Simple and cute pen stands at handicrafts fair in Malappuram

While I was in Malappuram, I couldn't help going on a pen hunt… Malappuram is a medium sized town and one wouldn’t expect to find a full fledged pen shop there… but, I saw a couple of stationery shops in the street where the lodge was located… and I found some FPs there…well…that’s for another post… A ‘handicrafts mela (fair)’ was also on in the town and Shruti and I decided to see what they had on offer…our lodge was located in a place called Down Hill and it was literally ‘down the hill’ and this if you have visited one handcrafts fair in India, you know what to expect when you visit another… but you never know … things which wouldn’t have attracted my attention a year ago seemed to call out to me … like these two inexpensive pen stands that I saw in the Kerala State Handicrafts Stall … very ingeniously made from bamboo … bamboo looks suited for pen stands.

I bought two, in fact, they had only two models… the smaller diameter ones and the larger diameter ones … and the larger pen stand also has a small receptacle … for a specially made inkwell? or for a round shaped eraser… though when I bought them, I didn’t think in these terms … these looked nice and inexpensive…and I liked the ingenuity of using bamboo for pen stands … and those small paint dabs look like Japanese style flowers … For the purposes of this post, I have used the small diameter stand for my Leader and Brahmam celluloid FPs…you can see them in the photo…the stand looks made for these pens… and I have used the larger stand for the heavy thick FPs like the Guider Jumbo, Ratnam Supreme, and Deccan Major (brushed ebonite) … the bigger Deccan Masterpiece will be more appropriate I think…I have yet to get one…

I took some photographs of the pen stands at various nooks inside by flat…just to make them look interesting…

Our Enchanting Kerala Trip

Backwaters at Ponnani
At the Bharatapuzha River-gently swaying in the breeze

A two-storeyed Kerala style house opposite Thiruvegappura Mahakshetram

Kunthippuzha River from atop the Pulamanthole Bridge

The Thirumaandhamkunnu Bhagavathi Temple, Angadippuram

Shruti and I visited Kerala a week back…the first time I was stepping into God’s Own Country after 1978…I was thrilled…we were invited to conduct a 2-day workshop for District Resource Group members (high school teacher trainers) of Malappuram District…we were put up in Malappuram town…and the experience of conducting the workshop and the sightseeing, both were fabulous…the workshop was hosted by the EMEA College of Arts and Science, Kondotty and the District Panchayath, Malappuram…we visited Calicut beach, but it was dark by the time we reached there and the there was some kind of a power cut…so, no power and we saw the beach in darkness! Shruti is a regular water baby and even the darkness did not deter her from having a brief encounter with the Arabian Sea…this was on the evening of the first day of the workshop…

After the two days of workshop, we had kept a day in reserve for sight seeing…the coordinator of the workshop, Mr P P Roy and his colleague, Mr Prem Kumar accompanied us on this sightseeing tour…it was extremely gracious of them to spend a whole day with us...Mr Roy was with us throughout the 12 hours that we spent…we almost went around the district…we visited a couple of temples, just to see the lovely and earthy Kerala style temple architecture …we travelled through roads, lanes and bylanes and were rewarded with enchanting sights of greenery all around and the rivers and the backwaters and the Arabian Sea once again… I have lots to share about this trip … I will only post some photos now … more later ...

A Rare Find - Prasad Celluloid Pen

All right…after the Prasad ebonites, here are some photos of the Prasad celluloid FP…I thought I’d do a separate post and not add it to the original Prasad post, because this is a special and beautiful pen…I have seen plain celluloid pens (the Guider yellow and red) and marbled celluloid pens (Brahmam Leader), but this one was unique for me…but I think there are many designs that can be made possible with celluloid…I don’t know how to describe this colour…is it maroon-ish, with a light pinkish tinge?… maroon ‘mosaic’ would be a better description and the pinkish bits look very shiny…the pen looks good to eat…I wonder how they manage to get this design…

The pen is a screw cap ED filler…5 ¼ inches capped; 4.6 inches uncapped and 6 inches posted…the thickness is the same as the Guider celluloid FP…the nib is engraved with the name ‘Iriloy’ and it is an ex-fine nib…the nib also has the letters engraved ‘Ae’ inside a circle…I have been using one of these with Chelpark crimson violet ink and it writes very well…as is usual with Indian celluloid pens, the barrel end is topped off with ebonite…we can see two cap bands, and they are slightly loose in both pens…the cap bands also have a slightly old brassy look…the clip looks like the ‘Parker’ arrow clip with ‘Prasad’ on it…the pens are definitely old, but unused ones…we can see a number of blemishes here and there…

In fact, this is an ‘afterthought’ pen…I have noticed this with pen-makers here that they don’t offer celluloid pens to their customers initially…and if they do offer, it is only one…it might be because they have a limited number of celluloid pens and want most of their customers to have one celluloid pen at least…Mr Jain also offered me this celluloid pen after I had placed the order for the ebonites…so, in that sense, I am lucky…I tried asking for more…I am addicted, you see!…and he kind of gently told me that these are all he had…

Bling on My Blog...

Regular visitors to my blog (I would like to feel that I have loads of visitors...!!!) would have noticed the drastic changes in the page...I binged on gadgets...and added a lot of good natured bling on my site...in fact, I was getting bored of seeing the same old bespectacled mug and pitchers (sic!!!) of pens on my blogsite...and I was fooling around in the layout section and decided to explore the gadgets...actually, I was looking for a 'counter'...but instead, I found a lot of interesting 'gadgets'...and went on adding them to the site, oblivious of the 'havoc' it was creating on the page...I found some of my favourite painters - Rene Magritte, Matisse, Klimt, Jackson 'Jack the Dripper' Pollock, Wassily Kandinsky, Monet, and my all time favourite Dear Van Gogh...I tried looking for my favourite Indian artists, Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh, Tyeb Mehta, J Swaminathan, Husain, K G Subrahmanyam, and others...but unfortunately, they were not listed there...

Now you can see a new painting every day of these famous painters of the Western world on my blog...and a couple of photographs...National Geographic photo of the day and Nasa photo of the day...and for the poetically inclined, I have a daily Haiku...those succint single drop poems... and for those who want some cogitation, there are daily quotes from some of the most famous and sometimes iconoclast writers...Confucius, Nietzsche, Orwell, and Chanakya...how can I leave my blog without any music...so now you have streaming music...again, my favourite...Jazz...

A feast for your senses...some colour relief for your jaded eyes tired of seeing fountain pen photos...and some 'sukoon' for your ears...some 'masala' for your mind...

Stay as long as you want...enjoy the paintings, music, and quotes...in case you want to add or delete or replace a gadget...drop a line...your comments are always welcome...

Jai...

Watching 'Charandas Chor' at Ravindra Bharati

Two weeks back...on the 5th of November...I got to watch one of the legends of Indian theatre on stage...I watched Habib Tanvir on stage as be appeared briefly playing the role of the queen's counsellor in his iconic play 'Charandas Chor'...this play was a part of the Qadir Ali Baig theatre festival held a Hyderabad...I love watching plays and used to catch quite a few plays during my student days at CIEFL, but of late the travel to and from college has made sure that I return bus-lagged in the evening and so going to plays has become a rarity...so I was in two minds when I got this pass for Charandas Chor...I really had to plan...fortunately, one of our college buses touches a spot near Ravindra Bharati where the play was staged and I could make it on time...the hall was packed and I think most of the audience came to see 'Habib Tanvir's Charandas Chor' and not the play...there was quote a jostle for seats...and a few high and mighty babus were seen looking for seats and they had arrived fasionably late...I tried very hard to get involved in the proceedings...the play was very much up my alley...folk songs, folk dialect, folk humour...all these things I cherish in Indian theatre...I enjoyed whenever I drifted into the play...I enjoyed the melodious singing of Nagin Tanvir, Habib Tanvir's daughter...the actor who played Charandas was really good and brought out the 'hoot' quality of the role...the best part of the whole experience was to see Habib Sa'ab on stage...he is old and frail now and agreed to don the grease paint at the request of Qadir Ali Baig's son Mohammed Ali Baig...and the gesture was liked and appreciated by all...and when he spoke before and after the play, one could see glimpses of his wit and humour...in a extremely unselfconscious manner, he said that he has brought his 'ghasa, ghisa, pita' Charandas Chor to Hyderabad...ha ha ha...

