मेघदूत: "नीचैर्गच्छत्युपरि दशा चक्रनेमिक्रमेण"

समर्थ शिष्या अक्का : "स्वामीच्या कृपाप्रसादे हे सर्व नश्वर आहे असे समजले. पण या नश्वरात तमाशा बहुत आहे."

G C Lichtenberg: “It is as if our languages were confounded: when we want a thought, they bring us a word; when we ask for a word, they give us a dash; and when we expect a dash, there comes a piece of bawdy.”

C. P. Cavafy: "I’d rather look at things than speak about them."

Martin Amis: “Gogol is funny, Tolstoy in his merciless clarity is funny, and Dostoyevsky, funnily enough, is very funny indeed; moreover, the final generation of Russian literature, before it was destroyed by Lenin and Stalin, remained emphatically comic — Bunin, Bely, Bulgakov, Zamyatin. The novel is comic because life is comic (until the inevitable tragedy of the fifth act);...”

सदानंद रेगे: "... पण तुकारामाची गाथा ज्या धुंदीनं आजपर्यंत वाचली जात होती ती धुंदी माझ्याकडे नाहीय. ती मला येऊच शकत नाही याचं कारण स्वभावतःच मी नास्तिक आहे."

".. त्यामुळं आपण त्या दारिद्र्याच्या अनुभवापलीकडे जाऊच शकत नाही. तुम्ही जर अलीकडची सगळी पुस्तके पाहिलीत...तर त्यांच्यामध्ये त्याच्याखेरीज दुसरं काही नाहीच आहे. म्हणजे माणसांच्या नात्यानात्यांतील जी सूक्ष्मता आहे ती क्वचित चितारलेली तुम्हाला दिसेल. कारण हा जो अनुभव आहे... आपले जे अनुभव आहेत ते ढोबळ प्रकारचे आहेत....."

Kenneth Goldsmith: "In 1969 the conceptual artist Douglas Huebler wrote, “The world is full of objects, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more.”1 I’ve come to embrace Huebler’s ideas, though it might be retooled as “The world is full of texts, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more.” It seems an appropriate response to a new condition in writing today: faced with an unprecedented amount of available text, the problem is not needing to write more of it; instead, we must learn to negotiate the vast quantity that exists. How I make my way through this thicket of information—how I manage it, how I parse it, how I organize and distribute it—is what distinguishes my writing from yours."

Tom Wolfe: "The first line of the doctors’ Hippocratic oath is ‘First, do no harm.’ And I think for the writers it would be: ‘First, entertain.’"

विलास सारंग: "… . . 1000 नंतर ज्या प्रकारची संस्कृती रुढ झाली , त्यामध्ये साधारणत्व विश्वात्मकता हे गुण प्राय: लुप्त झाले...आपली संस्कृती अकाली विश्वात्मक साधारणतेला मुकली आहे."

Friday, May 06, 2011

राजहंस माझा: बालगंधर्व

Govindrao Tembe: "I consider Narayanrao very cultured man because he never talks about himself."
(गोविंदराव टेंबे: "नारायणरावांना मी फार सुसंस्कृत मनुष्य समजतो - कारण ते स्वतःबद्दल कधी बोलत नाहीत -")


Simone de Beauvoir on Simone Weil:

“Her intelligence, asceticism, and total commitment as well as her sheer courage, filled me with admiration…I especially envied her for her heart.”


Vladimir Nabokov:

"The centuries will roll by, and schoolboys will yawn over the history of our upheavals; everything will pass, but my happiness, dear, my happiness will remain, in the moist reflection of a streetlamp, in the cautious bend of stone steps that descend into the canal's black waters, in the smiles of a dancing couple, in everything with which God so generously surrounds human loneliness."


One such act of God was the creation of Bal Gandharva (बालगंधर्व) aka Narayan Shripad Rajhans (नारायण श्रीपाद राजहंस).

It's preposterous but true that, as a kid, I once performed, in my school annual, on the same stage on which Bal Gandharva had made his debut- at Hansprabha talkies (हंसप्रभा टॉकीज), now called Balgandharva Natyagraha (बालगंधर्व नाटय़गृह), in Miraj (मिरज), in year 1906 when the great Shahu Maharaj (शाहू महाराज) was in the audience.

(btw- They should have preserved Hansprabha as a heritage structure. Also, I don't know by what name the theatre- built by the king of Miraj state- was called when it opened in c1906 but for a very long time it was Hansprabha.)

