Another Weekend - Another Trek: Rajmachi

The after effects of a long weekend are clearly visible. The long faces are getting longer as they yawn and the Monday Morning looks shaded even bluer.

For me, the hangover of a wonderful trek is still so pleasant that it just doesn’t seem to let me go even with the usual loads of work waiting for me. Chhodo yaar, we have a full week ahead. J

Although, I admit, summer is perhaps the worst time of the year to go trekking and I can confirm that with some recent experiences, the ad for Rajmachi Trek by Giridarshan looked too tempting to miss. Rajamachi is situated in the hills near Lonavala – Err, well, “near” in this case means around 15 Km. There are a couple of forts – Shrivardhan and Manranjan. I hear that they were built by the Satvahans. The “ownership” changed back and forth between Marathas and Mogals in 17th and 18th Century. Finally, the Brits took the controls without shading much blood. And perhaps that’s the reason why most of the structure is still in better shape compared to the other forts. Forts always played a strategic role for the Maratha Empire, providing vantage positions for resistance. Knowing this, the East India Co. took good care of them with their cannons once they won them over. The purpose of this destruction was obvious – no one else should ever dare think of using them.

Anyways... Enough of dry info.

We – a total of 35 folks including a kiddo in 6th Standard Ashwini– started from Pune on Saturday evening. Catching a crowded local in the beginning itself made way for a memorable trek ahead. For me, it also, brought in some good old memories of the Mumbai days. Clinging on for dear life, we finally made it to Lonawala by 10:00 PM. A heavy dinner at a local restaurant and a bag full of water bottles, off we were for the long trek.

The atmosphere was just perfect – moonlit night and a long road ahead full of ups and downs through jungle. In other circumstances, I rather let the tranquil silence of the surroundings sink in but there were subgroups who found this the best time to discuss almost all the topics under the Sun (and the moon!). A couple of folks were particularly interested in some mathematical theorem they learnt in their 12th Standard! How could that be!? But then, having had friends who could discuss “How Lunar eclipse happen?”, sitting on those tetragonal rocks at Marine Drive with a beautiful sunset happening in front, I know there could be species like that. I preferred plugging on my iPod and let U2, Metallica, Ghulam Ali, Fuzon, Euphoria, KK give me the company. Trust me, it’s divine. Imagine, you are lying on a rock least bothered about its roughness (in fact, it feels more comfortable than the Dunlop or Curl On mattress you have) facing the sky you see a thousands of stars twinkling at you as the moon showers gentle moonlight all over. (There’s this Marathi word “ChandaNa” for this. “Moonlight” probably is not the best fit.) With a cool breeze blowing, the longing of all your senses for something good is fulfilled, except for the ears. And then a “Chupake Chupake” or “Humko Kiske Gham ne Maraa” by Ghulam Ali, or “Khamaj” by Fuzon feels your mind and simply soothes them. A touching cry “And you give yourself away” by Bono in “With or without you” just makes you feel to give away everything as you sit atop a cliff…Well… it can’t get better than this.

By 3 AM, we had almost reached our base camp – a temple at the foothills of the fort. Unfortunately, the Sony DigiCam I have isn't good enough to take the night snaps. Perhaps, the view of the fort surrounded by mist was just meant for storing in the eyes and not in the memory stick!

A 2 ½ Hrs. of sleep and up we were for climbing the fort. It was cold and you could see it in the snap below as I gave a special Two – Moons effect, thanks to zoom and my hands trembling at the same time. A shaky start, I must say. :)



Much better: The Shrivardhan Fort and the sky about to greet the Sun,



The other fort: Manranjan. In spite of the summer, the jungle was greener than expected.

Up here! : The hut below on the left was our “Base Camp”


The “Balekilla”: Balekilla is a fort within the main fort. If the main fort falls at the hands of the enemy, the battle could still be continued from the Balekilla. Of course, it used to be built at even tougher, higher place in the fort and is well – equipped. One of the famous Balekillas is of Rajgad.


This is storage room carved into a cave.


Inside view


A “Machi”: This is protruded part of the main hill which is secured with a wall structure to keep an eye on the enemy.


Dhak Bahiri: This is a paradise for Rock climbers.


A closer view


So much like me… surrounded by clouds of uncertainty


Contemplating Future? (That’s not me sitting… I was at the other end of the lens)


Another “Buruj”


Soon the clouds fed away…and the Sun comes out… It has to. (I’m still optimistic)


Entering the other fort: Manranjan


Entrance


View of the Shrivardhan fort from the Manranjan fort


A Shivling: Don’t know if it was half complete or destroyed intentionally


This is a water reservoir (though, no water at this time of the year) Look at the way the steps reaching the level of the water were built. User Friendliness, if I may say.



