The level of corruption in the public distribution system has been one of the rallying points in the cry for change.  The following are some of the corruption related arguments for change:

There is large scale corruption in the system

It is undeniable that there is a lot of corruption in the PDS, and something needs to be done about it.  In arguing that we should shift from PDS to coupons or cash transfers, we have to ask if the chances of corruption will be lower in the proposed systems compared to what we have.  There is little evidence to make that argument.  India has a number of cash transfer programs such as old-age pensions, maternity benefits, family benefit, etc.  P. Chidambaram introduced a well-publicised coupon system in one of his budgets, and there are other benchmarks for the suggestions being made today.  If one wishes to do so seriously, they could examine the level of corruption in such programs and compare it with the PDS.

The proponents of PDS reform have not offered any evidence as to whether these alternatives work.  There are scattered references to a cash transfer program in Mexico, and in other parts of the world completely ignoring the reality at home.  I suspect that there are two reasons why we see no evidence that cash transfers work better: nobody has chosen to carefully evaluate the alternatives for the lack of interest in such an exercise, and in part because the unpublicized official evaluations of coupon experiments are not flattering making it difficult for proponents to use them for their purposes.  The proposed reform is thus not evidence-based in the Indian context; it is a purely ideological project based on the mainstream economics today.

The fact that the proposed reform is mainly an ideological project should not deter us from the possible merits of the reform proposals.  If a well considered idea has a promise, it is well worth giving a shot.  Is the reform proposal a well-considered idea?

Corruption is entrenched in the PDS

One serious argument is that moving to channels that we know to be less corrupt than the PDS could be a strategic way of reducing corruption.  This is certainly a serious argument to consider, especially given the deeply entrenched culture of corruption in the PDS.  While I do believe that corruption is deeply entrenched in the PDS, I do not believe that the system is irredeemably lost.  Many State governments have demonstrated that they could make the system work if it becomes a political priority, Chhattisgarh being an important example.  Beyond the PDS, one can take the example of Bihar that was considered a hopeless government, but a determined CM has shown how things can turn around dramatically with some political will.  Where the political incentive is to make money off such programs, the odds are that a proposed alternative would suffer equally.

Proponents have also argued that the banking system is less corrupt, and so using that channel would help in reducing corruption.  It may well work in areas where there is a good banking network.  It would be a move worth considering in urban areas, but then the use of banks does not eliminate every scope for corruption.  Ghost beneficiaries could continue to exist, those who issue periodic identification documents to beneficiaries could charge them, shortages in overall allocation could be created (as it gets created in PDS), which could then be used for arbitrage.  Other possibilities abound.

It does not work since the subsidy is not given directly

One curious argument that found its way to the economic survey 2009-10, and has been repeated by some prominent economists is that the PDS does not work since the subsidy is not given directly to the citizen, but is instead routed through intermediaries.  The idea that cash transfers or coupons will eliminate intermediaries is silly.  We don’t expect beneficiaries to have the direct access to the coffers of the Ministry of Rural Development from where beneficiaries will directly take their allocation of cash without the interference of any official whatsoever.  Cash transfer will have its own set of intermediaries.

If intermediaries are the problem, then replacing the PDS with coupons is the silliest idea possible.  First of all, there will have to be a system of distributing the coupons periodically to the beneficiaries.  This will necessarily involve multiple layers of the government.  Beneficiaries will then have to collect their entitlements from a grocery store or other shops, which are nothing but intermediaries.  Private shopkeepers will not have the same kind of accounting formalities, or any other measure of accountability that ration shop dealer will have to maintain.  In essence, the grocery store is an intermediary with little accountability.  The grocery store owner will in turn have to submit the coupons to a government agency which will reimburse her.  This additional channel will create its own set of opportunities for corruption.  In all, the coupon system only represents more intermediaries and less accountability.

