Pancharatna Kritis, 5 years of blogging and nothing else

It required almost a year and change of geographical location of the author before posting something new on this, what is now widely believed in the bloggers' circles to be, almost dead blog. I don't offer the reason that I was lazy or didn't have anything interesting to write about. I shall shun all such exhibition of modesty and will not offer to give any explanation. Since none is needed or asked for.

Coming to the topic, what made me write this post on an otherwise uneventful Saturday evening, are someone answering to the name of Thyagaraja of the 18th century, his famed Pancharatna Kritis and the rendition of those Kritis by one Mr. Dr. M Balamurali Krishna (hailed by some as modern day Thyagaraja although it is hard to believe Thyagaraja was from ancient times) which I listened to today as I have listened to for very many times for very many years. So what's there in this? Neither Thyagaraja nor his compositions need introduction from this esteemed blogger. Dr. M Balamurali Krishna is also known to many and is more popular than me although I don't have the backing statistics. Actually there's nothing new. Unlike my discovery of Beatles a few years back, I know from a long time about these persons associated with carnatic music. (To pick a random date, I would say, from 17th April 1994 to be precise.) And to be even more precise, I guess (yes, I guess precisely) Dr. M Balamurali Krishna's rendition of Pancharatna Krithis was my first exposure to these '5 gems of compositions' by Thyagaraja. Over the years I have listened to the Pancharatna Krithis, as with anyone who is aware of carnatic music, many many times over. But what is it that gives such joy in listening to these particular five songs of Mr. T. Raja (not that the other compositions don't but these surpass the others)? What is it that makes the songs even more pleasant to hear when sung in a group? I am sure it is not just the branding of them being 'Pancharatna Kritis'. Neither did anyone market it to me as 'Pancharatna Kritis - From the composer of Nagumomu. In a media player near you'. And what exactly does Dr. BMK do with these songs that make them look as if Thyagaraja had him in mind while composing the songs? If any of you have answers to any of these, please email me at post.to.guru-at-gmail.com. Or maybe comment. I need some comments to bedeck my otherwise dreary looking blog.

Also there was this other thing that crossed my mind a few days back since it had not crossed my mind for several years. And it is that it sounds odd to me that at Thyagaraja Aradhana people sing to Thyagaraja, the songs that he himself wrote and set the tune to. Is it just me or do any of you too think so? And they do this every year! Maybe you might consider singing compositions of P. Das or those of the two of the other three - Shyamashastri and Muthuswamy Dikshitar - who make up the carnatic music trinity alongwith Thyagaraja. I was talking about this the other day with the honourable Arun Parisarapremi. And he seemed to agree with my thoughts. If you too agree as well, you know what to do, right?

And as the wheels of time roll by, this blog turns 5 in 3 days on May 10th. What started off with humble beginnings, has expectedly remained humble barring the occasional delusions of grandeur that grips the author. 5 years have passed. Is it time to elect a new author? SMS Y for a yes and SMS N for a no to some number mentioned by any of the high decibel news anchors of our illustrious news channels.

A Very Hypocritical Post

The futility of profound contemplation regarding certain matters never stops some from thinking, arguing, theorizing and even writing elaborate books on their 'reasoned' arguments. Free will is one of the pet subjects for such people-who-have-time-to-think-about-things-that-are-pointless. You can argue in favour of or against free will and appear convincing as well as unconvincing at the same time. Irrespective of that your life remains more or less what it is. Nothing really changes by delving deep into whether free will is there.

God. Another entity whose existence or non-existence is a subject of intense reasoning and philosophy. People who believe or don't in God continue to hold onto their beliefs(interestingly, even the atheists generally say they don't believe in God and not 'I have reasoned out the non-existence of God') despite earnest attempts by the opposing camp or, to put it eloquently, by the members of the 'opposing school of thought'. Again all the mental energies expended on this subject appear to be a humongous waste. But still it continues to be expended much like Advani's attempts to be the Prime Minister of this nation.

Which brings me to politics. Why do people like me, who can at the most go out and cast a single vote, care so much about which coalition/party forms the Government? Or for that matter whether Dr. Singh is weak or whether Gadkari can bring his party to power? Absolutely inexplicable, given that nobody is willing to offer me the PM's post, atleast a deputy Prime Minister's post like the one Advaniji held.

That's it for this post which I wrote after reading an excellent book titled 'Devaru' by A N Murthy Rao where he reasons whether God exists. Despite being a believer there IS God, my views seemed to be more or less(around 90%, to put a numerical figure) in sync with that of the atheist author.

