At first it feels odd to listen to childhood favorites like Chura Liya Hai Tumne (Yaadon ki Baraat) and O Maajhi Re( Khushboo) set to meditative music. Then you think, “Pancham Da would have approved!”

This interpretation of R.D. Burman’s oeuvre is the work of Sandeep Khurana, a prolific Bay Area composer, who specializes in new age albums, from yoga music to Reiki albums, from Shiva Mantras to psychedelic versions of Hindi hits.

An IT professional (can there be any other kind in the Valley?) Sandeep took courses in music at the Ali Akbar Khan College of Music here in the Bay and classes in film production and the media arts before deciding to pursue his dreams of a career in music full time. 11 quick albums have been the result since Sandeep started composing in 2002, some in collaboration with local artists like Rita Sahai and Renoo Nathan.

Ethereal Chakra

“Record companies are always willing to listen to a new concept,” say Sandeep, whose music is currently available in digital formats. In the US, Sandeep tied up recently with Songcast, which distributes his music on various digital download sites like Amazon and Itunes. The downloads are picking up but Sandeeps’s aim is to get a record label interested in producing CDs and have it on store shelves.

It’s not easy being a professional musician in a world filled with wannabes but Sandeep’s music has slowly been finding a market. “I just want people to give me a chance,” says the musician, confident that his work will do the rest of the speaking for him.

Check out some of Sandeep’s wide range of music here. One album that might be of interest is R.D. Burman – The Digital Way, volume one. Another one called “Celebrating Pancham” featuring Bay Area singers is in the works.

A disgruntled voter

May 18th, 2009

Sonia and Manamohan Singh - picture from NDTV.Com

I’m writing this after a lot of soul searching. On a day when stock trading had to be suspended after it reached the upper circuit and was ballooning out of control, on a day when LTTE chief Prabhakaran, his son and aides were declared as “shot dead while trying to escape”, when TV channels are on overdrive “celebrating” Congress victory and Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, maybe my voice will sound churlish.

Today, I lost a whole lot of my faith in TV reporting. PTI said Prabhakaran was shot dead while trying to escape in a “jeep”. IBN Live said while trying to escape in an “ambulance”. Strangely, after 3 years of relentless war against the LTTE, President Rajapakshe was in Jordan when the final assault was mounted and the area left to capture kept shrinking. Why would he go away? Why did he say, “When I return, it will all be over?” It is too much of a coincidence that there was no progress in the war during the gap of three days between the last day of polling and the day of the results.

The new government doesn’t have to deal with a messy war. It just has to send supplies to the displaced Tamils. Busy with national elections, it could not have done anything to enforce a ceasefire. Did it really want to?

With Prabhakaran out of the picture (he became too ambitious), one can only hope that the Tamils are lucky enough to find an activist dedicated to their cause.

Back to the elections:  Tamil Nadu went through large scale rigging and tempering of electronic voting machines – a reason why the machines have been rejected by the US and Japan? What could not be fixed by EVMs was done by officers in the pay of the government. Everyone knows about it but they all feel powerless to interfere. The print media published a sanitized version of the story. TV channels were deafeningly silent on it, choosing rather to say that there was big support to a government that was responsible for power cuts, increase in all food prices, unprecedented violence, bandhs, land grabbing and sand theft and it won because of its populist policies is to mock at the people who are suffering.

And the news channels didn’t raise a whisper about the way P Chidambaram got elected.

At about 12 noon on May 16, the counting got over and the results were announced. AIDMK’s candidate was declared as winner at Sivaganga. For three hours after that, the certificate to that effect was not issued. There was no round by round declaration of results either. There was a flurry of phone calls, PC was taken to a backroom and issued the certificate. After more delay, paramilitary forces amounting to 5000 arrived and the announcement was made: PC had won by the same number of votes that his opponent had won earlier. The Chief Electoral Officer was consulted and he said that his hands were tied since the District Magistrate of the area had used his discretionary powers to “recount” and had made the correction. This man, who is now being described as “squeezed through the election” may soon be our finance/home minister.

Today, PC went on air thanking the CM of this state for his help in his election.

Yes, the Congress won a lot more seats this time and will provide a more stable government. Without having to depend on the Left (there’s international relief that the communists are out of the government) the party can speed up reforms and bring in more FIIs, more MNCs, more food imports and more cash to the party’s coffers. But behind that “stability” are candidates who muscled and moneyed their way in.

