Back to sexy songs in India

So, the last time I talked about sexy songs in India, it was about movie songs and the euphemistic sexual motifs they borrow from our folk and literary traditions. This time round, I delve into the sensuality of Indian classical music...particularly, the sensuality of the viraha vedana mood or rasa of song and dance.

The viraha vedana style embodies moods of longing, sexual and emotional desire, and almost always reflects the longing of the woman for her beloved. This woman is the virahini (Hindi speakers may know her as a birhan). Songs in this mood can be sung by either men or women, but the narrative voice is that of a woman.

Common motifs employed in songs of viraha vedana are the monsoon rains (which are symbolic of growth, fertility and mating) and the sexually heightened state of the woman (often represented by images of untamed beauty). Very common to this style is the use of the Radha-Krishna motif, where, Radha, separated from her lover, calls out to him.

The monsoons are used in these songs to create a sense of irony and contrast. As mentioned above, they are symbolic of fertility and growth, but are seen here as heightening the lonliness and desparation of the the virahini. That is, the monsoons, which quench the thirst of the parched soil, only serve to leave the virahini thirsty for her parted lover, hunger for his touch. The drops of rain that cool and soothe the earth, set fire to the virahini's desires. You can see this motif in the following verse, which is reworked into many a classical song:

The gusts of cool wind , the drops of rain

Are like arrows on my skin.

My tears flow and smear the kohl in my eyes,

Setting my soul ablaze.

The torment of the monsoons is a sweet torment though, as it is laden with anticipation of imminent union.

Other than the image of rain as a tormentor, elements within the monsoons too carry a lot of meaning. They are, for instance, messengers. This image is deeply rooted in the Indic cosmology where the clouds are seen as messengers to the gods, or meghdoot (literally, cloud-messengers). This representation continues in songs of viraha vedana, in which the virahini sends messages to her lover through the rain-heavy clouds. Even birds commonly associated with the monsoons, like the parakeet, are addressed as messengers. Here's a good example of the monsoons seen as a conduit of love and longing:

Oh clouds go to my lover

Rumbling and thundering, go to the land of my lover

My soul is tormented, and I long for him

Go, clouds, and bring back his message to me.

These songs in the viraha vedana mood also contain some of the most beautiful representations of female sexuality and sensuality. This sensuality is usually represented by descriptions of disarray in the woman's dress and appearance. The woman dresses and awaits her lover; but as their separation is prolonged, her appearance becomes disarrayed and untamed in the throes of longing. Thus, the woman's appearance as a virahini is antithetical to the woman's appearance in the sringara rasa, where the woman adorns herself in anticipation of her lover. This motif is one of sexuality and sensuality because it mimics the state of a woman after the act of consummation. So again, there is a use of contrast and irony. The woman's sexuality is heightened, but there is no lover to give her release.

Here's an example of a typical verse that exemplifies this motif:

My tresses have come undone,

My eyes are now kohl-smeared,

The flowers in my hair now lay scattered,

Oh my love, where are you.

Also important to the viraha rasa is the motif of the Radha-Krishna pairing. In this motif, the lovers have been parted, and Radha longs for her lover Krishna, who is often depicted as being neglectful of his lady-love. Meera Bai, the 16th century poetess and devotee of Krishna, has written beautiful poems in this mood. In these poems, Meera Bai situates herself as Radha and sings of her longing for Krishna. Here's one:

Oh I am one mad with love,

No one knows my pain

Only the wounded know the pain

Of I who am wounded.

or

With anklets on my feet, I dance

I am a slave to my lord of my own volition.

And so am I mocked, called mad!

Songs of viraha vedana are set to beautiful raagas like Gaud Sarang, Gaud Malhar, Malhar, Maru Bihaag, Bilahari, Han etc. I highly recommend these raagas for anyone just starting to explore Indian classical music (both North and South Indian styles). In dance, these songs are accompanied by stylized hand gestures that reflect moods of longing, love, anticipation, joy and sorrow. This is more apparent in South Indian classical forms such as Bharatanatyam and Kuchupudi and the East Indian dance form of Odissi, as these are dance-forms which lay a lot of emphasis on hand movements to convey meaning and mood.

Why the big fuss about Michael Vick anyway?