The system is too large to monitor

There have been reports in the media that the Chief Minister of Delhi, Ms. Shiela Dixit, advocated cash transfers since the PDS is too large to be monitored effectively.  This is curious in a lot of ways.  Delhi is one of the smaller states, and the size argument should be the least problem there.  It should be even less of a problem compared to other states, considering the fact that the state has fantastic transport and communication infrastructure that makes monitoring easier.  Curiously, the argument of size has not been offered on Public Works Department or other departments that are much larger in the state.  Will we even consider eliminating them?  Delhi also has a well established right to information movement that has focussed on the PDS from the beginning that would assist a well-meaning Chief Minister in the quest to monitor.

Delhi’s RTI activists have met the Chief Minister time and again with well-documented information about corruption in specific ration shops, only to find the CM stonewalling.  If monitoring is THE problem, we would expect the Chief Minister to act on the information she was given.  Alas, that is not the problem.  How do we know that cash transfers will work better in her government? Do we know that existing cash transfers in Delhi work a lot better?  Sheila Dixit has been a wonderful Chief Minister for Delhi in many ways, but in this case her arguments cannot be less convincing.

The promise of right to information

Given that the PDS involves straightforward entitlements to specified beneficiaries, the right to information movement offers a terrific tool to contain corruption in the system.  Using the right to information, it is possible to identify precisely whether there is corruption in the system, who is corrupt and by what magnitude.  There is much that could be done to strengthen the RTI regime including proactive provision of information via notice boards, the Internet, mobile phones and other means.  If control of corruption is a goal, then we have to focus on means that we know to work, and means that have a promise instead of focusing our attentions on ideological projects with no demonstrated or theoretical reasons for the alternatives to work better.

The bottom line is that there is no doubt that there is a lot of corruption in the PDS and that something has to be done about it, and there is scant reason to believe that the proposal to change to coupons or cash transfers will reduce the level of corruption.  The government of Chhattisgarh offers to send a text message to anyone who wishes to monitor ration shop, whenever grains are delivered to such shops.  In addition, they have introduced stricter norms of documentation including the requirement that delivery trucks have to take a picture of the truck in front of the ration shop and send an MMS to the State government.  Such measures, along with the fact that the State government has responded more actively to complaints about the PDS have contributed to a major improvement in the system.  The power of right information can be extended even further using digital technologies more effectively.

A lot could be done to redress grievances about the PDS, which will automatically have an impact on how the system functions.  For example, setting up independent ombudsman, imposing penalties to officials who do not comply with PDS regulations, initiating independent call centres that could receive and officially lodge complaints, training the judiciary to respond to at least large-scale complains on the PDS, et cetera could be done.

Those calling for reforms have paid scant attention to other alternatives for better accountability.  It is particularly surprising when Chief Ministers and other powerful officials call for the reform, especially when we know that they could do a lot to change how the system works without radically reforming the system, if only it were their priority.

Related posts

1. The PDS does not work, let’s shift to coupons or cash transfers This is a part of a series of articles on...
2. Shifting from PDS to coupons or cash transfers: FAQs The Public Distribution System (PDS) in India has come under...
3. Coupons and cash transfers give people a choice unlike the PDS This is a part of a series of articles on...
4. PDS does not reach the right people, let’s shift to cash transfers or coupons This is a part of a series of articles on...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

In evaluating alternatives including cash transfers, it is first important to identify both contributions and failures of the system.  Proponents of reforms today have focused exclusively on the problems, without dwelling on the things that it has done.  There is a reason why the PDS is so popular in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra and increasingly in other states including Chhattisgarh.  In all these cases the PDS has worked and means a lot to the life of poor people.  It has failed in other parts of India, and sometimes miserably.  Given that the basic structure of PDS is the same across India, one should ask whether the failure of the PDS is due to the design of the system, or whether it is due to larger problems in how these states function.  If it is the former, it makes immense sense to reform or even replace the system.  If it is the latter, we may spend a lot of resources and energy into replacing the system only to find that the alternative will suffer the same fate in the states where it does not deliver.  One problem with the arguments to replace the PDS lock, stock and barrel is that they do not ask serious questions as to why the PDS has failed in some parts of India; and instead they assumes that the PDS has been a failure overall.

