In Memory of Sujatha

Not long ago, I wrote about my views on Tamil writers and I vividly remember writing about Sujatha. I was not happy with his fray into the Tamil cinema. He was a prolific writer but I wouldn't put him on the same pedestal as Balakumaran or Kamal Hassan in terms of dialogue writing for movies. In fact, I couldn't help but feel that pearls were cast before swine because his work in movies was not at par with his work in literature. I agree that of late, my liking for him has been overshadowed by my disappointment with his role in cinema. And yet. It was a rude awakening today that a prolific Tamil writer, Sujatha, passed away.

We grew up with Sujatha's writings. I remember the fights we had at home every Friday when "Ananda Vikatan", a famous Tamil weekly used to be delivered with one of Sujatha's serial stories. If someone was hogging the book for long and the other complained to our mother, our ready response that promised acquittal was, "I was reading Sujatha's story". The unfortunate Tamilians who grew up not reading Tamil would recognize him from as early as the "Jeeno" days of Doordarshan. It was one of his famous science fiction stories not very well made into a TV serial. His writings covered so many feelings, opinions, and places that we associated with; the youth, the old, the orthodox traditions, the club life of the affluent, life in the agraharam of Srirangam, and life in the narrow streets of Triplicane, science fiction, the American dream, and many more.

His characters remain forever etched in our minds because of his attention to detailing. Be it, "Triplicane mAdhiri edathukkellAm nE pogave kOdAdhu, especially Saidoji lane-ukkellAm", "Enge pudiche indha pAppAra kuttiye?" in Anitavin KAdhalgal,

"Un peru enna?" "VelAyi. Un peru?" "Vimmu" "Adhu enna peru?" "Peru" in Pookkutti,

"Unga Athu TVla pommanAttigaL ellAm ammaNamA irukkALAme?" in Srirangathu DevadhaigaL, are classics. There are several more that can be quoted from his writings such as "Assam Kaattil saNal thinbadhu pola oru kanavu" etc.

The beauty about Sujatha's writings is that he spoke about several subjects. Aganaanooru, and Tholkaappiyam - Pudhu KavidhaigaL in Tamil. Science Fiction and Facts. Tamil Literature and English Literature. His writings had the freshness that people had never seen before. They had the power to inspire Tamil youth to once again pick up Tamil books and read the language. It is not an exaggeration to say that he brought about a revolution in modern Tamil Literature. There was a time when Tamil magazines used to advertise that Sujatha's story would be featured in the forthcoming issue to hike their sales. And yet, despite all this, he was very encouraging of new writers. It feels surreal that such a personality has passed away. An accomplished engineer and a devoted fan of the Vaishnavite literature, Sujatha had a weird attachment to IIT. If his heroes were engineers, they were from IIT. I still remember reading his "Maanju" short story in Vikatan that moved me to tears.

Let me finish this piece with an anecdote about Sujatha. A budding Tamil writer, who later became famous, also a fan of Sujatha's wanted to see Sujatha. But had no reason to, except to show his admiration. When he approached Sujatha's house, still thinking about what to say, Sujatha himself came out seeing the stranger. He asked the stranger, "What do you want?" and the youth became nervous and replied, "Onnum illai..... summA dhAn" (meaning: nothing... just like that). Sujatha was angry at this and said, "Summa dhAnA? Adhu enakku pidikkAdha vArthai. VandhA edhAvadhu kAriyathoda varaNum" (meaning: Just like that? I hate those words. If you have to visit, you must have a reason to do so). That epitomizes Sujatha. A man of terse words who drove the point quickly that his writings remain etched in our minds forever... It is a pity that for the rest of the Tamilians, one has to describe him as the man who was beyond films such as Roja, Kannathil Muthamittal, Priya, etc. It is unjust to list the man's accomplishments in such a shallow field rather than his contributions to literature and engineering for others to know him.

This is not a eulogy, but a die hard fan's outburst of finding it hard to let go. This is one of those times that you wished you had had one chance of meeting this personality. Just once... Just once...

Two things that moved me!