We lived just 100m away from the stage of Hansprabha. I couldn't quite appreciate then that one of the greatest Marathi sepaking personalities of 20th century had left his footprints in the sand surrounding Hansprabha, where our mother took us many evenings to play. [Another such giant, historian and playwright, Vasudevshastri Khare (वासुदेवशास्त्री खरे) 1858-1924, had lived opposite of Hansprabha.]

Over the last few months, I have finished reading probably the two most important books on the life of Bal Gandharva:

1. 'Bal Gandharva Vyaktee Aani kala' (बालगंधर्व / व्यक्ती आणि कला) by Vasant Shantaram Desai (वसन्त शान्ताराम देसाई) first published in 1959, my edition year 1987, pages: 334

2. 'Gandharvayug' (गंधर्वयुग) by Gangadhar Gadgil (गंगाधर गाडगीळ) first published 2005, pages: 187.

'Dada, te aale na-' (दादा, ते आले ना) from 'Swayamvar' (स्वयंवर) , 1929

I enjoyed reading both the books but in the end was disappointed by them.

I also read articles by N S Phadke (ना सी फडके) and Pralhad Keshav Atre (प्रल्हाद केशव अत्रे), two very popular and perceptive critics of the then art scene in Maharashtra, on Bal Gandharva.

None of them does adequate, let alone full, justice to the life of Bal Gandharva, the narrative that was, like King Lear, a greater tragedy than the two most popular Marathi stage tragedies of 20th century: 'Ekach Pyala'(एकच प्याला) by R G Gadkari (राम गणेश गडकरी) and 'Natasamrat' (नटसम्राट) by V V Shirwadkar (वि वा शिरवाडकर).

Having lived disabled and destitute for many years before the death, even Bal Gandharva's funeral at Pune was a rushed affair- according to Desai's book- because some people felt that there could be a claim that he had converted into Islam and hence should be given final rites accordingly.

The person who understood BG much better than these wordsmiths was another Gandharva, Kumar Gandharva , no relation, who expressed that knowledge in his inimitable album 'Mala Umajalele Balgandharva' ('मला उमजलेले बालगंधर्व').
Ten songs there show you BG in ten dimensions. Personal favourite- 'Tat Karee duhita' (तात करी दुहिता).

Mark Twain:

“I lost Susy thirteen years ago; I lost her mother—her incomparable mother!—five and a half years ago; Clara has gone away to live in Europe; and now I have lost Jean. How poor I am, who was once so rich! … Jean lies yonder, I sit here; we are strangers under our own roof; we kissed hands good-by at this door last night—and it was forever, we never suspecting it. She lies there, and I sit here—writing, busying myself, to keep my heart from breaking. How dazzlingly the sunshine is flooding the hills around! It is like a mockery."


Prem, Seva, Sharan (प्रेम, सेवा, शरण), 1960

I plan to return to the subject of Bal Gandharva a few more times over the next several months.

A new Marathi film is being released on the subject of Bal Gandharva today. Subodh Bhave (सुबोध भावे) is playing the title role. In promos, he looks the part great.

But being Bal Gandharva is not sum of looks, sarees/jewellery/attars, great singing voice, distinctive and stylish elegance, fine art direction, rich sets, playwrights like Krushnaji Prabhakar Khadilkar, music directors like Govindrao Tembe, fellow artists of the stature of Keshavrao Bhosale, accompanists like Ahmed Jan Thirakwa, well wishers like Solicitor P S Lad, musical instruments like organ, wealthy patrons, doting public, integrity of character, humility, pre-WWII society...It's primarily about heart.

The question that haunts me today is: Does Mr. Bhave have the heart as large as that of Bal Gandharva? We shall soon find out...

One of the best Marathi films and one of the greatest biopics in the history of world cinema, Sant Tukaram, 1936 (संत तुकाराम), became both popular and critical success largely because of the quality of acting of Vishnupant Pagnis (विष्णुपंत पागनीस).

[p.s on May 20 2011, Vasant Sarwate (वसंत सरवटे) suggested me N S Phadke (ना सी फडके)'s novel 'akherache band' (अखेरचे बंड), a part of which, he said, is based on Bal Gandharva'a life.

Sarwate who has watched Bal Gandharva perform a few times, including Sangeet Manapman (संगीत मानापमान), spoke to me on many other aspects of BG's art and the new Marathi film based on his life. More on it later...]

More p.s.:

I watched the film in October 2011. As expected, Mr. Bhave took me as close to the late Bal Gandharva in flesh and blood as possible. The way he stood, the way he gestured, the way he sang, he moved me. (He probably could have spoken with more tenderness.) But the movie sadly is a disappointment.