For me, there was another bonus...during the interval, it was announced that a CD containing folk songs of the troupe was being sold in the foyer...I went out to see what the CD was about...it turned out to be folk and other songs sung by Nagin Tanvir...as I had already heard her singing on stage, there was no hesitation in picking up this CD...and I enjoyed a variety of songs...

I had earlier seen a Telugu version of this iconic play and this first-time viewing of Charandas Chor kind of filled a gap in the must-watch list of modern Indian plays...

R(ea)iding The White Tiger

It is two weeks since I read Aravind Adiga's Booker winning novel...when the book was released and I saw it at Book Selection Centre in Secunderabad, I wanted to buy it...it had received some 'interesting' reviews and moreover, he is my country cousin...from Mangalore, Karnataka...the same place where I hail from...and there is an 'Adiga' branch in our family and who knows, he could be related through some roundabout route...anyway, I thought I'd wait till the paperback is released...then Aravind got nominated...then shortlisted...and then he won...now, what to do? no more waiting for the paperback...I bought it the next day...and read it in two sittings...it is a page turner...a different kind of narrative...that means, a simple straightforward narrative...no styles and flourishes...no digressions...and it uses an kind of 'epistolary' style...though not the same as the one used in the early English novels...I don't want to describe the plot or characters here...I enjoyed reading the novel...

I wanted Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies to win the Booker...for me personally, Sea of Poppies is an infinitely better novel than The White Tiger...since I have read both novels, I also feel that The White Tiger is an important Indian novel to have come out at this point in time...it does offer some glee material for some critics...and some sulk material for Indian critics...last week's The Hindu's Literary Review on Sunday carried a longish article on The White Tiger saying essentially that the novel is 'inauthentic'... one doesn't want to start a debate or hold forth on 'authenticity' here...if I can use a cricket metaphor, this novel is a 'reverse swinging' ball...for the ball to reverse swing, the players have to keep one side shining and allow the other side to lose shine and colour... Adiga has tried to show the other side of the shining ball...to say that if only one side is kept shining, the ball has the capacity to reverse swing...

Fountain Pens of AP - Prasad Pens (Part 3)

Once this entire exercise of discovering, ordering, and finally receiving the pens was over, I realised reflectively that the time taken from my first phone call till the delivery of pens was actually to make the pens with the existing material…and this batch of pens was probably one of the last batches of pens made by Prasad Pens…

When you see the photos, you will detect some blemishes, slight pitting, scratches, and so on…but these didn’t deter me from liking them…and again, like all other handmade pens from India, and especially, Andhra Pradesh, keen readers and collectors might detect a number of elements copied from more illustrious international brands, for instance, the Parker arrow inspired clip on the Baby…I dip tested all these pens and most of the pens are good writers and nibs are smooth and feel good to grip and write…

All the 4 models of Prasad ebonite FPs are ED fillers and the nibs have “Prasad – 1st Quality – Alloy – Tipped Fine” engraved on them and an encircled letter ‘A’ at the bottom probably indicating that the nib maker ‘Ambitious’ is the manufacturer of these nibs…if the nibs are actually ‘Ambitious’ nibs, then going by previous experience, these nibs would last quite long…and again, all feeders too have ‘Prasad’ engraved on them…

Prasad Duofold: ED filler…this is the largest of the 4 models the Prasad Duofold can be compared in length and girth to Lamy Safari…
Prasad Major: around half an inch shorter than the Prasad Duofold; compares with Waterman Hemisphere GT in length and girth…
Prasad Medium: can be compared with Parker Rialto in terms of length and thickness…
Prasad Baby: ED filler; the thinnest ebonite FP that I have seen so far; the clip is different though, it is the arrow clip similar to the Parker model clips, with Prasad engraved on it…

Friends…more than acquiring the pens, it was the journey towards locating the pens that was more exciting and tense…at one point, I wondered whether I’d get the pens or not…but thankfully, they arrived minus some promises, but all the same, the search has been eventful…

I keep hearing murmurs and rumours about other already extinct and soon to be extinct pen brands in many small towns in Andhra Pradesh…this is a small effort to rescue some of that entrepreneurial legacy of hand made fountain pens in India…I have sent out feelers to my friends and acquaintances across the state, something interesting might turn up…who knows…

Jayasrinivasa Rao

Fountain Pens of AP - Prasad Pens (Part 2)

While speaking to Mr Jain, I asked him a little bit about how Prasad Pens came about and he told me that his chief pen technician, Mr Poornachandra Rao, would be able to help me. Mr Rao has been working as a pen maker & technician with Prasad Pens for 40 years, he proudly said, and gave me some bits of history of Prasad Pens…

Prasad Pens was started by Mr Taniganti Prasada Rao in 1953 in Tenali, a district town in Andhra Pradesh. At one point of time in history, Tenali was a very important town in Andhra Pradesh known for its rich cultural and literary legacy. Tenali is best-known as the hometown of Tenali Ramakrishna (also known as Tenali Rama), the legendary poet and wit in King Krishna Deva Raya's court. Three canals of the Krishna River flow through Tenali making it a part of the rice bowl of Andhra Pradesh.

In its early days, Prasad Pen Company used to manufacture fountain pens and ball-pens in ebonite and celluloid. The company also made gold nib pens. But, their stock of celluloid is over and since celluloid has to be imported at exorbitant rates and is no longer viable, Prasad Pen Company now makes pens only in ebonite. They have also stopped making gold nib pens because of the increasing cost of gold and total dearth of skilled workers proficient in making gold nibs.

In 1977, the Prasad Pen Company was sold to the Jain family and the family has been managing the fortunes of the pen company ever since. It is clear that of late they haven’t been able to sustain the onslaught of various trendy, colourful, and lightweight ballpoint/gel pen brands and the rapid decline in the use of fountain pens has added to their gradual disappearance from the pen manufacturing scene. One of the signs is that one rarely hears of Prasad Pens. Let alone Andhra Pradesh, even most of the residents of Tenali don’t know that a fountain pen company exists and is struggling for survival in their midst.

I waited for a long long time after placing the order for the pens to be delivered…and finally after innumerable phone calls and almost one and half months, I received the pens and was disappointed to see that the pen I dreamed about most – mottled white ebonite – was not among them…I examined the other pens and they were uniformly good…the clip, nib, and feeder all had the ‘Prasad’ imprint on them, making them exclusive…I later spoke to Mr Jain and he said that they couldn’t get the material for the mottled white pen and therefore were not able to make it…the Duofold (it may not look like ‘the’ Duofold’, but it is what Mr Jain calls the pen) is the largest (both thickness and length) of the 4 models and the ‘Baby’ is the thinnest…in fact, it is the thinnest ebonite pen I have seen so far…

Fountain Pens of AP - Prasad Pens (Part 1)

It was a PM by Hari in my mail box on Fountain Pen Network that sent me on this hunt. In the PM, he sent me a URL which mentioned the name of a pen brand in Andhra Pradesh called Ashoka Pens based in a town called Tenali. I enquired at the pen shops in Hyderabad and none of them had this pen and most of them hadn’t even heard of this brand. I then decided to take another route. I teach in a college in Hyderabad and a fair number of my colleagues are from other small and large towns in Andhra Pradesh who have gravitated to the capital city. After numerous enquiries, I discovered that a member of our library staff is from Tenali. When I asked her if she knew anything about Ashoka Pens, she gave me a blank look and then told me that she had left Tenali long years ago and had settled in Hyderabad and that she’d call up and ask her uncle, who lives in Tenali.