Recently, I saw Anita Ratnam's (Bharatanatyam recital) Aandal Kauthvam online and was impressed with it. I have some good opinions about Ms. Ratnam. I am not a fan of her dance though. I think her dance moves are not very crisp and had it been another novice dancer dancing the way Anita does, his/her name would have never seen the light of day. And yet, I did not like her acting in movies because I thought she was of higher caliber than a common movie actress. I visit her website narthaki.com now and then. It is a great resource, especially if you don’t live in India. It is difficult to directly pinpoint why I like her, but I still do. When I saw her recent recital of Aandal Kauthvam, I realized why.
As a lover of Tamil Vaishnavite literature, of course, I melt when I come across any verse of the Divya Prabandham. This was one such occasion. Her Paingili Vannan Sridharan from Nachiyar Thirumozhi was a reminder of how excellent poetry can bring tears to your eyes. She also produced Neelam in praise of Aandal, so I am guessing, like me, she is a fan of Kodhai's writings. Like I said before, if it were a novice dancer, this might have gone unnoticed, but for a change, her fame has helped in this case. It was put online and marketed. Needless to say, a quite forgotten piece is revived (I am not portraying her as a martyr of a cause, but appreciating her for her choice of a rare lyric).
A similar incident of revival was done by the great M.S. Subbulakshmi when she sang at the UN. She revived the Aaichiyar Kuravai from Silappadhikaaram, which I recently heard. The lyrics, the imagination, and the metaphors are a world apart. I just felt lucky that I was able to appreciate and understand the meaning of such extraordinary writing. One such line says, "kariyavanai KANAdha kaN enna kaNNe? kaN imaithu kANbAr tham kaN enna kaNNe?” Roughly translated it means, what eyes are those eyes that haven’t seen the dark skinned lord (Vishnu), and what eyes are those eyes that blink while beholding the lord?
Agreed, I am an agnostic from time to time. Agreed, I don’t believe in religion. I find prayers directed to please the so-called almighty plain stupid. At the same time, I recite the Vishnu Sahasranamam because of the beauty of it. Sometimes I hold monologues with the invisible one asking him/her why things are the way they are. And yet, I find a silly happiness when in my lecture I say, "Surely the god loves .025 or .07 level of statistical significance as much as he/she loves .05" and add the phrase "if there is a God" and most of my students are taken aback by such "blatant blasphemy". The human mind is a contradiction and I am a fine example of it. I sometimes don’t even believe that there is a God. But that doesn’t stop me from appreciating beautiful writing when I see one. If there is an almighty, I think this is a good praise for him/her. If there is an almighty, I believe that this is how beautiful he/she would be.
I forget what the focus of this blog is and am wondering as to how to end this topic. Is an end really necessary when talking about an endless phenomenon (which for me is literature, for you it could be God)? I am not a fan of Anita Ratnam's dance, but yet I liked her interpretation of the Nachiyar Thirumozhi. I am agnostic, but yet I appreciate and am moved by the beauty of the poetry in Aaichiyar Kuravai. I guess in the end what I am trying to say is when you want to find your passion in something, you can find it irrespective of the fact that it might be mixed with things you don’t believe in.

Arts or Science?

