The Emergency

Title: The Emergency – A Personal History

Author: Coomi Kapoor

Publisher: Penguin Viking, 2015 (First)

ISBN: 9780670087587

Pages: 389

India is admittedly the world’s largest democracy. We use to take pride in it, often made all the more magnificent when compared to other nations comparable in wealth to India. We proved to the world that democracy is not a rich man’s fad. This country’s dedication to democracy is all the more remarkable, considering the prodigious variety of languages, religions, castes and ethnicities. It is no secret that Western democracies are generally single-language, single-religion establishments. Even though Indians have thus a lot to be proud of, they shouldn’t lose sight of the moment in history, forty years ago, when the nation teetered precariously on the edge of falling into the doomed depths of dictatorship under Indira Gandhi’s tenure as prime minister. Indira Gandhi is notorious for bringing the country to the threshold of bankruptcy by indulging in unabashed populist measures by exercising government control in all business enterprise and saturating the system with nepotism and corruption. When her chair was threatened by a court verdict, she declared a state of Emergency and assumed autocratic powers. She suspended civil rights, clamped censorship on the media, incarcerated people who protested and ruled with an iron fist. Surprisingly, she could call the shots without much demur from any corner. Coomi Kapoor, a political journalist for 40 years and the consulting editor of the Indian Express, tells the story of the nineteen months of Emergency, which will forever be a blot on the nation’s political history.

Indira Gandhi won a landslide victory in 1971, trouncing her opponents from the split-away faction of Congress. Close on its heels came India’s spectacular victory against Pakistan in the Bangladesh war. Indira’s star was on the ascendant. Even opposition leaders praised her, Vajpayee once likening her to goddess Durga! It just felt that Indira can’t lose an election. But at the same time, she wanted to pep up her popularity further, by bringing in more stringent socialist agenda and economically irresponsible measures in the country’s finances. Privy Purse was abolished and outrageous amounts were earmarked for projects in the public sector that were funneled into the pockets of politicians and bureaucrats. Within two years of her victory, Indira’s hold on the country became tenuous. A veteran freedom fighter and socialist leader, Jayaprakash Narayan (JP), returned to active politics from social work to fight against corruption and degeneration he observed everywhere in India. His protest movement amassed massive public support. Stung by the huge rallies convened by JP and his growing stature, Indira and her son Sanjay decided to put an end to democracy for the time being and impose dictatorial rule. On June 12, 1975, Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court declared Indira’s electoral victory from Rae Bareilly null and void, finding gross violation of electoral procedures and misusing government machinery for her propaganda. She appealed to the Supreme Court, which refused to issue a comprehensive stay order. One June 24, Justice V R Krishna Iyer permitted Indira to continue as prime minister, but restrained her from voting in parliament and drawing the salary of an MP. A few days back, the ruling Congress was voted out of power in the Gujarat assembly. On June 25, JP exhorted total revolution in the country at a gigantic rally in Delhi. This was the proverbial last straw. Unwilling to consider stepping down even for a minute, her coterie decided to declare an Internal Emergency in the country, without even informing the cabinet. Coomie Kapoor has neatly summarized the sequence and establishes that the ruling caucus had long been preparing to enforce something of the sort.

The author lived through the horrors of Emergency, where her own husband was detained under the draconian Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and Defence of India Rules (DIR) which allowed the police to place in custody suspects without judicial review. Indira and her heir apparent Sanjay gagged the media by imposing crippling censorship of the content. The guidelines of news censoring itself couldn’t be made public. Even parliamentary proceedings were cleared only after it passed through the censor. V C Shukla, one of Indira’s protégés who controlled the broadcasting ministry appointed police officers to select the news for publishing. Even then, Indian Express stood rooted to its principles, while The Hindu and the Times of India literally ate out of the government’s hands. L K Advani’s famous remark that the Press crawled when they were only asked to bend refers to these spineless newspapers. Political detainees had a tough time ahead. They were not disclosed the reason of their arrest. Third degree torture was the norm to make them talk. Even when courts allowed bail to them, the released persons were immediately rearrested under some other pretense. Indira never showed any remorse for her repressive tactics in silencing the media. Some of the Supreme Court judges also danced to her tune. In a 4-1 majority verdict, it suspended civil rights including the right to life, in April 1976. Justice H R Khanna, the lone dissenter, lost his promotion as the Chief Justice of India as a result.

