Religions...

Religion is a controversial topic to address. I have met people of all kinds. Those who are die-hard followers of a particular religion, to people who are religious humanists, to people who are spiritual but not religious, to people who are agnostics, atheists, etc. Though there might be an obvious conflict of views, I believe in tolerance. It is however interesting to ponder on the reasons behind such differing opinions on religions. What could have happened?

I guess the family circumstances, upbringing, friends' circle, influence of books at impressionable ages, and their personal journey in Life would have resulted in their religious preference. Approaching this topic with people is a sensitive issue. I do not discuss this with my good friends at all, whatsoever. Each person is entitled to his/her own opinion. As long as that person is able to justify his/her opinion, any opinion for that matter is acceptable.

Yet, despite this, I do keep coming across people - who are die-hard missionaries with their (most times, irritating) zeal of enlightening people on the only path to salvation or the only true God or whatever. And they are often shameless in their approach. This cynical mind is wary of a friendly stranger. Most times, it has so happened, that the friendliness is with an ulterior motive of something on these lines or business networking for some products.

Some people believe that there exists one and only one true religion and God/Prophet/Messiah. What do such people gain by making such declarations? Is it that their faith forces them to be so narrow-minded. Why cannot it be the presence of a unifying powerful omnipotent force with different manifestations? I am sure I am taking cudgels out here, some persons might take it to be blasphemous, but don't such declarations only increase the divide among all of us? From what I have inferred from most religions, the essential philosophy remains the same, The triumph of the good over the evil.

These are my personal views. It would be really interesting to make a comparative study on the various religions of the world. For that, I need to know properly about my religion first.

Blindness....

The very thought of people deprived of certain faculties of vision, speech, sounds, etc. gives me the feelings of helplessness, frustration against Him, sympathy, etc. I seem to pity them. I shudder to think as to how they are deprived of the means to appreciate arts - paintings, music, nature, etc. In the recent past, I was fortunate to interact with a visually-deprived person (he prefers being labelled blind). Ironically, it was an eye-opener for me. It was then that I realised as to how muddled up my entire thinking was. In the context of trying to help them, I was doing the worst possible thing. It was like hitting them where it would hurt the most. They do not want my useless pity and inaction.

Their essential philosophy in life is to be like normal persons and be treated so without any pity or contempt. They do not want our misplaced sympathies and ears. Most often, people simply talk or rather act concerned and do not do anything for them.

People are often entangled in their very own web of life, that they simply do not see outside the gambit of their problems. Everyone considers their life to be not so rosy. Life is a journey and should be seen as a learning experience. How would life be if everything were so very well charted out, without its share of ups and downs? Believe me, the experience of the opposites helps us value the good things in life better. We need to be grateful for everything.

He was telling us that, "In case of doubt, I simply ask someone for the way". Such a simple and effective way of doing things. But, how many of us dare to ask when we do not know? Most of the times, we do not want to publicly accept our ignorance for fear of ridicule or whatever. Often, the ego comes into play - falsely assuring the soul that everything is all right when it is definitely not so. Asking when in doubt is the key. That is the Principle of Seeking.

Further, he told us that normally they do not like sympathy or pity. They want to be treated as normal persons. They use their other faculties of learning in a charmingly different manner and show amazing alacrity and ingenuity in their quest towards normal living. All that they would want is encouragement and confidence in their capabilities. Instead of being resigned to their fate or carping on their misfortune, they seem to approach life in a highly positive manner. Agreed that bouts of frustrations are normal in them, but they seem to overcome such emotions too. Self-pity would definitely be there, but then, it would only prove to be more damaging than constructive. I guess, a fair dose of self-pity everyday is the solution.

After that experience, all that I could wish for - May ALL their dreams come true. May He give them the fortitude, strength, determination in their noble quest towards normal living. We should not be bystanders in their struggle. We need to help them in the truest sense; and celebrate the strengths in them.

Treasures..

Recently, the author was introduced to amazingly different and wonderful forms of music, that can only make life all the more wonderful. It made me wonder as to what I had been doing all this while. Was I so blinded to such wonderful forms that are sadly unknown to most people. Each genre of music seems to have its own, shall I say, dedicated "cult" following.

