Ghazal King Jagjit Singh (1941-2011) No More!

Today, the 10^th of October, 2011, 8.10am—the end of a momentous musical era. Indian Ghazal king Jagjit Singh breathed his last at a Mumbai hospital following a brain hemorrhage he suffered on September 23. He had been put on life supporting system and though there were signs of improvements in between death prevailed finally.

Jagjit Singh had a strong, soulful, filling and soothing voice supported by powerful melody that lingered in the auditorium and on the spellbound listeners. Along with his singer wife Chitra Singh Jagjit Singh created his own Ghazal genre that almost matched the popularity of the film music genre. His forays into playback singing and music direction for several mainstream Hindi movies and television serials heightened his music’s mass appeal even further. The singer-composer couple also created history in Indian music by using the first ever digital multi-track recording for their CD Beyond Time (1987)—India’s first digitally recorded album.

We did our school and college days getting to know his voice and his music. The Unforgettables (1975), the first Jagjit –Chitra Singh album to release in India and a huge commercial success—is still unforgettable and nostalgic for us. We came to love and grow with Ghazals thanks to Jagjit Singh. Ghazal, a complex and poetic musical form in Urdu language having its Arabic origins, had been simplified by Jagjit Singh with the inclusion of easy lyrics and modern musical instruments to increase its mass appeal. His commanding voice and infusion of melody revived an almost dying genre. Despite having the greats like Begum Akhter, Mehdi Hasan, Talat Mahmood and Ghulam Ali as contemporaries his music kept on growing more and more popular except for raising a few puritan and critical eyebrows initially.

Jagjit Singh had a sense of pain and melancholy in his voice that got more acute after his only son died in a tragic road accident in Mumbai in 1990. Though he fell silent for six months after the tragedy, this melancholy enriched his voice further making it more touching and appealing. He had left behind a huge body of work behind in a career spanning five decades and 80 albums. His concerts had been regular in different parts of India and abroad. He was to perform in Mumbai with Ghulam Ali on the day he was taken ill and hospitalized, never to return to stage ever.

We deeply mourn this great loss to Indian music and the Ghazal genre.

Why Road Rage Increasing?

Cases of road rage have been on the rise in almost in all parts of the world specially India. We see or hear or read about them regularly. There have been verbal fights, fisticuffs and even deaths. Why? There is a basic mentality involved due to which accidents happen too.

Based on observations and experience we can list out the following main reasons:

• People are always in a great inexplicable hurry. They look as if a loss of even few seconds would cost them their life. Vehicle drivers and bikers get restless and agitated the moment something obstructs their smooth way. Curses, abuses and slandering come spontaneously leading to fights and even deaths.
• They love their vehicles obsessively, irrespective of if they are proud owners or just chauffeurs. They cannot tolerate even the slightest brushing by another vehicle and get ready to kill instantly it happens.
• They think they are always right and the other party is always the wrongdoer. They are ready to go to any extent defending their pompous righteousness. You just cannot reason with them, can only reason why.
• A constant dislike for discipline and traffic rules and a blind love for speeding. Some big offenders like the trucks and the public buses lead the way and seem to inspire others.
• Frequent traffic jams and increasing stress make the drivers angry and edgy all the time.

Solution? Well, the drivers must do the opposites of all the factors listed above. This involves changing the basic mindset. Traffic cops must be efficient, able and understanding, and should not always be on the lookout for a quick buck. The governments must enforce traffic rules and fully control the process of giving driving licenses.

Love your car, but love all the others too driving their cars. Drive safe and road rage will stop raging. 

Read my related Triond Article here! 

Assam Literary Translation Award Announced. Distribution Ceremony On October 9, 2011.

Amulya Kumar Chakravarty Memorial Trust, Guwahati will present the fifth Literary Translation Award-2011 on October 9, 3pm, at the Veterinary College Auditorium, Khanapara,Guwahati. The honors will go to another well known author-translator of Assam--the final winner is being selected by a distinguished panel of writers  from a few worthy nominations.

Official announcement has already been made and this year's Award goes to noted author-translator Prafulla Kataky. The Award consists of certificates and a cash prize.

My father, Amulya Kumar Chakravarty, had been our greatest teacher  in principles of honesty, efficiency and simple living-high thinking since our childhood days.  Today we are very grateful and thankful to him, and are proud to be able to lead our lives the way he so ardently desired. At a time when corruption is ruling the roost and movements launched against this evil, we remember our father for enabling us to live with our head held high. My younger brother, Jyotirmay Chakravarty, who is presently the Additional Director General of Police, Assam, has had a career known for efficiency and brutal honesty. He is also the winner of the President's Medal for distinguished service this year.

We hope this biennial Award, constituted and financed solely by our family efforts, will go on promoting the standards of literary translation works in Assam and also inspire everyone with values and principles held so dearly to heart by Amulya Kumar Chakravarty.

On his twentieth death anniversary today--the sixth of October-- we remember Amulya Kumar Chakravarty with fond and tearful memories.