On
November 04, 2013, Kaushiki Chakraborty – one of the prodigies of Indian
Classical Music, who’s been known and admired for her outstanding vocal prowess – tweeted
to gauge whether Kolkata – the cultural capital of India has lost its passion for Indian Classical Music (ICM).
Post her
concert at Nashik where she witnessed unprecedented involvement of people with ICM, she realised the same kind of yearning is not prevalent anymore in Kolkata.
Not
surprising that she floated her concern on the social media. It’s good
that she did so unlike many others who sulk and brood in their own circle but feel
it’s not politically correct to worry
in public because that might give the impression they are regressive and not
ready to embrace the professed modernity in line with the digital era where
even cacophonies like Kolaveri Di, Lungi Dance, Pyar Ki Pungi Baja Kar, etc.
are considered as songs topping the list of favourites on different FM
channels; on several TV channels; and at various events on ground.
The moot
question that Kaushiki asked was, if not Indian Classical Music then what Kolkata is passionate about at present!
The
question definitely has merit in it and certainly deserves an answer. Not just
an answer as a mere reaction but rather an answer which got to be thoughtful
for an action.
Though
Kaushiki’s question provides with a loose end to jump into the conclusion… as
if she meant unless one is passionate about ICM in Kolkata then chances are
remote that s/he can’t be passionate about anything else in the city of joy.
But, in
my humble opinion, surely, she didn’t mean that.
For a
while, if ICM is put aside and the word ‘passion’ is allowed to take the
centre stage, it would be much easier to understand that the word ‘passion’ has
actually lost and is rapidly losing its meaning in every walk of life to ‘infatuation’
and ‘reaction’. And needless to point out, it’s not the case happening only in
Kolkata, in isolation, but it’s the trend almost everywhere across India with a
few exceptions here and there, perhaps.
In any
society, a cultural change for the better or for the worse doesn’t occur
overnight. Such changes go through a process on the basis of socio-economic
condition; education; employment; and, last but not least, the value-system – both
inherited and imbibed. More than
inherited, it’s imbibed values that influence culture and cultural changes in a
big way.
Though
there has always been a tendency, and still is, to believe that a cultural
change takes place suddenly in one generation or culture is the privilege of
the elite class, but that’s not true.
Every
culture has a heritage and the adaptability to change complementing time in
order to be not outdated or ultra-modern.
No
culture should ideally be evaluated in light of only music, movie, literature,
fashion, etc, instead, ‘day to day behaviour of people’ – involving every
class, predominantly the middle-class – in their private life as well as in
public needs to be taken into consideration as the yardstick to evaluate
culture and its shift or transformation.
Notwithstanding
the notion that one’s behaviour depends on his gene, numerous research papers
have proven and published that one’s behaviour is mainly governed by his ‘thinking
process’ and that thinking process is almost entirely dependent on his
‘personality traits’.
And the
biggest challenge is almost nobody knows what their personality traits are, and
even if they know they are reluctant to accept, understand and realise that –
especially the Neuroticism i.e the ‘emotional instability’ part which affects
behaviour rather negatively turning things worse, culturally.
The
moment uncultured and unethical behaviour of people at large takes place as a
socially acceptable form of protest, performance, communication, education,
emotion or entertainment, duly backed up by mainstream and new age media, the
decay and decomposition of culture is inevitable irrespective of people’s
penchant for a particular genre of music or movie.
Simply
put, such behaviour can hardly be controlled, reduced and eliminated unless people are aware of their
personality traits to be and remain ‘emotionally self-aware’, so as to leverage
ESA: EMOTIONAL SELF-AWARENESS, without which ‘Self-management’; ‘Social
awareness’ and ‘Relationship management’ are simply impossible to create and establish an ecology of culture for excellence and growth.
As a
matter of fact, minus ESA, one is always likely to be the victim of ‘psychological
pressure’ – as inflicted by family, peers, media, society, nation and the world.
Once that starts to happen, it becomes impossible to guard own ground and,
since, none can live alone in a human society, willingly or otherwise, a person
begins to succumb; his behaviour begins to change, mostly for the worse, so does his culture.
However,
it’s a ‘catch 22’ situation, for, one’s ‘personality traits’, which are the
basis of his ESA, depend on the factors like morals, ethics, values, beliefs
and, of course, gene. Nevertheless, the effect or impact of gene can become insignificant
– and rightly so, because none is responsible for his own birth – if the other
factors are developed and keep evolving for the better, continuously. This can
only be possible, if the socio-economic condition is good; there is the right
education (besides and beyond mere literacy and certification); there are
enough employment options; and there are enough people who are ‘emotionally self-aware’
to create good values and share them with peers and the next generation.
It means,
even if the people of Kolkata turn passionate about ICM that doesn’t necessarily mean they will become culturally rich, automatically.
In fact,
it’s the other way round. That is, if the people from a particular place are not
culturally rich, it’s tough for them to get passionate about ICM or any
other good thing in life.
Hence,
the need of the hour is not to make people passionate about just ICM or anything
else, which is perceived as good, but to help them realise what culture is all about and, in the process,
turn them passionate about it, so they keep improving the same to ensure richness and
finesse without compromising on the quality for cheap popularity or any
short-term gain.
To do
that, what it requires to be done is, develop and evolve ‘Thought Leadership’ in
people, so they can ‘lead from within’ without letting their brains get picked
up by fundamentalists, clergies, politicians, celebrities, media, brands and
technology (but science).
The development
and evolution of thought leadership should ideally be instrumented from the
nascent stage. That is from schools.
Here, music,
precisely Indian Classical Music, could basically be the game changer that can change one’s
life and thereby people’s life and culture, for that matter, for the better.
The
spatial memory of a child, which boosts his cognitive skills that facilitate his
workable memory, comprehension, analysis, creativity, calculation, language,
communication and behaviour, could be improved like anything through music.
And if
that music is ICM, nothing like it, given its uncompromising ‘Philosophy
and Principle’ constructed by ‘Discipline’, ‘Devotion’, ‘Practice’ and
‘Perseverance’ – the four main factors that never let anyone take his talent
for granted, or settle for less in case there is not much talent in the first
place.
The
ground reality is, as long as ICM will remain just a form of music to
entertain and enthrall a selective set of people or people at large, it can
never unleash its immense power to change things or culture for an productive outcome.
But, if
it’s ready to get out of its comfort zone and reach the grassroots level –
class, section, caste, creed, community, religion and language inconsequential – things could be totally different and look very promising and positive,
gradually.
For that,
it’s high time Indian Classical Music maestros and practitioners come forward and get down to the basics of sociology and economics, if they are really
willing to protect ICM and create a rich culture for and around it.
Maintaining
a safe distance and complaining about the corrosion of culture on the
mainstream media or on the social media, frankly, will change nothing. At the
most that might be good for PR (Public Relations) because, today, public can
very easily relate to someone who helps them indulge in a blame game... believing they are saints but everyone else is a devil spreading evil.
“We must
do something” has long become a clichéd phrase of no use – where nobody knows who
are we and what needs to be done.
After
all, if someone is seriously keen to leverage Indian Classical Music (ICM)
for the enrichment of culture across India for socio-economic growth,
may feel free to contact us at QESEQ
International to be an integral part of a big dream being fully awake and
aware before it’s too late.
