Pta. Padmaja Phenani Joglekar in Guwahati: Part (2/2)

We abandoned the subject midway on 18^th August and rekindling the fervor is a challenge. It’s a bit like hunting for the end of a thread in a mass of tangle. So we begin tentatively, at one quality we have always discerned in great musicians. They are excellent thinkers, though when it comes to being articulate, society at large is always indulgent towards them.  That left-brain-right-brain thing, you know. The left hemisphere often squished by the righteous and worldly one, he, he, he... The two great Maharashtrian artistes we met at Guahati, and were written about in IK are exceptions, both well-endowed in this respect. Then take their histrionic abilities. We wrote on the Marathi blog warkari.com, about the histrionics of Jai Shri Shankar Suta Sriganesh sung by Dr. ABD. Likewise, we were just bowled over at the mimicry that Padmaja Joglekar performs, in our car, when we escort her from her Hotel to our gharkul. Comes naturally, we suppose, like the music. One sample was about P.V.Narasimha Rao absently asking Pt. Hridayanath Mangeshkar (‘Balasaheb’) what he did for a living. The people in Balasaheb’s entourage, Padmajatai included, stared in horror at the floor, expecting a retaliation from the temperamental artiste~ कहाँ पंडित दीनानाथ का वारिस, कहाँ गंगू तेली ! but Panditji only performed a nice Bharatnatyam mudra, and said he was a dancer! That mudra Tai demonstrates to perfection. Even Mai Mangeshkar...

Talk about Padmajatai to Maharashtrian aficionados, and they will usually come up with this comment which pops up below this Youtube upload as well:

“Awesome! she should have gotten much more fame & credit”, says ‘fantasticmw’.

For us, that is the central conundrum. Why does she not get her just pedestal which is at the top? Is it the Mangeshkar Banyan-tree-syndrome: not likely, considering her conscious dedication to the clan. It's in her nature to nibhao friendship, we suppose...What about the excellence at mime part? Does she not do both Asha and Lata to 99.999% purity? That, we rule out after Tai treats us to her take on Lataji’s Ja Ja ke Ritu (Anuradha). Also listen to her CDs - just see the originality of the score...पटले … पांडुरंग …असुदे… .If she’s not bugged by the phenomenon, why should others be?

Cut to gharkul @ 1, Trinayan Path, Beltola. The menu offered by Missus is झकास… पोहे…जलेबि , sandwich, cutlet, ragda-patties, fruit salad, ice-creams, etc., etc.…Ma' am gives a wide berth to the जलेबि, sugar level, no?

But the visibility topic rears its head again, like the jack-in-the-box. What she explains is as follows: you are not counted unless you make your mark in the Hindi world, however pathetic it be.., we rashly add... For forging ahead in the National league, you have to make lots of sacrifices, particularly in respect of morals. We know what Paudwal and sundry others did, don’t we? Quite credible.

We are delighted to find out, she’s quite liberal when it comes to her fees. She is guided more by her heart than by her credit card...he, he, he…. All India Radio did a lot for her, so she sang in Gauhati virtually gratis ! It was for the relationship that she ventured as far as Gauhati, alone at that.

Later our Missus says it’s all due to the generosity and support of her husband Sunilbabu, who owes a lot to पोहा -जलेबी heartland…Bhopal..! And her in-laws. And Aditya, their son who’s studying Music Technology in the USA….

Aur kya kya…what else do we have to report? We told her about our favourite Mizo singer Zomuanpuii, and treated her to a video of her's:

 Pui’s charm lies in the resonance of her voice, we venture to say, and she exclaims yessss! That’s very very important..! आणि त्या हळहळतात … तिकडे इतक्या सुंदर गायकांना कुणीच ओळखत नाही … तुमच्या सारख्याच त्या ही …, we say…बिंदास about recognition ….

We have already written about her  पदार्पण into our देवघर, and her recitation of “अशक्य ही शक्य करतील स्वामी”, that is the  “ स्वामी समर्थ तारक मंत्र”. On the subject of attributes of a great singer, she stresses the importance of constant practice. 8 hours, she does riyaaz daily, she confides…

Here is a review of the CD she presents to the von Bailiffs in Part (1/2), which was emailed after getting the approval of Missus:

मी आणि मधु नि अनेक दिवस आपण दिलेली मराठी काव्य रचनांची cd ऐकली . cd  म्हणज्ये  कलाकाराला श्रम न देता किती किती वेळा once more देण्या ची सन्धि! आम्हाला आवडलेल्या गाण्यांचा कल रिषभ प्रधान राग जसे कि जयजयवंती किंवा मल्हार (म रे) आणि देस कडे वाटला . माझिया दारात चिमण्या तर खूपच मस्त ! उंच उंच माझा झोका नि तर गीता दत्त जीवंत करून दिल्या ! fanntastic cd ! best are those set to tune by you!

There is an autograph session, and a photograph session with our 2 quintal Rhino, Shivani, which we displayed in the last post..And then time for her to depart for Lokopriya Bordolai Airport, and for us, for our office. Too bad, going to office after a holiday, she sympathises…But for our employers, we would never have had this memorable once-in-a-life-time moment, we exclaim…

PADMAJA TAI AT GUWAHATI AIR CONCERT

POSTSCRIPT:

What accounts for the immense strength of The Banker to the Nation.? It’s the पुण्याई  , the Moral Stature of onnne individual, R.K Talwar, longest serving Chairman, who being a Talwar, crossed swords with that ….sorry…..Indira Gandhi on a number of occasions, during Emergency, at that…

The Bank gets a 500 crore per annum bonanza by way of arbitrage on low-cost Government deposit in the North East, which is why this blogger and blog exist, beg your pardon.. Why?

When in the early 1970s the Lead Bank Scheme was formulated by the Government of India, RBI held a series of meetings, to allot the 500+ districts to various banks. Naturally there was lot of recrimination, smart Nationalised Banks staking claims for Bombay or Gujarat or Madras. There was an impasse, which was broken by RKT, who stood up and said “let all banks decide what they want, the rest we will gladly take… ”. The North East naturally landed in his lap!

The rest is history…RKT was not only the greatest Banker the country has seen (no 'arguably' wagairah...) , but one of the the greatest human beings who touched YT’s life! He's the real Bharat Ratna, if you aks us..., which fortunately nobody will aks...Here is an excellent article by T.N.Ninan about the 'Talwar Amendment' which Sanjay Gandhi engineered, but chickened out when it came to implementation. This appeared in Business Standard.