Like several fortunate FOBs, I have had the opportunity to study both in India and in the United States and every time I think about education, I thank god/fate (if there is one) that my early years of education were spent in India and my later years in the U.S. Briefly put, this was the only time when I did the right things at the right time.
There are several wonderful aspects of the Indian education which I pity the Americans do not receive here in the U.S. Yes, they do have the resources and the money, but that cannot make up for a great early education system. India, like several countries begins educating its children (those who do get educated) from a very young age which is when children are like "sponges" (More about the reach of our resources is reserved for another time). They can suck up and retain any amount of information you provide them. Like several of my peers, by the age of 7 when children's speech starts to make sense, I could already speak and read 2 completely different languages (Tamil and English). The importance of language learning on the intellect of a child cannot be overemphasized. For parents who have not given a thought about this (who think their children can blend with the American community (if you are in the U.S.) or the modern world (if you are in India) only if they spoke English at home), I would implore you to read some literature on bilingual education research. By the age of 14, most us could fluently read, write and speak 3 languages, all structurally and etymologically different from each other.
Apart from languages and having an early start, we also grew up with some positive aspects of the British educational system. Sure, they ruled and depleted our resources for about a century, they are shameless enough to keep the things they plundered from us in their London museum till date and wouldnt even think of returning them, call ALL our 4000 and odd foods, for the lack of a better imagination, as "curry",... But they did give us some great gifts, the most important of those being their language. To read Blake, Byron, Shelley, Wordsworth, Keats, Shakespeare, Dickens, Maugham, Wodehouse, and several others is a priceless experience! Our love for languages probably stems from our Indianness, and we sure do know how to appreciate a language!
When we studied regional languages, we learnt some phenomenal literature, some of which dated even as early as the 2nd century B.C. such as the thirukkural, silappadikaaram, aathichoodi, naaladiyaar,... These works taught us our culture and the philosophical meaning of life, such as how to lead a righteous life, the responsibilities of a human towards his/her society, family, as a parent, as a son/daughter and many more. The two liners from thirukkural hold as true today as they held in 2nd century B.C. (more about Thirukkural another time). Apart from these, there were phonetic, grammatic, and structural aspects of languages that were taught.( Since I am a Tamilian, I can comment only on the languages I studied. I imagine the same would hold true for a Telugu or a Marathi. )
Even today, we pride ourselves as having the best ancient literature and culture. We Indians can boast of two classical languages, one of which is still spoken by over millions of people in several countries and has an active literature scene. We have given the world some of its oldest but still living music and dance forms and classical traditions. Kalidasa's Shakuntalam, Bharatanatyam, and Kathakali are widely studied and taught by faculty all over the world in theater or South Asian Culture classes. Our classical dance forms have captivated audience worldwide that dancers such as Alarmel Valli have been awarded the Chevalier des arts et des lettres.
And yet, when it comes to higher education, we shun the arts as a major field of study. Children who major in fine arts, painting, dance, music, literature, or culture, in most cases, tend to be children of established artistes or do so because circumstances did not let them choose a technical major (which could range from getting married once an undergrad degree is completed and becoming a full time home-maker to not being academically motivated). Try telling an Indian parent that their child is interested in doing research in the ancient arts of India or in Indian philosophy. But before you do so, ensure that you have first-aid handy because they will panic and start palpitating. This sends a message to them and their friends that either their child is academically challenged or he/she is an idiot. That smirk they would get from a neighbour who meets with the answer, "My daughter is majoring in the performing arts of North-East India" for the question, "My son is majoring in computer engineering. What is your daughter up to?" would be unavoidable. But so what if people do not understand that every individual is different? Isn't it more important that your child has the life he/she can be satisfied with, rather than the desire to avoid explaining to the neighbour why he/she took a different path?
Yes, there is a financial factor involved. Every parent wants his/her child to be rich and in a good job, and majoring in arts might not make them so, at least at the outset. It might be a difficult path to take. It might mean not getting a bride/a groom who might be an Engineer/ going to America for an M.S./getting that fat paycheck every month or a company car/commanding that respect among relatives that you are a winner in their terms. But isn't it important that the child be genuinely interested in that profession because he/she would probably be doing it his/her entire life? I can understand if children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds do not want to go into the arts realm because their priorities are different, but why thrust the same on children from well-to-do families as well?
We respect math and science so much that we are blinded by other things that form a part of our life. We gave the world Vivekenanda, Ramanuja, Buddha, Mahaveera, Kabir, Gandhi and many more philosophers who said that respect your fellow humans, service to humanity is service to God, and materialistic pleasures such as money cannot fulfill your life. When did we turn into a society that only respects money? When did we turn into people who poke fun at someone because he/she is different and stands for his/her beliefs? When did money and position take priority over life and passion? When did our ravenousness start winning over our respect for fellow humans? If all of us turn into software engineers or doctors, who will carry on our tradition and our philosophy? Who will be a scholar of that beautiful Meghadhootham or the righteous Ulaganeedhi?
There are performers. Yes, there are several performers. Go to Chennai during the December season and you will get Carnatic musicians and Bharatanatyam dancers for a dime a dozen. But you cannot find researchers of these arts that easily (at least of Indian origin). You can also find actors, VJs, DJs, and so on for less than a dime a dozen. But I am not talking about them. I am talking about people in the real "arts" disciplines. This is true not just for the step motherly treatment our arts studies receive, but also for the-worse-than-step motherly treatment meted out to other disciplines such as agriculture, homeopathy, siddha, women's rights, and many more.
Our education system teaches us the importance of math and science, sometimes a tad too much! So much that we do not even consider doing what we really want to do with life. At the end of the day, no one wants to look back at their life after they are 50 and say, "I would've made a good performer had I chosen to pursue it as a career". After all, several experiences, good and bad, spice up our lives. But regret about the lack of a passionate life, should not be one of them!

