Jal Samadhi

यह जो मेरे साथ
कुछ अनसुलझा सा चलता है
वो तुम ही हो
जो मुझे समझ नहीं आते
जमी हुई नदी की
पतली बर्फ की सतह पर
तुम्हे जानने के लिए
सावधानी से बढ़ता हूँ
और अचानक  गुप! से गिर जाता हूँ
ठन्डे पानी में

वो डूबकी

जैसे रोम रोम में सुइयां चुभा देती है 

और पल भर में  कंपता मैं 

किसी कार्क की तरह

फिर सतह पर आ जाता हूँ
पानी के मंथन में
हिचकोले खाता हुआ
किनारे को खोजता
लेकिन सतह पर तैरते रहने से
गहरायी की थाह तो नहीं मिलेगी
क्यों नहीं में डूबता चला जाता
जल तल में
समाधी में
सर के ऊपर जल और उसके भी ऊपर संसार
और तल में बैठा मैं
तुम्हे समझने के लिए शायद डूबना ही पड़ेगा

Rajasthan "Uprooted": A Comedy of Errors

Born to parents with roots  in Punjab and Rajasthan, I develop an instant connect with the food, music or culture of these regions, especially music. About three years ago, I was in Jaipur for a conference. The evening was relatively free and I was lounging around at the Jai Mahal Palace sipping on a large Old Monk when I first heard them in the lobby.

The manager said they were Rajasthan Roots. 

The Band

I tried searching for their album but failed. 
Two years back, in a similar search on the world wide web, I came across the videos of Jaipur-based Morchang Studios,  of which, Rajasthan Roots were  an integral part. 
The two dozen odd videos onYoutube were marijuana. 
I played them on and on. The rendition of Bulleh Shah's "Antbahardi" and the haunting  "Kesariya Balam" composed in "Raag Mand" by Munshi Khan kept on playing in my head long after I had shut  the system. 
The roots had firmly clasped my heart. 
I also introduced these videos to more than a 100 of my friends who had similar auditory preferences. The impact was similar if not the same. 

Last night, after a three-year long wait, I finally heard Rajasthan Roots at The Comedy Store. A band of six bunched together on a stage fit for stand-up comics. The 300-seater auditorium was about half full (the optimist in me as you can see.) 

Before they strum the first chord, let me just rewind a bit. The event promos said -  "A high energy performance of Sufi poetry, vocal harmonies and percussion, combining the eclectic Sufi traditions of the desert with electronic rhythms and Soundscapes.

 A tribute to Saint Bulleh Shah, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Abida Parveen."

To someone who has spent thousands of hours  immersing himself in music, the word "Sufi" is bound to strike a chord.  Sufism for us, who, from dawn to dusk, are strapped to our chairs peering into flickering computer screens,  is like that oasis. The undoing of the soul  is such an unachievable feat that we would continue to dream about it, knowing all the time that the Sufi way indeed is the highway.  

Rajasthan Roots had christened the performance as Sufi-tronics. The mind said beware, the heart said go for it...remember the lovely melody playing in Jaipur? So heart ruled over the mind and I landed up at the venue. 

So Rajasthan Roots live! Hey hold on...where is Munshi Khan? 
The concert  began with a blues-style presentation of  Nanak's bhajan " Vaari Jaon Re". The rendition progressed  and I was left agape. 
With every passing  minute, I was moving further away from the Sufism of the soul. 
The vocal "disharmonies" of the high-pitched off-key voice of Adi and the rustic scales of Kutle Khan was jarring.  
The second composition "Antebahardi" written by  Bulleh Shah was overpowered by a loud drum roll. 
Dear Adi, you have a voice which fits only a certain type of songs. The longing and the loneliness which stirs the soul of an office-going Sufi-aspirant like me,  please excuse, was totally absent. 

My dilemma was that Adi, the lead of the band, your fingers were working up  the strings in an awesome manner but the voice defied the gravity of   songs like that demanded. 
The  songs about a dancing peacock and Diggipuri Ka Raja, despite being very well arranged, were cacophony. 
The discordant notes put me off. 
It is only in the second half, when judging the restless mood of the audience, you unleashed Kutle Khan. It was a welcome relief. In the first half he just waited for your cues to go ballistic on all barrels. And he lived up to it at the first opportunity.