Apart from the fact that the PDS has functioned well in some states, we should also take into account some of the inherent advantages in its design compared to cash transfers.  For example, it is more versatile at critical times such as galloping food inflation in its ability to get the government to absorb some costs, compared to cash transfer programs or anything else.  While it is possible in theory to adjust the amount of the cash transferred by taking into account inflation, such a process is politically unlikely to respond to massive food inflation unlike the PDS, where there is a prefixed commitment to provide the entitlements at a certain price.  Further, such as system will automatically respond to differing levels of inflation across regions of India, whereas the cash transfer system will have to have a massive input of information about differing levels of prices in every region, and it has to be accompanied by very complex arrangements to provide different amount of support to people in different regions.

The PDS also provides some means of social intervention when there is coalition among traders to artificially increase the price of grains.  It has served as an outlet of grains bought by the government to insure farmers with a minimum price for their produce.  The PDS also serves to transport grains from many of the grain surplus states into places where it is required.  I will not claim that these functions cannot be done by alternate arrangements; but, if we have to evaluate the system, we have to take into account what it has done along with what it has not; and we have to take into account what the costs of doing it through an alternate system would be.  The calls for replacing the PDS have generally been accompanied by a dismissal of the PDS system as an unqualified failure that accomplishes nothing.  The reality of the PDS is far more nuanced.

Related posts

1. PDS does not reach the right people, let’s shift to cash transfers or coupons This is a part of a series of articles on...
2. Shifting from PDS to coupons or cash transfers: FAQs The Public Distribution System (PDS) in India has come under...
3. Corruption in the PDS & will coupons or cash transfer work better? This is a part of a series of articles on...
4. Shifting from PDS to coupons or cash transfers: Assorted arguments This is a part of a series of articles on...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Nehru inspecting food at a ration shop (Courtesy: Life)

The Public Distribution System (PDS) in India has come under a vigorous attack in the recent months.  There have been calls to dismantle the system and to replace with alternatives such as providing coupons or cash transfers.  Without any doubt the PDS has serious problems, and performs abysmally in some parts of India.  Unfortunately, these are also among the poorest regions where the need for protection from hunger is the greatest.   Considering that the PDS is supposed to contribute to something as fundamental as food security, such poor functioning must be addressed.

In the recent past there have been discussions about replacing the PDS with a coupon system or with cash transfers. The coupon system involves giving beneficiaries food coupons that could be used in any grocery shop to get food entitlements.  Prof. Kaushik Basu, the Chief Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister of India, among others, have argued that beneficiaries should be allowed to use the coupons to buy anything – and not just food.  The cash transfer system involves depositing cash into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries that they could then use for any purpose.

I believe that the PDS should be reformed where it does not work, and I would even support eliminating the system if there are superior alternatives.   Our commitment should be to the goal of eliminating hunger and ensuring that everyone has at least the basic necessities to live on, and not to the means, especially if it fails miserably.  In this context of the current debates, I would like to ask if the PDS has completely failed, if the alternatives being proposed likely to succeed, and if those the only alternatives that we have.

In a series of articles, I look at various arguments for and against the proposed shift from the PDS to a system of coupons or cash transfers.  You can read them by clicking the links below:

1. The PDS absolutely does not work… Or does it?
2. PDS does not reach the right people
3. Corruption in the PDS: well alternatives work better?
4. Giving people a choice with coupons and cash transfers
5. Other assorted arguments (Identification problems, cost of administration, and other problems with the PDS, and do we have a reason to believe that the alternatives well solve them)
6. The politics of PDS reforms

Related posts

1. The PDS does not work, let’s shift to coupons or cash transfers This is a part of a series of articles on...
2. Shifting from PDS to coupons or cash transfers: Assorted arguments This is a part of a series of articles on...
3. PDS does not reach the right people, let’s shift to cash transfers or coupons This is a part of a series of articles on...
4. Coupons and cash transfers give people a choice unlike the PDS This is a part of a series of articles on...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Compared to most other states in India, Tamil Nadu is noted for widespread provision of education, primary health care, nutrition support, rural roads, electricity, water and other public services. These services are typically well planned and tend to work well. I examine what determines Tamil Nadu’s performance. I argue that widespread and decentralized collective action for public services plays a critical role in it but such collective action is a new phenomenon, dating back to the seventies. I also argue that normative challenges by major social movements, changing influences of various social groups and raising individual capabilities among common people played an instrumental role in enabling such collective action that ultimately had an impact on public services.

