Gaia Community: musafir's Blog

The Music Room - Ode to 3 Great Musicians of the Jaipur Gharana

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 20:26:48 -0000

About a week ago, I received an e-mail from Chiki Sarkar on a book on Hindustani Music. I google the book and came across a wonderful interview with the author Namita Devidayal ( journalist with the TOI)..As I read through the interview, was very charged about the books theme about 3 great hindustani classical musicians Kesarbai, Dhondhutai and Alladiya Khan..The marketing also was unique and fresh..using online communities interested in music..thought the whole notion was fresh. Also spoke to Shyam babu on the potential of a event since Shyam babu had told me about Dhondhutai..

i was able to speak to the author after getting the number from Deepak Raja ( eminent musicologist and musician). But the real fun was actually reading the book...it sketches out the life of Dhondutai whose selflessly pursued her music with her devotion and purity which reminded one of Carnatic doyen mami's like Vedavalli and Dk Pattamal and MS..She remained largely unknown beyond the core music circle but her life was devoted to music. The music also describes how her father nourished her career and protected her..as women and music never went together.. In sharp contrast was the glamourous and striking Kesarbai..a legend who made men and people quiver..who so desparately wanted to get over her past which emerged from Devdasi tradition as a bai..How her daughter and grand daughter are far removed from music and she kept them away from the riches of her traditon.. but also very curious why she slid into her demise after leading sucha forceful life.

The third musician is the legendary doyen of the Jaipur Gharana..Alladiya Khan..who trained some of the legends..Kesarbai, His sons, Mallikarjun Mansur, Dhondutai a little bit also..Interesting how Kolhapur played such an important role particularly due to the King Shahu maharaj who loved music while is children preferred gambling...very important to know who plays the role of the benefactor..in 1920's I didnt know that the textile merchants were the benefactors..wonder who will be now going forth..

Namita herself has been learning music from Dhondutai since she was 10 and is a vocal singer but tried to make a balance of life, work, family etc..never gave her full..there is a genuine warmth and relaxed tone throught book but yet very alive..

The last chapter describes a journey to Kolhapur where Dhondutai spent her childhood and initial musical sadhana..The chapter is touching and poignant..The book evocatively describes the highs and lows in a musicians life..fame to obscurity to fame..also highlights how imperative it is nourish and enhance our cultural roots.

Mus read

To Shobhana

Fri, 04 May 2007 05:38:14 -0000

To see such purity in love towards a child is something that I treasure.
The absolute surrender to our little precious Ahilya amazes me.
The happiness and joy I see in you as you offer yourself to our little baby invigorates and inspires me.
grateful to such moments and all the mothers in the Universe

Lessons in Love

Fri, 04 May 2007 05:35:36 -0000

Before one learns to love this or that, one needs to learn to Love...
       Once you learn to Love, it will not be possible for you to Love this
             and hate that... Once you learn to Love, then all you can do is Love...
                  When you learn to Love, you no longer know how to hate. And
                          you also learn that Love is not about standing by in the time of
                                  need... It is about standing by to make sure that you conquer the need
                                       or others to stand by you... Love is about making not a single
                                                 compromise in your way, as you surrender every other need  that  you
have in order to manifest the Good, the True and the Beautiful in
        everything that you are able and unable to touch!

The words above are not mine but an amazing person I know. Now that is such a beautiful, powerful map of love. Now we all need to walk the territory

Ramachandra Guha's book 'India After Gandhi'

Thu, 03 May 2007 19:11:37 -0000

An excellent book is coming out and am dying to read it. Ram Guha is a brilliant historian/ academican/ scholar/ journalist/ writer/ intellectual. Also a engaging style of writing. I first read his book A Corner of a Foreign Field and loved the integration of politics, society, caste issues, history and cricket. The story was fascinating and rich. Then a journalist with the Financial Times said that I must read the the book on anthropologist Verrier Elwyn who worked in the tribal belts of Chattisgarh. That book was insanely brilliant. I bummed it from my friends property in Anant Van. I met Ram Guha in Bangalore and I wanted recommendations and he suggested his two books of essays. Those are treasures to be read again and again. I love Ram Guha is because he brings History alive with scholarship. There is his opinion but always in the fringe.

I cant wait to read his new book. He asked me to come for the launch in Bombay but I will be away in Vietnam. Anyway any one keen to understand the path that INDIA has taken since 1947 must read the book.

The other reason I relish his writing is on Hindustani Art music whihc I have featured in my previous posts, his deep affection for the Gandhi Nehru ideal.