Don't get me wrong. I think dog-fighting is awful. But honestly, aren't most of us who are outraged by Michael Vick just being a tad hypocritical?
Those of us who've ever eaten or used any animal product scarecely think of where all these products come from. I'm not talking about controversial, high-profile products like veal or foie gras or mink coats. I'm talking about the usual stuff... frozen chicken drumsticks, eggs for decorating at Easter, Nikes, dog-food, ice-cream...almost all of the animal-products we consume come from places where animals' lives echo the words of Hobbes: nasty, brutish and short.
Sure...liberals, left-wingers, tree-huggers, hippies...we talk about it, we think about it. But this regular mass brutality towards animals rarely generates the sort of outrage that Michael Vick's actions have.
The mainstream is quite happy getting outraged by one or two cases like this, while everything else is swept under the rug...it's convenient to not have everything around us prick at our oh-so-sensitive conscience.

It's dark. You may be eaten by a grue.

I'm back after a three-ish month hiatus. What with exams, weddings of putative brothers, and sheer laziness, it is already the middle of July. Not only have I not updated my blog in a while, I have not read anything seriously academic since...let's see...the middle of May? Panic wells within me as I gauge the consequences of my unconscionable procrastination; and I hear a steady voice close to my ear say, "It's dark. You may be eaten by a Grue."

Of course, this wonderfully understated and yet deeply disturbing threat does not claim my imagination as its point of origin. Credit goes to the creators of the Zork series of games. Many may be unfamiliar with this series. A pity, that... for these games are by far the best interactive-fiction/role-playing games ever made. They were created under the Infocom/Activision label sometime in the '80s. (Incidentally, I also believe that these games, along with Douglas Adams, Star Trek: TNG and Rick Astley, redeem the otherwise dispensable decade of my birth.)

They are a totally text-based game. That's right, a video-game with no video...or audio, for that matter; just an introductory manual, a map and your imagination. All of the games--Zork 0, Zork 1, 2, 3, 4 (I've lost count), and other related games like Enchanter, Sorcerer, Planetfall etc.--make up for the absence of graphics by being witty, intelligent and just plain peculiar. You take on the role of a wily explorer in these games and make your way through enchanted castles, cursed underground kingdoms, and abandoned realms. In your journies you seek treasures, cast spells, match your wits against evil wizards, clever dwarves and cunning theives, and explore a world you can only imagine.
Alas, I do not believe these games are available on the market anymore. But, there is the Internet, and there are die-hard fans who want to make the Grue a household name. Seek and thou shalt find.

So what makes Obama Black?

I've heard Obama being referred to as an African American...that makes at least a little sense. But more often than not, he is given the epithet 'Black'. He's the first viable 'Black' candidate they say. But honestly, why is Obama Black?
The man's mother is a lily-white woman from Kansas, his father is a Black African from Kenya...doesn't that make him half-black and half-white?
Of course, I know the historical reasons for this. The one-drop rule in America means that if a person has even one person of African origin in his ancestry, it makes him Black. But you'd think that a hundred and fifty years after abolition and reconstruction, fifty odd years after Brown vs. Board of Education, the one-drop rule would be archaic and defunct. Not so.
It seems that we are still incapable of thinking beyond race; that culturally America is still incapable of thinking outside of pigeon-hole definitions.
Instead of claiming that Obama could be the first Black candidate, won't we accomplish more by celebrating the possibility of true multiculturalism and multi-racial diversity in the next White House?

The Democrats (and some Republicans) are beginning to infuriate me...

I just heard Nancy Pelosi speak the other day. She was saying that America should not send in more troops because it's time the Iraqi government showed some responsibility and started getting their country under control. Personally, I'm not a big fan of increasing American troop presence in Iraq, but I do find her mini-lecture about the Iraqis showing some responsibility to be extremely condescending, and terribly unfair.
The situation strikes me as bordering on absurd, if it wasn't so grave to begin with. Here you have a case of someone going to a neighbour's house, totally wrecking the place, and then telling their now over-whelmed neighbours that it's time they shaped up and got a hold of the situation.
Yes, I admit that the government of Iraq is not innocent in all this. Prime Minister Maliki's cabinet is quite openly known to be propped up by Muqtada Sadr and his militia, and the factions among bureaucrats and politicians run as deep as among the people they represent.
But this latest rhetoric not only comes close to absolving the Bush administration and the previous elected representatives of a lot of accountability, but also allows the newly elected members of Congress and the House to wash their hands of the situation. It allows them to make a lot of noise about mending Iraq, without appearing be deeply associated with the chaos. It allows them to valiantly come to the rescue of Iraq, while at the same time casting much of the blame (and shame) for Iraq's deteriorating circumstances on the almost wholly disempowered Iraqi government.