A mind once stretched...

I just realized that my titles end with a question mark, usually. This is a fine example of what people point out in me, being over analytic of things. Numerous times I have had conversations with people about things that they (or the mass) might have enjoyed, such as a Shah Rukh/Karan Johar/Bhansali film, or a recent bestseller which I usually am not impressed by (or is it impressed with?). My two cents usually include the same old, "There was nothing new in the film/book. You could almost guess what the next scene/dialogue was going to be and I don't call that tasteful direction/writing" or"He/she acts/cries/laughs the same way in every film and that is not versatile acting". Classic examples of the former include Mani Ratnam's Guru and for the latter include Shah Rukh in almost every movie and Jyothika in Mozhi. (I wouldn't waste this serious piece criticizing Karan Johar) This reminds me of an anecdote that happened about 3 years ago. We were listening to some song from the movie Chalte Chalte and I said that the song reminds me of several songs (because the tune was clearly a rehash of some similar songs). Needless to say, a girl next to me said, "That's because this is a melody and good melodies sound alike." Oh! How blissful are the ignorant.

There was a recent conversation about Jyothika's performance in Mozhi and I simply did not find her performance very scintillating, unlike my friends. Personally, I find that she does the same bloody thing with her big eyes, rotating them from side to side. In fact, try this. Take shots of her eyes alone from several movies where she is anything but smiling and try to identify the character she is playing. It will all be the same. Her possessed Chandramukhi's eyes had the same fury her mute Archana had. Ditto for Shah Rukh's Rahul/Raj (heck he doesn't even change his name). The same goes for Bhansali's direction. I, for one, have never found any of his movies original, except Khamoshi (to the best of my knowledge). But people like these performances. A lot!

And they say that I cannot enjoy even the simplest of these things because I am over analytic. I would like to find out if that is wrong. Maybe, I am missing the simplest pleasures of life. Maybe, I cannot see American Football as more than a game where one person has to carry a ball from one end of the field to the other while being beaten to death. Maybe, I cannot forget myself and watch a Priyadarshan movie (BTW I do enjoy some David Dhawan movies which declare at the outset that you keep your brains at home and I like that openness). Maybe, I cannot give the 7th part of Harry Potter another read because it has become so mundane.

But at all these instances I cannot but help compare what I see to the best of things. Of course I think of people like Audrey Tautou, the late Smitha Patil and Shoba, Tabu, and Meera Jasmine who act(ed) with the motto, "Less is more". They didn't have to cry to make you cry. I compare them with the mainstream Bollywood and Tamil actresses and think that there is no way, these women are even trying. And pardon me for making that judgment. Yes, I do think of some fine artistes such as Ilayaraja, Anthony Hopkins, Mahendran, Charles Dickens, and Wodehouse and conclude that what I witness does not compare to these people in their respective fields and pardon me for that! But as someone once remarked, "a mind once stretched cannot go back to its original shape"! No one who has beheld the real beauty or real talent can and should settle for anything less. None who have read Wodehouse or Dickens would say that Sidney Sheldon or Dan Brown is a great writer!