Go buy the book

Mallikarjun Mansur Doyen of Music

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 05:34:27 -0000

I was reading about Mallikarjun Mansur , the great doyen of Hindustani Art Music and is life in the book Rasa Yatra. The book translated from Kannada by his son Rajashekhar Mansur is written simply, with depth and authenticity. Just like the man and artiste. As a musician, Mansurji didnt become a full fledged performer till he was about 40-45. He spent about 30 years just learning music from his gurue include Alladiya Khan saab son's Manji Khan saab and Burji Khan Saab. Mansurji was a staunch lingayat and devotee of shiva. He has given musical interpretations to several Vachanas of the mystic saint devotee of the bhakti tradition Akkhama devi and his guru were muslims. Another wonderful exhibition ot composite culture that perveaded the artistic realm the country. In my opinion one of the finest historians of modern India, Ramachandra Guha has captured that spirit so aptly in the below article.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/2003/01/05/stories/2003010500410300.htm

As the respected Indian buruecrat Sharada Prasad has "so many of our well-known authors and artists move about with a swagger for they seem to believe that they indeed are colossi striding the scene." Mallikarjun, by contrast, "did not care to be the centre of attraction. He was content to be inconspicuous. He continued to look like a shopkeeper's accountant. He did not speak like an oracle. He rarely referred to his triumphs ... He was wholly without envy. His was an unfailing geniality and lightness of heart. His airs were what he sang. He did not put on any.

We will be working on a project with Mr Shyam Benegal and Rajashekhar Mansur on an anecdote form his life in June.

Mumbai, New Delhi - Moving Lending Library - Entrepreneurial Idea

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 18:17:37 -0000

Currently in Chennai visiting Family. I am always amazed by the number of magazines that flow through the house in a month. Time, Newsweek, Business World, Business Today, Outlook, India Today, Week, Frontline, Good Housekeeping, Cine Blitz, tamil magazines..

Now every three days, the lending library visits the house and gives 4 magazines so in a month about 40 magazne flow through the house. The average cost of each magazine is about 30 ( Time, Newsweek skew the costs). So in a month there is about Rs 1,200 worth of magazine content but my parents pay only Rs 150 to this libarary.

For a moderately curios individual this is incredible value. There is no way I would buy 4 issues of Time, Newsweek, India Today, Outlook, Business World etc every month. It would cost too much and take too much time. Also from a subscription point o f view I would maybe subsrcibe to one or two magazine.

But in Mumbai, New Delhi I have not come across this concept at all..To me it seems a no brainer to a customers.

I can almost see the HEADLINE:

Read Rs 1200 worth of wide range of magazines for only Rs 200per month

We should get a youg enterprising person to setup this business and we provide seed capital. We can also build a website where consumers can select their magazine of choice. Market this through the paperwallas and also local editions of newspapers. But this can spread through word of mouth because of the value.

So for each area we identify a young enterprising under privileged person to drive this business. Even if he gets 100 families that is 20,000 rupees. So those hundred families need to be broken into 5 units of 20 families each. In each unit you circulate the magazines worth Rs 1200 so the expenditure for magazines is Rs 6000 per moth. Marketing and administrative costs would be about 3 to 4 k..So he can make about Rs 10 K per month.

So if you look at the opportunity - a 6 storey builind in bombay with 4 flats per floor has abou 24 flats or families. So 100 families is about 4 buildings. Now if you assume a conversion rate of 10% ( since the value is so easy to understand, it could be higher but lets keep that for starters) he will have to cover 40 buildings. So even from a conservative analysis this makes sense.

The idea will be to franchise this across the India with a sophisticated backend in manage the supplier and customer relationships. Almost like Vichare couriers.

So across India we provide support to thousands of underprivilged youth to build a business..

Amazing Success of Ctrip in travel in China despite China

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 17:47:55 -0000

My intention was to separate the world of Zaadz and PhoCusWright blogs but then felt what the hell. Ctrip China's largest private travel tech enabled consolidator is been very succesful and is market dominant with a marketshare of more than 50% in lodging consolidation. Now the China lodging opportunity is about 1 million room nights a day and there are only two major players in the game and one clear market leader. Analysts are constantly reeling out numbers but I have yet to come across an analyis that said why Ctrip and not countless others. I dont have the answer but atleast I can layout some factors to keep in mind:

Ctrip with such a market domination and lack of intermediary choice, one is bound to have high % of repeat customers. It is case study by itself why there are just two players addressing the estimated 1 million room China fragmented lodging opportunity.