Government’s stranglehold on the media was multifaceted. While it bullied those who protested, official advertisements were lavished on the tame. Censors kept a tab on all topics, and didn’t even permit frequent reports of crime appearing in newspapers, so as to prevent the people from reaching the conclusion that crime was surging. Government media sang only the eulogies of the mother and son. All India Radio was jokingly referred to as All Indira Radio. A number of films were produced on them by the Films Division of Information and Broadcasting Ministry. V C Shukla extended his control to commercial films as well. Actresses reported of his unwelcome advances for granting favourable decisions. Singer Kishore Kumar at first refused to toe the official line. His songs were banished from radio and TV till he capitulated. Many MPs were behind bars, which smoothed the government’s way in parliament. Question Hour, Calling Attention motions and parliamentary business initiated by private members were dispensed with. Representation of the People Act was amended retrospectively to prevent the courts from unseating the prime minister. This annulled the verdict of Allahabad High Court which ruled against her. The 42^nd constitution amendment granted Lok Sabha the power to extend its term as it wished, without holding fresh elections.

It is curious to observe the antecedents of a few people and organizations which vociferously trumpet civil rights now, when in fact they were licking the feet of the regime during Emergency. M F Husain portrayed Indira as goddess Durga astride a tiger. This was the height of sycophancy, but court painters in the Middle Ages would have done the same. The Communist Party of India (CPI) sided with the government and shared power with the Congress in some states. Quite probably, they might’ve been operating under instructions from the erstwhile Soviet Union, judging from their lack of compunction in voting into law a slew of measures that tightened the noose around the neck of democracy. D K Barooah, the Congress president, brought out slogans that showed total submission to Indira and her family. His refrain “Indira, teri subah ki jai/ Indira, teri shaam ki jai/ tere kaam ki jai, tere naam ki jai” (Indira, we salute your morning, your evening, your great works and your name) was an instant hit among unthinking Congress workers. The RSS was banned and many of its cadres kept the flame of dissidence alive in the country, but its supreme leader Balasaheb Deoras negotiated with the regime while in jail. Even though advertisements were also scrutinized, a few escaped the censor’s notice and came out. Kapoor mentions an obituary note in an English paper as “D’O Cracy, DEM beloved husband of T. Ruth, loving father of L. I. Bertie, brother of faith, hope and justice, expired on 26^th June”! The date chosen was the date of declaration of Emergency.

Quite unlike other works on Emergency, this book brings out the terrible events through the eyes of a journalist author. The first seven chapters, forming a half of the book narrates the author’s own experiences while the latter half presents character sketches of Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi and Jayaprakash Narayan and also the blatant misuse of power and public money in sanctioning loans on flimsy grounds to Sanjay’s indigenous small car project. Another topic of active coverage is Sanjay’s 5-point program that included sterilization. A total of 10.7 million people were forcibly sterilized to fill the quotas Sanjay Gandhi had set. Those who were thus sterilized often included unmarried men. The book is neatly structured and impartial. It includes a collection of photographs of the major actors, a section on Notes and a good Index. Arun Jaitley has penned the Foreword to the book.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star

Business Maharajas

Title: Business Maharajas

Author: Gita Piramal

Publisher: Penguin, 1997 (First published 1996)