After a couple of days, she gave a phone number and told me that her uncle had managed to get in touch with the proprietor of Ashoka Pens and asked me to call the number and speak to the proprietor. I spoke to him the same day and the news was not so good. He told me that he had closed down his pen manufacturing unit almost 6 years back and had sold away all his machinery and stock. He said his pen manufacturing unit couldn’t withstand the ballpoint pen revolution and since it was a small scale industry, almost like a cottage industry, it couldn’t sustain prolonged sluggishness in business. I felt very sad and asked him if he had at least a couple of FPs for my collection and for posterity. He said that even he doesn’t have a sample of the pens manufactured by him and that his friend had taken away the lone FP he had. I continued the talk for a little while more, prodding his memory in the hope that he’d remember some forgotten cache where he had stowed away some pens. No such luck. But he said he knew another pen company called Prasad Pens in the same city and would ask the proprietor if he had any pens to spare.

I had heard about Prasad Pens…Hari had told me that Satish had gifted him 2 ebonite Prasad ED fillers and had also sent me the photos…In a sense, Prasad Pens follows in the footsteps of Ratnam Pens and Guider Pens, who set up pen companies in small towns in Andhra Pradesh…

I waited for a week, and then called the person at Ashoka Pens to enquire if he had spoken to the people at Prasad Pens. He said he had and gave me the contact number. I called this number and spoke to the current owner, Mr Anil Kumar Jain and told him what I wanted. He was happy that someone had taken the trouble to get in touch with him and that someone still used fountain pens in this age. He said Prasad Pens manufactured pens in four basic models – Duofold, Medium, Major, Baby – in four ebonite colours. I was aware of the three usual colours – black, mottled brown, and mottled green – but he said they also manufacture pens which are mottled white in colour. I was fascinated by this. I wanted one of each model and each colour…and I asked him if he had all of them…he said he had them and that he’d send them... I then asked him if he had any celluloid pens…he said he’d check and let me know…a couple of days later, he said he could give me 2 celluloid pens as they were left over from a batch of pens he had made earlier for a customer… I had always fancied celluloid pens and I was more than happy to accept the offer…and then…I waited…and waited…

Raghu Dixit soars with Santha Shishunala Sharief...

A friend of mine gave me news of a surprising and pleasant nature while chatting last week...she directed my attention towards an album by a singer named Raghu Dixit... I had seen this album in my favourite music store in Hyderabad, Sangeet Sagar, but for some reason did not pick it up...what with young singers releasing albums at the drop of a hat, I didn't have the patience to even check out the names of the tracks... while directing my attention towards the album she said that Raghu Dixit has sung two Kannada tracks in the album...she obviously knew what to say so that I'd move expectantly towards the album...'Kannada tracks' caught my attention...I had to listen to this album...but I did not have the time to go Sangeet Sagar, but she had also helpfully given me the url of a site which had limited time downloads of tracks, so there I went and first checked the names of the tracks...and to my great surprise and delight, the two Kannada tracks were songs written by Santha Shushunala Sharief...a sufi saint, highly respected and popular for his mystical and metaphysical songs... Santha Shushunala Sharief's songs were made popular in Kannada by Dr N S Lakshminarayana Bhatta, who unearthed and researched most of Santha Shushunala Sharief's songs and Sri C Ashwath, who sang them with emotion and great verve, so much so that C Ashwath's voice became synonymous with Santha Shushunala Sharief... so, with all this at the back of my mind, I waited to listen to 'Sorutihudu maneya maaligi,' an extremely popular song...the opening of the song is superb...with thunder and rain and rain drops falling...in tune with the opening line 'Sorutihudu maneya maaligi...agnandadinda....sorutihudu maneya maaligi' which means 'the roof of the house is leaking...with ignorance'...then Raghu Dixit comes on with his soaring vocals... I was hooked... the music is superb... and the other Kannada track 'Gudugudiya sedi nodu' was equally superb... the songs doesnt take away anything from the initial popular renditions by Ashwath...in fact, Raghu Dixit's interpretations enhance the songs and take them to a different level...

I am sorry Raghu Dixit, I didnt pick up this album when I saw it... I will pick it up soon...thank you for bringing Santha Shishunala Sharief that much more closer to the contemporary Kannada youth...

Jayasrinivasa Rao

Chutney Music...my experiences-IV

In the initial days of listening to Chutney Music and reading web-based articles, I had this great urge to write a scholarly article on this…all kinds of ideas were hopping around in my head…making connections…trying to give it an attractive title and sub-title and a good opening paragraph…and after listening to the D’Bhuyaa Saaj concert, I was enthused and pepped up and made several tentative openings…I wanted to situate Chutney Music in the midst of various India Diaspora musics, the most famous example being the Asian Underground Music scene in England with its mixture of Bhangra, Indian classical, and electronica…and as I was also listening to loads of Asian Underground bands and individual artistes, this was a natural kind of inclination…

But the one issue that caught my attention was the question of identity… and this was triggered off by Ajeet Praimsingh’s comments…we were discussing Chutney Music and then Ajeet Praimsingh related an incident… “yesterday I went to ma hotel room and switched on my TV, maan, and was watching songs…and I see this maan singing on TV…Lotay La… maan…he has taken our song, maan, he was singing our song, maan…” Initially, I did not understand what he said…then it dawned after a couple of seconds… those days, a bhojpuri style song and music video was a rage on TV music channels for a brief while…called ‘Lootela,’ it was a lavish music video in the remix style, done quite well actually with Urmila Matondkar as the focus of attention, and the actors too did their job well and the singer himself, called D' Raja, appeared on the video singing the bhojpuri style song (see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVOo_JgvBng) … I tried to figure out Ajeet Praimsingh’s statement and realised that he was talking about a Chutney song that became a mammoth hit in the 1960s-70s in Trinidad and catapulted the singer Sonny Mann into instant fame…the song was called ‘Lotayla’… (catch the song here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOcH3NbzupM; though it appears in youtube, there is no video here, only the song sung by Sonny Mann, but this is a later version, sung along with Denis Belfon and General Grant, which is actually a Soca; but you can see the similarities and differences)… and this was what Ajeet Praimsingh was referring to when he said, ‘he has taken our song, maan…’ it sounded amusing then, and then I thought about it and felt that this posed an interesting question… the question of the song’s identity … Whose song is it anyway? Where did the song originate from? Where did it go? Who took it there? Whose song is it now? Who does it belong to?

I am still searching for answers…

Chutney Music...my experiences-III

Princess Priya Kelly in the foreground, on the right sitting on the floor is Rasika Dindial

You can see Rakesh Yankaran on the Harmonium to Rasika's right on the floor, and Surender Ramoutar on the Steel Pan standing between Rakesh and Rasika

My best experience with Chutney Music came in February 2005 (14th Feb 2005 to be exact). I heard from Shruti that a series of Indian Diaspora music concerts were being held at University of Hyderabad and that a group from Trinidad has come…I couldn’t hide my excitement…Shruti and I reached the venue almost an hour before the scheduled start…and on the steps of the auditorium I saw a man in a distinctly colourful shirt chatting with a group of students…I too sat down to listen and discovered that this man was part of the music group called D’Bhuya Saaj [a bhojpuri term meaning ‘sitting on the ground (bhuyaan) and singing/entertaining (saaj)’] from Trinidad which would be performing that day…

I still remember…we were talking and I told this man that I had visited a site called www.ajeetpraimsingh.com and learned a lot about Trinidad and Indo-Caribbean music...about Dhantal…about Doubles...about this person called Ajeet Praim Singh, an industrious merchant and music producer who is working hard to keep Indo-Trinidadian traditions alive in Trinidad...the music of Kabir Das…and he said ‘it is myself’...I was stunned and surprised and delighted and clasped his hand …it was totally unexpected and it turned out that he was the manager of the group and also was on stage with the shak shak…I spoke to him for quite some time about chutney music and it was a delight to hear the sing song West Indian English…he urged me to write a book… ‘you write a book, maan’…

