Numero Uno
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Musical Nuances
This is with reference to Ashish Sharma’s excellent article ‘Strains Of Silence’ (July 23), which traces the decline of the sarangi, the instrument which has the closest proximity to human sound. Sarangi players are responsible for their own plight. Most of them forget that their job is to accompany vocalists and not to disturb them with needless interference. With the result that top vocalists like the late Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, late Ustad Amir Khan and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi rejected this instrument and preferred the harmonium as an accompanying instrument.

Some examples will prove my point. If my memory serves right, in a music festival organised in Delhi in 1951 to commemorate the golden jubilee of Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, the doyen of the Patiala gharana, late Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, while engrossed in his rendition of khayal, was repeatedly disturbed by the accompanist — none other than the sarangi maestro Ustad Bundu Khan. Ustad Bundu Khan was asked to leave the stage.

In yet another music festival held at Red Fort in the early 1960s, sarangi maestro Pandit Gopal Mishra was asked to provide lehra to renowned pakhawaj player Pandit Satranje Prasad, popularly known as Lallan Babu. Instead, Mishraji started playing a raga as if he was the main artist. Despite requests from tabla wizard Ustad Ahmedajan Thirakwa and others, he did not budge. Naturally, the programme flopped.
— Suresh Basrurkar, Pune

Reel Unreal
The response to a film definitely depicts (‘An Unkind Cut’ by Amrith Lal, July 30) the sensibility of a community. Shaji N. Karun has reasons to lament over the fact that Vanaprastham, despite being a class product, widely remains unseen and unappreciated by the so-called literate audience of Kerala. This is largely due to the commercialisation of the medium and falling moral and social standards in the culture of the people of the state. Gone are the days when classics from directors of the calibre of Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Aravindan and Padmarajan used to be the order of the day. The ordinary moviegoer sees corruption, violence and machoism in real life and wants his favourite movie idol to do the same on screen as well. The camera lens scans the contours of the female body from the most pretentious angles, superstars mouth foul dialogues and enact the most suggestive gestures, some wily lingo passes off for lyrics in songs and blood is shown splattered on-screen as if it is cheaper than tomato sauce.

Kerala, a state where life quality is said to match countries like Switzerland, is surely on the fast track to social and moral destruction. In the near future, Keralites will be lagging behind in every aspect including cinema aesthetics. Shaji N. Karun needs to be commended for sticking on to what he believes is aesthetics and Vanaprastham is doubtless a refreshing change during the times of mayhem and mediocrity.
— Sajit Nambudiripad, Malappuram (Kerala)

Just One Point
n IT’S highly shameful that in India there’s violence every time a big political leader is assassinated or arrested. Hordes of Sikhs were murdered after Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Recently, there was violence in Maharashtra following the Shiv Sena supremo’s arrest. If the leader of a criminal gang were to let loose violent mobs on being prosecuted, would his action be condoned? Of course not! But there is no punishment for politicians.
— Nikhil Sharma,Chhindwara

This is with reference to ‘Demockery’ by Shashi Tharoor (July 30). I’ve a simple suggestion which can change politicians and our current ‘‘demockery’’ into a reasonable democracy; rewrite our relevant laws to declare the election of a candidate null and void if the total valid votes polled is less than 66.67 per cent in his constituency. This rule is a double-edged weapon capable of purging both the politicians as well as the electorate.
— MP Anil Kumar, Pune

This refers to Star Watch by Veenu Sandal (July 30). She is correct in forecasting that from now on, Bal Thackeray’s bite will not be as deep, yet his mass influence will hold. Once his right hand, and now a rabid bete noire, Maharashtra’s Home Minister Chhagan Bhujbal poked fun at Thackeray by addressing him as T. Balu, however found that T also stands for Tiger, and sadly for him, he could not cage the Tiger, as the judge dismissed the case in a jiffy.
— P. N. Kumbhare, Pune

Veenu Sandal’s Star Watch reveals very wisely the vaulting heights and vain valleys of vicissitude of Bal Thackeray’s fate. If we transgress the prescribed limits, we will be the ones paying for our transgressions. This does not apply to the tiny minority of privileged ministers of the Central and State governments, leaders of political parties who have private armies of their own and gang leaders with musclemen at their beck and call. The supreme example of arrogance and being a law unto himself is Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.
— Ramswarth Acharya, Thane

The review of Arun Gandhi’s biography of his grandmother Kasturba Gandhi (Kasturba’s Satyagraha, July 30) can also be described as a sweet satyagraha as compared to the Mahatma’s brackish one. Though an unwilling starter, Ba soon became a matriarch of the freedom movement and a real helpmate to Bapuji. Today, this recollection invokes more than awe, especially when a farce of a leader is walking in her husband’s footsteps as Chief Minister of Bihar.
— C. G. Prasad, Chennai

‘Designs on A Politician’s House’ (Homing In) portrays the real face of our present-day politicians. Gandhiji wanted our politicians to be the servants of people, to be yogis — to live plain and to think high. But to everyone’s dismay, they turned out to be bhogis. This is what the house ‘Rewa’ of Gujarat’s ex-CM seems to be. In the land of Gandhi, it would stand as a monument heralding for posterity the negation of the lofty principle which the great man nurtured all through his life.
— Mahendra Chandra Das, Bhubaneswar

It is really surprising (and irritating) to note that the weekly Jumble was repeated. Earlier the crosswords used to be repeated religiously after six months or so. But the Jumble which appeared in the July 23 Magazine made an immediate appearance on the 30 July. Is it very difficult to ensure that such blunders don’t happen or have you taken regular readers like me for granted?
— Lt. Col K. S. Ramanathan, Madurai.

Editor’s Note: The error is deeply regretted.

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