Kalyan sheds some light on the world of the Bauls:
Linked by kuffir. Join Blogbharti facebook group.The word ‘Baul’ refers to three terms- betul meaning ‘out of rhythm’, vayu meaning ‘air’ or the inner flow of energy which gives life and harmony to all living beings ; and auliya, a term of Arabic origin, which means ’saint’ or ‘holy man’. This is music rooted in the sheer bliss of being alive, perfectly in keeping with the philosophy of the nomadic Baul musicians, who espouse a kind of ecumenical, all-men-are-brothers religiosity.
The singer or the bauls, as they are popularly called wears a saffron robe and a saffron head gear and wanders in the villages from home to home entertaining everyone with their beautiful lyrical songs. In return some offer food and some also offer money. The bauls themselves compose the songs and perform them through acting and dancing to their own tunes. They wander the countryside, singing their songs. Their beliefs are a mixture of many influences and traditions, and break away from many common Indian beliefs.
I thought that the word ‘baul’ has connotations of madness. I remember listening to some Baul songs in 70’s possibly bu Purna chandra Das. There is one which goes approximately ‘chorporeche babur bagane..’. Is it available somewhere? I vaguely remember that there is a Baul type song in one of Guru Dutt movies.
interesting article on Baul,
The Hindi Crap, Again.
Our dear HRD Minister Kapil Sibal is at it again. This time, he has summarized the entire body of ignorance that surrounds the use and effectiveness of language (yes, any language), and the concept of National Integration in India. Thus spake Mr. Sibal at a recent conference on school education:
“”We need to ensure that our children are fluent in all three languages — English, Hindi and the mother tongue — the mother tongue would help in cultural integration, Hindi in national integration, and English would help us globally.”"
First of all, it is a pity that the false understanding of “national integration” by those who have been ruling us ever since independence from the British is being used as a license to burden children with three languages. During the time of the British, at least, one didn’t have to learn any language other than one’s own language to feel any more Indian than one already is! It’s a colossal waste of time in the most productive years of children to teach them a third language which is nothing but a new set of signifiers standing for the same old objects and ideas. It is a crime against children to teach them three different ways of naming objects and ideas when one way suffices, and when that time is better spent in delving deeper and broader into the beauty and secrets of the world around the children.
Secondly, Hindi achieves not integration, but disintegration of India. Here’s an excerpt from an earlier article of ours which is relevant here:
Even if one were to agree, for argument’s sake, that learning an extra language over and above English and the language of the state fosters “national integration”, why should one of the languages be compulsorily Hindi, a regional language? Why at all should Hindi be taught all over India? To offer formal channels and methods of migration and ethnic subjugation of non-Hindi speakers across India who form the majority of the Indian population? To perpetuate the baseless argument that Hindi can unite people all over India? To perpetuate the feeling in non-Hindi speakers that Hindi-speakers are Indians of a greater God? India cannot achieve “national integration” using Hindi. Hindi can only achieve “national disintegration”.
Also, if as a Nation we have decided to destroy the future of our children by burdening them with three languages anyway, that destruction must be mother-tongue neutral, right? Wrong! Clearly, Mr. Sibal and all Hindi Impositionists want to destroy the future of only non-Hindi children. Why? Because by plan, non-Hindi speakers are denied the choice of the third language while Hindi speakers have the choice of picking any Indian language (just because their language has been chosen to rule over the whole of India!). Choice is freedom. Lack of choice is death by suffocation. Why is this death being meted out to non-Hindi speakers? Why are we being made to die by suffocation? Why aren’t Kannadigas and Tamils being allowed to learn each other’s languages which are linguistically so close-by?
And perhaps more importantly, why has the Three language formula never been implemented in the Hindi speaking areas even 62 years after independence? Why have the futures of non-Hindi children been selectively destroyed and those of Hindi children selectively protected by the Great Indian Nation? And why, again, is the Three Language Formula not applicable to Tamil Nadu? Of course, it is not our intention to propose the destruction of the futures of children anywhere – but if it’s being destroyed in Karnataka, we can’t help calling for equality in destruction — for after all, we Kannadigas are not offering ourselves to be selected as guinnea pigs in flawed political experiments of politicians armed with a false Idea of India. If our errant politics dooms us to failure, let us fall united!
Thirdly, it is outright undemocratic to posit one Indian language as an instrument of National Integration in a country where many different language families exist. What nonsense it is to ask a Kannadiga to learn Hindi to feel “more Indian”! If a Kannadiga needs to learn a foreign language — that’s what Hindi is to a Kannadiga — in order to prove to Mr. Sibal and his friends that he is an Indian, he would need to seriously think if he wants that appellation in the first place! It is utterly wrong to put all those at a disadvantage who are born in non-Hindi speaking states. Hindi is a foreign language utterly useless to most of India, Mr. Sibal. Try to get the point.
The only right thing to do is to dispense with the very idea of using any one language, one culture, one-anything-material as an instrument of India’s National Integration. The only instrument of India’s National Integration is India’s spirituality. Using any “material instrument” is a denial of basic human rights to those to whom that material instrument is foreign. And Hindi is the deadliest of those instruments.
Fourthly, it is a disease of the Indian mind because of which Indian languages are considered good for only ‘culture’ — complete with folk dances performed by tribal folks donning coconut leaves around their private parts. No Mr. Sibal, grow up — languages are bread-winners. Indian languages need to graduate to become fit carriers of knowledge.
Fifthly, it is pitifully implied by Mr. Sibal’s statement that all one needs to achieve is ‘cultural integration’, ‘national integration’ and ‘global integration’. Hey — you just forgot bread, Mr. Sibal. Do you still want to retain your job? You’re failing to understand human resources, you’re failing to understand that humans need bread before you thrust on them any sort of integration crap. Any HRD Minister worth his bread needs to come up with a solution for India’s bread-problem. Or — he/she needs to listen to those who do have a solution.
Sixthly, while Mr. Sibal says only something as innocuous as “English would help us globally”, there is nothing in his plan or the plan of his informer – Prof. Yash Pal – which considers anything other than English as the language of bread! After all, there is no talk of Kannada as the future language of engineering or medicine or management or what-have-you in the “path breaking” reforms suggested by either the professor or the minister. In reality, Mr. Sibal lacks the ability to elevate (or even think of elevating) Indian languages to the status of knowledge carriers – because of which he has to implicitly assume that English is actually the language of bread in India — an assumption which destroys the future of most Indians.
In summary, all Indians must oppose Hindi Imposition. Yes, including Hindi speakers – those who care for the whole of India more than the need for them to ‘conquer’ India. Hindi imposition is destroying us, gnawing at the vitals of India. It’s a pity that Kapil Sibals right from 1947 have come to believe that in this destruction lies the future of India. It’s a pity that they all fall prey to the same old crap. Oh when will our politics grow up? When will state governments see through this plan of destruction? When will the central government hear the deafening cries of hundreds of millions of Indians being crushed under the weight of Hindi imposition?
Courtesy: http://karnatique.blogspot.com/2009/08/hindi-crap-again.html
South Indians got independence for free without ever participating in independence movement. That is why they keep thinking of language, linguistics, culture.