Click here to download the dissertation.

Related posts

1. Overview of institutional change in Tamil Nadu & Governance An overview of institutional changes in Tamil Nadu over two...
2. Collected works on Anthropology and institutional economics Book: Anthropology and institutional economics Editor: James M. Acheson This...
3. Need for public service mobile application foundation for India During my last visit to India, I participated in a...
4. Collected works on Anthropology and institutional economics Anthropology and institutional economics Rating: 3 out of 5 Editor:...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

There is almost an invariant formula for a Tamil television serial: a catchy title song with an amateurish dance, three units of sentiment, one unit of crying (with joy or sorrow), and one unit of suspense towards the end. The formula gets repeated at least ten times a day across television channels. Where is imagination?

—

The schizophrenia of the production houses between producing movies and television is fascinating. Women in Tamil television come through as strong, thinking, acting characters. The woman of the movies is typically a diva in trouble dependent on the hero to be rescued. Heroes have the license to humiliate, dictate terms and harass women in a display of manliness; after all, the most enduring image of a Tamil song is that of a hero chasing the reluctant woman. The woman of the small screen is refreshingly different and stands up to herself. I wonder if this difference is due to the fact that women are the predominant viewers of television: if it is so, it is something to feel happy about. But then, I don’t even want to start speculating about the typical movie goer.

—

The ultimate reality thriller comes in Tamil Television. “Should I shift my job?”, asked a viewer. “Which subject should I study” asked another, all on telephone. The responses are candid and cover issues such as marriage, jobs, education, children and every big ticket item in life. The advice is based on two bits of information: name, date and the time of birth and that is all. Nothing gets spookier. It scares me no end to think that people may actually base their decisions on such major issues in life based on a computer generated advice using just their name and time of birth: but that seems to be the sad reality. Such is their popularity that every channel devotes mornings to these reality shows, “Dravidian” channels included.

—

The Sunday morning prime time show includes one on marriage. A listless set of people appear briefly on TV to introduce themselves and to place their demands for the bride or the groom. The standard questions including what caste they are, the occupation, will the bride be allowed to work, etc. I find it difficult to understand how anyone who is interested in marriage watches it as the route to finding a partner. What beats me completely is that people who have no interest in getting married (or getting someone married) too watch the programme. What is it that is attractive about monotonous repetition of some strangers’ caste, income and bridal preferences? I shall always be a stranger to the Tamil sensibilities.

Related posts

1. Google Seithigal: Google news in Tamil Horray, Google News is now available in Tamil I have...
2. Understanding Tamil Nadu’s commitment to public services: An institutional perspective My doctoral dissertation on the question of why Tamil Nadu...
3. Tamil Nadu state budget 2007-08: News & Analysis The Tamil Nadu State budget 2007-2008 was presented on 23...
4. An anganwadi in Tamil Nadu “God bless mummy, god bless daddy, god bless teacher who...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Madras is one of those conservative cities that likes to keep its boys and girls at a safe distance. To take an example, parents clamour to get their children enrolled in colleges that are rather strict about this, and colleges have responded to this with enthusiasm. One famous college made a rule that girls will sit at the front of the college bus and boys behind and there will be a firewall of teachers in between. To counter this attraction other colleges have come up with separate roads and staircases inside the campus for boys and girls. In this context of competitive conservatism, I was surprised to hear of salsa in Madras.

I decided to go to this event with two schoolmates expecting to see rebellious youngsters, perhaps those from other cities with parents safely away. Well, Madras is also a city of surprises: the first set of people I saw were old mamas and mamis with their attractively clad daughters in the dance hall. Unfortunately, the mamas and mamis were not dancing, with just one exception. The rest had accompanied their daughters to protect them from the harsh city that Madras can be. The mothers sat at a distance occasionally giving the daughter napkins and diet cokes during the break, and the daughters comfortably crossed the intimate world of social dancing and parental presence.