ISBN: 9780140264425

Pages: 474

Businesses are sometimes likened to empires. Just like a real empire, every business concern encounters aggression from all corners, not necessarily armed ones. This mandates an intelligent, powerful and far seeing emperor at the centre. Such maharajas fend off predatory moves by competitors, devices plans for the routine administration and put in place programs by which more revenue could be earned. In a large business empire, the leader sits at the centre, sensitive to the slightest tremor on the web. This book showcases seven prominent business houses led by Dhirubhai Ambani, Rahul Bajaj, Aditya Birla, Rama Prasad Goenka, Brij Mohan Khaitan, Bharat and Vijay Shahs and Ratan Tata. Their combined turnover runs into billions of dollars and they employ millions. India looks at its entrepreneurs with suspicion and a touch of derision. Books like this bring out the human being in them – his fears, hopes and happiness. Reading about the buildup of a business empire, we wonder at how commonplace each step is, requiring nothing more than commonsense and a pinch of logical thinking. It is such ordinary steps that build magnificent edifices people wonder at. The history of a successful business entity thus instills confidence among people that such feats are not beyond their reach. Gita Piramal is a freelance journalist with a doctorate in business history. She has authored many books and is writing and commenting on the corporate sector for many decades. This book also brings to light some of the horrible stories of how a corrupt, socialist government meddled in industry and made a mess of it all.

The most tragic feature of the License–Quota–Permit raj of the socialist era of post-independence India was the blatant intervention of the government in business. The bureaucrats who actually dabbled in this often had only a fleeting idea of what a business is, and was guided by left-leaning politicians, who corrupted the system. They even controlled capacity expansion of private industrial establishments. The production target was fixed by the government and you were not allowed to exceed it. Whenever it announced some liberal measures, it was solely intended to be of profit to a particular business house which greased the palms of Indira Gandhi and her sycophants. In 1971, she allowed the import of polyester filament yarn, against export of rayon fabrics to assist Ambani. After he built a filament yarn plant in India, it was withdrawn in 1979. Again, the country curtailed production of synthetic fabrics, which led to a spurt in smuggling that in turn helped the politicians in the form of kickbacks from smugglers. Sometimes, the decisions were so blatantly stupid that we’d be amazed at the thinly veiled pandering to some arcane socialist principle. In 1984, it granted a PTA (purified terephthalic acid) plant to Reliance, but will not give permission to its competitors, who received it only after the liberalization agenda was put in place in 1991. By then, Reliance could make a head start. Government even interfered in the management of private companies. It denied the extension of partnership of Bajaj with Vespa in 1971, citing that the company had become a monopoly. However, the real reason was that Kamalnayan Bajaj sided with the opponents of Indira when Congress split in 1969. This was at a time when people had to wait for years after booking a Bajaj scooter to take delivery! Flawed ideological affiliations of short-sighted politicians wreaked havoc in the industry when such people found power in their hands. George Fernandes, a socialist trade-union leader turned minister, drove out Coca Cola and IBM from India. He also compared the business community to rats. Nehru was also not free from the allegation of shortsightedness. He denied approval to Birla to set up an integrated steel plant in Bihar, on the flimsy argument that such plants were reserved for the public sector. This greatly upset Birla, who had already found a U.S. partner for the plant. In the end, Nehru allowed to set up Hindalco, as some kind of consolation.

