Issue 245

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Kolkata : Gifted with a resonating
magical voice that captivated the
refined listeners of Hindustani classical
music for generations, Girija Devi
played a key part in popularising and
raising the profile of Thumri, that gave
her the appellation 'Thumri queen'.
Born on May 8, 1929, in Varanasi, to
a zamindar, Ramdeo Rai, Girija Devi
began taking music lessons when she
was a child of five years. Her first guru
was vocalist and sarangi player Sarju
Prasad Misra, and then Sri Chand
Misra.
Girija Devi always loved to recount
her childhood days in Varanasi, where "I
considered myself more as a boy, than a
girl". Rai encouraged her to learn swimming,
horse riding and stick fighting,
which she loved, but never had much
interest in studies. "At the same time, I
did play with dolls, and spent time
arranging for my doll's marriage," Girija
Devi said during an interview a few
years back. At that tender age, she learnt
NEWS ART & CULTURE POLITICS RELIGION LITERATURE FASHION KIDS FILMS
Khayal, Dhrupad, Dhamar, Tarana,
Indian folk music and Bhajan. With
Varanasi being a hub of both Hindu and
Muslim classical singers, the elements
from both traditions enriched her repertoire
and increased her knowledge.
In 1949, Girija Devi's performance
was aired by the Allahabad station of
All India Radio, which had then just
started its broadcast. Recognising her
talent, the AIR authorities treated the
20-year-old at par with established
singers like Sehnai maestro Bismillah
Khan, Hindustani singer Siddheswari
Devi and Table exponent Kanthe
Maharaj. "During that time there was no
system of audition or grading of artists.
But I found from the contract forms that
I was paid the same amount of money as
these artists." Two years later, Girija
Devi gave her first public performance
at a music conference in Bihar's Arrah,
alongside the likes of Pundit Omkarnath
Thakur and Kanthe Maharaj. In 1952,
she paid her first visit to Kolkata --
which became her home two and a half
decades later -- to take part in the
Sadarang Sangit Sammelan.
Groomed in the tradition of the
Benaras and Seniya gharanas (lineage),
Girija Devi was celebrated for her
extensive collection of rare traditional
bandishes'. The best in her came out
when she performed in the purabi ang
thumri style, and helped in elevating the
genre. Her renditions of semi classical
forms like Kajri, chaiti, and holi also
mesmerised the connoisseurs of
Hindustani classical music.
In 1978, after the formation of the
ITC Sangeet Research Academy in
Kolkata, Girija Devi shifted base to the
eastern metropolis, after prodding from
the institute's then director Vijay Kichlu.
She immediately fell in love with the
city. "There is a deep love for music and
culture. The musicians get lot of
respect. The boys and girls are very
keen learners. "But studies take up so
much of their time, they hardly have any
free time to practise. In contrast, we
used to practise for five/six hours".
In the early 90s, she also taught at the
Banaras Hindu University, thus leaving
behind a large number of students to
carry on her legacy. She performed
extensively within the country and
abroad and was widely feted. Besides
Padma Shri (1972), Padma Bhushan
(1989) and Padma Vibhushan (2016),
26/10/2017
Girija Devi : Queen of Thumri, jewel
of HINDUSTANI CLASSICAL MUSIC
Punjab rejects
Centre’s hike of wheat
MSP as ‘inadequate’
Chandigarh, Rejecting the
hike in Minimum Support Price
(MSP) for wheat announced by
the central government on
Tuesday, Punjab Chief Minister
Amarinder Sngh termed it as
“inadequate” and demanded a
review in line with the recommendations
of the Swaminathan
Commission. In a statement
issued here, the Chief Minister
said the increase of Rs 110 a quintal
in the MSP of wheat and Rs
200 per quintal for pulses would
not help achieve the objective of
boosting the output of these crops
and checking prices.
“The move would also not, in
any way, provide much relief to
the distressed farmers of the
country, reeling under huge debt
burdens and struggling to make
both ends meet,” Amarinder said.
The Chief Minister said if the
Centre was serious about uplifting
agriculture in the country and
alleviating the woes of the farmers,
it would need to go beyond
such tokenism to announce farreaching
changes in the MSP and
other welfare initiatives, including
debt waiver, in the interest of
the farming community. “The
Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations
on MSP need to be
implemented urgently, in toto, if
the country’s agricultural system
has to survive and prosper,” the
Chief Minister said.
Citing the Swaminathan
Commission report, Amarinder
Singh said the only long-term
solution to the crisis faced by the
farming community lay in giving
attractive remuneration to the
farmers through pricing and procurement
based on total cost of
production plus 50 per cent, as
recommended by the Commission.
“The Centre, by continuing to
ignore the recommendations of
Swaminathan Commission, was
worsening the situation instead of
finding solutions,” the Chief
Minister warned. He urged Prime
Minister Narendra Modi to intervene
and order a review of the
MSP to ensure a proper remunerative
pricing policy for the farmers,
as per the Commission’s report.
He also requested the Prime
Minister to take cognizance of the
demand of the Punjab government
for incorporation of stubble burning
compensation at Rs 100 per
quintal in the MSP for paddy.
CAN ANTIBIOT-
IC RESISTANCE
BE REVERSED?
London, Developing chemicals
to slow down an enzyme that provides
multi-resistance to antibiotics
may be the key to reverse antibiotic
resistance, results from twin-studies
have suggested. Resistance to
antibiotics is becoming increasingly
prevalent and threatens to undermine
healthcare systems across the
globe. Beta-lactamases are enzymes
produced by bacteria, that provide
multi-resistance to beta-lactam
antibiotics such as penicillins,
Cephalosporins, cephamycins, and
carbapenems, although carbapenems
are relatively resistant to betalactamase.
