The Argumentive Human

Hi,

"The Argumentive Indian" is a book written by Nobel-laureate Amartya Sen, which has topped the best-seller list for quite some time now. I haven't read it as yet; however the title itself was enough to set off a chain of thought.

Here am jotting down a few points as regards arguments & debates.

1. There are many issues on which our opinions are formed almost at a subconscious level, without ever thinking intentionally about it.

A good example in this case would be of Bajirao Peshwa, the second. General perception about him is that he was a useless ruler, spent most of his time in luxuries and was primarily responsible for the decline & fall of Maratha Empire.

Not being a historian, I do not know how much of this is true or false. The point here is not whether doosra Bajirao was a good ruler or not, but that a majority of people tend to blame him without having the vaguest idea why they are saying so.

2. As thinking animals, human beings are supposed to arrive at the conclusion after following a logical line of reasoning. However, many a times people first stake out one view-point or other and then seek only those arguments which would support their stand.

A good example in this case would be Narmada Bachao Andolan in particular or environmentalists in general. These people have already decided in their minds that modern technology is bad. So an open dialogue is impossible [in most cases]. It's just like gravitational lensing ... things look distorted when looked thru any kind of lens.

3. Some people have an incorrigible habit of going against conventional views. They get hailed as 'creative minority'. Nothing wrong with it, as long as it has some sound basis. But in most cases, people resort to it just to 'stand out from the rest of them.' Only because someone is saying something different from majority opinion doesn't mean he is right or what he is opting for is good, unless proved so. Till that is done, he ought to be treated only as being 'different'.

4. And then, there are people who just have to say something to everything that you say. Never mind that it may have nothing what-so-ever to do with the point under consideration; they just gotta have the last word in discussion.

For example, you say that " Chitale bakarwadi tastes really good." A representative of above-mentioned breed will say, "But Kaka Halwai shreekhand is even better." You may wonder how two dis-similar products can be compared... but that's beside the point. He has said something and that's all that matters. Another example .. You may say " Sachin Tendulkar is a great batsman." and the reply would be, "Don Bradman was even better."

Note that what they have said isn't essentially wrong, but they have side-tracked the original issue.

Yours,

-G.

Yaaahooo !!

Hi,

Nope .... this mail is not about Jerry Yang, the founder of Yahoo !

It is about Shammi Kapoor ... yeah, you got that right :-D

Shammi Kapoor songs have always been a delight to watch. In fact I suspect that producers brought out movies only to film Shammi Kapoor's hysterics and paid scant attention to story, script and other non-essential matters.[Of course, some of his films like "Teesri Manzil" are said to be among the very good ones.]

There is hardly any film of his whose songs are not popular even today. and if I may say so, Mohd Rafi's voice was a major factor which helped him in getting established in film industry.

Shammi Kapoor perhaps choreographed his own songs, and he danced with total abandon throwing caution to air. Indeed, it would be a crime to call his body-movements a 'dance'... but nevertheless public loved it and for good reason. He brought a youthful energy to the screen and liberated movies from the sighs and moans of Rajendra Kumar and Company.

Doordarshan had the good sense to air a special 2-hour program on ocassion of Shammi Kapoor's 60th birthday. We were having dinner then, and none of us budged from our place even to wash the hands, until the programme was over. It was a rare treat indeed !!

I have about 60 audios and a dozen videos of Shammi Kapoor songs, as of now. The idea is to create a DVD of all his songs ( all videos). Nothing would be more entertaining, ha ha !!Some of the best songs are those which have O P Nayyar/Shankar-Jaikishan at music and Rafi-Asha at the playback, with Shammi bouncing up n down on their tunes.

Yours,

-G.

Aamir & NBA

Hi,

Well, About a week ago, there was news that Bollywood actor Amir Khan has come out in support of Narmada Bachao Andolan. As someone who has always admired Amir's movies ( except some classics like "Mela"), I was most curious as to what made him take this stance.