First their revenue is cash collection business for Ctrip in China..so imagine the controls involved in collecting about US $ 90 million in cash. China is today a cash market for services. The micro economic structures are stil to catch up with the macro structures.

Secondly each booking requires Ctrip to call each hotel to check if the customer has checked in and paid. Ctrip doesn't collect a cent upfront for 97% of hotel bookings. So think of the complexity at the back end

Thirdly - It is a call centre business and e-mail inquiry business. So to sell 6 million rooms with lack of automation requires an incredible operational setup.

All in all, the ability to execute this nature of business is extremely difficult and there seems to be something in Ctrip team that has done it!!..

Looking at Indian Culture and Aesthetics as Vital infrastructure

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 11:11:50 -0000

India is ranks 128th in UN report of Human Development Index which takes into account several objective indicators such as wealth, access to healthcare, sanitation, water, poverty, education. The ranking reflects the weakness of the Indian civilization to honor vital infrastructural in the past 500 years.

No one has done a ranking of Human Cultural Richness and Diversity ranking. Our hunch if that is done, the Indian Civilization would be up there with the leaders. Since there are no ways to measure subjective culture richness and deemed controversial, such studies are never conducted.

Our view is that the Indian Cultural and Aesthetics content that has evolved over 3000 years has much to offer the world. The importance of Art and Aesthetics among human has diminished over the past 300 year of scientific materialism and industrialization. In the post industrialized world and the information economy with increased digitization, we believe information, content and learning will be in demand much more than material goods. As masses of humanity address their material needs, they will search meaning in other avenues including arts and aesthetics. India with its rich repository of artistic aesthetic content is well positioned to service that need.

Our rich aesthetic heritage extends from folk traditions, classical dance forms, art music, devotional literature and music, textiles and fabrics, epics and myths that have come down centuries and continue to evolve. And one of the reason our aesthetic heritage has endured is its inherent openness to absorb global currents from all over the world. Carnatic Music being played on the Violin, Rock Music in Bangalore and Indian film cinema incorporating Jazz, Beethoven.

The key challenge is the perceived lack of importance of art and aesthetics in our lives. That needs to change. In India, political leaders like Pandit Nehru and Rajagopalachari had a fine aesthetic sence which also reflected in the choices they made politically and in life. An appreciation of art forms and aesthetics allows a situation to be analyzed with another perspective. It also can move us beyond pure materiality.

Beyond the Stage - Anecdotes of Indian Maestros in everday life

Fri, 17 Nov 2006 11:45:18 -0000

Beyond the Stage

Anecdotes from Indian Maestros of Performing Art in Every Day Life

Directed by Shyam Benegal

India's rich cultural heritage has evolved through the creative expressions of maestros who have over time memorial practiced, performed and excelled in their forms. Even today each district, state in India even today have their traditional art forms for individual and community expressions.

Indian Art Music is one such art from that has seen artistic and creative exposition of the highest order and caliber.

As in any field and domain, what endures and piques human interest are anecdotes which becomes myths that over time legends. Every field has its share and so does Indian Art. Anecdotes tend to give an insight into the times, lives and philosophy of major artistes. There are also amusing, beautiful and aesthetic expressions that are found in the stores of maestros of India. Where their artistic exposition blends with day to day living and normal activities.

Shyam Benegal and Soulitudes ( for now) has conceived the concept that explores how great musicians, dancers of India lived, breathed and showered on music through the idiom of what is regarded as mundane activity and moment. The aim is to make a series of short films (30 mts) that explores different maestros integration of their art form beyond the performance stage.

Pilot Proiect 1: Alaap in the Shower

One of the greatest exponent of this art form in the last 100 years has been an humble man called Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur. The life that he led was marked by an astonishing level of commitment to the music, almost unnatural. The ability to become one with music in its entirety was the hallmark of the man. Literally to his last breadth he remained involved with music. The anecdote is that half an hour before he breathed his last, he asked his son to sing. As Rajashekar began the alaap, Mansur saab beckoned him lightly and whispered into his ear, that he could try it another way.

Another fascinating anecdote which is the plot for the short film is the one recounted in PL Deshpande book which poignantly, gently and with a touch of humor illustrates Mallikarjun Mansur love and commitment to music.

