ODE TO MAJULI

Majuli, near Jorhat in the East of the North East, is the largest riverine island in the world, area standing today at 422 sq. km, (roughly the area of Mumbai, as under BMC) down from 1250 sq.km. in mid-18^th century, as a result of sustained erosion caused by the mighty Brahmaputra. It awaits UNESCO’s World Heritage recognition, which may come posthumously….Majuli will dissolve like the lozenge in your mouth in another 20 years. The word Majuli keeps reminding one of Mauli who drowned herself, mince himself Indrayani Kaathi  at a tender 21 after creating one of the most exiting languages in the world- Marathi! Symbolic…ehh..?!!

The island is home to 144 villages, population being 1.5 lac, comprising largely the Mising and Deori tribes. Lots of Sonowals hail from the island. It doesn’t have a single factory, hence pollution free air is guaranteed. The BTN, our employer, has reached the shores, needless to say…this makes the  taks of exploring the island a part of your duty, a very sweet and enchanting duty at that…. The island is known for Muga silk, the migrant avian life, but principally for the Vaishnavite Sattras (ety.: Chhatra of Chhatrapati fame), which are essentially Mutts. The sect was formed by the immigrant 15^th century saint Srimanta Sankaradeva, who introduced Vaishnav to the tribes as a monotheistic form of Hinduism. The heart of the religious life amongst Assamese ‘Hindus’ is not the butkhana, but the namghar, which is an idol-less congregation hall for believers. The namghar priests are called Pathaks (Readers) who will most likely be non-brahmins..hence the devoid of pecuniary interest in idolatry...

BIRBAL PLACES PITCHER ON
PUMPKIN FLOWER

As an entrant to the North East in 2010, the challenge before YT was to sort out the mystery of how and wherefore the 1.50 lac denizens took the trouble of  crossing the 8 km wide, 100 metre deep Brahmaputra…The solution to the conundrum lies in the Birbal-Akbar story  wherein someone produces an earthen pitcher say two feet across with a six-inch mouth, an adult pumpkin, say 55 inches across nesting or resting inside…The Emperor is challenged to duplicate the feat, which  smart alec Birbal does in a breeze....how?...:the pumpkin was inside the pitcher from its infancy, and the population was on the territory before the island formed I sayyy….!

Majuli will go The Way of All Good Things… Shankar’s Weekly, founded by the spirited K. Shankara Pillai ‘Dolls’ Museum’,  to coincide with India’s Independence from the British, downed its shutters in 1975 to coincide with the Emergency for obvious reasons. The farewell Souvenir (the yellowing volume with a blue cover is a prized possession) sports a parting shot from Air India in the shape of an insertion that displays Bobby Kooka’s iconic creation, the Maharaja, the heralding lines ominously announcing: Shankar’s Weekly Goes the Way of All Good Things…and ending with the wry and good-humoured line: Straight to a Special Niche in My Heart!  That’s where Majuli will one day end up, unless China damns (sick) the Tsangpo...(Tibetan for B’putra)…he, he, he…

Well, to return to sthayi, Majuli was formed as a result of the Great Brahmaputra Flood of c. 1750. The river split into two formations, the Burhi anabranch and the Lohit or Luit Xuti. The lower confluence Burhi re-united with the Luit Xuti 190 km downstream, creating the island of Majuli. The Luit is supposedly called Zayu Qu in Tibetan, after the Tibetan district over 1000 km away, so far reaching was the Creation!. Subsequently, Burhi confluence became the main Brahmaputra, which is around 8 km wide near Jorhat, from where one catches ferries for Majuli.  

In December 2013 we planned a trip to Roing, AP with Senior and Senorita but due to unfavourable weather conditions had to terminate the effort at Saikhowa National Park, only 85 km  ahead of Roing!  Tinsukia is only 90 km away from the Ledo on the Burma border. The place names here are straight from myths, if not legends- they are however known more by the commercial interests they denote... Ledo Tea quotes at Rs. 70 and “Ledo Road  (from Ledo, Assam, India to Kunming, Yunnan, China) was built during World War II so that the Western Allies could supply the Chinese as an alternative to the Burma Road which had been cut by the Japanese in 1942. It was renamed the Stilwell Road, after General Joseph Stilwell of the U.S. Army, in early 1945 at the suggestion of Chiang Kai-shek” (Wikipedia). Tinsukia to the China, i.e. Tibet border is around 120 km to the Tibetan Zayu district.