The one thing we note repeatedly in the book is that there is no clear cut path to success. These winners have each taken an unknown trail through the wilderness to reach glory. There are countless others who fell by the wayside and we will never come across their stories. The diversity of the successful entrepreneurs in their modus operandi is humongous. Ambani, whose name was said to be an acronym for ambition and money, was a proponent of backward integration. He began with textiles, which is an end product for consumers, and worked his way backward through the intermediate chain like polyester, petrochemicals, refinery and finally, oil exploration. Sometimes, fights between industrialists broke out, who go all out in devising means for humbling the opponent. One such illustrative case is described by the author, which must be mentioned. The newspaper Indian Express carried a series of stinging articles against Ambani and Reliance in 1986-87, causing much harm to its business interests. This was later turned out to be designed to favour Nusli Wadia of Bombay Dyeing in their tussle against Reliance. Wadia’s closeness to Ramnath Goenka, who controlled Indian Express, was legendary. People like Vijay Shah were very flamboyant, while Ram Prasad Goenka was reclusive to the point of not even divulging the names of books he was reading so as not to present an opportunity for others to gauge his personality! Then again, some are attracted to high risk-taking, while others are averse to it. Birla never made a product that required large-scale promotion and stayed away from consumer products which were risky. Businessmen like Tatas were thrifty, while others like Vijay and Bharat Shahs were extravagant. When the opulence at Shah’s daughter’s wedding exceeded all limits, public protest marred the proceedings. The boasting of the Shahs reproduced in the book – if true – is a challenge to the rule of law. He claims to have made the Thai government fall in line to grant him tax exemption by threatening to walk out. He organized traders’ protest against taxmen who raided his offices to search for income tax evasions. His construction companies were notorious for not honouring their commitment to handover residential flats at the proper time.

Gita Piramal has done a wonderful job in compiling a book of this kind that is also eminently readable. Credit must be given to her in formulating criteria to select the businessmen who were to be covered in the text. The author hit upon three parameters for objective analysis – look into the past and the future, territorial dominance and talent from established business families. The third criterion ruled out professional managers and self-made entrepreneurs like IT stalwarts. Vijay Mallya is curiously omitted, which is all the more prescient considering the financial scams he fell into. The book was published in 1996, and the information is hence slightly dated. It is high time a revised version hit the stands. The book includes the family trees of all seven clans, which is a nice place to scout for some very good baby names for those so inclined! An impressive bibliography and a basic index add value to the work. A set of photographs would’ve added more interest.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

Stranger to History

Title: Stranger to History – A Son’s Journey Through Islamic Lands

Author: Aatish Taseer

Publisher: Picador, 2009 (First)

ISBN: 9780330511155

Pages: 323

India, a multicultural, multi-religious and multiethnic country, was partitioned in 1947 to make room for a republic of Muslims, who claimed to be a nation that can’t coexist with others. Feuds among brothers are common in families, and when a partition plan acceptable to all is implemented, peace eventually returns. But not so in the case of India and Pakistan. Communal riots of the worst kind broke out in both countries and a mass transfer of populations took place. Families were divided, relatives ended up across the border. Ties between the two countries floundered and people to people contacts also died down. Even in such frozen state of affairs, rare contacts indeed took place and love got the better of patriotism. Aatish Taseer had worked as a reporter for Time magazine. He is a bridge that connects the two countries, as his parents – Indian Sikh mother and Pakistani Muslim father – met in the fag end of 1970s and the author was born. Salmaan Taseer, his father, being somewhat a playboy, broke the relationship and returned to Pakistan. Aatish Taseer grew up in India in his mother’s household. He had only a dim recollection of his father as an infant. At the age of 21, he traveled all by himself to Lahore to meet his father, but was distracted by his indifference. His father had married many times in the meanwhile and had children through all of them. When his father read the author’s coverage of the London terrorist bombings of 2005, he advised his son to learn more about the religion to which they both belonged and to understand the Pakistani ethos. Aatish made a travel through Islamic countries which terminated in Pakistan, meeting his father. This book, the first one from the author, analyses the socio-religious ferment in the Islamic states and its precarious reconciliation to modern Western society.

