Gandhari Blindfolded

Two days back Gangubai Hangal ,lengendary singer of Kirana Gharana, passed away. Going through the orbituary ,memoirs and tributes to her some things took my attention.

I tried to imagine the young girl clad in a saree moving out on the streets to learn music.It was a time when a career in music wasn’t very acceptable . She dared the bad words and braved the street urchins who threw dirty water on her. What struck me most was that her real name was Gandhari but that wont suit a ‘gaanewaali’ . Though she could fight the laughter and the insults but she had to change her identity for societal acceptance. Men in music were revered and bestowed ‘pandithood’ and ‘ustad-dom’ but a feminine talent of music could not surface above ‘gaanewali’.

So brave Gandhari blindfolded herself and camouflaged as Gangubai so that her great talent could survive; her love for music could live. Amidst the hardships she underwent to sustain her ‘world’ may be this was the last thing she could have complained about.

The beginning...

Kamala and Bimla, raised by wolves,never learnt to be human let alone learning the nitty gritties of feminine behaviour. In short it's the socialization that makes 'humans' and definitely 'being a girl' is taught.The process starts from birth and under the same roof differences in bringing up exist with a sad subtlness. This is so engraved in the society that even the most liberally raised women can't deny its suffocating shadow.
This blog is my attempt to unwind and write about things which actually initiated my 'affair with words' about a decade ago . My first poem 'WINGS' , represents the first encounter with this subtle, suffocating web of demands on a human ,born feminine.
Eve shared a bite of the apple of wisdom with Adam. This was called the blame and burden of Eve that led to banishment from garden of Eden to the mortal world full of misery . But I believe that 'bite' was her bold quest to say 'no' to ignorance and her generosity to share it with her beloved... what came later is her magic and not her fault....

PART OF A CONSPIRACY!

Today I was at a departmental store, waiting in the queue for the billing. A little boy went past me with a keenness in his eyes . He forged through the crowd of larger and older humans and picked up a pack of some snack . The pack being big enough to make his effort to hold it look like an embrace. With the same keenness and a little spark in his eyes he walked to his mother. He had my attention because the queue was long and the wait was boring. His mother busy on the phone looked at his son’s hunt ,ignored the spark in his eyes and tossed that snack bag in a pool of packed vegetables. She went back to her important call. The kid did not throw any tantrum rather he was now focussed at getting his goody bag back.
He made arrangement to reach the level of that square pool and dipped his hand in. Poor thing still could not reach it.But he kept struggling without despair. I watched him all through. His was mom oblivious of the entire affair and may be no one else noticed too. I had almost developed a kind of liking for the kid. While he was still struggling I left my queue for a silly second rescued the goody pack and handed it to the kid. He didn’t smile at me but the pack was again held close to his chest .
When I went out of the store the famous words of Coehlo raced through my mind ‘when you really want something the whole universe conspires in your favour’ and sometimes we become part of a conspiracy.

EMPTY TALK!

Its about a glass in which some water was poured and then people were asked about what they see?A half filled glass or a half empty glass? The response defined the person as an optimist or a pessimist. A well known and interesting interpretation. I was fascinated by it for a long time and was happy it was half filled for me. But something struck me today. Just flashed. The glass is full. Half with water and half with air. The emptiness is but illusory because eyes don’t perceive the gaseous mixture. This is science and yet I see some flash of thought in that. Nothing is truly empty . Its but our failure to identify the filler or may be a yearning for something we want more than what already is. The truth is true emptiness cannot exist for long. It would then create a vacuum which would frantically try to absorb itself with whatever comes it’s way!

YOUTH

Youth lies, not in the turgidity of the skin but in the flexibility of the mind.