How do we come across new things? Be it music, books, or whatever. I suppose, it is mostly, by word of mouth or email, recommendations from people you can trust and whom they can trust. I believe the process of embracing newer forms happens mainly through recommendations. There must be "something" in a thing that my friend is dangerously crazy of.

So, the key to our search for treasures, is to seek. And to seek, we need to share the wonderful, beautiful things in life that exist simply to be shared. But, then is it that easy to share? Sharing comes naturally with people who are really close to you; and with people you can trust. I normally do not like to recommend because of the fear that it might not be appreciated.

The worst is the denial of the recommendation. I have encountered some people who do NOT even give it a try. Passing illogical and absurd declarations on an obviously wonderful thing without trying, highlights their ignorance in a highly ignoble and vulgar fashion. It is not wrong to be ignorant. We cannot possibly know about all the bounties, that the earth has to offer. The cause of this detestable plague is the attitude of the people. So, is it prudent not to share.

But, then the greatest loss is for the treasure itself. The treasure that is meant to be saught, embraced and savoured would be plainly lying around unnoticed. As is often the case, these treasures are always there, but hidden at the surface level. The beauty might not be obvious in some cases. The treasure might even test us, to see if we are really seeking them. But, persistence and determination of the seeking soul, would any day, melt the hard-hearted treasure, which would then embrace your ethereal existence on earth forever.

Beauty....

Do we appreciate the beauty around us. Not necessarily in the form of appreciation of beauty in women or handsomeness in men. If a striking beautiful lady passes by, almost all heads are turned towards her. This reminds me of a brilliant photo titled "American Girl in Italy", in which the photographer has captured the heads turned at varying angles, and that too of all ages.

I am talking of beauty of a different manifestation. Now, coming back to the original thread, how many of us appreciate the beauty in nature, art forms, daily life, etc. Do we take the time to do so, or is this a dangerous question? To me, it looks like everyone is in that state of hurry. They are always in a hurry to get there, and upon reaching there, in a hurry to get back.

Well, as Keats has rightly said, A thing of beauty is a joy forever. But, what if no one recognizes the beauty??

Sensuousness in Art..

well, is it wrong to surrender oneself completely to a particular musical composition? does the surrender amount to a brief transition in time to a dreamy wonderful state of bliss or is it plain cowardice. Is appreciating the sensuousness alone enough?

In one of the non-fictional reads on music appreciation, the author (himself a great composer) advises the lover to consider the art in three discrete ways - only to form a coherent resonant form : sensuousness, expressive feel and the technique itself.

Pursuit of Arts....

One of the sweetest-cum-bitterest ironies in life is related to the pursuit of arts; be it any art form! From the author's personal experience with people from almost every walk of life and himself, the irony can be explicated thus:

(a) Few view the pursuit of arts as a vocation. In this rat-race, where money seems to be the ultimate objective, arts is somehow treated as a not-so-lucrative opportunity. Arts - the expression of the soul, the process of self-discovery and re-discovery is not given its right place in the society. And whoever does pursue it as a vocation and becomes an icon/stalwart in his/her area of concern and influence, is considered a born genius or virtuoso. His/her toil, suffering, sweat, hardwork, perseverance, sacrifices, determination, etc. are simply forgotten.

Fortunate set of people who would be following their dreams. I bow down in reverence to these noble souls.

(b) Now comes the interesting part. The others: the majority of the people.

Some believe that they are interested in some other field (say Engineering, Medicine, etc) and consider arts as a hobby. They indulge in their passion, sometimes surrendering to them. Their hobby happens to be a way of life for them, at the microscopic level. They utilize whatever art form has been taught to them during their childhood and express their feelings through the right medium - Arts. Fortunate set of people, who seem to know what they want. Period.

Another segment of populace in this category, does not do anything at all. Whether it is a case of keeping passion at bay or lack of interest or lack of sensibility, it is clearly not evident. They however, are interested in something, that often seems to be vulgar or insensuous. Again, fortunate set of people who seem to be happy with their "non-art" way of life.