Aatish travels through Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran, before finally arriving in Pakistan. With his discussions among intellectuals and ordinary people in these places, he identifies the fault lines with unerring accuracy. He rightly observed in 2006 how fragile Turkey’s forceful brand of secularism, backed by the army, which could silence even the boldest Islamists. Fundamentalism is right there beneath the authority’s noses, as exemplified by the author’s visit to the neighbourhood of Fatih Carsamba in Istanbul. Islam was coming back in through the back door. These words appear prophetic, with the recent failed coup against President Erdogan. Fundamentalists want to break away from a nation’s secular history, making the citizens strangers to it, and go back to the religion’s historic roots with anachronistic desires to dress or think like the Prophet did. In short, their aim is to return to a moment of time, some 1400 years ago, in a time warp if possible. As expressed by representative men in Turkey, Islam wants to dominate the world, where they are ready to grant the right to life to other religionists and perhaps nothing more. They also consider their own governments and political classes as corrupted by western style. There is only a single way out for a clean government – Islam – which is shared by many billions of people having supra-nationalist affiliation to a common brotherhood. What this produces is an absurd insistence on trifles like detailed control of the believer’s life from his personal habits to his food choices.

The picture is not much different in Syria, where Islamic universities don’t offer any real solutions, but harness the grievance of the people against the West. When the author traveled the country in 2006, they openly sided with the regime of Assad. After the civil war broke out in Syria, these universities turned out to be the breeding ground of ISIS terrorists. Islam’s peculiarity observed by the author in the wake of the protests against cartoons appeared in a Danish journal against the Prophet is that even the moderates among them called for violence! Of the countries he toured, Turkey and Iran present contrasts of a glaring nature. The regime made secularism compulsory in all public transactions in Turkey, but the people were often deeply religious in private. In Iran, the government insisted on strict Islamic code of conduct in public, but the people were more or less secular in private. The author tells about the unbelievable tendency of a growing number of city dwellers to follow the Hare Krishna movement in Iran. It should, however, be thought only as a form of resistance to the regime of clerics and Basiji, the militia that enforces religious virtue, rather than due to any interest in Hinduism. There also, Islam encompasses all its followers under a species, jokingly called Homo Islamicos. People of other religions are thought to belong to other species. The youth has become strangers to their own history, where pre-Islamic history is blacked out. Islam in Iran is not a religion, but politics. By making even minor transgressions a crime, it has made an entire urban youth criminalized.

Pakistan presents the most tragi-comic example of all. It was founded on faith, but was never part of the tradition of high Islam. They didn’t have an Islamic past, as virtually all of them are converted Hindus, so now look forward to a great Islamic future. The country was established on the single agenda of rejection of India in every sphere. Pakistanis, at least a sizeable number of them, live in a hallucinogenic misunderstanding of the supposed ‘manliness’ of Muslims and emaciated cowardice of Hindus. It is amusing to observe this delusive image created by self-hypnotism or something! It is a plain fact that nearly 100,000 ‘manly’ soldiers of the Pakistan army meekly surrendered to valiant Indian troops at the end of the 1971 war and India cut Pakistan neatly into two fragments, like a piece of cake! This is all the more significant now, as another dismemberment of the country in the form of Balochistan is on the cards. In the absence of a credible state, local militias and crude power was everywhere. Rich people travel to the countryside only with a loaded Kalashnikov within their reach. Aatish records instances where the police themselves turn dacoits during their off-duty hours.

Subtitled ‘A Son’s Journey through Islamic Lands’, the book is a re-evaluation of Islam on the basis of its strict demand of allegiance from its adherents. Taseer brings out the points where mainstream society break ranks with fundamentalism, but adopts a semi-resigned compromise with it. Fundamentalists always go by a feeling of victimization, a sense of persecution whether living in a Muslim society or not. That’s the well from which youngsters who were born and brought up in Europe turn away from the society and go east to the deadly embrace of the Islamic State. Religion has become a political and historical grievance against the modern world. Such fusing of history with faith spells danger to pluralistic and multicultural societies. Taseer answers a perennial problem often associated with Islamic societies where the voice of the moderates are not heard. Even though it is often claimed that the terrorists constitute only a tiny minority of Muslims, the voice of the ‘moderate’ majority is conspicuous by absence. The author identifies them with his father and step-siblings, who don’t pray, wear any dress they like, drink what they choose, but harboured feelings of hatred of Jews, Americans or Hindus that were founded on faith and only thinly masked in political arguments.

