Jan 28th, 2024
The music I listened to caused a cultural clash at IIT BHU. My first roommate realised I am an UBI- a derogatory term to denote a person with a lack of interest in one’s own rich culture and a blind following of western cultural artefacts. In general, this was a trait observed within kids in India who went to christian missionary schools. There were non-missionary schools that were English Medium as well but somehow these institutions went just a further mile to inculcate some indigenous fare when it came to music, poetry and dance. The curriculum had Hindi as a second language - a fact that automatically relegated the national language to the barracks. While we read bits and bobs of Premchand and Dinkar now and then, it wasn’t an immersion of the type we had with Shakespeare and Wordsworth. And for the brighter pupils, it was all about maths and science anyway. The missionary school system very subtly (yet probably not in the least by design) created a language divide with English. Not only were kids that could speak and write well in the language better regarded, but the upper middle class and wealthy families increasingly touted an English language generated Western ethos- immediately declaring to the citizenry- at - large that they were the gold standard, something to be aspired towards. Since those days, much water has flown under the bridge, including the general acknowledgement that the language and cultural bias has helped Indians move lock-step with the real world and take its well- deserved place in shaping the global trajectory.
On the other hand, in the last ten years, a Hindu nationalist government has taken it upon themselves to make Hindi cool again. The fact of the matter is that historically the concept of language elitism has always prevailed since the coming of the Aryans , or whatever other historical starting point one prefers. Before and for the longest time the elitist language used to be Sanskrit, and more recently it is English. People with the elite language always controlled society, one way or another. That is not to say the same pattern shall continue into the future, but even if things change, the process of change will be slower than the technology that compels it. Because elite people currently in charge will do their damnedest not to cede control, and they still command a lot of power- both political and corporate.
I personally was ever so slightly affected by this name - calling. Somewhere deep inside it had planted a seed of introspection- but this was for later. At the time there had been no dearth of like- minded people on campus and so I carried on regardless. We formed a rock band with those of us who had some degree of interest in western music and could demonstrate atleast some oblique talent for playing and instrument or singing. As always happens when you go about forming a band ( and I have since college done it a few times ), you are inundated with prospective singers. We left the band member auditioning to Kartik- who incidentally was trained in Hindustani Classical vocal music, could play rhythm guitar and liked Dire Straits. That was more than good enough to be the leader of a rock group. Because you were trained at something, you could do something additional without formal training and you then had an aspiration to be like someone who was great at it. This, since those days, I have discovered to be the secret of success in many walks of life, far beyond a band. I played the synthesizer somewhat and could sing a bit. I was in. Pankaj played some hindi guitar- which is to say, he played the melody notes of famous bollywood numbers- and funnily he would only use two fingers on his left hand. So visually when you saw him play, especially at speed, his left arm would be flying all over the handle but he would not miss a note! Thus he had the specific set of skills that could be used for playing bass guitar, a key role in the band. He was in. Kartik and I could sing somewhat, but thought it would be nice to have a person who only focused on vocals so we could be more industrious on our instruments. Vivek had a good range and could hit some reasonably high notes with decent amplitude. Apart from amplitude, he was the only one so far who had some attitude-his jeans were torn and he had “ Bad Company” written on the knee area. Did not exactly look the part- but close enough, so he was in. Sam came to be on the drums, although he had stiff competition with a chap from Computer Science whose name fails me. I don't recall details but am sure he ousted his rival by means that were not all above board. But he did have the closest resemblance to a rock star that we had- he was tall, comely, had long hair, lots of attitude and was already consuming all sorts of intoxicants. So, in the end, HE was in. Finally, we needed another guitar so we could broaden our repertoire and there was a geeky Bangalore lad called Rajiv in Electronics who stepped in- he, like Kartik, could play a bit. In fact more than a bit. This made up the curious ensemble that stayed put for the duration of college.
We started practicing at King’s Pavilion which was a cricket club normally, but had a small and dusty room in the upper storey overlooking the cricket field. It consisted of an antiquated drum set, a mixer/ amplifier and a large black box that masqueraded as a speaker. The speaker in particular seemed like it was put together hurriedly by a group of 12 year olds for a Science project. While it did not look like much, it was part of a rich heritage- as the college had produced many a band that were almost professional quality. Initially I was quite baffled by it because Varanasi is not a natural choice for the seat of rock music in India.
This ,at least partly, had to do with the fact that there had been a long-standing tradition for the Western Music club to groom bands. For one thing, while it was possible for any group of people to get together to form a band, there was a constraint that had always been traditionally imposed. All members were to be from the same cohort or batch. This ensured that bands would have the possibility to stay together with a set line-up on campus for the maximum time, therefore promoting a sort of continuous improvement possibility over a significant period of time. Also, senior bands took the time to coach, train and mentor junior bands to the best of their abilities. All of this was completely unofficial, unwritten and unknown outside the inner circle of rock group members.
It was like the Code of the Woosters, and there was something incredibly organic and attractive about it.
We spent a lot of time practising, and gradually got better. We played at other college festivals as well but never managed to do well. Once at IIT Kanpur, Sam broke his drumsticks in the middle of the song. Not having an extra pair handy, he marshalled on playing drums with his bare hands. We got points for perseverance but it did not make for easy listening. Another time, at IIT Delhi, Kartik lost an important guitar attachment prior to us taking the stage and panicked. And we looked at him and then we all panicked and started playing wrong notes and missing beats. Again, it did not make for easy listening. Overall it is fair to say we did much better at home than away. And one could be forgiven for thinking that I was referring not to our rock group but to the Indian cricket team that prevailed at the time.
Aside from the particularly strong tradition of rock groups on campus, the city of Varanasi was a highly active center for Indian Classical Music. Not a contemporary maestro existed that we did not hear perform live, and for free, at multiple locations and multiple times a year. This impenetrable ether of music, albeit of a different genre and language, that seemed to encompass the holy city , may also have had some subliminal role in preserving the rock group tradition on campus. I did not realize it at the time, but only much later upon comparing notes with how it worked on other campuses, that this tradition of rock music performance was utterly unique to our college.
ReplyForward |
Comments
Post a Comment