99th Post

Much like the political party this blog has shamelessly supported(in vain) since inception, this blog too been in a state of paralysis since last June. Reasons for that aren't ideological or leadership related, but sheer laziness. While the political party lost 10% vote share, this blog lost little considering that it never had more than single digit readership.

Anyway, not much has changed in the life of this author since the time I last blogged. Many things, both on the personal as well as on the professional front promised to change in the dying months of 2009 as well as in the early days of 2010. But for one, the others remained just a promise though I am extremely happy for the one thing that I desperately wanted and that went green for me. Well, enough of abstract, abstruse personal musings.

Going forward, I will make an attempt to blog more frequently. The keyword there, though, is 'attempt'. Not that many would care whether I blog frequently. Again very much like the political party that is making an attempt to connect with the India of today. An irrelevant, supremely inappropriate analogy you might say.

Lok Paritran

It has been 28 days since the 2009 general election results came out, still there is not even an iota of analysis in the media of Lok Paritran's poll debacle. That's because media does not have its ear to the ground fearing insects and other life forms that dwell normally on the ground. But such fears cannot evade us or rather Lok Paritran from facing facts.

When brand IIT has become such a hit in quite a few major Scandinavian countries, here's a political party of ex-IIT-ians which has failed to open its account in this vast, humongous, heterogenous, nation of ours. They failed to open their account even in IIT towns. Why? Is their a divide amongst IITians? Is there a disconnect between IIT and society despite the rhyme? Is their a seemingly disconnected disconnect between lawyers and engineers, between ration card holders and senior citizens, between myth and parable, between distorted utopia and unambiguous reality, between sex and metaphysics? "There is", says a senior Lok Paritran leader before adding, "a chintan baithak scheduled next month. We will discuss all these issues. We have already concluded what to conclude in that baithak".

There are other issues that face the party. Why such a name as Lok Paritran? Why not a more cool and contemporary name? Why have Sanskrit name? Why not an Anglo-Saxon name? Why did the innumerable 'love-speeches' made by their President fail to attract voters despised by 'hate-speeches'? What is life? Why didn't they go for alliances with comparably smaller parties like JD(S)? Is U R Ananthmurthy a genius? So many questions stare violently infront of Lok Paritran.

But it's not the end of the road for Lok Paritran says noted political analyst Arjun Sharma. 'Now they might not have won any seat. But they will surely come to power in 15 years', says Arjun displaying his knowledge of political history(BJP rose from 2 seats to ruling party in 15 years.). Even Lok Paritran leaders are optimistic. They have apparently charted out the slogan for the 2014 elections - 'Where there is hope there is despair'. When asked whether it was supposed to 'Where there is despair there is hope', party worker Subrmanya S Z said, 'There is absolutely no confusion. This is our slogan'.

In other news BJP President Rajnath Singh has expelled himself from the party for talking to the media to announce the party's new gag orders. "It was a Catch-22 like situation for me", said Mr. Singh showing surprising knowledge of Joseph Heller's work.

The Party Is Over

A political party has unofficially died today marking the end of the longest surviving non-Congress party. This was no ordinary party. This was a party that shook the political certitudes of Indian politics like no one else had done before. This was a party that captured the public imagination and the ultimate power in fairly rapid and dramatic way. This was a party that gave India one of her best Prime Ministers. This was a party that dominated and dictated the agenda for five successive general elections.

A party that was once so full of ideas got bankrupt and corrupt by the stint in power. Bereft of new ideas, unable to cling on to old ones, the party developed severe identity crisis. The crisis needed application of thoughts by its once much envied leadership. But the leadership was tired and jaded. The leadership was at war with itself. The leadership tried to beat its opponents by becoming exactly like its opponent. The leadership was in denial about the disease that had afflicted the party. The party was at war with itself. It had become a weak, pity, pale shadow of its once glorious self.

Like the drowning man, it hoped someone else from outside would come and help. And this help it expected from its opponents. In the world of competitive politics, that was asking for a death blow. Blow it did receive but survived for a few hours raising hopes of the believers that atleast now an emergency surgery would be undertaken to cure the ill. But the party went back to denial and to old certitudes and to ideas that had gone past their sell by date. It died.

But political parties are in some ways immortal. They can come back from death and lead a rejuvenated life. Can this party do? Do they still have the resolve to do it? Will they carry out the onerous responsibility of ensuring a bipolar polity in India? Let's hope they regain their life for the sake of India.