By setting your goals high, I only believe that you are constantly expanding your taste and mind. That is not to say that you cannot encourage anyone who is below these maestros. But it is to declare a spade a spade! This is not to say that Shah Rukh/Mani Ratnam/Jyothika are not good artistes. Yes, they are. But they are celebrated so much that they have now even stopped trying since whatever they do is accepted as the norm. You can still encourage Shah Rukh/Rani Mukherjee to act better instead of calling him the King Khan and her the Queen of Indian Cinema, or Bhansali to be a little more real/original instead of calling his "Black" a milestone in Indian cinema (sigh!). I do accept that I miss out on several simple pleasures being over analytic. I did enjoy some things ten years ago that I now find mediocre and maybe ten years from now, I will find my current taste mediocre. One could go back in time to enjoy mediocre things and it does give a refreshing change. But that doesn't require celebration. If one is compelled to celebrate such stuff continuously, soon he/she will not know the difference between superior skills and mass celebrated mediocrity, be it in cinema, writing, dance, or any art form. Weighing the two sides, I'd rather be on my side! As Mr. Incredible says when his son "graduates from 4th to 5th grade", "Why should we celebrate mediocrity?"

Missing Margazhi

I am back after a month-long hiatus! Feels good taking that time off, while it also feels like I have not achieved anything in the past month. But anyway, this month gave me a lot to think about, especially being the Thamizh month of Margazhi (Between the 15th of December and the 14th of January). A lot to miss about too! It is that wonderful time of the year that, if you are a fan of the Vaishnavite literature, will make you feel so nostalgic, evoke memories of early morning Thiruppaavai (a collection of 30 songs by Thamizh poetess Aandaal) and the proceeding prasadam at the nearby Vishnu temple too! If you are a fan of classical music, dance, or theatre, it will bring back memories of the music season in the sabhas where you can see anybody from the novice to the best artistes perform everyday. If you don't like the heat or the rain, it is that time of the year when you experience a pleasant weather for the most part. And finally, if you are none of these, it is still a good time of the year because as a student this was the time you had a month-long vacation!

Margazhi means a lot to me, being a fan of Aandaal (Kodha devi) and her Thiruppaavai. Her poetry is filled with her love not just for Vishnu, but also for the language, for her community, for sharing, and for the richness of the culture. You can be an atheist and still love her writing. Allow me to illustrate. Her "koodaarai vellum" verse is a fine example to choose. In this verse Kodhai says that when a morsel of paal soru (pongal) is taken in hand, it will be so rich that the ghee in it will flow along the forearm and to the elbow. But such indulgence is not done alone, but with the community which is when it is the most joyous.

Each verse of the Thiruppaavai is dedicated to each day of Margazhi. At the end of the month, Aandaal is taken in a procession and is given in marriage to Vishnu. Although, I am agnostic most of the time, I cannot help but feel touched by the marriage of a human who devoted herself so much that she finally became one with the almighty. But besides all that, one is filled with wonder when reading her verses and remembering that she wrote a 143 of them before she disappeared. She was about 12 years old then. Her writings meant so much that they became a part of the Divya Prabandham, the 4000 verses for Vishnu, one of the richest Vaishnavite literature pieces. You dont have to believe in god. You don't even have to believe the story of Aandaal. But you just cant ignore those 143 verses filled with love, metaphors, imagination, and superior language (and by love, I don't mean the feminine kind of romantic love, but a divine one).

The month of Margazhi in the part of India where I come from, is a month of celebration of arts and culture. Every house front is adorned in the morning with big kolams (rangolis) that almost fill up the street, some with colors and some without, some with flowers and some with grains, but all beautiful. The evenings are filled with cultural programmes throughout the city. Those that are rare presentations, performed by artistes from literally all over the world. Yes, it is a month where usually no new businesses are started, houses built, or weddings arranged, for it is not considered auspicious. But yet, it is the most wonderful season there can be. Filled with literature and culture, it is clearly the month I miss the most.

Currently living in a western country, we usually end up taking vacations with friends, either visiting them or having them visit us which is a wonderful tradition. And yet, you cannot compare the joy of beholding the Margazhi Utsavam to skiing or laying down on the beach, or the beautiful mornings filled with Thiruppaavai to staying up for the New Year's countdown!