After we talked, I entered the auditorium and to my surprise, saw that Dr Helen Myers was also there...I had read her book and here she was in person and I couldn’t believe my luck that day...the entire Diaspora music concert series was organised as lec-dems with one expert talking about the music before the actual performance and Helen Myers was the expert for Chutney Music…she was one of the earliest to write about chutney music and according to the person who introduced her, Dr Myers has followed the Bhojpuri Diaspora around the world and has researched, written about and recorded their music in such distant lands as Fiji, Mauritius, and of course Trinidad and Guyana…I could speak to her briefly and told her about my interest…she was happy to know that I had read her book and gave me her e-mail and asked me to keep in touch…

And then the music began ...it was mind-blowing...a live chutney music performance at my doorsteps literally!! I heard and saw famous names like ‘D’ Rani Rasika Dindial, ‘D’ Raja Rakesh Yankaran, Lily Ramcharan and just like any Bhojpuri song performance in India, the group also had a dancer, ‘Princess’ Priya Kelly… who came in on some songs and danced in typical thumka style (for quick reference…‘beedi’ and ‘namak ishq’ songs in Omkara!!!) which had the audience roaring in approval… I had heard Rasika's song on tape and it was so nice to hear her live on Lazy Man, her mega hit of the late 90s…Rakesh Yankaran sang a devotional song ‘ganga jamuna saraswati’ at the beginning and also his most famous Mousie … and also Dholak Baje… Lily Ramcharan sang The New Dawn, a song written to mark the arrival of the first Indians in Trinidad…and talks about the trials and tribulations and progress made by them… and the group also sang some typical crossover chutney soca songs like Lover Boy, Lazy Man and we also heard typical Tan singing by Rakesh Yankaran who sang Savari Surat, a devotional Trinidad style thumri…

The live sounds of Dhantaal, Dholak, Steel Pan Drum…and the other members of the group Molly Ramcharan, Devarnand Nagessar, Rishi Ragbir and Jagdeo Deebaram (on Dhantaal and Dholak…in fact all singers took their turns with the Dhantaal…) Surender Ramoutar (steel pan)…and of course, Ajeet Praim Singh on the shak shak… and all of them were moving and dancing on the stage and it was infectious…they urged the audience to come on and dance on stage…I had half a mind to go, but didn’t see anybody else volunteering and so suppressed my urge to dance with a live chutney band….maybe sometime in future when I go to Trinidad, I will muster enough courage to go on stage and dance to chutney tunes…

And the icing on the cake… ever the entrepreneur, Ajeet Praim Singh had brought some chutney music CDs produced by him and I hadn’t forethought this…Shruti and I fished around in our wallets and pockets and pooled together enough to buy 3 CDs ... of my favourite singers that day...Rasika's and Rakesh's and the special CD on India Arrival Day...

It was truly a memorable evening for a chutney fan… I didn’t have a digital camera or any camera at that time, but I wanted my readers to have a feel of the performance and so I searched the net and found some photos in online editions of newspapers of their tour in India and I have pasted a couple of photos of the D’ Bhuyaa Saaj performances in India (they performed in 7 cities in India)…these are 2 photos of ‘Princess’ Priya Kelly dancing with other members of the group in the background…

More to come…ha ha ha…

Jayasrinivasa Rao

Chutney Music...my experiences - II

I was getting more and more interested in chutney music and located a lot of samples on the Internet, some of which I could download and listen… I enjoyed listening to the swinging rhythms and the West Indian accented Hindi lyrics sometimes interspersed with English lyrics… I wanted to know more about this wonderful music from India which had taken root in alien soil and had grown into a totally fascinating flowering tree… happy to incorporate influences and yet retaining its basic core… my friends helped me in acquiring books on Chutney Music…and so I read Helen Myers’ Music of Hindu Trinidad: Songs from the Indian Diaspora (The University of Chicago Press)…but unfortunately, I was not able to get the CD of songs which accompanied this book…

The next book that I read was Peter Manuel’s East Indian Music in the West Indies: Tan Singing, Chutney, and the Making of the Indo-Caribbean Culture … as is my usual practice, I had harangued my friend Vijay in the US to send me this book, as I didn’t want to miss the CD that accompanied this book… the book was riveting and I read it in two instalments…Peter Manuel has given a detailed historical and musical account of chutney music and his writing style is very engaging…but the most enthralling part was in the music in the CD…Manuel has written about and included songs that are part of what Indian-West Indians call Tan singing…this is a repertoire of songs, basically religious, that the Indians have nurtured and developed into a kind of ‘classical’ music, as opposed to the more ‘popular’ chutney music…

So, you have Trinidadian/Guyanese/Surinamese thumris, bhajans, tillanas, holis, dhrupads, and ghazals as part of this Tan singing…for people familiar with Hindustani classical music, these genres mean something specific, but when you listen to Tan singing, you realise that these genres have taken a life of their own with little or no connection at all to the genres of the same name in Hindustani classical music…they have built a separate repertoire of ‘classical’ music with remembered music and developed these genres as years went by…Manuel quotes Trinidadian sitarist, composer, and music authority Mangal Patasar, who once remarked about tan-singing, “You take a capsule from India, leave it here for a hundred years, and this is what you get.”

More to come...

jaisiri: Chutney Music...my experiences - I

http://aingram.web.wesleyan.edu/chutney.html
http://www.toronto-lime.com/music/articles/the_history_of_chutney.htm
http://www.triniview.com/douglamusic.htm

Chutney Music...my experiences - I

It must be sometime in 2004 or so…that I heard about chutney music as the music of Indians living in Trinidad…and then began my deep interest in this music…I scoured the internet in search of information and samples…I got a considerable amount of information and some articles and details about books…and for the first time, I heard the music…it was Bhojpuri songs with a twist…a tangy twist…what they called ‘chutney music’…as tangy as chutney…I then discovered that this music is prevalent in Guyana and Suriname too…that is, wherever Indians were taken in the Caribbean as indentured labourers in the 19th century by the British (pl read Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh)…so, what is chutney music? A lot has been written on this subject by many experts and researchers…so let us say that chutney music is the music of the Indians in Trinidad, Guyana, and Suriname…basically songs of the area around Uttar Pradesh and Bihar known as Bhojpur, now famous all over India as Bhojpuri songs… so what is so special about this?

When the people from this area were taken to these Caribbean islands as indentured labourers, the only imperishable items that they could take with them were their songs…and in an alien land with alien people in the sugarcane fields, singing their songs was the only solace at the end of the day…these songs were the only links to their motherland that they had left behind…these sings sustained them and their families and when slowly and surely their financial situations improved and the second generation of Indians began to flourish in these distant lands, these same songs became songs of celebration and of identity… and over a period of time local musical elements also started influencing chutney music… even the religious and ritual songs began to sung with an upbeat tempo…apart from the dholak and harmonium, instruments which they had brought along with them, chutney music began to use the Steel Pan drum and ‘dhantaal,’ a musical instrument believed to have been invented by Indians in Trinidad, and Tassa drums…Tassa drums are used in the Muslim Hosay festival in Trinidad…so chutney music is now a mix of Indian, Latin American, and Islamic influences…and now a new strand has evolved called Chutney Soca…which incorporates elements of calypso rhythms…and English lyrics…

More in future posts…

The Guider Jumbo (XXL!!!) ebonite Fountain Pen

Satish Kolluru had posted a review of the Guider Jumbo ebonite pen on Fountain Pen Network…and I was tempted…and after reading Satish’s review, I decided to get one for myself and spoke to Mr Lakshmana Rao and told him about the review and that I wanted a similar pen...and I received my own Guider Jumbo 5 days later... I liked its looks…it looks really solid…I inked it immediately and it writes wonderfully…I was initially apprehensive when I took it to college as I wearing a white shirt and was worried that with so much of ink inside it and what with our college bus jumping up and down on potholes disguised as roads, there might be some ink-jumps…but the pen held out and both my shirt and the pen emerged triumphant at the end of the day…