Mansur Saab utter simplicity made him travel by third class coach for concerts and one such invitation brought him to Bombay. During his visits to Bombay, he would typically stay with his friend PL Deshpande who lived in the chawl settlements in Matunga. In a chawl people it is not the habit to lock the doors, so Mansur saab opened the door and trudged and was ready for shower. In chawls, each individual room has a tap and there was steady rhythm in water leaking on to the basin. Mansur saab began his alaap while having a shower with water tapping on the sink as the taal. As he immersed himself in the music bathing, PL Deshpande entered the room and quietly removed the tabla and the jugalbandi began. As the vocal, table interplay continued, the Sarangi player also entered a little later and while Mansur saab was bathing and singing, an entire alaap played and Mansur walked out fresh and showered.

The entire anecdote provides such a light and moving account of Mansur Saab life. Shyam Benegal's vision is to bring this story to life through a short film whose duration will as long as an Alaap ( max 30 mts). It will end with shower coming to an end.

Shyam babu has spoken to Rajashekhar ( Mansur saab's son) to play his father.

Other Potential films in the series:

Bhriju Maharaj, Amjad Ali Khan, Shyam Benegal in a taxi ride through Hyderabad in summer

Like when Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Bhrija Maharaj and Shyam Benegal had received an award and after the ceremony the organizers left them high and dry to fend for themselves so the three of them took a taxi to the city and during the ride, Bhriju Maharaj showcased one of the most expressive abhinaya Shyam Benegal had seen as the taxi hurtled through Hyderabad traffic in the peak of summer.

Bala Saraswathi singing Hindustani music over breakfast in Mumbai: Very few people know that the legendary dancer Bala Saraswathi was fine hindustani vocalists

Other artistes could includ Bala Saraswati, Ustad Faiyazz Khan, T R Mahalingam, Kesarbai Kerkar, Bhriju Maharaj. The over arching theme is to set music and art forms in the context of ordinary life, not performance.

Funding:

Each episode will be shot in Film and the cost of the pilot project would be 80 lacs.

A Perspective on the term infrastructure for the travel industry

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 18:01:55 -0000

The blog emerged from my discussion with my wife where we discussed how my thoughts about travel industry which I have been fortunate to analyze and experience as an analyst with PhoCusWright covering APAC and Europe for the past five years. One of the advantages of being a travel analyst is that one can actually have 360degree experience of the product or experience unlike a semi-conductor or packaged software analysts. Recently after I authored a report on the Indian online travel market. The term infrastructure kept coming to me. As we all are aware the infrastructure has come to refer to world class airports, expressways, public hygiene, technology infrastructure. A country like India scores very poorly on previously defined "infrastructure". But let us take a step back and look at infrastructure that is built in the U.S for instance Las Vegas, where they spent $ 1.6 Billion to build Venice. Now in the back waters of the Southern Indian State has 100 miles of back waters criss crossing across the heart of the State. Now what would it cost to build that infrastructure. The cost of building the Jungles of India, the Palaces of Rajasthan and other historical and natural attractions could be worth billion of dollars. Finally the intangible of a civilization ethos, the colors, food, artistic traditions, wildlife, diversity, textile fabrics, historical monuments are the key reasons why people travel to India or any other country. With a 3000 year history, there are intangible cultural software applications that have value.

So when one analyses travel infrastructure, the term infrastructure needs to encompass a broader perspective of the term infrastructure to include regulatory frameworks, deregulatory environment and also the value of the destination itself. The value of the destination can be assessed by the attractions, the civilization heritage, the cultural dimension, natural wealth, lifestyles, activities, religious and aesthetic traditions.

Integral Developmental Activist in India

Sun, 18 Jun 2006 05:59:31 -0000

As I criss cross the country sharing with people the vision of Omnivarsity. The emergence of a single platform where interested seekers will come to listen, read, understand from guides on the best of the Planet's social, cultural, aesthetic, ecological and spiritual heritage to enable development. The question often asked is why is that necessary. It is good to be mundane. Definitely that is true but is leadership mundane ? Are our political leaders, business leaders who define the constructs we live in spending time doing mundane things. They are busy putting policies in place, changing laws, doling out favours, channelising funds towards various programs, increasing defence budgets, formulating education policies. As 35% of the world goes about living their lives largely in poverty, deprivation - few powerful thinkers, leaders ( corporate & political) drive where the planet and the world is headed. Yes we as individual citizens do play a role particularly in adulthood in making intelligent or not so bright choices in career, personal relationships, parenting, family, society and consumption

Typically choices play out in social, economic and cultural context among others. The subjective fit in an inter-subjective fit along with the functional fit. So the better the various fits are, the more healthy our choices pan out. As a wise man once told me - there needs to be 80% action -20% reflection. Each without the other is lame but the dice is loaded in conscious action.