Are we that shallow?

(This particular blog is still being rewritten.. so it is not in its final shape)

Residing in the west, sometimes there is a sore feeling when denied some things that we deserve because of our skin colour. It is a fair doubt, very similar to the doubt I have had in India when I have wondered if some thing that I deserved did not happen so because of my caste or family background. Prejudice is a part of any human society and we all have our preconceived beliefs and notions to blame for it. Once when I shared this with a professor of mine in India, he said that Indians should not feel out of place in the west considering that even "Black" people reside there and Indians should at least be superior to them because (according to him) our skin tone is a little better than theirs. I cannot describe how much I cringed on hearing this. A well-educated man, a professor, from India's top institution, believes that we are better than people who are darker than us in complexion. How can one equate skin tone (which cannot be chosen by the individual) with humanity or skill or intelligence? How can you place a person above another because he/she has lighter skin? Yes, we know that racism has been a part of the social fabric in the west (which is at least being dealt with), but what is the Indian take on racism, in this case, what is our take on skin colour? Do we really believe that lighter skinned people are superior? Do we want all our maidens to be fair? In a country with more than 75% of its people having brown-dark brown complexion, is it right to consider that only 'fair is lovely'?

Recently, I was talking to a friend of mine who was telling me that it was difficult to find a groom for her sister because she was dark skinned. This is not a new or shocking news for any Indian considering the generally accepted norm for a beautiful woman in India is to be light skinned. If you want proof of that fact, look at the actresses in Bollywood. Even in the south, where most people have a slightly darker complexion than the north, Tamil and Telugu cinema boast of their fair skinned maidens. But when you walk through the streets of India, the men and women you would see would look be much darker than any actor you would find in Indian cinema. Heck, even the male actors in the North are fair skinned, which is why many cannot even fathom how a dark skinned Rajnikanth is an icon for Tamil cinema. But this discussion is not about cinema. It is about our mentality. Whom we accept as stars on screen are indirectly a representation of our perception of beauty. Throughout the world, people want to see a slight variation of themselves, probably with higher cheek bones or pouting lips, as their on-screen heroes. But only in India would you find that this expectation includes being light skinned as well.

An American professor of theatre once rightly pointed out after watching the movie, "Bride and Prejudice" as to why the Indians on-screen where of much lighter complexion than any Indian he had ever seen on the university campus (this is a campus of about 2000 Indian students). I did not know if I should tell him that this was our conception of "beauty". Take any newspaper's matrimonial column, for instance. (Sort of the Indian version of a dating service, only it is not dating but a marriage service) Most of the 'brides wanted' ads would ask for a fair skinned bride and the 'grooms wanted' ads would point out that the potential bride is fair skinned as an additional "qualification". What I cannot understand is when did we start giving so much importance to skin colour? Are we all not brown skinned? (Almost all Indians, when compared to the westerners would be considered dark skinned)

When you study the descriptions of Krishna, Parvati and Draupadi in literature, we can see the veneration people had for their dark skins. They are described as having 'shyamala' (or sky) coloured skin which is admired. Yet, when it comes to mortals, we shun the same skin tone. Most boys that I studied with had this fantasy of marrying a fair-skinned maiden (despite their own skin tone) and would call the dark coloured girls ugly. Yes, we do have varying skin tones. People from Kashmir and Karnataka are usually very light skinned, where as people from Tamilnadu are usually darker but, of course, there is a spectrum of colour from very light to very dark skin throughout India. It is impossible to point out a regular pattern and conclude that all Kannadigas/Kashmiris are fair skinned, because they are not.

With a history as ancient as India's, it is not possible to point out the genealogy of an individual and investigate the reason for his/her skin tone. The north has been invaded by the Afghans, the Mongols, the Greek, the Turks, the British, the Portuguese, and the French (to name a few). In the east, we were invaded by the Chinese, Burmese, and so on. Although the south remained a little less prone to foreign invasion, we have still had our share of invaders. So, of course, there is no doubt that there would have been mixed blood and genealogy that affects the way we look. Because of this, anthropologically there is no way to conclude why we look the way we look. But why is that so difficult to accept? Why should we not like the way we look and consider that beautiful? Why should we have a beauty industry that gains 90% of its profits from skin lightening products? Why should a good looking man or woman be considered "ugly" just because he/she is dark skinned, which by the way, is the most common skin tone in the country?

