SPIC...

It was a Thursday evening, and as in all Thursday evenings, a bunch of people, were sitting in a circle at the Special Stage. Someone had propped up the idea of discussing how the outer world i.e. the rest of the college views us. One of the guys got up and told us “Most of my friends view us as a kandu club”. We dismissed this idea with a derisive laugh, and instead started talking on how we ourselves view the movement. Some saw it as a society for music appreciation some saw it as a platform for personality development, some had a wholly spiritual perspective, and a few had very little idea on it. Here’s what I make of it.

If you travel from Jaipur to Kohima, or from Trivandrum to Jammu for that matter, a vast and diverse land stretches before you. Each phase of your journey has its own unique landscapes, industries and lifestyles. This diversity results in each region developing a culture each having a flavor unique of its own. Some of these have attained high levels of refinement and achieved immense popularity all over the country and beyond. Each one of us must have attended a performance, or at least heard of Hindustani and Carnatic music styles, dance forms like Bharathanatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi et al. But how many of us have heard of a theatre form of Kerala called Kootiyattam? Not many, I’m sure. This has existed for nearly 2000 years and is the oldest existing theatre form in the world. It has reached such levels of refinement that it has defined unique expressions for even the elements of grammar, which cannot be found anywhere else. UNESCO has recognized it as one of the ‘Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity’, given only to about 20 arts worldwide. We staying here in India all our lives have never even heard of it. Ditto for Ras Lila of Manipur, the martial arts of Punjab, and many more. What SPICMACAY does is to provide a platform for showcasing of such art forms to the youth, so that we are able to fully appreciate the richness of India.

It was 4:00 AM and the sun was just breaking across the horizon. A large number of people had gathered inside an enclosure. They had sat through concerts throughout the night; most of them were sleeping and the rest on the verge of it. A very old man was carried on to the stage, and this sight did little to get them out of their slumber. No sooner had the first notes issued from his mouth, people were jolted awake and for the next 3 hours he held the crowd spellbound. It was when, seeing the zest for life he had even at that age of 102, his dedication that enabled him to sing in the frigid mornings of Kohima I began to occur to me SPICMACAY is not about music alone. Sample another incident which happened around 10 years ago. Ustad Bismillah Khan, the Shehnai maestro, was to give a concert in Dehra Dun for SPICMACAY. The train which he supposed to board from Varanasi got cancelled. After a lot of delay, the organizers got him to Delhi in a flight .The only transport they could arrange to Dehra Dun was an old rickety bus. After a night long journey on jumpy roads, he reached the venue just in time for his concert .The organizers were apologetic and offered to postpone it. He saw the audience waiting for him and said “Dekhiye, I had told you that I will give you a concert on time if you get me to the venue. You have fulfilled your word, so I will fulfill mine”. Saying the 80 year old Bismillah Khan, forgetting his fatigue, got his shehnai and gave an enthralling concert for around 3 hours. It was a lesson in being true to ones word, no matter what the circumstances are, that he gave they learnt on that day .SPICMACAY gives us the chance to get in close contact with such great masters, from whom we learn a lot. Not that they have any intention of teaching us anything, mere observation of their daily routine inspires.

This summer, I was in Trivandrum for the national convention of SPICMACAY. All the stalwarts of Indian classical and folk arts had descended upon Kerala to be a part of this. As a part of this, Ustad Asad Ali Khan performed in the culminating program of the convention. As expected it was an astounding concert and everyone went gaga over it. But what really struck me was that the he did not seem to perform for the audience at all. He seemed to be playing the Rudra Veena for a different purpose altogether. Every note he played, a blissful expression encompassed his face; it appeared to me that to me that he was on quest if his own and music was just a path to reach it. Maybe it was a way to attain perfection, or maybe it was a way to surrender completely to an entity greater than him; maybe……

Similar to India itself, SPICMACAY inspires different notions in different people. The above experiences shaped my perceptions of the movement. Whats urs?