His was an awesome jugalbandi with the wind-instrument Algoza followed by a lovely solo on Khartal and Bhapang. 


The crowd cheered up when he sang Dam Must Kalandar and Dama Dum Mast Kalandar. But please rewind to the videos of Morchang Studio where Kutle is displaying his excellent command over instruments. 

Kutle Khan is an awesome bhapang and khartal player. He is not...repeat NOT a lead vocalist. His voice does not have the call of  sand dunes of Jaisalmer, though he hails from the same land.

He could be a fantastic supporting vocal but NEVER the lead. An awesome percussionist but not the vocals. But the crowd had to settle for him with no better options. 

Anyone who has experienced Sufi music and has grown up on those canonball aalaps of Nusrat and Abida,  will know that the voice of the Sufi emerges from his navel, pulls your heart strings and reverberates the sky above or the roof in this case. 
The kharaj and laraz, the intricate murkiyans are such copyrighted stuff of the tribes of Langas and Manganiars, that only a few could even dream of replicating it. 
Kutle's performance was good but the bar is still higher.

The greatest piece  in your six-member band was the saxophone player. He had the most soulful contribution to the otherwise a damp performance. 
Live has to be livewire nothing less. 

The Roots have to be well grounded. Offshoots don't work. The greater disappointment is that your efforts were  well intended. There was never once a doubt in my mind that you sincerely wish to be that cult rooted band to help evolve Rajasthani music  from its cliches of always playing  to the gallery.

It is when noble efforts like these fail it hurts the most.

Maybe too much  effort has gone into it. Sufism is so simple to understand that the intelligent can never fathom it.  Maybe a simpleton voice,  a khartal player, your supporting guitar and a dholak would have easily served the purpose.

 Like Bulleh Shah said in his song, made immortal by your idol Sain Zahoor....Basi Kari Oo Yaar, Ilam Basi Kari Oo Yaar...Ek Alif Tere Darkar (Hold on your search for knowledge. It is only Alif the letter that you need to know to remember Allah). May your music find its roots where they belong. 

Writer Unblocked

A common problem with most bloggers is the frequency of their posts.Most of them start a blog with high hopes of creating masterpieces with their writings. The first post is always overwhelming with friends sending congratulatory messages. However, the spirit of updating the blog fizzles out soon. Many at times  forget their passwords to the blog and that great  "masterpiece" is left orphaned in the world wide virtual web. 

I'm no different. 

Despite a firm resolve to write a page daily, the irregularity bug got the better of me. I questioned - "But there is nothing interesting to write today?" What is interesting anyway? Is the blog supposed to be the diary of a superman? 

A few days back no rathar about a month back or two back while I was ready to switch of my workstation to call it a day, Harsh called up. It was not strange he called. I and Harsh usually call up each other whenever we read something interesting. A poem, a ghazal a quote etc. 

But that evening he called up to read out his poems. Of course I have heard and read his poems, but these were his poems written in school many many years ago. 

Though I don't remember much of the poem, I do remember that both of us felt that life was passing as it should, only that somwhere we went astray. We melted into a template of comfort. We did our work and came back home. Satisfied souls. 

Harsh remember how for many years he maintained a daily diary. I also recalled the many many poems I wrote during my school days. How pain, love, separation, friendship, peace, the country, all of these emotions  had so much meaning in those days. But why today I think of love as a foolish emotion, pain a reality, separation as a fatality, peace as a dream and the country corrupt.  

Is there nothing to write about?

In a way the conversation hurt me deep inside. I decided there is of course more to the life I was leading. I'm as you know a journalist. Words are my tools. However, when I sat down to write a page why did those words refused to settled on the pages?

But stubborn as I am. I have decided to write again. Anything and everything. Someone reads it better if someone does not, its awesome!

Today I did the long overdue cleaning of my office cabinet. It was supposed to be done around Jan 1 but as life would have it....

From the numerous pages, I fished out a bundle of dogeared poems, half written ideas and what not. What better way to start writing again by revisiting the same words. Those words were so friendly to me, it is easy to reproduce them back into the digital world. So cheers to another beginning!

