Speaking the Mind

Speaking the mind, the Amjad Ali Khan way

The lead story of The Economic Times dated March 21, 2010 was titled `Jugalbandi'. It was written by Amjad Ali Khan, the Sarod maestro. It was a wonderful piece. It was impressive for the way he spoke his mind. The words were expressive and the message was forthright. Shri Khan was indeed right when he said corporates were doing a great disservice to music and musicians in the guise of promoting the art.
He writes thus: ``I play around the world, but India, and especially Delhi, is perhaps the only place where there is no concept of ticketed shows. Here, sponsors claim they are helping you, but they would instead make money and score lots of brownie points by giving away free passes. When something is free, there is no value to it. I have performed at shows and seen people coming there to just be part of an eclectic crowd. They don’t love music. They just don’t want to miss an important occasion to be noticed. It is a great disservice to music and musicians. I hope corporate houses and sponsors will start promoting ticketed shows around the country. Nothing’s more satisfying to an artist than to know that his show is a sell-out.''
The maestro expressed his anguish over ``cultural destruction'' and ``uncultured aggression''. He could not have said these at a more appropriate time. Coming from an artiste of his stature, one need to sit up and take a serious note of these observations. Not stopping with these, one must also embark on course correction.
Reflecting on the current state of affairs, he writes thus: ``In recent times, our country has been obsessed with Bollywood music and dances. The western world always had Hollywood but fortunately it could balance the value of all art forms beautifully. So much so that the Western Classical music industry has grown to a multi-billion dollar industry, with artists of the calibre of Isaac Pearlman, Anne Sophie Mutter and Yo Yo Ma being the greatest examples. They still hold their traditional opera and symphony of legends like Bach, Beethoven and Wagner in the most spectacular presentations even while Beyonce and Michael Jackson grew up the popularity charts! In India, I am worried about a cultural destruction and an uncultured aggression.''
Even as he rues the `unhealthy happenings', he comes out with a solution. Says he: ``There may be a way out if some of our corporates and young leaders can come forward and promote the artists and their art. Today the whole world is interested in sports, mainly because there is an element of winning and losing in every game. Fortunately, in classical music, there is no such competition where one has to lose or win. It is only a long journey in search of excellence and perfection just like sports. Even here, you are as good as your last game. In this case, your last concert and there are no retakes! I hope that we have a counter part of IPL for the music industry soon.''
Nevertheless, he is convinced that ``corporate and political patronage is a must to promote music anywhere in the world''. ``Somewhere, I feel, we have slipped. And traditional musicians aren’t being given their due credit. Once the mindset changes, music will be a bigger industry,'' he, however, regrets.

Financial Journalist

Rediscovering Relevance
The picture was very clear up until 1990. Things have dramatically changed since then. Thanks to Narashimha Rao's bold liberalisation initiatives, the Indian economic landscape has undersgone a significant change. The Internet revolution that followed in the first decade of the 21st century has tremendously altered the way we communicate. By the click of a mouse, you have access to huge information. So much so, we are now struggling to sift through the pile for the right info. The post-liberalisaton and the subsequent Net revolution have also coincided with the growth of the PR agencies. The Net result is that we have come a long way since the days when information was hard to come by to a situation now where one is flooded with so much info. This has put the financial journalists especially in a huge predicament. What is the role of a business journalist now? Time was when his/her role was to disseminate info. When information was proving difficult to get, he/she was looked upon by all and sundry in the industry, trade and the like for credible information to guide them. Today, there is no shortage of information. Everything is available on the Net. And, information sources have also multiplied. There is nothing like an exclusive source for a business journalist. As opposed to one-on-one exclusives, we now find one-by-one exclusives! A business journalist is flooded with releases from all sorts of PR (public relation) outfits. And, the same release is distributed across geographical locations. A business journalist is now going through an identity crisis. With intense competition among themselves, nobody is willing to miss any release! This question is nagging me for a long time now. How could a financial journalist stay relevant in this changed atmosphere? What should he/she do? Should one just write a no-frill report? Or, should one add some spice in his/her story? What do the industry, trade and commerce look for in a business journalist? Do they expect a financial journalist to be their mouth-piece? Do they want a business journalist to report only what they want? With journalism itself becoming some what of a commerce, one is not quite sure of the role of a financial reporter. May be a business journalist needs to rediscover his/her role in the fast-changing environment. Any suggestion?

A Quitter

Quit to win

A quitter never wins, said cricketer Sunil Gavaskar several seasons ago. The question, however, is: When to quit? For me, you quit when two things happen. You quit when you stop learning by extending your stay in any organisation. You also quit when the organisation feels that you have outlived your existence. Whichever happens first, you better pack up and walk off. The moment you overstay, you lose the work pleasure. You set off displeasure all around if you extend your stay in any place the moment the message is clear that you aren't wanted any longer. Often times, we aren't able to judge the right time to make our exit. We need to understand that our relationships are contextual. Once the context ceases, you move on. Often times, we are driven to quitting. This is because we unwittingly tie ourselves to an individual or the other. I think one as to look at the larger picture and not concerned about the micro issues. Essentially your `quit decision' has to be only yours and not forced on to you by others.