Yesterdays pretend to be sweet.
One of the most popular poets of Kerala, ONV Kurup, composed an unforgettable song
about the poet persona’s longing to return to the days of his childhood and
wander once again in the courtyard where his memories roam, shake the fruit
trees, draw water from the well and taste its pristine sweetness…
The past is
supposed to be pristine and hence sweet. I have a huge collection of old
Malayalam film songs in the pen drive that plays while I drive. Many people who
have travelled with me have wondered whether I’m in love with the past. I am
not. My past had nothing to make me feel nostalgic about it, let alone romantic.
My childhood was a pain and youth was worse. There is nothing sweet or pristine
about any of it. Absolutely nothing. My childhood reminds me of the canes
wielded by my parents and teachers with Gradgrindian cold brutality. Those
canes were replaced by repressive social games played by certain missionaries
in my youth.
So why do the
Malayalam film songs of 1970s enchant me? They have elegant lyrics, stirring
melody, and soothing caresses, much unlike today’s songs which are all sound
and fury. They transport me to a world which I would have loved to inhabit, a
world that never belonged to me, a world that was snatched from me by many
agents who all pretended to be my well-wishers.
Am I an escapist
then? I am not. I don’t live in any fantasy world. I don’t lament about my
losses. Nor do I run away from my present duties and inevitable pains. I only
let the songs soothe my soul. Yesterday is not what is sweet for me but
yesterday’s songs.
Even if
yesterday was better than today, I wouldn’t have romanticised it as some of our
politicians are doing. I don’t believe that Rama Rajya can be recreated now. Humanity
has travelled far, too far, from Rama’s quiver, Lakshmana’s fealty, Hanuman’s
obsequiousness, and Sita’s fire tests. There is no going back. We need to go
forward. There is a whole cosmos with a hundred billion galaxies for us to
explore. Why go back by a few thousand years?
I don’t think
there is anything great about the old days, however good they may sound to be
in our legends and myths. Life expectancy of the average Indian when the
country became independent was merely 31 years. Earlier it would have been much
worse. A lot of children died at birth or in the first few months. There was
misery all around. Who wants to go back to those days?
We need to
stop glorifying the past. We need to look at ways and means for creating a
happy present here and now. We need to look ahead too.
PS. I am participating in the #BlogchatterA2Z
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I too have many old Malayalam songs which I love listening to. However, I agree that we have all moved on and need to keep moving. After all, change is the only constant. Your posts have a piquancy about them that make reading them enjoyable, yet thought-provoking!
ReplyDeleteHappy to meet a kindred soul.
DeleteSongs from 70s and 80s in my mother tongue are my favourite too. They mostly were influenced by 'abhanga' by great Saints of Maharashtra.
ReplyDeleteAs for Rama rajya... i suppose it's a utopian concept where everything was ideal. Even the common man was ideal. It is more of a guiding principle for building a society that brings in peace prosperity and equality.
70s and 80s in India were soul-searching decades. That's why we had good music and art in those years.
DeleteUtopia is never practical. That's only meant for delusional consolations. Politicians know it too well. They are cheating people with promises of Rama Rajya. Modi is a big fraud. I am worried about what he's going to do next when he comes to know that India will throw him out in the next election.
We listen to music sometimes to feel something which is not real and agree on present music being all blare and sound..rightnow am sitting on a salon and requested them to switch off the horrendous music.....!! Cane treatment in childhood sounds quite severe :( anyhow ya i too wonder about our moving back in time and sticking to old principles when there is so much to be done to progress
ReplyDeleteIn a saloon*
DeleteHave you ever thought of why present music and other arts are about blare and sound? We have failed to teach the generation that life is more than blare and sound.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteIn every age and culture there is a representation of the ideal of that society, a guide by which we might steer our course. To make it a tableau - to attempt to force all around one into that tableau - is to fantisise and even fetishise that ideal, thus immediately loosing any positive quality that could arise from it.
To compound things, the excessive nostalgia that pervades so many political leaderships the world over now, the "make it great again" mentality, is actually causing a disintegration of the very fabric of each society.
No, I'm with you all the way on this one, TM; look to the future but keep the feet planted very much in the present and knock out the ghosts of the past! YAM xx
Y=Yamini
First of all, thank you Yamini for understanding me so well.
DeleteI love ideals. What will life be without them? There must be paradises and Rama Rajyas and Jannats in people's imaginations. But making them tableau - ah, you put it so well - is the problem.
this is so so true Sir, we cannot ,and should not look to the past.
ReplyDeleteThe past shapes us, Harshita. But we will shape the future. We should.
DeletePasts can be remembered to improve ourselves. It is not about the Ram or Ravana Rajya - But about the way to realize how we improved ourselves over a period and more importantly, where we failed. As you said, no meaning in mourning or lamenting. BTW, playlists of 80's Malayalam songs cheer me during my walking and jogging :-). Thank you sir, for another thought provoking post.
ReplyDeleteI mention Rama Rajya because of what's happening in the country in its name. My last post Zeigeist will make that clearer, perhaps.
DeleteI was wondering where this was going when you started with the music . And then , how beautifully you connected the dots . Absolutely, the present times is all about glorifying the past and one sided "Man ki Baats"
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more. I don't know why we want to recreate the past? I never understand when people reminisce about old days and say 'If only we could go back to those days - school/college whatever' and I had a good childhood and those good old days too, but I don't want to go back. I like my present too and I would like to look ahead to the future as well! Half our problems are because people don't want to move ahead!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Deepa from FictionPies