest!

Some Shuma Raha wrote that article and she was all for Zakir- that shows The Hirsute One was musically sexier than Robida  by 2006 if not in 1996. 

Nanabhau Mule and Pt. Walawalkar with fans

POSTSCRIPT:

The Ruling Muse of our blog, Pt. Rajan Parrikar (thank God he doejent know..), Guru-bandhu of Missus, as has been indicated on occasion, is a most maddeningly opinionated reviewer of Indian Classical, boyyyy....how we lovvvvve it....! This blog has lent its whatever-support to his cause Quit Goa 2013. His bete noires happen to be people who go under the name and classification 'ethnomusicologists'.

This category, to our eternal remorse, envelopes writers of The Economist, who apart from IK, are the only writers ..to the best of our knowledge...to have devoted attention to the gestures of Pt. Bhimsen Joshi... and recognised them as his secret weapons....

Pandit Parrikarji, what about a re-look...?

BANDE MEIN THA DUM

"Hum jahan khade hotey hain line wahin se shuru hoti hai"

The Yuletide spirit is upon us. Descends like wafting snow-flakes. Somehow, by a quirk, or conspiracy, or a happy happenstance, of fate, we are in Shillong on the eve of Christmas 2011 and beyond. We celebrate. If our calendar commences from the date of His birth, why is not the birthday of the Christ on the 1st of the year I sayyy…???, so we aks. Missus has no answer. It’s complicated, we confess.

This is the first time we are is a Christian part of the country @ Christmas, and we rejoice. 57 years is a pretty long time taken to implement, have a tryst with, the hymns and carols we learnt as kids in the very British school of ours, in good old Delhi, maaan…!

Kong Bina invites us to be a part of the Christmas celebration at the Laitumkrah ( t silent) branch of Chabiwala Bank. The audience at the gathering, YF included, are surprised at our felicity at carols, inspite the you-know-what-we-got….! Smooth. A breeze! A number of insights, here. Naomi, the Chaplin of the gathering, describes the child that was Jesus that day. Okkay, we realize, the Christmas sentiment has a lot to do with infancy, and the embodiment of an endearing child. Intimately woven. The vision of the child Christ is a prime mover.

It’s infectious. On 22nd, our Khasi neighbours are scrubbing the streets with enthu and single-minded ‘purposefulness’. The word seems okay, MS Word does not throw up a censorious red underline (does not ‘flag’ it, in Chabiwala Bank lingo), he,he,he!

Streets are brimming with X’mas spirit. We walk for a year and half, sorry, hour and half, soaking ittt in. First the Don Bosco Church, then the tableaus of the child in the stable.

Back in Lummawarie, our current home. How do we celebrate? We prepare an eclectic music list and input it into VLC media player. Includes Tequila, and Mohd. Rafi, and The Ventures, and Ustad Amir Khan etc.etc.etc.etc., etc. To ensure an effervescent and non-serious Christmas eve. But then the choice falls short of the expectations. We are beyond redemption. Of course, we miss Pt. Bhimsen Joshi and his booming, cerebral, looong tans! Pronto, we launch into Youtube, and pick two compositions, Nayaki Kanada in Bageshri ang, and Marwa. “Guru bina gyaana…” the same one that Ustad Amir Khan sang, and earned kudos from none other than Bharat Ratna Pt. Ravi Shankar.

Panditji just swallows us uppp. It was in the bleak December, rather January 2011 to be precise, that we heard shocked Senior call on the cell and tell us that Panditji was no more! Of course, it was on the cards, but so soon?! We inform Goutam and Oniruddha. They are devastated. Bengalis were, and that stems from that unfortunate night of 1985?. Dileep Padgaonkar described it in his obituary as under:

“He (Panditji) liked, for example, to recall his concerts in Kolkata for in no other city, not even Pune, was the audience so enamoured of his music. Once, when he was inebriated and couldn't bring himself to sing a single note despite two attempts interspersed with some sleep and cold-water baths, the audience turned more and more restless. No one broke chairs, hurled stones or tried to set the premises on fire. Instead, many in the audience, feeling let down, broke into uncontrollable sobs. Some banged their heads against the wall to express their anguish. The organisers of the event, dazed by what they witnessed, could only mutter one word: Chomotkar! (A miracle!)”