After having a look at both the forts, we came down to a village at the foothills. Couple of plates full with “Poha” and another couple of amazing Tea was all we need!
Now, instead of going back to Lonavala, we decided to trek down to Karjat – an important junction for trains bound south. We started in a scorching sun at around 10:30 – 11 AM.

On our way back, we visited this place – a “LeNi” Sculpture carved in a cave. Although, it is no way as magnificent as the Ajanta caves, it provided us a shelter from the Sun for a while and a good view to click a few snaps.




This seems to be the creation of the Archaeological Survey of India!


We were running short on water and the village we were supposed to reach (Kondhavane) look farther and farther away. Finally, we reached a village which we thought was Kondhavane. But unfortunately, it turned out to be Umbarwadi. “10 Minutes more”, the leader told us. And we said, ”Oh shucks, We ain’t moving any further”. But then, a few glasses of water and we trudged ourselves along. Trust me, after you have walked for 10 – 12 Km in scorching heat, there is no better site than water flowing through taps and glasses full of water and plates with food.

Another 2 Km walk after lunch to get a 6 – sitter. Again, a journey by train from Karjat to Lonavala and by local to Pune and we were home.

They say, is it all worth it, all this going up and coming down? My take: When you feel you are something important, it is you who controls everything, you think you have achieved everything that is there to achieve or if you are just pissed off with the complexities of this world, just go out and stand in front of a mountain or a sea or go see a jungle, may be. The sheer height and the depth and the silence of them strips you off all those false impressions and imaginations you have about yourself. It reminds you how insignificant you are in the whole business of this universe. It makes you and your worries too small to bother about. A feeling of smallness just creeps in as you stand in front of the overwhelming beauty of the nature.

However, the human tendency to face the challenges springs up again and you push yourself to climb mountains and sail across the seas. And then, when you reach the top and gaze at the ground below with a look of a conqueror in your eyes, that feeling of smallness feds away. It feels as if you have beaten the challenge nature had thrown at you.

But, I think, the nature would probably be smiling at you for you are not winning over her… You'd still be too small to do that. In fact, you are just coming back to where you belong… the laps of the nature… Mother Nature.

Perhaps, that’s just my philosophy behind Trekking.

And in the night, as the lukewarm water coming out of shower hits my dusty body, the only song that just spontaneously slipped through was: “Hum… Rahe ya na rahe kal… Pal… Yaad ayenge woh pal… Kal… Soche kya… Chhotisi hai Jindagi…”

Of Music and Idols

It’s a Saturday night. The clock ticks to 11. With a sumptuous dinner sitting happily in my stomach, showing its effect as my eyes start to droop, I open a book - “Purchundi”. This is one of the (sort of) serious works – a collection of articles and interviews of the legendary Marathi writer P. L. Deshpande. A true versatile personality, P. L. has left his profound mark in various walks of life. A writer who has made the entire Maharashtra laugh, a Music lover, a Harmonium player himself, a composer, a great speaker, a director and moreover a man who truly understood and loved life in all of its forms.

Good food, and now a good book. To complete one of my ideas of a great weekend, music is a must. So in goes a newly bought album “Piya Bawari Again” into the CD player.

I can listen to any sort of music but haven’t been so keen a follower of Indian Classical music. However, the cover of the CD that read an interesting combination of “DJ Suketu, Electric Guitar etc.” along with “Pandit Ajay Pohankar” made me buy this experiment of fusing the “Raagdaari” with Western instruments like Piano, Violin and drums!

Along comes a piece of Piano and a dardbharaa “Ka karu Sajani… Aaye na Baalam” I don’t know what “Raag” it is. I’m least bothered about that. All I know that it is good and it just soothes the ears and the mind. The fusion doesn’t sound out of place at all. The orthodox listeners may cry foul but to me, it just isn’t…

And I read a line from the book, “Music can’t be ugly… It can’t be Besur” I say to myself, “Ah, Yes, you said it! Any sort of music – as long as it is good – knows no barriers… petty barriers of language, barriers of culture, barriers of rules” Of course, you have to get your ideas of what is “Good” straighten out. And when you do that, you go searching for anything that is good in whatever you get to listen. You find it while listening to a Raagdari like this, in a bhajan or even a Hard Rock, in a Billy Joel “She’s always a woman to me”, a ghazal, even in a Kannada, Tamil song may be.