The spirit in action as it unfolds for me is offering me the opportunity to witness several experiments in conscious integral work. I will talk about one and in many cases such experiments are so few and are led by exemplary individuals who have assembled committed teams. Balaji Sampath founder of AID Chennai is perhaps among the handful integral developmental activists in India. Ofcourse he hasn't ever read Ken's work. Bt as I kind of serendepitiously gate crashed a meeting he was having where he was sharing the complexity in terms of the dichotomous choices the organization has to deal with during the course of the functioning. The able to understand the perspectives of the various stakeholders and assess their strength and limitations

AID is perhaps the only organization working with Mckinsey and left leaning organsiations. Having trained professionals in Social work but also passionate but unskilled employees. Where Government, private sector, left leaning organization, ideological movements, rural and urban. Where all polarities are embraced in a manner that enables positive change. Where Qualitiative and Quantitative metrics are both measured. But obviously these things don't happen in clean, systematic way. The slate is messy but that is the fun.

In times of polarities one needs to follow the inner voice, wisdom and take calls. The calls taken are by Balaji Sampath. The interiority of Balaji who draws influence from Gandhi, Buddha and Gita is critical. I think that is the imperative in its initially stages. People align with an individual more easily than with organizations. The person to person connection. The fascinating thing about the evolutionary process and the ability to take various perspectives and to move into second tier thing, you don't know how it happens because one can be a thinker without reading about 2^nd tier philosophy per se.

Ramana Maharashi and Mallika Sherawat....

Wed, 31 May 2006 16:07:49 -0000

Both appeal to different parts of the I am ness... Which is one better..yes Ramana Maharishi Which one is more powerful ..ah depends..most of the moments must confess Mallika Sherawat.. Mallika is the Goddess of Chakra 2..while Ramana Maharishi of Chakra 7.. the non dual stage which the prana move towards but whose center of gravity remains with Mallikajee.. Mallikajee set me free so that I can have my date with Ramana..

Gandhia and today

Sun, 28 May 2006 18:04:06 -0000

Did you know that a German engineer In 1910 Kallenbach, a rich man, donated to Gandhi a thousand acre farm belonging to him near Johannesburg that became Gandhi's famous 'Tolstoy Farm' .

J C Kumarappa an associate of Gandhi truly lived and implemented Gandhi's experiments with village economy. The philosophopy that all things needed on a daily basis needs to be sourced in the radius of 5 kms.

Verrier Ellywn an anthropologist , Shivram Karanth - a kannada icon in the field of arts,

Raghu Dixit Project

Thu, 25 May 2006 18:11:20 -0000

In Bangalore this morning at 6.00 am headed out for a jam session with a friends band called RaghuDixit Project . Our friend Raghu is a microbiologist who decided to pursue a career as full time musician. I find his music moving and fresh. Integrates beautifully Indian Art Music, Indian folk, Blues, Jazz in a way that just elevates you. Has a wonderful pan Indian Global feel with meaningful lyrics, melody and rythym. He has been on the path as a musician for 8 years and working hard to get India to listen to the music. Currently he is popular in Bangalore among the younger generation of techies and professionals.

I for the first time saw how a melody evolves spontaneously. The lead guitarist mentioned he had a melody in mind and sounded the percussionist on the pattern and then got started playing snatches of the melody, and at a moment, Raghu picked up the melody and rythym and sang the latino melody with a Kannada lyrics. All this emerged in 5 minutes and lifted my spirits. Felt great.

Also reflected on our rich musical traditions but needs to go out!!..

On another note, have a new addition to my list of teachers - Ramachandra Guha. Ram Guha is a brilliant scholar, social historian, cricket historian, scholar of ecology and one of the best non-fiction writers I have read. I personally find his writing style clear, well researched and wonderfully anecdotal. A nose for tiny details that make prose interesting and alive. Pieces of what would be called trivia but with significance.

Wife's Feed and Monkey Dynamics in the Jungle - Must Read

Tue, 16 May 2006 10:42:17 -0000

Our last trip to Bandhavgarh (April 2006) was another learning experience. It is amazing how in spite of the fact that this was our sixth trip in just over a year, there is always something new to learn about the jungle and its inhabitants. While we were on a safari ride into the jungle, Dhruv - our friend and resident naturalist gave us an insight into the behaviour of animals.

