-I have a new, sticky keyboard and an enormous brand new monitor. Such arrangements are made by my IT department (my husband) annually. I only ask him to fix/replace one thing and he invariably changes the whole set up for something newer and shinier. Keeps me on my toes keeping up with new technology.
-Have been very busy commuting to Cambridge and back and generally feeling very happy attending lectures, but been fluey and too tired to do much else.
-A and I have finally going over to the dark side and have bought a car. We have resisted doing this for a few years. Both his parents and mine have been after us to get one, but what with living very near good transport links we’ve not really felt the need for one or the associated expense. But now as I will be commuting a lot for the PhD, the tube becoming pretty hellish pre-Olympics and us feeling the need to explore England more, we have decided that the time has come. I am having fond fantasises of getting A to drive me to historic sites and gardens and to nurseries. It will mainly be A doing the driving as I haven’t got my license yet. He is trying to change that situation!
-A has been baking nonstop. Chocolate tarts, lemon tarts, brownies…My mother was here for a few days and brought a halwai’s shop worth of mithai with her so there was some seriously unhealthy eating going on here. Not that I’m putting on any weight. Useless.
-Have lately been listening to this album, which a jugalbandi of the Gundecha Brothers (Dhrupad) and the Malladi Brothers (Carnatic). It’s not exactly easily available. They recently performed again in Chicago, here’s a vigorous fast-paced Shankara Girijapati by all four:
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I was been tagged by Ummon ages ago to write about myself. I have already revealed several boring details of my life on this blog over the years, those who are cringing at receiving some more detail may turn away now.
-I will start a PhD in October. I am scared, excited and worried. I am really grateful to A for having pushed me this far, and I will probably rely on him to push me further. I have very little self-belief and the fact that I finally plucked up the courage to apply late last year is all down to him. The fact that I will be able to do it at all is also all down to his support.
-I like being alone. So does A. It’s nice that we both understand this about each other.
-I get really, really irritated with the way Sushma Swaraj dresses, with only one side of her coat showing, though it is none of my business (just saw her on TV. Not too hot about her politics either).
-I watch rubbish films at night when I need to unwind. The latest phase has involved Rekha and Jeetendra movies on youtube and Telugu movies with subtitles. Some of these have been REALLY BAD, but my Hindi has improved as a result and I have learned a few Telugu words, which is useful for my Carnatic music.
-I have changed my mind about arranged marriages. I was opposed to them many years ago, but over time have accepted that it is one way of finding companionship in a society that still places such a high value on the institution of marriage. I love being married and if someone finds happiness though the arranged route, then good for them. I still do oppose some forms of arranged marriage, however, and get really cross when people who appear not to place any value on caste in all other areas of their life and are seemingly cosmopolitan, insist on finding someone from their own caste.
We recently came across a guy who claimed caste did not matter to him, but that for his parents’ sake, he would only marry a girl of his caste, though he had found someone compatible of another caste on one of those matrimonial websites. This was a guy who had advertised that “caste” was “no bar” to him. It may be easier to marry someone from the same caste, but what about the richness different backgrounds add to a relationship? I am so glad that my future children will have traditions and heritages from all over India mixed up in them. I keep reading/hearing young people claiming that caste doesn’t matter so much in today’s India. If you claim it doesn’t matter then you should reflect that in your personal life and be open to marrying someone of a different caste. Maybe a few battles with parents will ensue, but surely this is a battle worth having?
-Have become a lot fonder of my own body, but still occasionally feel very unsexy and want to be curvy and voluptuous.
-I would like to study Sanskrit, but have to put it off for a few years.
-I started liking Carnatic music because it sounded so sensuous and sexy. It replaced the place of rock music in my life. Probably be flamed by the Bhakti warriors if I say this elesewhere…but I don’t see that bhakti and sensuality are mutually discordant as it were.
-I HATE getting my hair done. It HURTS. I feel hair stylists are unnecessarily aggressive.
-I love twitter
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Z.M. Dagar was the slowest moving individual I’ve ever met. He was never interested in playing very fast music, and his mind and body seemed to be set at alap speed. He gave the impression of being continuously half asleep, but everyone who got to know him soon realized that Dagarsahib was alive and alert to subtle realities that most people never even notice. He was a keen observer of people and events, a sort of amateur psychologist, and he could speak to the innermost part of a person when he wished to – with his music of course, but also with words. English was his fourth language I think, but he got his point across splendidly.
Dagarsahib had very strong hands and fingers. I watched him make sitar mizrabs from heavy wire without any tools and of course he pulled heavy vina strings with phenomenal accuracy. Anyone who has tried to replicate Ustad’s meend and sruti will know it takes not only a lot of patience and skill but steady endurance as well.
He was a splendid cook. He used black pepper as much as chilies and was fond of chicken. He made the best blackeye peas (loobia) and the best cauliflower I’ve ever eaten.
He felt that North Indian classical music, and Dhrupad alap especially, was a Universal Science of music and sound, of which India was the custodian. It could be learned, performed and deeply felt by non-Indians. He rejected the notions of “Hindu music,” “Muslim music,” “Black music” etcetera and I think he enjoyed gently annoying ethnomusicologists by his emphatic dismissal of their terminology and concepts. Of course he recognized different musical styles in different cultures and communities but he knew from experience how pure music could transcend rather than define the differences between people. He also knew that sound is vibrating air and that vibrating air in itself has no religious beliefs or cultural identity. Link
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Shyam and Varali have given me a gentle poke to write a post. It’s been very hard to post (or tweet!) as my brain feels full-I’ve had a lot of guests in and out for the past month. My father has been here for a while and I am trying to help him sort some of his work. My study has had friends and cousins in it. My routine has gone a bit awry. I hope I will resume posting soon. In the meantime I came across this Canadian group, Autorickshaw, that combines Carnatic music, tabla, bass guitar, dilruba etc. Not sure what I feel about it yet.
I really like the Dilruba in this one. The bass is also lovely.
