What brings us together

When AR Rahman received his Oscars last Sunday for "Jai Ho" and his score for Slumdog Millionaire, I suppose millions of Indians around the world felt proud of him, and proud that the music loved by them for the past 17 years could finally be known and enjoyed by the rest of the world.

For many in and around my generation, we've followed his music from his earliest days. It was unusually refreshing. It was a departure from the tunes of the Maestro Ilayaraaja who I feel tended to excel at the folk tunes and evergreens. I suppose ARR gave a blend of folk and "Western" through his whole-hearted tunes. It was whole-hearted because it really felt whole-hearted. That I guess, was what made him stand out. Today, the younger music composers in the South try very hard, but somehow, they still don't cut it (although some songs are gems).

So to see AR win the Oscars felt like a redemption of sorts to the rest of the world- a "We've been talking about him for ages but finally you get to hear about him" thing from the Indian diaspora. I think this watershed event brought every ARR fan together, Indian and non-Indian, and especially Tamil-speaking folks when he spoke in Tamil at the awards and made me do a double-take.

Is it overhype for ARR? I don't think so - its totally deserved. You should have watched the Tamil news where ARR was totally swamped at the Chennai airport and outside his house (he was even shown telling the fans to go home as his children would need to go to school!). And in any case, the hype will die down in two or three more days. But the magic of the moments will live on.

The movie which got him the opportunity is also a extraordinary piece of work. The core of the story, conceived by Indian author Vikas Swarup as the novel "Q & A", was translated brilliantly into a film version as interpreted by Danny Boyle et al. into Slumdog Millionaire. The Indian film industry was divided into haters and lovers of the movie, but arguably more lovers - the distrurbing portrayal of the "underbelly" of Mumbai was felt and praised by a great many. I felt that the movie lived up to its amazing hype.

In the Slumdog "painting", the main artist was a foreigner (the producer, director, DOP), but a fair number of the crew was Indian. Very importantly, the "subjects" were all Indian, who believed in the merit of the movie and gave it their very best. To say that the movie "exploited" the poverty of India is to deny and run away from reality that India does have that underbelly to it.

At the end of the day, the Indian film industry has won massive fans around the world, despite the fact that most of the world sees India as "Bollywood" - something I personally find a shocking example of the colonial exoticising of the Other in contemporary times - oversimplifying a diverse and complex culture with a simple and blanket term like "Bollywood".

Just yesterday I ran to buy AR's Delhi-6 and Jaane Tu - more about those in the coming posts!

Remembrance

The view from the Flyer

Ratib al-Haddad is a Zikr (additional voluntary invocation) to be recited every night after Magrib or Salât al-'Ishâ. It is a collection of Surahs and verses from the Holy Qur'an Kareem as well as the Kalimaat (declarations of belief), Tasbeehaat (praise of Allah Ta'ala) and Duas (invocations) which the beloved Prophet Muhammad Mustafa Sallallahu alaihi as Sallam recommended in his blessed sayings or Hadith Shareef.

Mawlana al-Haddad, Rady Allahu Anhu has rendered a great service to Muslims in compiling all these in one small Kitab (book) called Ratib-ush-Shahir, popularly know as Ratib-al-Haddad. And being mindful of the blessed Prophet's Sunnah of not over-burdening Muslims, he has put together just the most basic supplications which take at most 15 minutes to recite.

This is the Wird that the Mureedeen (disciples) receive as Wazifa from their Shaykh when initiated into Tariqah (spiritual path leading to Allah Sub'hanahu wa Ta'ala). The spiritual rewards of its daily recitation are immense. If someone is seeking Maghfira (salvation and permanent forgiveness) from Allah, the Glorified and the Exalted, he can be recommended to recite this Zikr. If your Shaykh has put you under the canopy of Mawlana al-Haddad, Rady Allahu Anhu, you are directly linked to his ancestor, Muhammad-ur-Rasulullah, Sallallahu alaihi wa Sallam.

It starts with Surah al-Fateha, Ayatul Kursi and the last two verses of Surah al-Baqara. Then follow various Kalimaat, Tasbeehaat, Dua, and Salawaat, each to be recited a specific number of times.

From http://www.iqra.net/articles/Ratib/Ratib.htm

Alchemist with the Oscars

Strangely Mani Ratnam-centric, but a good read nonetheless:

Seventeen years after he began writing music and songs for films, the jingle maker-turned-musician has finally got recognition as India's first truly global film music composer with his score for Danny Boyle's sleeper hit Slumdog Millionaire. More...

The last week and this

I was a bit busy last week, so couldn't really find time to blog about stuff.

I'm working on a new project to inject some optimism and give some career options to a group of Indian Muslim youth, which I hope turns out well.

I finally finished reading Barack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope", which I found highly informative and entertaining most times, but repetitive and overly-inspiring in some parts (I suspect these are rehashed speeches). But the book gives a good overview of the man's political agenda and feelings about his varied family background. I was quite impressed that he recently admitted to screwing up on global TV when some politicians he hired turned out to be evading tax.

I'm beginning to get all fired up for my inaugural tajwid class to a group of younglings beginning this Sunday, at a mosque near my home. It's a small group of about 15, more than I've handled in terms of teaching something very close to my heart. I hope I'm able to imbue something in them.

The window grill guy is coming buy this evening to measure my windows and hopefully fit some grills. This is to prevent the active son of our from doing anything playful and too cute - near the window.

A good friend of mine started her blog. She's quite funny in real life and blogs about funny stuff (how her mom burps like a hippo and all), click here for a good laugh.

Yesterday I attended a talk on the problems the world is facing and how we individuals can save the word when a central form of "Global Governance" fails. It was a good session, but I think it didn't really push the limits enough. And people need to speak louder! ;)