I was stuck by the sight of a protective mother watching her daughter dance with a glint of pride in her eyes. From the perspective of traditional Madrasi sensibility, protecting daughters and bringing them to a social dance like salsa are contradictory. While the idea of social dancing is not very Madarasi, the idea that one’s children should be accomplished in every sphere is very Madarasi. Perhaps, that should have made salsa irresistible to the protective mothers.

One of my schoolmates, now an accomplished salsa dancer, went to the dance ring while I settled with the other in a corner seat. It was apparent even to the untrained eye that salsa was new to the city. Some of the elementary moves were overused and you could see the dancers watching and learning on the fly from the more accomplished ones. My dancer friend literally pushed, rolled and twisted his partners and danced with intense glee; at times I wondered if he were a dancer or a puppeteer.

My other friend, now a doctor, surveyed the scene intensely and turned to me. “Look at the shape of her body…”, he said. I waited for him to pass a cheesy comment. “…she will have problems during delivery”, he completed. I was unprepared for the twist from the sensual to the cerebral. I guess that too is home at Madras, a city were it is more acceptable to indulge in the cerebral than the sensual.

The night ended and the trio returned. My friends were generally satisfied, the dancer having danced and the doctor having analyzed medical issues. It was a bittersweet experience for me. I would have loved to join the revelry and excitement, but not a bone in my body likes to dance. But then, not all was lost as the social scientist in me saw the grand city change and quietly shelved a research project for the future. In Madras, that is pure indulgence.

Related posts

1. Thanksgiving dinner in its original spirit Thanksgiving was originally celebrated in New England when European settlers...
2. Lantern & the sea: a dream to make dissertation writing fun This is the fourth post I am writing today when...
3. Dis-concert in Madras A little note on how Hariprasad Chaurasia’s concert left me...
4. 2007: An year with friends 2007, like never before, has been a year with friends...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I have been a great fan of Google News for a few years now. So much so that I read most news starting here rather than through news papers or their websites. . A big lacuna with it was that Tamil news was not covered in this channel. With Google Seithigal, Tamil newspapers will be indexed and covered. Basic details about this service are available in its help section.  Here are a few additional tips.

Getting news from across newspapers in one place

Given that the news industry in Tamil Nadu is highly politicised, it is useful to read the same news in different newspapers so that we can get a more balanced view.  Google News makes this easy.  To do so for Tamil papers, select “India edition” in Google News or go directly to news.google.co.in (rather than dot com).  When you are in the India edition, you will see the Tamil option on the top.  Once you click that, you will get Tamil news arranged by topics.  This will present news from a wide range of Tamil newspapers in one place.

Searching Google Seithigal

The best feature of Google News is that you can search for news on topics of interest and aggregate it from all newspapers in one place.  This works very well in English, but not in Tamil for a rather silly reason: There is no interface to type in Tamil.   I don’t know why they do not provide this interface, and I hope this will be added soon.  In the meanwhile, you can go to any online Tamil converter (click here for one), type your query there, copy it and paste it in the search box.  Google also provides a transliteration tool where you can type in Roman characters and get the output in Tamil.  You can download the “Transliteration IME” here.  This will allow you to type in Tamil whenever you want easily, and you can also install nearly 14 Indian languages, among others using this tool.

Hindi, English, Tamil all in a page

The most exciting feature that Google News has added is the ability to add news from various languages in one customized page.  When this started, it was possible to add major sections (e.g. politics) from the English, Hindi and Tamil editions to the personalize page, but that does not work smoothly with the recent changes in Google News.  Instead, you can add customized sections with the keywords you are looking for by going to Edit > Advanced > create your own section.  When you create your own section, type the keywords using Indian language characters that you want to get news in that language. The same goes for Hindi and other languages.

