The Maanga

Sunita Amin’s lec-dem on Dhrupad was typical of such events in Madras. The lecture was mediocre and the demonstration part very good. Followed by random mama asking irrelevant questions on 1920s Jazz criticism. The overall impression on Sunita’s competence is immensely helped by the fact that she is rather hot. This though is about neither.

When answering the said annoying mama, Sunita mentioned she trained in the Guru-Sishya parampara under Ustad Baha ud din Dagar and Ustad Zia Farid ud Din Dagar. Apparently, the prerequisite for this training was that she cut herself off from all outside influences for the 8 years she was in this program. She claims, she did not read or listen to anything except what her traditional school offered. Not music, not musicology and not even criticism.

To those who are aware of this tradition, may be this does not invoke awe or dropped jaws. I am not the aware type and was quite stunned. Who are these people who can claim such mastery over knowledge and more importantly, life? How can anyone agree to this condition however convinced one may be on the mastery of the said master?

All this brings one to that unresolved question: what is the optimal point between rote learning[1] and critical thinking? Does such optimality even exist? And have all the other people resolved this question? They all seem to become parents; they must have.

[1] - I must confess, my anti-colonial prejudice, or post colonial Western hegemony of the liberal media[2], had made me think rote learning was a Victorian invention.

[2] - Such as this.