The pen capped is 6.3 inches; uncapped 5 1/2 inches; and posted 7 1/4 inches. The clip and the top jewel reminds one of a Parker and the body shape that of a Danitrio Densho pen as some members at FPN have pointed out. The feeder is smooth without any striations like in the Jinhao GN FP that I have. “The feeder on the Guider Jumbo has no fins and has only one central fissure for air,” says Hari, whereas, “the feed on the Jinhao has fins on the upper side flush with the nib.” The nib looks good (as of now) with Guider India Fine engraved on it along with an encircled 'G'...and it is slightly smaller than the Advocate nib (size 10), could be size 9...(Hari reckons that it could be size 8, the same size as Wality 69TL)…

The pen is thicker than the thickest ebonite FPs that I have...I took some close ups of the pen and I can tell you that it is a collector’s item…you might not get one like it in a couple of years’ time…

Jayasrinivasa Rao

Slightly longer than the longest...the 2-in-1 ruler black ebonite from Guider Pens,

Some time after I had purchased the 2-in-1 ruler pen (in green ebonite) from Deccan Pens, Hyderabad (posted earlier), I was browsing the net and hit the usual pen sites…I saw that Guider Pens had renovated(?) their site and it was looking much better…they now had moving images on their masthead…and one of the images was of the 2-in-1 ruler pen in mottled brown…I wanted a FP-BP combination so that I could use a red ink refill for the ball pen and fill the FP with black or blue ink…as I had purchased a ready-made 2-in-1 pen @ Deccan Pens which had FPs at both ends, I had no choice then…

I teach in a college and there are frequent tests and many occasions for me to use red ink…and sometimes the answers are so exasperating that I indicate my state of mind and inflict great force on the pen and paper while correcting answer scripts… I tried this with a FP and ended up with a damaged nib… I then felt that a BP would be ideal for such purposes…but I wanted something unusual, and decided to ask Mr Lakshmana Rao of Guider Pens if he would make me one such pen… I spoke with Mr Rao and told him what I wanted…complete black ebonite, with one FP and one BP and the BP end should be marked in red to indicate the colour as well as the type of pen… I left it to him to decide the length and thickness…He then asked me to decide the refill model and size that I would be using for the BP so that he can prepare the BP accordingly… I told him that the only BP refill model and size that I was familiar with was the Reynolds 045…and that if he could make the BP compatible with this model, I’d be happy…he agreed to this…

I received the parcel about 5 days later…the pen was dismantled and packed…I put them together…it looked good…I had already purchased 2 red ink Reynolds 045 refills and fitted the ball pen with one of these…the FP, I left alone for the time being… I found out that Mr Rao had very thoughtfully fixed a red celluloid band at the end indicating the BP…it looks very cute… and sophisticated…

The pen is about 14 ½ inches in length and is a couple of millimetres longer than the Deccan 2-in-1 ruler pen…both pens uncapped are 7 inches each…and the middle section acts as a common 2-sided cap and is hollow unlike the Deccan 2-in-1 ruler pen, the capped BP is 9 ¼ inches in length and the capped FP is ever so slightly more than 9 ¼ inches…the nib is Guider custom and so far I have only dry tested it, and it is smooth…should see how it reacts to ink…

Jayasrinivasa Rao

The Brushed ebonite fountain pen brigade from Deccan Pens, Hyderabad

There is this one thing with Deccan Pens… if you see a new FP model, buy it…you may not see it for a long time if you choose to postpone the purchase…it happened to me with the Deccan Diplomat…I haven’t yet been able to lay my hands on one… Hari told me during one of our pen-cussions that their pen maker is a very innovative person and sometimes makes unique one-of-a-kind pens…and if the pen comes to one of their showrooms and if you happen to see it, grab it! This is what I did with 2 of the 4 pens featured here…

There are 4 brushed ebonite models made by Deccan Pens that I have seen so far…they don’t have specific names and all are called ‘onyx’ and as I had said in an earlier post, they distinguish them by size…I have given them size-wise names…the first photo that you see has all the pens in their capped positions…the smallest one, forming the horizontal stroke of T, I have called ‘Mini’… the largest one, forming the vertical stroke of T, is the ‘Maxi’… to the left of Maxi, with the steel clip and steel cap band, is the ‘Major’… and the one to Maxi’s right, the one with the gold plated clip, is the ‘Mega’…

As you can see in the photos, no two pens are similar… if the nibs of two (Mini and Maxi) are similar (Ambitious), then their clips are different, one has a steel clip and the other has a gold plated clip…Maxi and Major have polished ends, but one of them has a cap band and the other is cap bandless…and if you look at the sections, each one is different…I don’t know what names these different kinds of sections have..

I had purchased the Mega a long time back…and among the four, this is different from the rest in many respects…this is the only one which has a snap cap…the rest are all screw caps…and this is the only one which is cartridge filler, the rest are all ED fillers…the nib, the feed, the section…all are different from the other pens featured here…and it has a smoother brushed feel and look…the other 3 have a rough feel and look… and if you notice, the clip is ‘inspired’ from Pelikan FPs… and I used it for 3 months continuously and it is a fabulous writer… no complaints…

MAJOR – capped 6 in; uncapped 5 ¼ in; posted 7 in; cartridge filler; snap cap; open two tone nib; Pelikan style clip; plastic section (I think) with gold plating at the section lip; smooth brushed feel and look

I am currently using the Mega…it has got that Lamy Safari feel while writing, though the width is narrower…and the nib also reminds you of the Safari…I feel a slight difficulty in screwing/unscrewing the cap now…this is the only pen in this batch that has a cap band, which is at the cap lip…its top and bottom ends are polished…and if you look at the photo, you can see that the clip is curved, unlike the others which are flat against the cap…and this is the only one among the 4 to have the distinctive calligraphic ‘D’ (the Deccan Pen Logo) on the cap…

MEGA – capped 5 ¼ in; uncapped 4 ¾ in; posted 6 ¼ in; ED filler; screw cap; Lamy Safari style one tone nib with no brand name; curved steel clip; Ebonite section tapering towards the nib and ending with a ridge slightly below the nib; rough brushed feel and look; 7 turns to unscrew…

I have yet to start using the Mini and the Maxi…will do so soon…

MINI – capped 4 ¼ in; uncapped 3 ¾ in; posted 5 ¼ in; ED filler; screw cap; Ambitious nib with an upturned ‘V’ nib hole; gold plated clip flat against the cap; gap between cap top and cap visible; Ebonite section tapering in and flaring out near the nib; rough brushed feel and look; 7 turns to unscrew…

MAXI – this is the longest of the batch… capped 6 ¼ in; uncapped 5 ½ in; posted 7 ¼ in; ED filler; screw cap; Ambitious nib with upturned ‘V’ nib hole; top and bottom ends polished; steel clip flat against the cap; Ebonite section tapering towards the nib stopping with a ridge; rough brushed look and feel; 7 turns to unscrew…

Jayasrinivasa Rao

Deccan Pens...A New Model...

Just when I thought that we (Hari & I) had covered and reviewed all the major models made by Deccan Pens, Hyderabad, the pen people sprang a surprise… or, shall I say penprise…?

I had placed orders for around 5 Advocate Black FPs (yes…you have to place orders, especially for the complete black model) for my colleagues and brother and I had called the Secunderabad branch to find out if the pens are ready…I had also asked them to get me a couple of Pelkan models…the Advocates were ready and they told me that they have a couple of Pelkans too…I decided to pick them up on my way home in the evening…

I went there and they immediately brought me the Advocate FPs and I asked them to show the Pelkans…what they showed me was not the full ebonite Pelkans that they had earlier but a kind of variant with an aerometric filler and metal cap…I thought I’d pick them up later…and then they showed me a new ebonite model…they didn’t have a name for this model…in fact, they call all their models as ‘Deccan Onyx’ and refer to each model by their shape or size…in my post on Deccan FPs on Fountain Pen Network, I had shown photos of mottled green ebonite FPs with aerometric fillers and called them as ‘the’ Onyx…I guess I was wrong…anyway, the model that they showed me was a medium sized ED filler FP around 5 inches in length with a band at the cap lip…both ends rounded…with a black tip at the bottom…the clip is of thin elongated oval shape and the thin clip band can also be seen (seasoned FP users from around the world might find some similarities with clips of international models!)…the nib is of a brand called ‘Preema’and is tipped fine…with both sides serrated feeder…they showed me four colours…plain green, plain brown, mottled green and mottled brown…I bought all 4! The plain green and plain brown ones have light black spots on them…the plain green one looks really good…I dip tested all nibs and except for one which is slightly scratchy, the rest are all smooth…

I don't know how many more models they are going to make...already burning a hole in my pocket...but what to do...madness, no?