Reading his interview, however, left me in a state of dismay.

Amir Khan said that his support was purely on basis of ''emotional bonding with those displaced by the project'', and he candidly admitted that he was ''not aware of technicalites involved in the issue''.

This wont do !

When celebreties like Amir Khan or for that matter Amitabh Bacchan, come out in support ( or in protest) of an issue, they have the power to influence the public opinion on that particular topic. As such they are expected to make their decisions based on logic & reasoning, rather than get swayed away by emotion.

In this regard, I would strongly recommend the following book, which provides a solid factual support as to why projects like Sardar Sarovar are highly essential.

Samagra Maate Narmade

-- Dr Dattaprasad Dabholkar

This book gives an exhaustive account of the 'struggle' for Narmada Bachao Andolan... the socio-political as well as historical and geological background, the cause and effect and how it was lead by Medha Patkar, Sundarlal Bahuguna and other social activists, including Arundhati Roy.

As mentioned in the book, Supreme Court of India, while rejecting the appeal of Narmada Bachao Samiti, remarked, "It was not a public interest litigation, but a publicity interest litigation."

One can't help but be dismayed by how a well-meant campaign has been lead astray by few people who are not ready to push up their ideological 'burkhaas' and look at the practical aspects without getting emotionally charged.

As a person I have much respect for the social activists mentioned here.. Medha-ji, Sundarlal-ji, also our own Anna Hazaare-ji. These people are gold in themselves... but when they allow willy politicians to make use of them... well, that's when things begin to go wrong.

This is NOT to say that I am insensitive to the plight of displaced people. I am also not saying that projects should be set up at the cost of lives and property of innocent people. Indeed they ought to get more than sufficient re-imbursement for their troubles... but when the activists say that NO TO BIG DAMS, NO TO ATOMIC POWER STATIONS,.... well, someone like me begins to have serious doubts.

A couple of decades ago, a huge hue n cry arose over Salaawli dam in my home-state, Goa. Activists were crying hoarse in the name of some ancient temples. But Govt of Goa remained firm, and the dam was built. Today it serves as the chief source of water to almost half the state... and am damn sure that people who protested against it then are enjoying the benefits now.

Rather than make an issue out of short-term problems, we need to look at long-term benefits.

Yours,

-G.

Memorization: Out of Fashion?

Hi,

Well, a couple of weeks ago, Rahul, Aparna & me had a free-wheeling talkathon. For some reason, the issue of memorization cropped up and Rahul remarked,

" Why is it essential to memorize?”

I wasn't surprised. My office-colleague Prasad had passed a similar comment earlier. He had quoted Albert Einstein as saying, "Why bother to remember facts which can be looked up in a reference book?"And I had shot back, “Percy, buddy... Einstein could say something like that because he was THE Einstein. What are mere mortals like you and me saving our precious memory for?? To store juicy gossip about film-stars and trivia about our sports-persons?"

I, for one, am all for memorization. It is a part of learning process and highly essential for better thinking and decision-making.

Rahul's contention was that most of our decisions are logic-based. True! But to arrive at a conclusion you have to make use of some information, which isn't possible unless you have a knowledge- base ready at hand... i.e. in your brain.

And reference-books may not be accessible every place, every time.

As a kid, I was made to recite tables from 1 to 30 every evening. I hated it then, but today they have indeed made life much simpler. If an answer to something like 19 x 7 is needed, while my colleagues scramble for their calculators or go Start->Programs->Accessories-> Calculator, I have already noted down 133 and moved on.

I am NOT saying that you must memorize each and every piece of information you may come across. But surely it's not too much to expect to learn by-heart a few basic things which you might need in your personal or professional life. A physicist would be expected to know values of fundamental constants, A chemist would be expected to know valencies of major elements.

To say that you can look up these things in a reference book means either you are highly prodigious or.... in most of the cases, plain lazy.

Also memorization is not hard work. If you love the subject, it's quite easy to recall what you have learnt.