Music can’t be besur… I repeat the line to myself and suddenly a thought hits me… An hour ago or so, before I shut down the TV for the day, there were a couple of news making quite a brawl on the entire dime – a – dozen news channels. “Bhai ne maari Bhaai ko Goli” The reporters, trying to prove their journalistic abilities and how “Tej” they are, were “updating” their viewers with all the same insignificant information repeatedly and irritatingly. And then there was this news “Sandeep bane Indian Idol”

And I laughed to myself… If P.L. would have lived this long, he sure would have modified his statement. Music can be made besur… It can be made ugly…

Thanks to mom, I happened to follow “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa” on Zee. While the tantrums thrown by the so called Gurus shattered my idea of what a personality of a Music artist should be, I was counting on that lad from UP. He could very well be blamed for copying an established singer but he was doing it quite well. He displayed the versatility and the range of voice that takes to even copy his idol. I thought, he would clinch the show by miles. Alas, it was not to happen.

Rounds after rounds, the trend was getting clearer. While the mobile companies, the channel was busy collecting crores and crores of rupees, perhaps least bothered about the quality and the future of music, the junta – the very Indian junta chose their “Aawaz”. A controversial decision but who cares? We all enjoyed that moment and forgot it after a couple of days of discussion.

Did he really receive those many votes? Who voted for him? Can the channel really show the stats? What happened behind the scenes?

Take a chill pill, dude. Don’t bother yourself much on that… “Kitne aaye aur kitne gaye!” But still many more would come, only to be forgotten. Shows go on… The music goes on…

Another “Reality” show… This time to choose the Idol! The comparison becomes inevitable. The set of judges changed… tantrums remained more or less the same. And what am I to say about the participants? Every Tom, Dick and Harry in the town made his way to the auditions and we all saw it on the TV. I particularly remember a guy who had come for the audition with a confidence that if there’s at all a future to Indian music, it’s him. In his inimitable style, he sang “Aashique Banaya…” The way he sung or may I say “narrated” the song surely would have given its original singer a serious nervous breakdown. Too much humor for me… I stopped watching the program.

And then after a few days, my curiosity sprang back. I wanted to check out what great voices these guys have handpicked from that lousy bunch. Again, the history repeated – this time rather too fast. The folks I thought deserved singing there were shown the way out, one by one. While two of the “Bottom 3” kept changing, one name remained almost a permanent member. “Suromein thodi galti hoti hai… but thik hai, You have a very charming personality and sweet way of talking… you can make it…” The Judge – a music director himself – commented. Excuse me, what do you mean by “Suromein thodi galti hoti hai…”? That’s the soul of Music… Iske toh fundamentals mein hi gadbad hain…! How can you compromise on that? How on earth do you think that he can well compensate them with his saccharine way of talking and that personality of his? Wasn’t it Bhimsen Joshi who was slapped hard by his Guru for missing a single Sur during his early days? Would he have gone this far, if the Guru hadn’t bothered to correct him?

People, though, loved this “package”, it seems… Funny, it just brought in an example that I read about speculation in share market somewhere. Suppose there is a beauty contest having 6 females. And there is another competition for the voters who are going to choose their beauty queen. Whoever guesses the “Beauty Queen – to be” correctly would get some prize. Now, it doesn’t matter who you like personally. To better your chances of winning the prize kept for the voters, you have to predict who most people would like and vote for. You voting for someone you like would do no good to you. You got to follow the mass if you want to win the contest.

The junta, as the channel claims, voted their mobile balance out to choose their idol. The other guy, even after singing much∞ better, finally lost out. (That’s infinity, if you can’t read the font). As the prizes were showered on the winner, the loser just stood in the sidelines with a plastic smile on his face. They said, the region he belongs to didn’t know about the show and so they didn’t vote for him. Oh well, then how come it makes it an “Indian Idol”? And what about those people who had the power to vote? How can they vote for something mediocre? Was it out of sheer narrow – minded regionalist attitude? Or is that attitude so strong that it overshadows the power of music? I question the credibility and the intensions of the people who organize such shows.

And then it dawned on me… You idealist fool, it’s a Reality Show… and that’s the reality. It’s the same old battle between Classes and Masses… The “Q” – quality factor doesn’t matter here… The X factor does. It's all about the cover and the packaging and not about the inside stuff!

I’m not Taansen, but I sure am a Kaansen – A lover of Music who sees it as a form of God – something that should remain beautiful. I’m least bothered about who wins the game as long as it’s someone who is capable to maintain the beauty of the music. And if the masses show their taste by choosing something mediocre, that sure is something to worry about in the longer run.

There’s a thin line between Sur and Besur… And I think, this difference holds enough power to make an “Idiot” out of that “Idol”. That difference has to be maintained…

Let the Good prevail…


Disclaimer: These are entirely my personal views, posted here just to share my concern. It was written not with an intension to point an individual or an event but the general trend – with the concern for the fact that the mediocrity is being idolized by the masses. As far as future of Indian music is concerned, there are a handful of Good folks who are capable enough to make it even brighter.