The concept of beauty is skin deep. If skin is such a small entity, why give so much importance to it? In today's non-Utopian world where importance is given to the way you look, why cant we accept ourselves for what we are? We ape the west in so many things, beginning with coke, pizza, rock, heavy metal, jeans, t-shirts to even Gucci and Prada products. We are trying to look like Nicole Kidman while forgetting that we belong to a different race and have different genealogy. It is wonderful that Indians try to embrace different aspects of different cultures, but in that process why should we trample our own? It is difficult to say when this madness began but isn't it time we began to celebrate ourselves in stead of looking up to an unattainable alienated look while spurning our own people? Isn't it time to stop alienating people from the concept of beauty because they look Indian, and isn't it time we made all our men and women feel proud that they are Indian and they look Indian?

Is it good enough?

When asked the question, "Do you miss home?", my answer is always affirmative like several Indians living in the U.S. But my reason is often different. The most I miss about being away from home is the cultural scene and by that I mean the classical dances (sometimes music too). At home, access to quality dance classes was easy and so was access to quality dance programs. Although top dancers such as Malavika Sarukkai, Alarmel Valli and Birju Maharaj tour the U.S. from time to time, my work has only let me stay in those parts, not often visited by top classical Indian performers, or at such times when the organizers could not afford them. In the places where I have lived/currently live, we usually get the ones that trickle down the cracks, who sometimes turn out to be good and even exceptional, if we got lucky. No offense, there are several dancers who are really really good but not famous. I agree. I have witnessed several such performances in India and have been immensely moved, wondering how these artistes struggle to make ends meet just because they are not as famous as some others. But I am not talking about those here, because such people hardly get a chance to perform as a soloist abroad. I am referring to those artistes that perform extensively in the U.S. and get applauded for "advancing/promoting" their culture but who wouldn't meet the standards if they were to perform anonymously in India (without an American resident label attached to them).

I sometimes visit the website narthaki.com run by Anitha Ratnam, a dancer herself just to keep myself updated on the current dance scene. It is a good source especially for people like me who miss a part of their soul because of the lack of facilities where we live (carpeted floor, neighbours who cant stand the stamping "noise",...) just to make a connection, to feel nostalgic and smile about the good old days of visiting Narada Gana Sabha and Music Academy, to witness the masters perform, to learn a great deal from watching, and to forget one's self in those surroundings. But recently I read something on that forum which made me write the present blog. I had witnessed a Bharatanatyam performance by an artiste and her students when I visited a friend and was quite appalled by the lack of any standard in that show. None of them including the guru exhibited even the basic qualities of a Bharatanatyam dancer (posture, tiredlessness, expressions, eye movements) or the basic grammar of Bharatanatyam such as the half-sitting (aramandi), raised elbows, or even proper postures. Hell, many of them were slouching when they were dancing. They weren't even standing erect!

Someone, most probably a parent of one of the students or someone close to the dancer, must have written a review and posted it on Narthaki. He raved and raved about the quality of the dance because the standard of dancing of these children was so good, it could give the Indian-born dancers a run for their money. Now, as much as I am for parents being proud of their children, I do have to say that this review was over the top. Just because NRIs can afford and stay close to some dancer, they send their girls (usually girls) to a guru and accept whatever this guru teaches as classical dance. They are so proud that they declare that whatever their daughter dances is pure classical dance. I don't know if this is a defense mechanism against anyone who might say that ABCD children are not Indian enough (or are too American), but it is not an accurate depiction of reality(not even close) . Yes, I do find that many ABCD children are very Indian in their upbringing and have some American qualities (which is not at all wrong - why not take the best of everything that you can and be proud of it? Sometimes they are more Indian than some Indian kids in India who are so overcome with their blind love for the west).

