Nov 1st is supposed to be special – for me being a mallu. Its kerala piravi …In college days it was the day of the year all the girls used to get dressed in traditional kerala saree- like that song goes – ‘Kulichu kuriyittu kuppivala ittu…”. the fashion parade to classes was followed by some talks/ cultural programs scheduled for the day at the auditorium. Gone are those days. It is just an sms day now when I wish ppl back home a happy kerala piravi- whatever and however they celebrate it. Infact do they?? :)
But nov 1st still remained a special day ; for the state which adopted me, the state where I earn my living, own a house, the place I live now- Karnataka ; was also born the same day. Its celebrated as Karnataka rajyotsava. Back in 2005, it was a grand function. I remember it so well because radio city aired a song which goes like “ya manashantiya …” , composed and sung by raghu dixit. I had woken up to that song being played on the radio and was humming “namma naaadu karunaadu” the whole day !! hmm…
Last two years memories ares not so pleasant ones, it was more torture. People putting up speakers and stage on the road, blocking traffic, playing extremely loud music – so loud that the windows panes resonate to the beats of the song! funniest thing is – the songs played all day and night have no significant “kannada” impact. Its all those “love madi love madi love madi” type of songs. No amount of cotton or ear plugs can save you from the irritating music. I used to sit and pity homes wid infants. Poor lil things would listen to the hippy hoppy “love madi” beats all day and wail into the mothers ears. Mebbe some years later the first words they speak would be that too!! J What sort of pleasure does it bring to the organizers to create a mess of everyone’s life and peace? I call them public nuisance. I hope Mr. Vatal Natraj wont start something in the line of MNS chief and come and beat me up for making anti-kannada remarks and ask me to go where I came from! So, no I dint say I don’t like the song – its only that music when played in extremely louddd sounds becomes something called NOISE and no longer has any soothing effect on humans. Loud music is fine- limit it to open grounds, places where people can gather – not on the roads! much as i love kannada,karnataka and its culture - im irked by the so called language "activists".
In effect, last 2 years of rajyotsava celebrations I witnessed was a total waste, neither did I learn anything nor do I have any pleasant memories.
This year rajyotsava we decided that we will leave the house and go somewhere the minute we see a stage getting built. So every half and hour there I was on the balcony, checking checking …and checking. No signs. Were they trying to fool me or something? Building it in another place? So I went for a walk around the house in all lanes and still found no signs. Even after 7.30 in the evening there was no sign on any illumination/ stage shows. Either the organisors fought among themselves over last years collections / this year there were no fund allotment itself. Anyways we have a peacefull, non event full rajyotsava. Just when I concluded so, I heard that at Infosys we have celebrations coming up.
Yesterday at around 6 pm I went to amphitheatre. It was almost fully packed. It was the first time in history sorts…Rajyotsava has never been celebrated in Bangalore dc . so it was special. The function started of with very own shruthi –classical music group within infy- performing a jugalbandhi. It was good – to be fair enough. Then came one the masters of music – layatharanga band. They presented fusion songs. It was amazingly done and by the end of it, they got a standing ovation from all of us.
Then came a troup which called themselves shristi. Their contemporary dance was based on the theme- WOMEN of Karnataka. Through their dance I got to know the danseuse and queen –SHANTALA, the braveness of –OBAVVA, the fighter in –CHENNAMMA. Who are these women?
Shanthala - Apparently was the queen of King vishnuvardhana of HOYSALA kingdom. Her dance steps and performances are seen in the sculptures of belur, halebid etc.
Obavva- she was wife of a guard of the fort at chitradurga. The fort had a big gate, but Hyder Ali ( the invader) could not afford to come by that way..so he come to know about this Kalla Kindi(in kannada) - which i guess is thurangam in malayalam, this was kept in the fort as an escape route in case of emergency.Only few of that kingdom knew about it..... Obavva’s husband had been guarding it. Once when he was at lunch, when the lady went to take water from the well she noticed intruders crawling in through that hole. Instead of disturbing her husband who was at lunch, the lady took a heavy stick ( its called “ulakka” in Malayalam – I don’t know the translation in English) and stood by the side of the hole. Whenever the enemy used to crawl in, she beat him the stick and dragged him to the side and waited again. By the time her husband finished his lunch , noticed the developments and alerted the army, she was killed by the enemies.
Chennamma- a queen of kittur, who dared to refuse giving money to british. She challenged them to fight her. She got killed in the battle, but her braveness lives on.
The event continued with a few more other programs. But my mind was stuck there in this dance. They had also depicted IT lady in the modern world. Taking care of home,husband and kids in the morning, Running to the btm bus stop with her kid ; Leave the child in crèche here and come to work . at the strike of 6 , its again a rush back home and kitchen work.
Each one of us might not be a chennamma/obbavva/shantala/
I boarded the 9 pm bus, happy having learnt so much, singing – “namma naadu karunaadu..”!
Mr. Natraj are you listening?:)
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