In the first study,
researchers from University of
Bristol in the UK, defined the relative
importance of two mechanisms
associated with beta-lactam antibiotic
resistance. In one, bacteria
restricts the entry of antibiotics into
the cell. In the other, bacteria produce
the enzyme beta-lactamase,
which destroys any antibiotic that
gets into the cell. The latter was
found to be the more important of
the two mechanisms.
These findings imply that if
chemicals could be developed to
inhibit beta-lactamase enzymes, a
significant proportion of antibiotic
resistance could successfully be
reversed, the researchers noted, in
the paper published in the Journal of
Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. “Our
bacteriology research has further
demonstrated that beta-lactamases
are the real “Achilles heel” of
antibiotic resistance in bacteria that
kill thousands of people every
year,” said Matthew Avison, reader
in Molecular Bacteriology from the
varsity. Building on these findings,
researchers in the second study
detailed in the journal Molecular
Microbiology, studied the effectiveness
of two types of beta-lactamase
enzyme inhibitor in a Klebsiella
pneumoniae — a bacterium known
to be highly resistant to common
antibiotics.
23
the stalwart was honoured with the
Tansen Samman by the Madhya Pradesh
government, besides receiving the
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1977).
The Sangeet Natak Akademi award citation
lauded Girija Devi for her renditions
of 'Khayal' with "astounding clarity
and control". She was also a regular
performer on All India Radio and
Doordarshan with numerous CDs and
audio cassettes to her credit.
However, Girija Devi never created
any Raagas (Melodic modes in Indian
classical music) of her own. "Whatever
compositions I sing, my Tappa, Thumri
or Khayal, are all traditional. I never
created any new Raaga. I only learnt
what my gurus taught me, and not from
any books," she once said. Even at a
ripe old age, Singing was her life force.
"If I can eat, walk, talk, then why should
not I sing?" she remarked sometime
before her 80th birthday.
Girija Devi, 88, died on Tuesday in
Kolkata.
DOING THE RIGHT THING
I was with Al, a very
close friend of mine,
last afternoon. Al is in
the trading business
and deals in windows.
He's a young, sprightly
man with a sharp business
acumen and principles
that cement his
ideals. We met over
coffee and among the many
subjects we spoke of passionately,
business woes were where
we found common ground. We
got talking on the state of the
economy, meandering into it
with angst. He animatedly
shared an incident that occurred
a couple of days ago.
He started, "So, an interior
do?"
Al responded, "What do you
think?" he grinned back. "I
pushed back. There's no way
I'm going to do what isn't right,
Farzana. You know that!" he
responded.
How many times, as a marketer
have youhad to take that
decision to walk away from a
designer patched me to her contractor
brand campaign that you
who was to share the
exact specification of the windows
to be installed at the site.
The contractor was seemingly
resistant and made all attempts
to beat me on my rates. He then,
suggested that I provide a
'cheaper' variety, which I gently
declined. Then he called the
designer and insisted that she
believed questioned your value
system?
How many times, as a
teacher, have you refused to tolerate
the unfair discrimination
against an economic class
because 'this is how it works
here'?
How many times, as a contractor,
you pushed back and
procure the
windows from
another vendor
known to him, who 'can
provide better quality, at cheap
enough rates'. The designer
refused to compromise. Unlike
the many designers you meet
these days, she remained firm."
Al continued, "If this wasn't
enough, the contractor came
over to my store and hinted that
he'll ensure a continuous flow of
business from his other clients if
I chose to supply a thinner
gauge glass at thicker gauge
pricing! Well, honestly Farzana
it wasn't shocking at all. I was
expecting the conversation to
wind up on this plane"
I queried, "What did you
Author : Farzana Suri
decided to go
with a quote that
is NOT L1 (lowest
value) because lives matter
to you more than the profit?
How many times, as a leader,
you opposed the team and chose
to do what is 'right' and not what
is 'popularly accepted' because
your conscience didn't feel easy?
It's called, ethics. Ethics are
what keeps us all grounded to
our morality. To the truth that
we believe, internally. What we
stand for. It prompts our decisions
and it is what makes others
care to associate with us.
Most of us, at the core, are
people pleasers. We want to
look good. We seek popularity;
some among us may crave it. In
the wake of this psychological
need 'to be
liked', we find it harder
to say 'no' or to disagree.
When you pushback,
you are saying
no. It is hard and
uncomfortable - for
others. However, when
you pushback, you define your
moral compass. You decide to
respect yourself and the values
you stand on over short-term
gains. At times,you are pushed
to choose the tougher and higher
road because it's the right
thing to do. You may find yourself
alone. But, itis momentary.
Eventually, you will discover
allies surrounding you. Giving
strength to your resolve. Do the
right thing. Pushback.
Like Al, The truths and
assumptions, todayare being
continually subjected to direct
testing.And, everyone seems to
be creating their own compass
of morality. Who decides what's
north?What is the right thing to
do? Well, that's up to you. It's
your decision. Some of you may
have the strength to do it often,
like Al, whose unshaken belief
that trust and respect are far
greater than the myopic gains of
today. Some may aspire to reach
for those ideals, however lack
courage and some may not care
a cent. It is okay. Look forwhat
makes you sleep easy. Let your
compass navigate you towards
your north.
North isn't about being judgmental
or rigid. It's what nurtures
trust and the spirit of love
and respect.It is where love
grows, respect flows and business
flourishes.
How do you keep to your
north? I'd be delighted to hear
from you.