Related posts

1. Tamil Nadu state budget 2007-08: News & Analysis The Tamil Nadu State budget 2007-2008 was presented on 23...
2. Understanding Tamil Nadu’s commitment to public services: An institutional perspective My doctoral dissertation on the question of why Tamil Nadu...
3. Thoughts on Tamil television There is almost an invariant formula for a Tamil television...
4. An anganwadi in Tamil Nadu “God bless mummy, god bless daddy, god bless teacher who...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I met TRV for an interview two weeks ago. Though he was unwell and very old, he insisted on speaking to me. “I may have a heart attack and pass away anyday”, he said, “if I talk to you, you may take my message to more people”. We went on to have a delightful 4-hour discussion on his legacy. I am sad to say that he has passed away last night and will be cremated today. This post offers a short snap shots from his inspiring that has left this world a better place for thousands of people.

Joining the communist movement

After education, TRV visited many cities across India in getting to know the country better. In this period he often worked in restaurants and other places as he moved from place to place. Upon coming to Pondichery he became a member of the Communist movement in 1950. He was deputed by the leaders in Pondichery to create and nurture the party in the Chidambaram area. TRV thus became one of the founders of the communist movement in the South Arcot District.

Pannaial padhukappu sattam

Though he worked both in urban and rural areas TRV’s main contribution was in strengthening the communist movement in the rural areas. His first initiative was to demand the implementation of the Pannaial padhukaapu sattam in the Chidambaram-Kattumanaragudi area. In the process of demanding the extension of the Act, he was jailed for six months along with many other communist and Congress leaders who were supporting this Act. They were finally released after the intervention of Mr. R Venketraman who went on to become the president of India.

The movement achieved a major success when the Act was extended to this area. With this TRVs struggle moved to the next phase of ensuring the implementation of the Act. This was never going to be easy since the landlords were organised and powerful. TRV was involved in numerous historic struggles in Keezhanatham, Thanathampattu, Thirucheramedu, Udaiyur, and many other villages with tenants. In Thevangudi, Melathanathampattu and others places he fought for increasing wages. Through these protracted struggles he was instrumental winning better wages and work conditions for workers and tenants across the district.

The pioneer

Being an early member of the communist movement, TRV was involved in numerous major initiatives including starting of Unions in Neyveli and the first labour union in Annamalai University. He was also involved in the consolidation of the fractured communist movement. This included starting a Taluk level Agricultural Labourers Union in 1952. He was initially a gun wielding member but gave up his gun after Stalin advised members of the Communist Party in India to give up arms and start a process of mobilisation. To put it in his words, instead of using weapons in struggle, they made struggle their weapon.

Mobilising the labourers and tenants has been his life’s task ever since. TRV and his colleagues ensured that they lived with the villagers through their struggles and in their moments of need. While the struggles he led were mainly class based, he was also involved in numerous struggles against untouchability with the Dalits. These include struggles for equal education and for basic civil rights such as wearing chappals, accessing public roads, using public wells, etc.

Politics and the personal

Politics is of course personal. Born as a Palakkad Brahmin he went on to shed the rituals of caste. His work was mostly with the Dalits with whom he ate and lived for long durations. His in-laws include Dalits, tribal people and others. When his first wife died, he insisted on cremating her in a common burial yard, rather than one reserved for Brahmins. At a time when agricultural labourers were desperately poor, he would live with them and share their life style during their struggles.

Struggles and successes

Establishing a party is never an easy task, but being a member of the communist movement meant many additional struggles. At the dawn of independence and democracy for India, the communist party was banned – and this is when TRV joined the party. He worked in an era when there were deep suspicions about the party. TRV recalled how he would be hounded by the police, and other powerful interests in the process of setting up the party. If we have a flourishing democracy today, it is due to the foundational efforts by people like TRV to take it to the poorest of people by mobilising them against all odds.

The struggles that TRV was involved in have ensured that agricultural labourers have a much better deal in their lives today. Though caste is far from eradicated, Dalits can live today with much greater dignity and can dream of a good education or a career. His struggles helped enabled the poorest and the most oppressed to make use of our democratic framework into securing a better life for themselves. He lived as an exemplar and has left us today with a much better world than it would have been without the likes of him.