Well, it’s December the 23^rd of 2013 and we make the Normandy landing in our ferry, which plays host also to our Innova, at around 7 PM (the  service normally terminates at 5 PM). Mince it is already dark, and a gibbous moon greets us, accompanied by Chabiwala Bank staff. The skies are crystal blue and stars twinkle at us garrulously is spite of the bright presence of the moon. In deference to Mom’s wishes, we straight head for the ‘Resort’…

Our living quarters are modest and each family gets a double room, Mom getting a specially appointed little suite! In our entourage are, leaving the two of us, Major Sharma and his family, and Senyor Senior and Senorita. The principle interest of Major and Senior coincides- star-gazing- and they just drop their luggage on their room-mate’s feet and leap for the terrace of the tall building next door, under construction. After a preliminary recce of the skies, the duo throws open the Heavens to the public. Precariously we inch for their perch, and survive the trap laid for us. The sky above Majuli is unlike anywhere else, in fact you are reminded of the synthetic clarity of a planetarium. The astronomy primer for those who came late runs into refreshing hours. If one remembers aright, we are asked to behold star Bellatrix near Orion, Mirach in Andromeda and somewhere in a corner there lurks Jupiter.

Morning, and the Spanish couple (he, he, he…) heads for the South East bank for bird watching, and reports a spectacular catch…After a hurried breakfast in the local bachelor pad, we are whisked to a major Sattra, Gadmur, founded in the 16^th century. Till the 19^th century the Sattras had no pucca buildings. The sattra  building we visited was originally built by Sri Pitambardeva (1885-1962). Pitambardeva was the physical type, and set much store by fitness and  martial arts. You can see a cache of armaments in the building….The apostles of Vaishnavism were dynamos housing a variety of talent, namely musical, dramatic, terpsichorean…you name it. The song sung by Bhupen Hazarika at his first public appearance at the age of 12 was a borgeet created by Srimanta Sankardeva. In his songs you will find authentic echoes of Sankardeva, Bhupenda used to say. The best known Assamese classical dance Sattriya (Bihu being folk) is also credited to the Srimanta. Now you know why the Assamese are such an artistic community! Let the visuals speak now:

 A video of the present day Gadmur sattra shot by Missus:

THRU 360 DEGREES

MODERN SATTRIYA

SATTRIYA MUDRA

MOONSHINE

RAJINIKANT ON BOARD FERRY, SEEN WITH CUTE FAN

SHY GUYS ABOARD INS MAJULI

FERRY HOSTING TRANSPORT

 JOURNEY BACK ON FERRY

Pta. Padmaja Phenani Joglekar in Guwahati: Part (1/2)

Being in the North East, in the service of Chabiwala Bank has its own advantages. Wish our people clamouring for change of posting realised that. This is the only domain of the country where bank officials can get to know all CMs and Guv’nors. The biggest boon nacheez and Missus can count is getting to know personally, some of the top ranking Musicians of the country, who, naturally, are Maharashtrians, ha, ha, ha.. Where else could we have sat in the front rows of the diminutive Guwahati auditoria, at a hand-shaking distance from the artiste, and savoured those swaras and taans as they emanate from the very well-springs…, finally to stride into the green room with the Assamese organisers, and startling the artiste with admiration expressed in chaste Marathi…Only a month back we wrote about a tete-a-tete with Dr. Ashwini Bhide Deshpande-how unassuming she was…आणि त्यांने घडवून आणलेले षडजाच्या  विराट स्वरूपाचे ते दर्शन…

This time our PR man Shyamal delivered a plain and limp envelope, which we opened, and jumped in our chair. It was a commemorative Light Music Recital under the auspices of good old Akashvani, the main artiste being none else than Padmashree Sau. Padmaja Joglekar! Boyyyy..was Missus enchanted to see that card when we returned home as usual at 10 PM…!

As a couple we von ‘Bailiffs had always been fascinated with that bright, shining persona, who, as common knowledge goes, is a part of , so to say, Mangeshkar gharana. We’re always intrigued by the low profile she seeks and manages to maintain at such musical heights- that aloofness certainly has the merit of restricting brand-dilution.…

Just look at these early Sahyadri videos of two of today’s top Marathi divas, and see or yourself the edge Padmajatai displayed, which she retains, we’ll boldly assert..धुंद मंद ही अशीच .