There are criminal charges against three Tamil Nadu ministers in the previous cabinet. They will get berths this time too. In addition there will be one more from Madurai who set a newspaper office ablaze over the family feud. It killed three workers inside.

By Geeta Padmanabhan

I cast my vote today

I went out and voted in the fifth and last phase of elections (2009) to the Lok Sabha. I thought I would be there before the 107*F summer heat kicked in and reached the polling booth at 7 am , the opening hour. Many, I found, had had the same idea. Each entrance had at least thirty voters. Only the election staff wasn’t ready. We had to wait at least a half hour before they opened the proceedings.

“Will they extend the timings?” asked the man behind me. “They weren’t expecting a crowd,” said a woman. “Anyway, they are adept at cramming the votes into the last hour (a reference to what happened in Thirumangalam).”

The large voter turn-out wasn’t really a surprise. In the last week, wherever I went, I had a flyer thrust into my hand. They all had this one message. “Go out and vote.” Each carried the name of an outfit – Liberal Association, Ekta, Election Watch – loosely constituted NGOs whose only aim seemed like they wanted to stir “public conscience.” Musical bands have been belting out similar messages on TV. There were celebrity endorsements for voting. The general slogan was “If you don’t vote you have no right to criticize”.

Mine is a very middle class constituency. So what does the higher voter turnout mean? A sense of despondency? Anger? (Plenty to be angry about, price-rise, power cuts, lack of a proper garbage removal system, construction of bad and unnecessary overhead roads, shrinking of walking spaces and sidewalks). They might be thinking: “If I don’t vote, I’m doomed. I’ll have no voice in what’s being done to my environment.” Voting out of anger is not a new phenomenon. If that brings them to the polling stations, it is very welcome.

Considering the magnitude (mind-boggling numbers) the Election Commission had done a decent job. There were ramps and voting papers in Braille. Policemen were helping voters find their way. Names and symbols of candidates were prominently displayed. Form 49-0 was easily available. The print media have been carrying regular reports on the “How to” of using the electronic voting machines.

But there are serious problems – systemic ones – in the voting process. To set them right, we need electoral reforms.

Voting is not compulsory and the day is a paid “holiday”. People just take off. Why should it be a holiday?

I have no say in who the political parties choose as their candidates. On what basis are they given “tickets”? Caste? Influence? Money power? Winnability? I am forced to vote for the party (and its supremo) and not for the candidate. This limits my choice.

I could vote for an independent candidate. My constituency has Sarat Babu, an IIM-A guy whose mom educated him on the earnings of her small roadside idli shop. Another independent is Venkatraman who has a long history of working for the disabled in these parts. But then, there are 35 others contesting for this south Chennai seat. Do they stand a chance at all? Do people even know about them?

My neighbour and his family were turned away because their names were missing from the voters’ list. They had voted in the last elections. If it is any consolation actor Kamalhasan wasn’t allowed to vote because his name went missing too. How did this happen?

A couple of days ago, my husband and I were given a “voting slip” by an anonymous caller. The slip carried our names, the name of the voting venue, and our voting register number. Those who did not carry this slip were barred from voting, even if they had voter IDs. No slip, no vote.

The shocking part is that the slip was not a plain innocuous one. It had, prominently printed on it, the election symbol of the ruling party. A pamphlet highlighting the “achievements’ of the party was attached to it. We almost looked for the pinned cash. Why is this piece of paper indispensable for voting?  Why would a political party spend on it and the election officials insist that we have it at the time of voting?

We also saw those infamous black-trousered-white-shirted guys around the polling station. They were constantly on their cellphones. We heard a guy say, “The bundles are with so-and-so.” We thought of the worst. Why can’t we cancel the candidatures of the contestants caught distributing cash or kind?

It will be good to have an age limit for the contestants. It will be good to make voting compulsory and open a “help booth” to sort out problems at the venue. It will be good to see 100% voting. Good to see proper vetting of “independent” candidates. Why would they contest, knowing well they would lose their deposits?

Each candidate is allowed to bring two observers. It is an open secret that many independents are dummy candidates to facilitate the presence of musclemen.

But I voted and I’m happy about it.