Inspiration- 
One morning Chuang Tzu awoke from his sleep. Coming before his students, he said, "Last night I dreamt that I was a beautiful butterfly fluttering through the fields. Now I awaken. My question is this; how do I know if I am Chuang Tzu, who dreamt himself a butterfly, or if I am a butterfly, now dreaming itself Chuang Tzu?" 
A humble effort in  a similar dilemma...

Meri Aankhon Mein Dekh
Dost Mere,
Dekh Ek Raat,
Jo Dhali Hi Nahi,
Saajishen Sapno Ki,
Naakam Kiye,
Aisi Jaagi Hain Bhor Tak Jaise,
Band Ho Jaati To Phir Khwab Mera,
Toot Jaata Uski Neend Mein Yun,
Jaise Jhatke Se Koi,
Tumko Jaga Deta Hai...

The Monsoon Musing of the RBI Governor. Another one from the Wall Street Journal Blogs.

RBI’s Subbarao Chases the Monsoon

A late monsoon saved former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi an election, quipped journalist Pritish Nandy to author Alexander Frater in his delightful travelogue “Chasing the Monsoon,” in which the author journeyed through India along with the monsoon clouds in the late 1980s.

AFP/Getty Images

Reserve Bank of India Governor, D. Subbarao.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao probably knows how Mr. Gandhi felt.

In his role as the country’s central banker in chief, Mr. Subbarao is responsible for adjusting interest rates as necessary to stimulate economic growth but subdue inflation. That’s a tough job at the best of times but it’s made a lot easier when there are good monsoon rains, which make agriculture bountiful, suppressing food prices and benefitting the majority of Indians who still depend on the land for a living. When the monsoon is bad, the opposite happens.

Some 60% of farmlands in India are rain-fed. India’s output of summer-sown crops fell in 2009 after the country received its lowest rainfall in 37 years. By December, food prices were up more than 20% from the year before, hurting the economy.

All RBI governors face this problem. But it has a special resonance for Mr. Subbarao, as he discussed with reporters last week during a trip to the southern city of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala to attend a central bank board meeting.

Mr. Subbarao, who topped his civil service exams in 1972, had his first posting as a sub-collector in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, which is also his home.

District collector and sub-collectors play an important role when it comes to rains and water. They assess the ground situation to declare whether to declare a drought and they decide when to declare a flood – two events often generated by the monsoon rains, or lack of them.

It was during that time that Mr. Subbarao realized “my emotional well-being, my career prospects depended on rains,” he said at the RBI function.

Nearly four decades later, he remains hostage to the monsoon.

“Now at the end of my career as the Governor of Reserve Bank, I realize that (my) entire performance will depend on rains and not what I do about interest rates,” Mr. Subbarao said. “If there is good monsoon, it is ok. Otherwise the Governor of the Reserve Bank is to be blamed.”

Fortunately, this year the signs are good. The monsoon has further advanced into more parts of the Bay of Bengal, the weather department said in its latest update last week. Rains are expected to reach the southern state of Kerala on May 30, India’s weather bureau chief Ajit Tyagi said Thursday.

ANOTHER BLOG FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL AUTHORED BY ME. 

The Reserve Bank of India Files

Nupur Acharya/Dow Jones NewsWires

Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao at the bank’s new museum in Pune on Tuesday.

“Can we ever forget about remembering?” said Reserve Bank of India governor Duvvuri Subbarao, quoting Nobel laureate Saul Bellowfor a change as he threw open a museum that documents 75 years of central bank history on Tuesday in the western city of Pune.

The archive’s documents, some of which predate the bank’s founding in 1935, are a treasure trove of stories of spats over bank independence, foreign exchange and in some cases, petty change, at least by today’s standards.

In 1957, Benegal Rama Rau, the fourth and longest serving Reserve Bank of India governor resigned from his post accusing the then Finance Minister T. T. Krishnamachari of interference. It’s quite common for Indian prime ministers to reject such moves from loyal stalwarts, which are often symbolic, but Mr. Rau must have been rather surprised by the response he got.

“On a previous occasion I asked you not to resign. I did not think that any need for such a resignation had arisen but since you feel now that it is absolutely impossible for you to continue in office, I don’t know what further advice I can give you. If you so wish you can submit your formal resignation to the finance minister,” a testy-sounding Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the first leader of independent India, wrote back.

Occasional tension between the finance minister and the RBI governor is almost guaranteed given the respective roles of each office — one a political role to boost growth and manage the nation’s finances, the other a financial role aimed at subduing inflation. These disputes rarely if ever break out in the open, as above.