Goutam was there- present at the concert, for the record. Oniruddha says “: ekhon ekta Josraaj, naa Kishori o, thakbo, emongg the all time greats.” Robida too, we remind him.

So… we tuned to the qaatil Marwa taans. Missus hums Ḿa Ṟe Sa, the typical Marwa swara-samooha! The tabla plays a rhythmic ektaal, theka style, not in the meretricious style of the Hairy One. We propose a theory to Missus. The relaxed and measured beat leaves space for the principal artiste to improvise, whereas the convoluted styles kill the germ of musical thought. We are pleased to report that Missus agrees.

Panditji was Panditji. We throw ideas at Madam. A note here and there will miss the bulls eye, but even that appears endearing. That’s the power of context, I saayyy…!

Panditji unbuttons his kurta as he unwinds. That was another hallmark gesture of his, vouches Youtube, when the sweat, a consequence of grappling, wrestler-‘pehlwaan’ like with taans, got the better of him. Panditji always had a penchant for the strangest, outragiest, and funniest of gestures. We recall attending a concert accompanying N.H.Kulkarni of National Archives, and Dad, when we were around ten. Dad protested, but Narayan Rao retorted, had I sung that well, I would have made even more outrageous gestures. The fact remains that his concerts were a visual delight. Enthralling. We download some music in MP3 form, and some in MP4 form, and the latter we always do in the case of Panditji’s music.

Ata tyanchya badhhal mee adnyani kaay mhanu…?! What about something off-beat? Freakonomic?

Panditji was not, we suspect, a Planner and Schemer. Jasraj compositions appear well thought of and masterfully crafted… so to say. Same for Vasantrao Deshpande. Same for Kishoritai, he,he,he… as if she is my sister-in-law! In the case of Panditji, he seemed to follow his intuition, strengthened by the elaborate riyaaz of his gharana, Kirana. The celebrated taans appear to surface as if they’d permanently resided in Nature, and were ‘discovered’ by him, not ‘invented’. And what taans, boy o boy!

Two examples of fantastic, but ‘invented’, or designer taans here:

“Vada jaavu kunala sharana ga” by Asha Khadilkar (with a crazy keherwa), and “Mi punha wanantari…” by Jyotsna Bhole. Classics!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRybO9V5j4Y

Planners and non-Planners. The Planners will tend to be good teachers. They will establish schools and incubate artistes, while the non-Planners, Kumar Gandharva included, leave posterity gasping! In fact, they keep teaching themselves rather than others, and thereby create divine music!

But then Panditji was quite articulate. Artistes often aren’t. That Left Brain vs, Right Brain stuff. Had a way with words, and used them economically, and to effect. As is known, he was an expert at car driving, and he learnt driving when a novice driver landed their car at the bottom of a ,thank God, shallowish ravine. I then learnt driving, he said, because “it’s better to meet your end as a result of your own folly, rather than someone else’s!”

How soulfully he sang! Just listen to ‘Raajasa Sukumar’, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpvwVVKwLiE a rare abhang in Shivranjani, set to music by none other than Khale Kaka. Pt. Srinivas Khale, rarest of the rare, who again departed in 2011. And remember “mile sur mera tumhara”? Turn to

http://sbailur.sulekha.com/blog/post/2011/01/bhimsen-joshi-and-the-kaisarbagh-bar-humour.htm

for another interesting anecdote.

Finally, to justify our title, an excerpt from the obituary in The Hindu by Partha Chatterji:

“He was always his own man. During the Emergency (1975-1977), when many artists and intellectuals were bending over backwards to please the government, he did not think it necessary to toe the line. It was at that time that he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and came to Delhi to receive it. I remember Bhimsenji asking me for a cigarette and responding thus to my felicitation for the concert that was about to begin: “ Khaak gayenge gaana iss Emergency mein (What kind of music do you expect during this Emergency)?”

It is often said that you become what your name suggests, and Islam a lot to say on this aspect of one's personality.  We thank the mother who gave the name Bhimsen to Panditji..

FREAKONOMICS:

There was a spate of burglaries in our area. Mom hired a chowkidar within her limited means. He happens to be ‘visually and auditorily challenged”. We expected our building to be a target of the miscreants, yet we remained, touch wood, safe.

Our explanation goes thus: our man hails from the same sections as some of these miscreants. To violate his turf would mean exposing a fellow-being to police excesses, and will be socially unacceptable.. Hence the mercy upon us.