The book is a very good one to read, considering this is the first one from the author. A set of photographs and an index would’ve added much interest to the book.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

An Incurable Romantic

Title: An Incurable Romantic – The Musical Journey of Lalgudi Jayaraman

Author: Lakshmi Devnath

Publisher: HarperCollins India, 2013 (First)

ISBN: 9789350291887

Pages: 434

Indian music has two distinct streams – the Hindustani of North India and the Carnatic of the South. In both streams, vocal music reigns supreme, but instrumental music has found its voice in the last century. Shri. Lalgudi Gopala Iyer Jayaraman (1930 – 2013) was a great violinist of South India who redefined the role of the instrument in traditional concerts. The violinist’s expected role was to unobtrusively support, creatively mirror and subtly inspire the vocalist, who is the leader of the recital. With his excellent solo performances, Lalgudi created a niche for violin, whose origin is Western European, but which came to be an inseparable part of Carnatic music. Lakshmi Devnath is a well-known writer on Carnatic music and other aspects of Indian culture. Her deeply researched articles find a place in prestigious publications in South India. She has extensively written on composers of Carnatic music, texts on Indian music philosophers and saints of India. The author’s ability to write with ease on a variety of subjects and for diverse age groups has won her wide admiration. This book on Lalgudi Jayaraman is undoubtedly her magnum opus.

Lalgudi Jayaraman hails from an extremely orthodox Tamil Brahmin family that traces its links to the eminent doyen of Carnatic music, saint Tyagaraja. Lalgudi Rama Iyer, one of his ancestors, was a direct disciple of Tyagaraja. The tradition of music runs unbroken in the family, which boasts of six generations of professional musicians. The maestro’s father, Gopala Iyer, was a strict disciplinarian and instructor, who had imparted the knowledge of music to Jayaraman and his descendants. Mastery of the art entailed respect from all concerned, including one’s own father, as noted by the author that Gopala Iyer, in response to queries on the whereabouts of his son from visitors, often replied “avar illai” (he is not here), the term “avar” being a respectful form of address. Iyer believed that unless he was seen respecting his own son, others won’t do it either! Lalgudi’s siblings and offspring also excelled in music. It was once a recurrent theme of Chennai concerts to stage Lalgudi and his sister Srimathi Brahmanandam duo in double violin stage shows. However, the family assigned the highest priority to music as illustrated in an episode in the book. One of Lalgudi’s sisters was ill for a long time and suddenly died at the moment he was about to go out to stage a concert. The family decided that he should attend the program as committed!

Lalgudi earned fame for his tremendous mastery over rhythm. He came out with impromptu, but creative responses to difficult pallavis recited by the vocalist. Cushioned somewhat by one of the grandest pedigrees in South India, his high-voltage entry into music transformed later into vertical takeoff mode. He was not only a violinist, but a composer as well, with that rare ability to compose lyrics and their corresponding musical setting. As is the wont of any violinist, he began his career as an accompanist. As his fame soared, solo appearances started coming out and finally in 1986, at the age of 56, Lalgudi ended his career as an accompanist. All his later performances were solo. The Sri Krishna Gana Sabha in Chennai has a prominent place in the artiste’s life, as they grew together in the 1960s. Lalgudi has given the largest number of concerts on the Sabha’s podium. He excelled as an orchestral composer and conductor too. Lakshmi Devnath summarizes the contributions of Lalgudi and he is remembered for “his pioneering a revolutionary style of violin playing described as the Lalgudi bani; his creation of sterling compositions that include his sizable musical; his discovery of a new rhythmic pattern; his success at getting the violin recognized as a centre-stage instrument; and his all-round efforts towards spreading awareness, appreciation and knowledge of Carnatic music” (p.337). Lalgudi was appreciated by maestros of world art. Yehudi Menuhin once gifted him a violin and he returned the favour with an idol of Nataraja carved in ivory.