The "unfortunate" set of people fall into this subtle category - that is completely different from the ones mentioned before. They are grappling and coming to terms with life. They are caught in this whirlpool of life. They are the inbetween. They are crazy of arts but havent done "much" when it comes to the true pursuit. The world treats them to be eccentric characters - professing love and passion for something at the wrong time. Would it be possible for someone to learn bharatanatyam at the age of 50??? I know of an individual, who started learning it at the age of 45. I admire him for that. They have no reason to feel superior or inferior. It is just that they are slightly late by certain number of years.. but then, once they have realised their passion, I guess no one can stop them! So, these unfortunate set of people are in fact the most fortunate, provided their dreams come true, and importantly, they have the courage to follow their dreams.

The lesser unfortunate ones are those who have sacrificed the pursuit of arts, for reasons unfathomable. And usually, the sacrifice would have demanded this pound of flesh. May God give them the fortitude to carry on in whatever pursuit they have been forcefully made to choose.

The most unfortunate ones are those who have learnt an art during their formative years for the sake of learning them. They happen to be good at it.. but fail to realise the true beauty. For example, someone who plays amazing piano and fails to appreciate one of the piano sonatas of Beethoven (despite playing it well). For them the composition is nothing more than a chore, something that is only meant to be played because they unfortunately know how to do so. Well, this is the bitterest form of irony in life.

Sensibilities...

Expectations run real high when it comes to others. When somethings are so obviously beautiful and wonderful for me, it might not be so for others. This is a rather painful realization and it hurts. This author is dangerously crazy of books. And he has a few good friends who do not read at all. Then there are some who are crazy of solving crosswords, and I happen to be not so crazy of them.I take it as a pleasurable activity, but am not crazy of them. So, they must be having similar feelings about me.

When it comes to others, people indeed do have the sensibility to appreciate something from the bounties that the world has to offer. No one can be that insane or heartless. There is definitely a passion for something in everyone. It so happens that some people keep those passions at bay rather than surrendering to them. (Eleven Minutes, Paulo Coelho).

Coming back to the original thread of sensibilities, why do not people react to those things that are obviously beautiful and wonderful? I categorise people into two broad categories.

(a) the intolerant - they do not try it out. They are happy with what they like, or rather they like what they know. It is not prudent to work with such kind of people. We need to be tolerant towards such intolerant people. Period.

(b) the tolerant - well, these are the people who are willing to try it out, but are "unable" to appreciate them. For e.g. it would be illogical to expect a person "inclined" towards western classical to appreciate one of the symphonies of Beethoven in its truest sense or appreciate counterpoint in one of the concertos of Bach almost immediately. Sensibilities need to be cultured and developed the hard way. It is a long long process that can prove to be demotivating many a time. This author is more concerned with such people, for he thinks he is also one of them. These people need to be encouraged and helped in their journey.

The most important realization is that every body has that innate sense for sensibility to something wonderful. It is just that everyone is uniquely different and naturally their sensibilities different. It is simply not justifiable to have that air of superiority or inferiority.

Art forms...

Well, I had been to an International talent show and dress parade event today. Was a silent witness to the culture, tradition, art forms of exotic countries like Peru, Columbia, Mexico, Indonesia, India, Turkey, Africa, Philippines, China, Japan, etc. Well, every citizen of a country, now an alien in the US seemed to connect really really well with his country. The strong patriotism and an overwhelming feeling of love for his/her motherland seemed inevitable. Does this hurt those advocates of global citizenship?

I couldn't help making these observations.

-- Most Latin Dance forms are a pot-pourri of the African influence of rhythm and the inevitable lyricization in the European language (Spanish/Portuguese) with the indigenous Indian melody . The universality of this is there.. but nevertheless the influence of the African slaves and the European imperialists is clearly clearly there. So, the originality has been lost in the process, leading to something new.

-- Turkey, a country that has a diverse population and is a melting pot of cultures - is in a dichotomic state of belief. While one half believes it is a part of Europe, the other half believes it is a part of Asia. The influence of Europe is evident.

So, is it wrong to be influenced by other forms? Well, coercion is never justifiable. The influence should come from the personal embrace of a form that interests us.