A few days back, I had gone to one of our relative’s in Pune. As we sat there talking, the girl in the house was solving some integration problems and was stuck up on a particular derivative. Having learnt derivatives almost by rote in my HSSC, I couldn’t help pointing out the answer to her and was rewarded with an appreciative smile.

…. So you see, there are some un-expected benefits too!

Yours,

- G.

"Meri Aawaz Suno....."

27th December 2000.

It was a chilly night and I was huddled up with a book. Just then the phone rang."Quick! Switch on the TV! " said she, "Doordarshan channel."

Dumbfounded, I did as instructed.On TV, There was a bald man in a suit, standing before the mike and waiting for the narrator to finish.Thinking it to be some kind of joke, I was about to turn away, when the words came out ...

"Suhaani raat dhal chuki .... na jaane tum kab aaoge

Jahaan ki rut badal chuki... na jaane tum kab aaoge"
And I stood there, mesmerized.... listening to one song after the other.

The programme was a recording from the Doordarshan Archives... and the man whom I had just listened to was one of the legends in Hindi Film Music .... Mohammad Rafi.

Next day, I went to our local music shop and bought a couple of his audio-cassettes. After listening to them, I wanted to have more, so asked my friends to lend me what they had of him. Very soon, I was listening to him day-in and day-out.

The reason Rafi appeals to me is his awesome vocal range. He has sung some of the best songs in almost every genre of contemporary music. Be it :

• Qawwali ( Parda Hai Parda),
• Saddy ( Din Dhal Jaaye Haay),
• Playful ( Achcha Ji Mein Haari),
• Romantic ( Abhi Na Jaao Chhodkar),
• Ghazal ( Koi Sagar Dil Ko Behelata Nahi),
• Classical (Madhuban me Radhika Nache Re),
• Soulful ( Mann Re Tu Kaahe Na Dheer Dhare ),
• Devotional (Mann Tarpat Hari Darshan Ko Aaj),
• Patriotic ( Ab tumhare hawaale watan saathiyon),
• Mischevous ( Aaye Ga Aaye Aaye Ga Ye Kya Ho Gaya )...

..... You name it and you have it.
As my net-pal Varsha rightly says, devotional songs in Hindi films are often too melodramatic, but listen to the ones rendered by Rafi, and you can't help feeling drawn into it.
I am also quite fond of Kishore Kumar, Mukesh and other male singers. However IMHO, there are very few songs of these which Rafi couldn't have done an equal justice to ... but there is quite a huge number of songs of Rafi which no one other singer could have sung with such a panache.
Apart from being a music virtuoso, Rafi the person was also equally as good. He was humble, a tee-totaller, and deeply religious. There are n-number of anecdotes about how he helped upcoming music directors by singing for them almost for free.
Some people accuse him of over-exposure. To some extent I do agree that he could have done without some trashy songs. But there might have been some compulsions.
Today, I have a collection of about 500 of his songs. Indeed, there was a time when I thought I had heard him all .... but discovered very soon that my collection is a drop from an ocean.
It's futile to list top favourite songs since they keep on changing as per my mood and atmosphere, but there are a few which would make the list anytime...

1. Suhaani raat dhal chuki

2. Ek haseen shaam ko

3. Abhi na jaao chhodkar

4. Paaon chhu lene do

5. Aapke haseen rukh pe aaj naya noor hai

Mohd Rafi passed away five months before I was born. They say his funeral procession was the biggest one the city of Mumbai has ever witnessed. Though he may have ceased to exist in physical sense, his songs continue to accompany us in our moments of joy and sorrow, triumph & tragedy.

To quote lyrics of one of his own songs ....

" Tum muze yun bhula na paaoge

Jab kabhi bhi sunoge geet mere

Tum mere sung yunhi gun-gunaoge ''

Yours,

- G.

Welcome !

Hi,
Well, This is my first step into the Blogosphere.... Help me make it a giant stride.
Yours,
- Gautam.