While driving through, we decided to stop, turn off the car engine and just listen to the sounds of jungle. We stopped near a family of monkeys that to us seemed to be playing and jumping among the trees. That's when Dhruv began explaining what was actually happening. Now monkeys have a hierarchy and follow the system of one alpha male with many females and their babies. The babies are known as black babies (these are very young - infants and still haven't developed their coat of hair and are just black in colour) and the others are the older ones but fully developed adults. The alpha male is easy to spot as he is huge compared to the females.

The alpha male is the guardian of the rest of the group and has to time and again ensure that the rest of his family is safe. All the children in the group are fathered by him. Every now and then, this group is attacked by a band of monkeys who are all male. They basically try and drive the alpha male away so that they can take over the group. While we sat there watching the group, a band of males were trying to lure the alpha male into a fight. In this case, this case the alpha male emerged the winner. The females had huddled around the black babies forming a protective ring around them. The young males were shaking and screaming in fear and egging their father to do something about the situation.

The alpha male goes chasing the band and drives them away either by fighting them or making sounds that are aggressive. Now in case the alpha male is unable to protect his family and emerges as the loser, he is driven away from the area. He eventually joins another band of male monkeys but this time is of the lowest rank. Meanwhile the females who are taken over are raped by the band of male monkeys into submission and one among them emerges as the leader and drives the rest of the males away, and thus takes over as the new alpha male. And then follows one of the cruelest behaviour in the animal kingdom. The new alpha male kills all the black male babies - the females are spared. And the older male babies either manage to get away and join a band of male monkeys or are killed by the new alpha male. The pregnant females because of the stress caused by the entire episode hang by trees and bang their stomachs against the trees and induce self abortions.

This was a revelation to us and made us look at the monkeys in a completely new light. We can't wait to go back and learn something new about other animals. And we found out on our way out of the park as we passed by one area that we had just missed by less than ten minutes the rarest fight between a bear and a female tiger!

Shobhana

Been a while and counting..Chakras

Mon, 15 May 2006 17:38:57 -0000

Babies are coming..the miracle of life ensues for a friend and my wife..Our new gated meditteranean exquisite community saw visitors and a celebration of our new home. Christine an analyst with MSCI Index gave up her job to come to India and dusty Gurgaon to work with Micro Credit rating agency visited us in Bombay and made Chocolate Mousse. We refer to our new home as the Matrix, only one way traffic. Mumbai road infrastructure is so broken that it is funny. Cars rarely sees the fourth gear and one waddles through traffic. Long live car audio systems.

Excited about Advait Utsav at AnantVan with Wasiffudin Dagar. Hopefully we can get Mallika Sherawat there. One thing that we overlook when we try to network and meet people only in a similar zone is the lack of transformational power. Einstein himself said that a problem cannot be solved by the same level of conscioussnes that created it. So similarly when we organize expriences and aim to target people in a zone than the impact is not as pronounced as someone completely out of sync. The friction, the incoherence creates energy for transformative experience. So maybe we should have a spirtual retreat with Dhrupad, Vedanta and Mallika Sherawat.

Now that comes to a new module that I have been spouting for a while and which needs to now stop because my poor wife has heard it 10 times and is now groaning in agony.. In the hierarchy of awareness in India they define each level as Chakras. Now that fact is that each Chakra is a stage of awareness and a world. And for each chakra there are a set of higher ideals, role models, economy and set of service providers.

Chakra 1 - Survival, food. The highest ideal of that chakra would be Fast food companies, chefs, defense companies. The highest products would be stinger missiles, $ 600 pastries, Mcdonalds, Starbucks. Ray Kroc is god there or so is Tarla Dalal

Chakra 2- Desires/ Sex - Playboy is the Bhagvad Gita/ Bible and Mallika Sherawat becomes Goddess Lakshmi and Pamela Anderson Saraswait. Hustler and Playboy become aspirational and there is an economy that services this chakra

Chakra 3 - Achievement = Rational domain, Einstein, Bill Gates, Mckinsey Goldman Sachs, Harvard are the temples, gods. Lakshmi Mittal. Communist bashing is prevalent

Chakra 4 - Service / Give - At this stage our awareness we live less for ourselves and more for others. Environmentall sensitive, Earth is god, sensitive to the needs of sentient beings, look for equality and humanity. Medha Patkar, environmentalist, etc. Wall Street and Business bashing is commong. Market place for this also includes - responsible travel, fair trade products,

Now where is the problem as people like Ken Wilber and Don Beck in each of the above structure think that they are right and their way is better. For instance Laksmi Mittal or Mckinsey Partner thinks Medha Patkar is impeding development and Medha Patkar would think that Lakshmi Mittal is exploiting people for profit. The world is spending billions of dollars in defense which is essentially Chakra1 needs.