-- Well, Africa, the dark continent seemed to have been of a great influence to many other dance forms and music styles. The contemporary jazz in the US, considered to be one of the originals of America, has its roots in Africa. African slaves came up with jazz, in their effort to duplicate or replicate Western Classical Music by hearing. Mistakes and re-inventing the wheel has lead to this creation of a totally, new yet wonderful art form.

-- India.. what can I say about thou? It was a great comfort that Indians resisted the influence of the British when it came to their art forms. Agreed that Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu and Gujarati are a few of those Indo-European languages, nevertheless, they managed to clearly evade the European influence post 15th century. Carnatic Music is as pure as it can be - a tradition that has been preserved and passed on from generation to generation, thanks to the guru-shishya school of thought. Hindustani Music, has Persian and Arabic influences, but is also as Indian as it can be. The Indian art styles, dress forms, traditions, way of life, etc. have stood the test of their times, even when most of the country was in a state of complete turmoil with internal bickerings and absence of unity.

When things are clearly indicative of the greatness of the Indian schools of Art (not that the other forms are not great) , why is it that these so-called modern Indians take great pleasure in denigrating these jewels, that are very well their own. They have every reason to be passionate about them. This is not to mean that we need to be narrow-minded appreciating only what we claim is ours and be blinded to the other wonderful forms. Reaching out to the others does wonders to your outlook and way of life, but that shouldnt be at the cost of what is clearly ours.

From personal experience, Bengalis are really really passionate about their culture, art and heritage. But, their overwhelming zeal, sometimes, translates to narrow-mindedness and love for only the Bengali side. With regards to carnatic music, sadly, there are a few people who tend to view the songs on a regional basis. Well, most of the songs are in Telugu and Kannada. Some people find it difficult to digest this truth. How many of us Indians, are truly passionate of Indian music? Present day generation has no qualms paying fortunes for a Rock/Pop concert but when it comes to traditional Indian concerts, they start cribbing. And the copyright laws is also an area of concern where hypocrisy happens to be a way of life. People are really careful of the copyright laws when it comes to anything Western, but when it comes to anything Indian, no one bothers!

Well, be passionate of what is in your house, be appreciative of what is in your neighbour's house, be truly open-minded and see the beauty in almost everything. We have nothing to lose.

Disclaimers:
1.Well, maligning any particular community or country or race was never the intention. I look at it from an art lover's point of view. Expressions of frustrations and helplessness have nevertheless seeped in. I do apologise if I have hurt the feelings of any reader (who has taken the time out to read this simple guy's jottings).
2. I am NOT an authority on the issues discussed. Mistakes are bound to be there, be it factual (when it comes to my opinions on the historical side) or elementary (on the variety of art forms discussed). I do accept them and would really appreciate the feedback and corrections, where necessary.

Excuses....

Man has the sheer knack of wriggling himself out of difficult situations by making those excuses (often lame and without any sane reason). Excuses, Excuses and Excuses!!! No time at all (when he wastes a lot of it), This is not the right time (waiting for the right time and not end up doing it), This is not for an adult (when he never did them as a child), I am getting old (to define your age is to limit your youthfulness), etc.

Of late, several people have come into this author's life - more so as omens who seem to provide me with answers to this very issue. I happened to meet a 65 year old German lady who started learning to ride an airplane (those two-seater Bach type of planes) at the age of 39 and the motorcycle at the age of 55! My advisor had entertained us, during his 60th birthday party, by dancing for 4 hrs at a stretch! In the jogging tracks, an old man (he is young in every sense!) keeps jogging his way to glory almost everyday. Courtesy www.orkut.com, I happenend to meet a 56 yearly old gentleman who keeps himself busy by being an active member of forums on subjects that are evidently his passions.

These people do not seem to think of age as a barrier. May God provide them with the best of health and cheer to do best what they love. More than that, they also serve as models of inspiration for "young" people like me. So, nothing is impossible provided we want it badly and work towards it. Looking at it from a pure psychological point of view, why do people start making excuses? Is it to appease the critical and unflattering conscience, (which is often unsuccessful!) ?