Jayasrinivasa Rao

jaisiri: My article published...

jaisiri: My article published...:

http://www.anukriti.net/tt6/article1/page1.asp

Ustad Amir Khan...memories by Pt Amarnath...A Book...

A few posts earlier I had written about my fascination and admiration for Ustad Amir Khan’s singing…I think one has to hear him singing once to realise the difference between his style and the others’…it is said that most of the singers who came after him, irrespective of Gharana, imbibed a number of features of his singing…Pt Bhimsen Joshi has publicly said that he was influenced by Ustadji’s singing…Ustadji had a number of disciples, though we may not be aware of many of them…Pt Amarnath, a disciple of Ustad Amir Khan and considered to be a genius of Indore Gharana singing, has chronicled his discipleship and relationship with his guru in great detail…and in recent times, his daughter Bindu Chawla has made every effort to place these chronicles, along with Pt Amarnath’s renditions, before the music world… and in this effort she has received solid support from Underscore Records, a unique record company run by Shubha Mudgal (yeah…the eminent Hindustani classical singer who captured the nation’s imagination through the unusual ‘Ab ke saawan’) and Aneesh Pradhan, the tabla maestro… the first of these reminiscences by Pt Amarnath was in the form of an audio CD called ‘Pioneer of the Khayal – the music of my guru Ustad Amir Khan Saheb’ (Underscore Records)…the CD is in the form of a lec-dem and was recorded live in 1982…here Pt Amarnath speaks about Ustad Amir Khan’s style of khayal singing and sings to demonstrate the unique style…listening to this CD gave me a lot of insights into Ustadji’s singing – the merukhand style, his taans, taranas, and other features…the brief liner notes say… “Called the Bernstein of India, Pt Amarnath … tells you the story of how his legendary guru, Ustad Amir Khan Saheb, not only pioneered a new gharana, but also created a new road to the khayal altogether, changing all earlier perspectives to the form…”

I was listening to Pt Amarnath’s singing for the first time in this CD…I liked it immensely…and I remember writing a mail to Shubhaji asking her if it was possible for Underscore Records to come out with at least a couple of albums of Pt Amarnath’s khayal renderings…Shubhaji wrote back saying that Bindu Chawla held all the rights and that Underscore Records would be happy to produce the albums…this was a long time back…at least 2 years ago… and they did produce 3 albums of hindustani classical vocal by Pt Amarnath sometime last year… the moment I saw them on the website, I wanted to buy them…but as it sometimes happens, it took a long time for me to actually buy them…which was…as recent as 10 days ago…I bought 2 CDs… Pandit Amaranth – Stirrings from the Soul: Vols 1 & 2…there is one more called Seep ke Moti: Pearls from the Oyster, which I intend to buy soon…

But what made me to finally buy these 2 albums was the fact that Underscore Records recently put up a book for sale in their print section which really caught my attention…and I had to own and read this book…Prophets of Indore: Memories of Ustad Amir Khan Saheb by Pandit Amarnathji … this amazing book (I am half way through…) is translated from the Hindustani into English by Bindu Chawla and published by Pandit Amarnath Memorial Foundation …

It is a bilingual book with the page on right in hindustani (devanagari script) and its translation in English on the left… the language is everyday spoken hindustani with all mid sentence pauses and stops and interrogatives…and makes for very interesting reading…as though Pt Amarnath is sitting right in front of you and speaking to you… Pt Amarnath talks about the world of Ustad Amir Khan’s khayal in the 40s-50s-60s…and it is a different world of music...of discussions, soirees, chamber concerts…and significantly, Pt Amarnath’s narration of the recognition of Ustad Amir Khan as a pioneer of a new gharana and style of khayal after Khansaheb’s death by critics and experts…and more than anything else, the emphasis in the Pt Amarnath’s narration on Ustad Amir Khan’s reflection and thinking about khayal & Hindustani classical music which made Khansaheb a great singer and an innovator…

Thank you…Shubhaji and Bindu Chawla for bringing out such gems for the aam aadmi… a forgotten magnificent piece of music history and music is now before us…

I really didn’t think that I’d write so much…but, I think I got carried away…

Jayasrinivasa Rao

Another article...hilarious...embarassing

I got to know recently that another article of mine has been published...the circumstances were so bizarre that rather than feeling elated on knowing that my article was published, I was embarassed and had to coduct a major fire fighting operation...

I had submitted this article to one of the oldest and most respected literary journals in India one year ago...It was my college dream to one day have at least one article published in this journal...anyway, they were supposed to intimate the acceptance or otherwise of my article within 3-4 weeks...I did not get any response during the next 4 weeks...as September/October is the festival season here, I thought people were busy and I waited...I waited for 3 months and then wrote an e-mail to the editor...no response...then I wondered whether the editor opens his e-mails ever...I waited...patiently...3 months later, I wrote a letter and sent it along with a self addressed and stamped envelope, so that it would be convenient for them to send a reply...no response...I waited...it was nearing one year...I then felt that either they were not interested in the article or my article did not reach them at all...so I decided to send the article to another journal...as is my usual procedure, I first wrote to the editor about my article to find out whether they'd be interested in considering it for publication...they asked me to send it...I sent the article...I felt I had done a fairly good job with the article, but reviewers might want some changes...so, I hoped that the final outcome would be good...

Two days later I receive a mail from the consulting editor of this journal informing me that the article that I had submitted has already been published by the earlier journal and that they (the second journal) would not be considering it for their journal...the consulting editor congratulated me for this...I was stunned and surprised...I did not whether to laugh or to cry...nothing makes an academic happier than to see his/her work in print in a journal...but here my credibility was at stake...the people in the second journal would feel that I was trying to palm off an article already published by another journal...I wrote an explanatory mail apologizing profusely for this unintended fiasco...I told them the whole story, how I did not get any response from the earlier journal and at the end of one year, I had to assume that it wouldn't be published and then decided to send it to the their journal...I don't know whether they were convinced, as I did not receive any reply from them...

But the funnier part is I don't have a copy of the issue of the journal in which this article is published...I asked my brother to help me and he sent one of his acquaintances to this place to purchase a copy...the people there told him that they don't sell individual issues and one has to be a subscriber to get a copy...I was at a deep end now...I then approached a senior academic in the same city whom I know and narrated him the whole story and requested him to help me out...he then wrote back informing me that he knew the editor of the journal and would arrange to send a copy to me...

I haven't received the copy yet...am still waiting...

Sometimes life surprises you...when you don't know how to react...

Jayasrinivasa Rao

My article published...

I returned to blog yesterday after a break…the break just happened, though I had a lot of things to write about…maybe the 50 blogs really overwhelmed me…though I was not blogging, I was thinking about my ‘not blogging’…my lack of enthusiasm and also wondered whether I should stop at 50…but in the end I think wiser counsel prevailed…I don’t know about all of you out there, but I have come back…I felt really sad when I read the news of Vidwan Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan’s demise and remembered the episode which I recounted in my previous post...