Missus in particular always tunes in to those music samarohs on Marathi channels, and if she even spies Padmajatai in the audience, her day is made! So…, scarcely did we imagine that we’d see the grand personality ru-ba-ru, hearing her first hand, possibly inviting the kind and unassuming artiste home for a plate of poha-jalebis of Indori descent..

Fond as they are of music, and also not meanly gifted, our Assamese friends are unaware of reputations on the sub-continent. On the Invitation Card, Padmajatai was billed at the end of the programme which was to commence at 7.00 PM. The first two artistes, though very competent, were relatively junior, and the prospect of having to wait for Padmajatai’s performance till 10.00 was daunting. After she met the organisers, the artiste’s pre-eminence perhaps dawned on them, and she was ushered in first. In Assam, the only source of knowledge on artistes is Hindi filmdom, and therefore they’ll accord recognition to Pta. Arti Ankalikar or Pta. Kishori Amonkar or Bade Ghulam Ali Khan for that matter. As Padmajatai would enlighten us later, the unfortunate tendency to treat Bollywood presence as the touch-stone of eminence is universal. That’s what makes the artistes visible, and perhaps bestows market value on them…Market-cap, he, he, he…

But this ignorance of our audiences was what created that huge roller-coaster on the Brahmaputra, just across the venue, Rabindra Bhavan that evening…Padmajatai sang her popular numbers that evening, Dive Laagle, Runu-zunu, and Hasra lajra shravan aala. The audience reaction had to be seen to be believed थक्कच झाले म्हणायचे !… There was a huge round of applause at every nook and turn of the songs. You have, of course, heard them. The crown of course went to Runu-zunu…. 

A constellation of factors had coalesced in lucky happenstance, raising the evening to its heights. The occasion perhaps imbued the accompanists with an astonishing sense of anticipation. The ensemble had done only 2 rehearsals with the artiste on the previous day, after she landed in Guwahati after a back breaking flight, but they, in particular the flautist, accompanied as if they were her regulars. The tabalchi was decent and restrained, notwithstanding his tabla skills and did not attempt a ‘Zakir’. Without being familiar with these songs, which are household tunes in Maharashtra, he performed the tihais and paltas faithful to the original, at the appointed places. The stage vibes were also quite interesting, and were sort of ‘inverted’. Normally you’ll see the accompanist egging on the artiste, the way Pt. Walwalkar cheered Pt. Bhimsen…Here it was the other way round. So great was Padmatai’s relief at the smooth sailing, that she repeated and repeated her startled ‘’Kya baat hai..?’’ charging up the accompanists in a virtuous cycle…

Wish one had taken down the names of the accompanists. The flautist was a Rabha, though. Something to be said for people employed with the Public Sector- a basic minimum standard of excellence can always be expected- be it an Air India or a BSNL…

After the recital, the Who’s Who of the Assam Music world made a beeline for the back-stage, mumbling words Tai could barely comprehend. Everyone was there, save Bhupenda ! Of course Padmaja did not expect to find a dardi ghati jodpe there, and we chatted for a while about Missus’s gharana and of course her own. We were rewarded with her well-known CD  " मराठीतील अनमोल काव्यरचना".

The rest is History. Missus with some trepidation invited Padmajatai for breakfast at garibkhana next morning, and after doing a little arithmetic about travel time and ETD of Mumbai flight, she graciously agreed!

Ahem…seems we have exhausted the Missus-imposed word limit of a 1,000 words per post, and the substance of the Communion, including the critiquing part,  remains. We’ll meet on the other side, and to whet the appetite of that fictional character, the ‘Reader’ of IK, let’s reveal that the first thing Tai did was squat in our Devghar, intoning “अशक्य ही शक्य करतील स्वामी”, that is the  “ स्वामी समर्थ तारक मंत्र”(click to hear her @ 1, Trinayan Path).

उपमा: question was: how does one describe the audience reaction seen on the evening of 23rd July: response appreciated by Padmajatai: a blind friend  receives gift of Vision and surgeons get the bright idea that she be brought face to face with Niagara Falls for her first deedar-e-qudrat, as her bandages are removed…! What shall be her reaction...when she beholds the Niagara as the first brush with vision...?

SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME:

AT GARIBKHANA WITH MISSUS AND PET RHINOCEROS SHIVANI

BREAKFAST AT TRINAYAN: WITH MISSUS AND NACHEEZ