The most recent chatter of seriously different points of view was in 2007 when Finance Minister P. Chidambaram was said to be opposed to then-Gov. Yaga Venugopal Reddy’s desire to sharply raise interest rates in 2007. In that case too, the finance ministry might have come out ahead. The day he retired in September 2008 Mr. Reddy said he would have preferred a tighter monetary policy during his tenure.

“Nobody can have his or her way in public policy or family life,” he said, when asked about differences with Mr. Chidambaram, now home minister. (Mr. Chidambaram could not immediately be reached for comment.)

Nupur Acharya/Dow Jones NewsWires

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wrote a letter in 1948 expressing concern about the economy.

Some of the correspondence may have shaped what has now become bank routine. In 1948, Mr. Nehru wrote to the first Indian bank governor, Chintaman Deshmukh, asking for a brief note on the deteriorating economic situation of the country. These days, the prime minister doesn’t have to ask. The central bank does a regular economic assessment just ahead of its quarterly monetary policy statements, and also sends a weekly report to the prime minister’s office.

Reserve Bank employees have occasionally been less than helpful. The archives contain a letter that Indira Gandhi, daughter of then Prime Minister Nehru and later at the helm of the nation herself, wrote in 1961 to the bank governor requesting foreign exchange of 600 pounds (about 8,000 rupees in those days) to pay for her son Rajiv Gandhi to attend Cambridge University, where he met the young Italian woman who became his wife, Sonia Gandhi, now the chief of the ruling Congress Party.

Those were the days were foreign exchange was scarce and there were strict limits on the amount Indians could take out. Today reserves bulge close to $300 billion and the bank now allows Indians to take out up to $200,000 of foreign exchange a year.

In response, someone, presumably a central bank clerk, shelved the request after jotting on it, “No action on our part looks necessary. May be filed.”

The archives were compiled in 1981 and total 23,000 files and 18,000 registers, which are still in the process of being microfilmed, Ashok Kapoor, the bank’s chief archivist, told India Real Time.

Post-script: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, himself a bank governor from 1982-1985, was the subject of a board meeting to settle his pay the year of his appointment. It was suggested his salary be fixed at 4,500 rupees per month with a total additional allowance of 1,575 rupees. If he wanted to use his official car for a personal purpose, he was to pay the bank 100 rupees per month if the car was below 16 horsepower and 150 rupees if it was above. We hope both Mr. Singh and Mr. Subbarao aren’t being nickel-and-dimed quite as much these days.

Hi sharing my recent post written with a colleague on the Wall Street Journal India Real Time Blog. 

What is the neutral rate? 
This has dominated monetary policy talk in India, with economists arguing that as the central bank withdraws its monetary stimulus, it needs to move to back to a neutral rate as soon as possible. 
The central bank Tuesday raised rates for both its key repo and reverse repo rates by a modest 25 basis points. 
Gov. Duvvuri Subbarao said Wednesday (when he wasn’t quoting Deng Xiaoping) that he asked his in-house economists what the neutral rate means. 
Theoretical economics says the neutral rate is one consistent with an economy’s potential output and low and stable inflation — a sweet spot for the economy. Gov. Subbarao said it’s not an “observable construct.” It is a textbook concept, he added, more applicable to mature economies and not to one like India, which has big growth potential and room for productivity and efficiency improvements. 
Deputy Gov. Subir Gokarn, who handles monetary policy, had a more spiritual take. “It’s like Nirvana,” he said. “You don’t know what it is, but you’ll know when you get there.” Prior to taking over his current charge, Deputy Gov. Gokarn was the chief economist at Standard & Poor’s for Asia Pacific. His current job has made him more circumspect in making forecasts and projections. 
“Having been in that game for so many years, I can tell you with certainty that being on the outside and being able to visualize things without the pressure of having to make a decision is very different from being in a situation where we have to make a decision,” he said. Thus he has his own take on the criticism of being “behind the curve” in raising interest rates. For him, the curve doesn’t exist. 
“I think is important to recognize that when you say behind the curve, from an outside perspective the curve looks like a nice thin line,” Deputy Gov. Gokarn said. “So there is an exact predictability precision to it. From the inside the curve looks like a wide band.”