The week that ended brought in a couple of happy surprises…one was tinged with embarrassment and was tricky…let me tell you the‘full’ happy surprise…

I had mentioned in one of my previous posts that one of my research papers had been accepted for publication by the journal Translation Today…on Friday I received a mail from one of the editors (Prof. Giridhar) saying that the issue in which my article is published is now online and that I could see it…this journal has both online and print versions and the online version comes out first…and I personally feel that this is one of the important and intellectually stimulating journals on translation related subjects in India today (I am saying this not because they published my paper)…and since this journal is online (www.anukriti.net) and free, interested readers can see this for themselves…

My article is on the novels translated into Kannada by B. Venkatacharya…and it is called “B. Venkatacharya’s Novels in the Kannada Literary Polysystem and the Founding of the Novel in Kannada” and it can be seen and read at http://www.anukriti.net/tt6/article1/page1.asp ... I request readers of my blogsite to please visit this page and I would be happy to receive your comments, criticisms, suggestions, praise…

Jayasrinivasa Rao

When Vidwan Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan played for me…

The passing away of Sri Kunnakudi Vaidynathan was a sad piece of news for me. This great Violin Vidwan was the most popular classical maestro in the world of Carnatic Music. All the obituaries have discussed the multifarious talents of this wonderful vidwan. The Thyagaraja Aradhana at Tiruvaiyyaru was an especially memorable yearly event, where Sri Kunnakudi Vaidynathan would lead the young and old and the greats and students in rendering the Pancharatna Kritis of Tyagaraja. I particularly liked his devotional renderings and thematic compositions, especially his album called Colours, where he played with Zakir Hussain, Sivamani and Dilip (now known to the entire world as A R Rahman). He rendered thematic pieces with Carnatic ragas like maayamalavagoula, shanmughapriya, hindolam, and bandhuvarali. This album came out sometime in the early nineties and was presented to me by my senior at the then CIEFL, Anita Devasia, whom some of us affectionately called Chechi (elder sister). This is an album I deeply cherish for its lovely music.

I also had a personal moment with Sri Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan which I would like to share with all of you. This happened long ago, when I was 6-7 years old…I don’t remember the year…my father was posted in Tiruvananthapuram and he was a member of the Swati Tirunal Sangeetha Sabha…a number of classical music concerts would be held by this organisation every year and my parents would attend most of them…so, I too attended some concerts with them, though I had no idea what was going on…Sri Kunnakudi Vaidynathan was playing his violin in one such concert and my parents had taken me along…it must have been a particularly popular concert, given the stature and popularity of Sri Kunnakudi Vaidynathan and all seats were full and since I was not a member as such, a small chair was produced and it was placed in the central passage (aisle?) for me to sit…I was sitting straight in front of Sri Kunnakudi Vaidynathan’s line of vision…the concert was in full flow and suddenly Vaidynathanji stopped for a second and played the opening line of a popular tamil film song thoongade thambi thoongade (don’t sleep, brother, don’t sleep)…the audience was surprised and didn’t know what to make of it…he kept at it for some more time…then suddenly my parents must have realised what had happened and looked at me in my small chair…I was fast asleep…they were totally embarrassed and hurriedly woke me up… Vaidynathanji had spotted me sleeping and in a light hearted way played this line… he smiled and then continued the raga from where he had left it…

My father keeps reminding me of this whenever Vaidynathanji’s topic comes up when we are generally talking of music…

I can proudly claim that Sri Kunnakudi Vaidynathan played a line especially for me…

Thank you Vaidynathanji for making such glorious music…May your soul rest in music…

Jayasrinivasa Rao

50 posts and still going...or what...?

So...I have touched 50...anyway...out with all the cliches like when I started blogging, I never thought I'd survive so long and write 50 posts and it seems incredible and all that...

Cliches or not, blogging has really helped me...in the sense that I have never written so much in such a short span of time...and I never thought that I'd be able to write on all the things that I have written so far...then there is this enthusiasm, which of course waxes and wanes, depending on the workload and mood, but overall, I have ridden this enthusiasm well enough...and of course, keeping a close watch on events to capture blog-moments...events and incidents which one would normally ignore after a brief while assume a different kind of significance now, now that I am blogging...

I don't know who my readers are...I don't know whether there are regular readers of my blog...but I do suspect that some of my friends do visit from time to time...when I started out, I thought I'd write a lot about books and music...but early 2008 was also the time when I was slowly getting infected with the FP virus and now it has become a full blown disorder...and most of the posts are about FPs...and from whatever responses that I have received, the most is for FP-related posts...so far so good...

I am fairly comfortable writing about books, but I start shivering when I venture to write about music...but I am happy that I was finally able to write about Shakti and Mynta...two indian classical-jazz fusion groups...my absolute favourites...and I was also pleased with what I wrote...but I need to write more about music...not only that, I want to write more posts on music, rather than, say FPs...I feel I have so much to share, but somehow I don't want my listening experience to get translated into adjectives or flowery nothings...which is what I read most of the times in the guise of music reviews...

I also feel that I have become a little more patient and am willing to wait for things to become clearer before I write...

Thanks everyone...whoever visits this blog...I didn't set targets when I set out, I thought one post a week would be the maximum that I can afford to spare time for...but I see that I had underestimated myself...I have 4 months till December...and it will be one year since I started blogging... should I go for 100...?

Books bought so far in 2008...

Sometimes I feel that my blog has become a fountain pen blog because of the time and attention I devote to these beautiful creatures in searching, researching, photographing, discussing and writing about them with such devotion and love... sometimes I feel I am moving away from my core areas of reading and music...and I tell myself that this is not true...jai...you do read a lot...

I had wanted to do this exercise at the end of June, but things kept happening, and here I am now with a list of books that I purchased, received as gifts, and acquired so far this year… I have also written the fate of these books after they reached me (in brackets)…I have also written about some of these books in my earlier posts… I think it is a good enough collection so far…I might have missed mentioning a couple of books…I am not sure…henceforth, I will keep a record of books bought…

Novels:
1. Hocus Pocus – Kurt Vonnegut (yet to read)
2. Ragtime – E. L. Doctorow (read earlier; but this was a better looking copy!)
3. Red Dragon – Thomas Harris (read – scary)
4. Hannibal – Thomas Harris (read – same as above!)
5. The Music of the Spheres – Elizabeth Redfern (read – interesting; novel theme)
6. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz – Mordechai Richler (read library copy as part of MA syllabus; finally found a copy to own)
7. The Bourne Ultimatum – Robert Ludlum (read – good read)
8. The Sea of Poppies – Amitav Ghosh (read – want to read it again and again; that good!!!)
9. Baudolino – Umberto Eco (read – lost my earlier copy; a new one)
10. Pronto – Elmore Leonard (read – good one; nice plot)
11. Killshot – Elmore Leonard (read – my first Elmore Leonard novel; found it a bit sluggish)
12. Rum Punch – Elmore Leonard (yet to read)
13. Mandra (Kannada) – S. L. Bhyrappa (yet to read – read rave reviews about it; bought recently on a trip to Bangalore)

Others:
1. The Music Room – Namita Devidayal (read – super; check out earlier post on this book)
2. Early Novels in India – Meenakshi Mukherjee (ed.) (reading in parts – a reference book for my research)
3. The Last Mughal – William Dalrymple (started reading – given as a puja gift to Shruti’s mom, a teacher (retd.) of history; she re-gifted it back to me after reading)
4. Hobson-Jobson – Yule & Burnell (reference book – bought while reading ‘Sea of Poppies’ as a accompaniment)
5. Vasahatushahi mattu Bhashantara (Kannada–Colonialism and Translation) – V. B. Tharakeshwar (started reading…)
6. Lear Maharaja (Kannada) – Tr. of King Lear by Masti Venkatesha Iyengar (bought this for my research on translation in Kannada – yet to read)
7. Laughter is the Best Medicine – Reader’s Digest jumbo compilation (hilarious – dip into it regularly…too good) (got this through a circuitous route; not intended for me initially, but will now not let it go…)
8. Roald Dahl Treasury (Shruti’s book actually…one of her favourites…)
9. Tipu Sultan – B. Sheik Ali (father’s gift…yet to start)
10. The Holy Quran (got it as a gift at City Centre, Chennai)
11. King Lear (bought this for my research on translation in Kannada)
12. Twelfth Night (bought this for my research on translation in Kannada)
13. Macbeth (bought this for my research on translation in Kannada)
14. The Tempest (bought this for my research on translation in Kannada)
15. The Merchant of Venice (bought this for my research on translation in Kannada)
16. Dave Barry is not making this up – Dave Barry (must have read at least 4-5 times starting from anywhere…hilarious…a gift from Vinod Ekbote… Thanks, Vinod…)