Now when you move to Chakra 5 - it gets interesting. In Chakra 5 or what Ken Wilber/ Don Beck calls 2nd tier is fundamental shift in awareness as one is able to view the strenghts and weaknesses of each of the below tiers and look at holistically. One can take more perspectives and look more holistically. Gandhi operated at this level or higher. Gandhi was able to use the resources of businessman like Jamnalal Bajaj and GD Birla and include them in his experiments on social upliftment. Now the key for the next wave of evolution will be to get people at this stage then something fundamental will happen as you reach a stage where you can see Chakra 1 to 4 operating. Each one of chakras has an healthy version and unhealthy version. So in many case it is better to be healthy Chakra 2 rather than unhealthy Chakra 4. One can become eco-nazi.

Chakra 6/7 - Mystics,. One ness of all sentient beings - Ramana Maharishi, Sufi ( I am not sure here)

As I now travel I meet few people who are at Chakra 5 and are not even aware of it and that is the mystery. How the evolution happens. It is useful to get a map for the same. Ken Wilber Brief Theory of Everything was such a revelation when I read it. It just made a lot of sense to me.

Anantvan - A Subtle Intention Has Sprung Forth In Its Gross Form.

Sat, 15 Apr 2006 04:35:57 -0000

Just returned from a thoughtful, aesthetic, spiritual, integrated experiment in the Jungles of Central India. Anantvan is an Ashram in the heart of the Jungle and inspired by the ideals of a Naturalist, Mahatma Gandhi and Indian Spirituality. A wildlife experience without your customary glass of wine and meat in the evening. Where the emphasis is "On Serving" rather than " Are you being Served". Be prepared to be cooled not by Air conditioners but by "A Curtain of Twigs" watered by an old man who went to Dhruv seeking to contibute and work. The local villagers are being employed and trained in construction, service and carpentry. One of the carpenters was entrusted the evening prayer which brings the Ashram together. Cement usage has been kept to a minimum with only the Washrooms built with cement & bricks. Mud and stones are the binding material. What is ofcourse assured are aesthetically designed bathrooms and very comfortable beds.

AnantVan sprung from the personal evolution of Dhruv and Lakshmi to create a community where travelers, artistes, thinkers, naturalists and seekers can integrate and contribute with their individual and collective intelligences. It can also be seen as the evolutionary impulse unfolding within Dhruv whose previous experiment, Churhat Kothi was driven by a desire to provide a jungle camp where you were more than a mere hotelier. At the Kothi, the intention was to create a space where the Jungle comes to you and passionate naturalists share Wildlife and the habitat in a meaningful and authentic manner. The experiment was a success at all levels and resulted in the finest Wildlife company CC Africa taking over the camp after three seasons.

An organic farm is also conceived amidst the 20 acres of Anant Van. But one must know your enemy to fight it. So an experiment is underway to assess the outcome of Wheat farming using Urea, Natural Manure and No Manure. The result overwhelm you: Urea fed farm reminds one of well fed, physically healthy and robust child but on steroids. In contrast, the manure free is scrawny, weak, impoverished and the Natural Manure is reasonably healthy child. So the next phase is assess the taste of the wheat from the three experiments. Do we know what the impact of Urea and the chemicals on our body ?.

If you thought technology is excluded in the evolution be prepared for the "Cool Room" built Below Sea Level. Plasma Screens, Macs and hopefully broadband( sometime in the future).

The Aesthetics of the Anant Van reflects the interiors of Dhruv and Lakshmi Aunty and the state today. The Bastar influence blends in with the Ashram. The idols of Narasimha, Ganesh and Shiva separated in distance but united in thought, welcome you on entering the Ashram. The Mohua tree is the abode of Narasimha with several bells hanging from the branches. When we were there Dhruv's grandfather who is currently a monk with Chinmaya Mission visited the Ashram and there was a soothing presence of wisdom.

Anant Van is yet another gift that India has for Indians and the world in line with several little experiments underway within the country to build a future as envisioned by our founding fathers and our great historical leaders. Grateful to that which allows us to connect and communicate with such conscious enterprises.