Related posts

1. Overview of institutional change in Tamil Nadu & Governance An overview of institutional changes in Tamil Nadu over two...
2. Politics, technology & accountability II “To be ruled is to be kept an eye on,...
3. ‘India Building’ advertisement campaign: 100 crore rupees for nothing? The disastrous ‘India Shining’ campaign of the NDA government now...
4. Documentary on Pete Seeger & social movements If i had a hammar Artist: Pete Seeger Duration: 58...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Hariprasad Chaurasia is a man who never disappoints. I have been mesmerised for a while in every performance of his and always.  Typically I walk out in a semi-trance with a feeling of ecstasy that only a great live music performance can give. I was thrilled to bits when I heard that Chaurasia is coming to Madras for a concert – and that too free. I took a seat by the aisle that was furthest away from humanity in that auditorium. He started with a slow and long alapana that sets the mood for the occasion.

The alapana was too slow to sustain my attention, as is always the case. My mind wandered off to unseemly subjects (well, I don’t have an account of all that I thought of, but I surely thought of girls). Now and then I’d feel guilty and would briefly listen to the piece. This is how a Hindustani classical music concert always goes for me; but this slow tempo forms the basis of joy as the pace increases over the next hour or more.

As I was struggling to concentrate a man in a safari suit (one of those unsuitable things to wear in sweaty, dusty madras that some men seem to relish wearing) came in and stood by my aisle followed shortly by his wife and a couple of children. They quickly launched into an elaborate group discussion on where to sit. I doubt if they distinguish between a fruit market and a classical concert where subjects like me are struggling to concentrate. I almost got up to show them some hotspots but thankfully they moved away. Other such families followed in rapid succession and somehow all of them found their way by me to have a chat. I then decided to move to the centre of the row furthest away from humanity in the rapidly filling auditorium.

After the alapana the accompanying artist joined HC and the pace kept increasing. My mind had stopped wandering and I was following the tunes slowly getting hypnotised by the magician. Suddenly there was a mild applause from some corners in complete disharmony with the music. A crowd of photographers ran to get a few snaps of an actor turned politician who came to the gathering. Flashbulbs roared and our man walked with a deliberate speed to permit as many photos as possible. In the meanwhile HC was weaving magic, but at least for the moment we were not paying attention.

The first piece got over and the second started accompanied by tabla. The tabla player was fantastic and was in total sync with HC. HC started getting playful, as he always does when the accompanying artist is good. He would for example play a rapid sequence, would stop abruptly and look give a dramatic ‘gotcha’ look at the tabla player that invariably turned the audience nuts. Today though I was going nuts for a different reason. The neighbour who had settled by me found the pitch too uncomfortable for his conversation over the mobile phone and he was kept raising his voice to match the pace of music. As the tabla went berserk he started speaking with an unconscious loudness, which unfortunately got my attention far more than HCs music.

Between conversations I somehow managed to enjoy the concert in bits and pieces. After finishing a round of songs HC asked the audience what they’d like to hear. Someone suggested Vande Mataram and he dismissed the idea. He waited long enough till someone suggested Pahadi, which he loves playing. It’s a song representing the mountains and he weaves a pattern of melodious echoish sounds. As we settle into the melody he will take out a short flute that has a much sharper sound that will leave the listener in total ecstasy. Today though HC has some stiff competition from Nokia ringtones. Normally by this time of the concert, I would be making mental somersaults mad with joy but today I was only able to think of writing this blog post to vent my frustration.

Related posts

1. Salsa in Madras: Social dance in a conservative city Madras is one of those conservative cities that likes to...
2. Kamal Hassan’s Anbe Sivam: An underrated classic Story of changing values in an era of globalisation; an...
3. Nothing as entertaining as extremism In a world that is deeply worried about extremism I...
4. Gift of the Magi 2.0 O. Henri's Gift of the Magi rewritten in the Web...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Related posts

1. Moving beyond the formula: Bold new Indian movies The last few years have seen some dazzling movies that...
2. Developments in Hindi cinema: Will the big kill the good? As big budget movies with huge marketing costs become popular...
3. Pride & Prejudice by Leonard: Reasonable Pride and prejudice IMDB Year: 1940 Writer: Jane Austen Director:...
4. Lively ‘Desi Movies’: Going beyond Monsoon Wedding Many good movies have come out of Indians living abroad...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.