The main point of this blog is my curiosity, "Are we celebrating mediocrity because we think that is good enough or because we blindly believe that our children are better than others or because we simply are too ignorant to appreciate quality even when the lack of it stares us in the eye". I have often witnessed little girls dancing or singing Indian classical dance or music (sometimes parents exhibiting them like a show piece in a museum) and someone remarking, "Can you believe an ABCD is so good at this?". In such situations, I have wondered, "Should we encourage this because this is a child or should I tell the parents that what their child is learning is absolute crap?" Why are Indian parents forced to send their children to these classes and get them sub-standard training? The same goes for Indian organizations that invite artistes over to perform dance. Anyone with a brain that functions would have figured out that the NRI audience are easily overcome with gimmicks. Once you have someone famous score the music for what you are performing or add some jazzy backdrops or give a resume that looks good, they pre-determine that the show will be good. They don't understand that the awards you get in India are a dime-a-dozen. Any noun that follows the words "Nrithya" or "Natya" will make a new title and can be awarded even by the Indian Overseas Bank!

Speaking of which, on a personal note, I was once performing as part of an American theater group. There was a solo Bharatanatyam piece in the play and, needless to say, it received rave reviews. But then, who decides if it is good? Sure, the costume and the jewellery would have dazzled everybody, and my dance resume looked good. The audience knew that I had won some championships and had already decided that my dance would be good. I received great reviews in the newspapers and from anyone who had seen the play. But then, in my heart, I knew that my dance in that show was quite sub-standard. I had had very little practice. It was in the middle of my graduate school work and I was exhausted after my school and job everyday even before I got to the show. Yes, I wish I had practised more, but the timing couldn't have been worse. So, do the reviews make me a good dancer? For a layman, probably, yes. But my dance made me a bad dancer during the entire stretch of that show. It was definitely a learning experience for me and I enjoyed working with the people on that show, but the fact remains that my performance was quite abysmal and no amount of good review can change that.

Back to the topic under discussion, if most children are learning crap, is every teacher in the U.S. a bad guru? Do they not care about their students performing badly? Absolutely not. Although there are good schools of music and dance in the U.S., they are a handful and even if the gurus have been wonderful artistes, they often take up 50-200 students to train. When you have such a big class, how can you afford to correct the mistakes of everyone? How can you be sure that every student is keeping their elbows in the unsagging position or that every student is bending to their fullest extent?

Of course, you cannot always blame the teachers. I have also witnessed parents who would join their daughter in a Bharatanatyam class . Once their daughter joins a dance class, they will remain silent for a month. The next month the parent would creep up silently and ask the teacher to teach their daughter to dance for a song so that she can perform in the local temple or a local show. (It usually takes anywhere between 6-12 years to become a trained Bharatanatyam dancer, and yet not reach a professional level. It takes immense practice and dedication to be a Bharatanatyam dancer and no one learns how to dance to a full song before they are well trained in the basic steps which takes about 2.5-3 years. You usually perform before an audience only after this point)

What can a teacher do except say "no"? And how many times can you say no when they keep pressing you to do otherwise? Teachers often get frustrated by such requests. When teachers do not teach such "entertaining numbers", their students often leave. In India, it would be impossible to lay such requests/terms/conditions on a teacher. The teacher is the GURU and he/she is the foremost in the life of the student. What he/she utters is the ultimate word. Unless, a teacher declares that the student is ready for such a project, no one would dare bring up such an idea in India. But all an NRI parent wants to declare to the world is, "My son/daughter is more Indian than yours".

So, parents, if you are reading this, understand that selecting a proper guru is the foremost in training your son/daughter in any art form, but before that please make sure that it is your child that wants to learn the art and not you that wants it for your child. Art comes from passion and unless you are passionate about it, you cannot be forced to learn it. If you have a good guru, learn to respect what they do for your child. It is better to wait than to display mediocrity. You don't ask your child's math teacher to teach your child calculus in first grade (unless your child is Ramanujam). So why not give the same respect for art? And finally do not be proud of mediocrity. If you want people to stop saying, "This is good enough for an ABCD" then display excellence. Until then, only "this" will remain good enough for ABCDs!