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