Professional jealousy and unhealthy competition is present in all walks of life, and it is amusing to note that they are not entirely absent in classical music as well. Devnath presents a number of cases in which Lalgudi was at the receiving end of canards and machinations by a few personalities, who were otherwise eminent and well learned in their area of expertise, whether it is vocal, flute or violin itself. But she has carefully reproduced some of the allegations against the master as well, such as his supposed haughtiness and condescension towards younger artistes in later years. Lalgudi pioneered a synthesis of three prominent musical instruments in Carnatic music, namely, violin, flute and veena under the sobriquet VVV (violin – venu – veena). But after a few performances, this effort floundered on a ruckus between the performers on such silly accusations like the veena and flute was relegated to the background and the players were not properly paid. R Venkitaraman (veena) and N Ramani (flute) ranged against Lalgudi in this unfortunate episode. The Chennai Music Academy maintained the practice of awarding the title ‘Sangita Kala Nidhi’ to eminent musicians. Unfortunately, this award eluded Lalgudi, however much he yearned for it. The author points the accusing finger at the famous musician Semmangudi, who had his acolytes in the decision-making fora of the Academy. Not only that, when a politician mistakenly praised Lalgudi as a receiver of the award, Semmangudi publicly corrected the politician that he has not yet received the award. This infuriated Lalgudi very much and led to a rift between them. This was later reconciled, but Lalgudi declared that he won’t accept the award, even if the Academy deign to present it to him. After many years, a sort of rapprochement was arrived at, by the Academy gifting him a Lifetime Achievement Award. Lalgudi was severely criticized many times in his professional career. A few considered him as opinionated, arrogant and closeted himself in an ivory tower. He was aloof and his reticence, brusque manners and lack of social graces might be a reason for the misunderstanding. His tillanas were said to be slow. But, Lalgudi always kept a stoic approach to such allegations, remarking that it was up to the critics to accept or reject his work. The book mentions a number of artistes of Carnatic music, not only violinists, but flautists, vocalists, masters of mridanga and veena and even dancers. However, the name of another great violinist of the era, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, is never mentioned. It is strange and inconceivable that these two great maestros had no occasion worthwhile to recall in their decades of interaction.

The book begins with a Foreword by none other than Pandit Ravi Shankar, which is quite impressive. Lakshmi Devnath’s personal acquaintance with the great violinist has helped imprint a touch of intimacy to the narrative. Lalgudi’s aphorisms given in little boxes throughout the text help the readers focus more on the protagonist. The book assumes basic familiarity on the part of readers towards classical music. There is a glossary at the end, describing musical terms such as raga alapana, swara prastara, chittaswaram, violin’s pitch and kattai and others, but uninitiated readers don’t find much comfort in it. A compact disk is also provided along with the book, which includes samples of the master’s art that would be extremely useful for readers. There is a nice collection of photographs of Lalgudi and his family members, but none showing the young master with a kudumi (tuft of hair) and a kadukkan (ear stud) worn by orthodox Brahmins which was his usual attire in the early years! Going through the numerous references to musicians one comes across in the book, one can’t help wonder at the fact that Carnatic music is dominated by the Tamil Brahmin community. The long list of Iyers, Lalgudi himself being one of them, is mind-boggling. Perhaps this might be one of the reasons why classical music is unable to be appealing to a large section of contemporary society? Lalgudi had campaigned far and wide for enhancing the popularity of Carnatic music with his pollination campaigns, but he also doesn’t seem to have appreciated this point. The book is graced with a good index. The title of the book become relevant when we bear in mind the constant refrain of the maestro in bringing out the sweet aspects of music through his innovations which were deeply founded in tradition. His first and foremost love was for music and hence, he may be referred to as an incurable romantic. In real life, nothing could be further from the common meaning of the word, for Lalgudi never even accompanied women vocalists on his violin!

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star