Looking for Sultan Pens in Charminar area, Hyderabad and discovering them and other treasures-II

Once inside, I asked him if he had any ebonite pens…he said he had and opened the glass topped case and pulled out a mottled brown medium size ebonite pen with the name ‘Sultan’ in white on the cap and the barrel…I then told him I was searching for ‘Sultan Pen Stores’ to buy their brand of ebonite pens and I was pleased that I found this brand here…he said Hilal Pen Stores were the manufacturers of Sultan Pens and that there is no such shop called Sultan Pen Stores…I asked him whether he had any more Sultan Pen models or more specimens of the same model…unfortunately, no, he said, but promised that he’d make or get a thicker FP in a week’s time…so far so good…

He took out a red coloured Waterman’s India FP and told me that this was a rare piece and that he’d sell it to me…I inspected the pen and it was an Waterman’s India 65…all plastic body with a pump filler (aerometric filling system- as in Parker 51 and a lot of Hero imitations 616, 330, 329)…I have a Waterman’s India 63 with gold nib that Hari got for me and I felt that WI 65 was worth the effort…I kept it aside…I then spied a similar WI model and asked him to take it out…the pen looked good, but the sac inside the pump filler was missing…he then took out some dusty boxes from a cupboard inside and brought out 3 more WI 65 pens…and there was some problem with each, but he managed to put together 3 pens out of the 5…not bad…I took all three and then there was another WI pen, and this pen had a plastic body and steel cap with hooded nib and aerometric filling system…this model was named WI 71…this one was unexpected actually…as he was piling up the boxes searching for good pens…I started my own searches and happened to locate 3 Sultan pens…2 of them with ebonite body and steel caps and another with full plastic body with hooded nib…all are ED fillers…I managed to put together 8 pens by now…

I thought this was a good haul…and then came the surprise, at least for me…he showed me those old handle pens where you inserted nibs and dipped them frequently in inkpots to write…I don’t know who uses them these days, but I feel that Urdu and Arabic scholars still use them, because one of the two that he showed me initially was a calligraphic nib…he then proceeded to demonstrate the smoothness of the nib by writing in Urdu…looked fabulous…I was totally hooked…sensing my enthusiasm, he took out small rectangular boxes and showed me different kinds of nibs…nibs made in India, England, and USA…names like Resterbrook and Waverly and GC Law…he called them ‘patta’ (leaf)…he then showed me a nib with its tip curved slightly upward…According to Richard Binder, “the nib presents to the paper what appears to be a lower angle of elevation. This design, introduced by the Waverley Pen Company (British), results in smoother performance. It also offers more usable surface toward the end of the tip so that the nib works better for users who hold the pen at a high angle of elevation, and it is consequently well adapted to many left-handed writers”…I couldn’t resist and bought two sets of whatever was available with him…

I don’t know whether or when I am going to use them…but for a collector, these are antique pieces and moreover these handles are made of ebonite…I have taken a photo of these nibs in their holders with my laptop webcam… just for kicks…I need to take a more elaborate photo with writing samples… Shruti had taken the camera with her to Delhi and so I couldn’t take photos of the shop and its interiors and the genial owner Mr Nawaz (I hope I am right about the name)… I think he was pleased that someone came asking for fountain pens and that he was able to show the kind of pens that his shop used to manufacture and stock during the heydays of FP use…he sensed that I was a collector and that I was visibly excited on seeing those old Waterman’s India FPs and holders and nibs, but didn’t try to take advantage by quoting exorbitantly…I was happy with the prices that he quoted… he told me that he’s selling the pens at cost price and was happy that I didn’t bargain with him…


All handle pens with nibs

I must say he was a gregarious person with a booming laughter and proud of his pen-making heritage and happy that I was pleased with what he could offer me…he also showed me photos of his visit to Canada recently as a member of an Indian business delegation…

He pointed out to the photographs mounted on the wall of his father and grandfather, who started this business and said that they would have told me more about the holder nibs…sometimes I feel that an entire past generation is slowly leaving taking away its collective wisdom and practices with it…we come across some such evidence of past practices now and then and these holders and nibs are good examples…

jayasrinivasa rao

Looking for Sultan Pens in Charminar area, Hyderabad - I

Finally...I was able to make it to old city yesterday (Aug 17th)...this urge to go to Charminar was partly fuelled by the desire for fountain pens...and partly to have the delicious biriyani at Shadab...and this urge actually started after I started collecting fountain pens and saw this stall put up by Sultan Pens at the annual exhibition at Hyderabad... I did not know where Sultan Pens was located in Hyderabad...I searched all the yellow pages and telephone directories, but still no luck...I then felt I could try my luck in th

Finally...I was able to make it to old city yesterday...this urge to go to Charminar was partly fuelled by the desire for fountain pens...and partly to have the delicious biriyani at Shadab...and this urge actually started after I started collecting fountain pens and saw this stall put up by Sultan Pens at the annual exhibition at Hyderabad... I went to this stall and asked for ebonite pens and I was shown a mottled brown ebonite FP with ‘Sultan’ in white paint on the barrel…I would have bought it, but the clip looked rusty and as this was the only piece they had, I had to leave it unbought by me…after I seriously started collecting Indian ebonite/celluloid pens, I thought I should find out more about this ‘Sultan’ pen…I did not know where Sultan Pens was located in Hyderabad...I searched all the yellow pages and telephone directories, but still no luck...I then felt I could try my luck in the area in and around Charminar...I asked a couple of people and one of them said that the shop is in Lad Bazaar, the famous street of Bangles shops near Charminar...I had a clue now…

So I set out, heart full of hope and a reasonable amount of money…I reached Charminar and it was only around 11.30 in the morning and the famous Lad Bazaar which would be overcrowded in the evenings was so wistfully empty…people were just about opening the shutters of their shops and only a couple of bangle shops were open… I wandered down the street looking at all the shop signs…and decided to ask a gentleman standing near a bangle shop…he told me that the shop is at the junction further down…I reached the junction and I couldn’t locate the shop…I wandered further down and again decided to ask a gentleman sitting in his perfumes shop…he told me that I should go back and search as I had come beyond the Lad Bazaar area…I went back to the junction and asked a bookshop owner…he told me that no such shop exists in this area and asked me what I was looking for…I told him ‘ink pens’…he asked me to try my luck at Hilal Pen Stores near the arch…I was not convinced…

I was not going back without finding out where this shop was located, whether they had pens or not…I asked an elderly bearded gentleman sitting in front of his ‘old newspapers’ shop…he told me that he remembered a shop of this kind, but it is no longer there, and could well be relocated elsewhere, and asked me to enquire with another gentleman sitting in the shop opposite selling Islamic books…this man told me that there is no shop called ‘Sultan Pen Stores’ in this area and asked me to check out ‘Hilal Pen stores’…the name again…so I walked my way back and tried to locate ‘Hilal Pen Stores’ near the ‘kamaan’ (arch)…as the day was a Sunday, the pavements in front of the shops located in the ‘kamaan’ area were full of temporary shops selling anything from clothes to books to iron scrap…while negotiating my way through this crowd of shops, I finally happened to see an old fashioned shop with the board ‘Hilal Pen Stores’… a man (whom I subsequently discovered was the owner) was sitting on the steps and selling Islamic books…I wondered whether the owners had changed their business…then I looked inside and saw a forward tilted showcase with pens…I felt relieved…but the shop was full of plastic decorative items, toys, books and other items…then the owner saw me standing in front of his shop and asked me what I wanted…I told him ‘ink pens’… he took a few more seconds to negotiate the sale of the book and stood up and said ‘aayiye saab’ and went inside the shop…I followed him inside…