Irony..in English

Fri, 17 Mar 2006 14:09:40 -0000

The other day Shobhana and I had accompanied our friends to an awards ceremony hosted by the leading hindi newspaper in a major state of Northern India. The state in which they lead is known for its rich cultural traditons, riot of color, stunning palaces and folk traditions. But the whole event was conducted in English by VJ's in English with affected accents. The show was very professional organised and content was compeletely western, the dances, the music- salsa, western pop songs, english. The younger generation that runs the business is schooled in English medium, Western management principles and is focussing on revenues rather than journalism per se. Which is fine and part of that is to project a "western and modern" image for a Hindi newspaper. Part of that is to get a Modern, Host a.k.a Channel V VJ, in a modern language a.k.a English with modern theme a.k.a Western Dances and Western Music. And guess what I had exactly the same views of modernity in an Indian context 10 years ago!!.

Now the interesting part of the story is that largely Indian media got over its International hangover 7 years ago and went "Indian" in full gusto. Rupert Murdoch,Sony are funding a kind of Indianess that can be termed as regressive in the Soap Operas. Scheming women, melodramatic situations, plots that are out of tune with modernity. These characters are parcel of today's middle class and below India. For the young urban Indian who doesnt empathise with the potrayal of traditonal India as he sees on television ( among other inputs) goes modern and young which is largely defined by Channel V, MTV etc whose potrayal of what young is a predominantly a western Archetype. Interesting these are Indians running the media so one cant claim it is White hegemony. Again the complete picture is not explained but just alluding to the way India is evolving. I speak from personal experience because I pretty much thought the way I have described above till 5 years ago.

Now the real opportunity is to show a way that is rational, authentic, Indianess which is not prey to the blind tradition or rootless modernity. This movement should explore all facets of political, social, environmental and artistic expression.

Gandhi, Tagore, Great men and mirth..

Mon, 13 Mar 2006 11:51:54 -0000

My life partner after reading my blogs commented on the dreariness. There is something about being spontaneous and funny for me which is a flow. Sometimes in a group things just flow, people laugh and so do I. So I leave it at that. There are some genuinely funny moments that occur which had both my wife and I in splits. As the help in our house from a small town comes out after cleaning the bathroom and says in Hindi with a deadpan expression in a montone voice with a bemused look ." Yeh Sandas bolta hain..".( translated to...the toilet flush is talking)..We told him to tell my mother inlaw that..So as my mother in law is entering another room trying to get some work done..he tells her " Mummy, the toilet flush is speaking.." Ma-in-law couldn't believe what he just uttered..and he repeated it twice..The fact is that our flush makes a strange noise after you flush and it is like a human burp.

The other day we had taken a few friends to the NGMA ( Gallery of Modern art) for an exhibition of Gandhi but the exhibits were createded using Interactive Multimedia technologies and really cool. The user interfaces were brilliant. I imagine being in the midst of discussion of two remarkable human beings Gandhi & Tagore. Noted economist Amartya Sen has written an insightful essay on how despite theri deep differences they had enormous respect and regard for each other. Mahatma Gandhi is someone I am discovering today and the challenge is to integrate the essence of his life teaching in my life along with other great influencers

Random Chance..Gandhi & Tagore

Thu, 09 Mar 2006 18:24:57 -0000

The Indian system has largely failed in delivering on education. Imagine someone born in Urban educated middle class family in India with access to an effective education system and someone born in a village in rural India without electricity and parents are also uneducated. Now that to me is inequity as the school systems are poor in rural India, teachers are ineffective, weak healthcare system and then that child is to make something of his life of which he has no control of till he 7 to 10 years old. Contrast that with me: great schools, well fed, secure middle class home and English education. I am on a supersonic jet compared to my peer group from a typical village India. So it is at these moments I buy the arguments of the left that we in India don't have our fundamentals in order. In order to make people compete, the ground rules need to be comparable. But in India and several other countries that is not so. Isn't it a random chance that I am born in the top 2% of India's population. We need to give back...

Two of the greatest thinkers of 20th century India, Gandhi and Tagore were introduced by Preacher and Englishman CF Andrews. When one reads through the annals of our history during the past two hundred years it is remarkable to not the number of "foreigners" who have contributed to documenting and sharing the strengths of our Civilization and leaders to the world. Nehru, Gandhi and Tagore had friends and were influenced from people all over the world. Gandhi and Tagore were able to synthesize great thinkers from Tolstoy, Emerson, Thoreau into their value system. There must be a reason in the grand design that the political spectrum in India has declined to such a nadir from that height. But there is a dawn emerging..