Music Beyond Lines

Music is one fragment of our social life that is able to trascend boundaries, cultures, languages and races. Music has no nationality and no distinctive characteristics. Musical notes never discriminate between the ears of the poor and the rich, the old and the young, male and female. Mellifluous sounds shower equal bliss on all, sans disparity and bias.
Recently, I witnessed a talent hunt show which was searching for India's best rock band. The band that eventually emerged the winner was nowhere near to what Indian music is about. The band was more on par with the Western rock bands which still find it hard to make a mark in this country of 107 crore. The band is more about international sounds- hard rock, heavy metal, alternative rock and electronica. As good as the band maybe, they do not conform with the image that the global audience has about Indian Music. Even a dumb person can feel the pulse of the global audience by just listening to Steven Tyler of Aerosmith talking about Indian Rock scene. His reaction was that "Indian Rock music is very colorful". And yet, this supposedly best rock band of India is nowhere near to Steven Tyler's expectations.
The emergence of myriads of hard rock and heavy metals bands in India suggests that the sounds which please the Indian ears are changing. It is not out of will that the music produced by bands and even by music directors in Bollywood movies is changing, but it is the sheer competition with the Western artists which has forced them to adopt to the global scenario. the youth of India, like the youth of most other nations, wishes to experience the rush of adrenaline in their veins and one of the ways to do it is to head-bang to hard rock music. Not just hard-rock, even hip-hop has made a large audience base in India with the likes of Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado and Timbaland becoming major youth icons. Gradually, Indian music is changing to conform with global benchmarks and acceptance.
On the other hand, a totally different genre of music has developed just across the border in Pakistan. The rock bands from Pakistan stuck to originality and creativity to produce a music that bears Sufi notes, Urdu lyrics and the feeling of rock. This genre eventually came to be known as Sufi Rock or Pakistani Rock. Bands like Junoon, Jal and Strings made a major impact on the music scenario across Asia, if not the world, with their songs. With their success, a whole new breed of bands emerged in the city of lights, Karachi. The music produced there is in total contrast to what Indian Rock Music is about. Sometimes, it is hard to imagine that such distinct genres of music can emerge contemporarily in neighbouring countries. Perhaps this is the difference of mentality. Pakistanis are more adamant about sticking to their roots while Indians still follow the colonial approach of "the West is always right".

6 Decades to Today- problems and achievements

15th August, 1947... this day in history is marked by the birth of a country which changed the economic, social, cultural, political, financial and medical scenario of the entire world. This was the day that India gained independance from the excruciating oppression of the British. Mahatma Gandhi, Pt. Nehru, Subash Chandra Bose, Azad, Bhagat Singh and myriads of other patriotic beings demolished the strangle-hold of the viceroy and the Queen on India to win back a country which, at some point in history, was superior to all other nations. That was perhaps the time when 'India Shining' would have been used aptly to define the condition of the our motherland. At the time of independance, the problems faced by India were different. The main concern of the authorities was to lay the very foundation of a newly born country. Attempts were made, steps were taken to stablize a nation that had been blinded in the darkness of subjugation for an era. This is the same blindness a person comes across when he walks from darkness into the light suddenly. India, as a country, did not know how to stand up for itself. Primal instincts were not enough to construct a nation out of states. The 'Iron Man of India', Sardar Patel, did a wonderful job of uniting all the states to give India the basic physical framework that it needed.
Knowingly or unknowingly, Sardar Patel assembled a state that had wide variation in geography, topography, cultures, languages and races. Anyone who is even remotely connected to India knows the diversity that India enjoys as a country is immense. But the whole concept of 'Unity in Diversity' came into existence when the shadow of war loomed up over the country. The wars against our "friendly" neighbours conjured up an internal strength that very few countries in the world are able to gather in the face of strife. Not only the wars, but in recent times, even terrorist attacks and anti-national events have showed that though the Indians are maturing, the innate patriotism still survives deep within the souls of everyone here.
Six decades on, India has a different face, a different image and a different attitude. We are no longer a nation that is meak and tamable. With the recent BPO, IT and economic boom, India has shown signs that it is maturing as a country. Indians are no longer confined within the boundaries of a single nation. The true face of Indians is global. They inhabit every inhabitable part of the world. Indians have emerged as one of the most intelligent, sincere and laborious races across the globe. The economy of not only India, but also of many other nations, and probably of the whole world, depends on Indians. And that is NOT an achievement. It is a problem-the worst one we are facing. It is referred to as brain drain by the most learned people. If these Indians, who run all the major IT firms across the world, who treat illness all over Europe, who while away their nights sitting in crammed spaces of BPOs with a headset glued to them, worked for the betterment of the Indian economy itself, then I am sure India would have been at a much better place after these 60 years. India would not have been a 'third world country' or a 'developing economy' or a 'young economic giant'. If these people had contributed, India, today, would have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the top five economies of the world.
Who is to be blamed for this? Everyone. Each and everyone who is an Indian... you, me, your neighbour, the person across the street, my driver, MLAs, MPs, CMs of various states, Prime Minister, President... everyone of them. It is a defect of the mentality of the people and also circumstances. all fo us think about one thing in life- money. Subsequently, we go into fields which yield the maximum income for us. We get degrees in management or engineering or medicine and we seek a job. Indian firms are not able to pay us too much and government sector has almost reached the saturation point. So, the greener pastures towards the Western World beckon and we follow our selfish instincts. But have we ever thought what is the situation of research in India? We have to buy new technologies from other countries. We cannot build our own defense equipments, we cannot upgrade them and we cannot even repair the equipments bought from other countries. Apart from research, the other most important field that has got the cold shoulder by the citizens is politics. We all know the political scenario of the nation. Most of our decision-makers are people whose character is blotted, who rely on shrewd means to maintain their position, who are not concerned about the nation, but about their own 'chair'. Their inconsiderate attitude towards the nation is a sign of treason and their very existence and behaviour is more or less equivalent to termites because they eventually hollow out the very home in which they reside. Everyone is aware of this, but nobody is willing to rely on deeds to fulfill time's needs. Nobody is willing to dirty his hands for the sake of cleaning the system. Trying to alter the political scenario from outside is fruitless. It is equivalent to throwing glucose on a person when it should be injected into his veins. This problem is much more deep-rooted than any other.
Changes have to be brought in this country... radical or eventual is for us to decide. There is always the Gandhian way to rebellion and there is the Bose-ian way to it as well. The path we choose to tread is our prerogative. But we need to choose because the destiny of a whole nation is lying helpless before us. We need to act, we need to wake up to this call. We all need to choose our paths...and walk!