Friday, December 19, 2014

Songs of the Season

Music takes the front seat, in most people’s lives, at this time of the year.

And on top of the charts of world ‘Billboard Holiday 100’, this Christmas season, is Mary Did you know by Pentatonix. Immediately after that, at number two, is All I Want For Christmas Is You  by Mariah Carey.

These two songs have been vying with one another to stay on top, for the last two weeks.

Meanwhile, people are also digging up old favourites on YouTube where the season’s music is available more quickly today.

If you belong to my age-group, or of my parents – because taste in music didn't change so fast then - you would have definitely heard that rich booming bass voice of Jim Reeves from his famous album Twelve Songs of Christmas.  

These songs of Gentleman Jim, I think, will not lose their magic for years to come, and will keep reverberating in the ears and minds of many.

And who can forget Mary’s Boy Child by Boney M? Or Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee? Or the Christmas Portraitalbum by the Carpenters?

Elvis, Beatles, Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, The Jackson 5, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. All the mainstream musicians knew that a lot of moolah will come their way if only they can release a Christmas album, in its season.

And they did. And the moolah came.

Which is why in the recent past, Mariah Carey, ‘N Sync, Justin Beiber, and even Susan Boyle, did not spare the season. They belted out their own versions, adding to the already dense Christmas music rain-forest.

We must agree, however, that there is something special about Christmas carols which bring out a special warmth inside, and some strange goose bumps on the outside, for Christians and non-Christians alike.

Good music that lifts up our spirits and rejuvenates our minds is always welcome.

But over the years, from a sequence of rhymed stanzas that the 10th century European monks probably uttered in a liturgical style, to a highly upbeat Christmas Rock of the 20th Century, it is clear that music has meandered into some un-trodden paths.  

Paths that could shock those angelic choirs which started it all!

Rock bands like Smashing Pumpkins, U2, Hollywood Undead, Linkin Park, and Phantom Planet have all come out with their own Christmas singles, in the rock genre, beating drums – the ear drums, I mean – to a very heady banging of vocal chords and guitar chords together. 

I have some other personal grouses too. Like, for example, I strongly disagree with Wham’s Last Christmas being listed among Christmas Songs. It is not!  Apart from the word Christmas, there’s just nothing related to it. 

Just like Jingle Bells! Which we know is all about a Sleigh ride. Or of Winter Wonderland, or of Let it snow, which are all about snow, and nothing to do with the main Christmas story.

But let me not get too clinical and cynical. And let me not rob you of that special spirit of the season. Or of that particular joy to the world which the big fat man in red, who is coming to town, brings.

So, be of good cheer. It is not all humbug. Download and listen. 

And silver bells will ring in the cash-registers of online music companies. And musicians’ pockets will jingle all the way… to the banks.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Horror worth Remembering

Pablo Bartholomew's Iconic Photograph of a child victim
On the night of 2 December,  someone started tweeting the world’s worst industrial disaster, as if it were happening live.

But exactly 30 years ago, around the same time on the same day, the Bhopal Gas Tragedy had really happened live, at the then US-owned Union Carbide factory in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

It happened, perhaps, exactly as given in this deadly, chilling account by the tweeter @1984Bhopal.

Around half a million people had been exposed to the deadly fumes of the Methyl Isocyanate gas-leak. Almost 4,000 people died in the immediate aftermath, and around 10,000 subsequent deaths are blamed on this horrible disaster. The survivors’ fight for appropriate compensation is still on-going.

I was thirty years younger then, but I still remember the screaming headlines of the newspapers dated 4 December 1984.

TV news then was very new, and extremely slow. But I clearly remember, from the newspapers and news-magazines, the gut-wrenching photos of heaps of dead bodies, of people and of cattle.

You have to just google the names of photo-journalists Pablo Bartholomew and Raghu Rai - with the word ‘Bhopal’ - to see the horror they recorded for posterity.

Anyway, coming back to the tweeter, we are not very sure of the real identity. But Aziza is the name given. And here is what Aziza tweeted.

"At about 12.30 am, I woke up to the sound of Ruby coughing badly...”

"The room is filled with a white cloud. I hear a great noise of people shouting. They are yelling ‘bhaago, bhaago!’” (Run... run...).

"My son Mohsin is coughing. I am coughing too. With each breath as if we are breathing in fire. My eyes are burning".

“We are feeling worse. Mohsin has stopped groaning. He is unconscious. Mother-in-law says we must rush to Hamidia hospital".

“We start. I am carrying Mohsin. Ruby is holding my hand. Sister-in-law is also holding two children. Father-in-law is carrying a grandson”.

 “Looks like lots of others have run past us. Shoes, shawls, clothes are on the street. White clouds are everywhere”.

“People are running, screaming for help, vomiting, falling down, unconscious”.

“Mohsin & my niece are still unconscious. Ruby is holding my kurta. We manage to walk another 500 metres. Bhopal Talkies crossing”.

“Mohsin is vomiting on me. Ruby is also vomiting. I can't control my bowels. Faeces is running down my legs”.

“We must get to hospital. But we can't. We fall down. No strength. I can feel I am having a miscarriage. Blood all over my body. Around me”.

“There are people lying on the ground. They look dead. If we stay here, we will die too. We must go. We must run”.

While some gruesome details can be too disturbing to read, we must admit, the disaster is too real for us to forget.

The world does not learn its lessons quickly. In fact, just two years after Bhopal, in 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant of Ukraine had had a radiation leakage that affected thousands - leading many to suffer and to succumb to cancer.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, when Tsunami hit the Japan in 2011 is an example of how, even if man is very careful, nature can sometimes turn very furious. But should we not be prepared?

Our rising dependency on chemicals, nuclear power, and related technology should create a greater accountability and responsibility from our leaders.

Our occupational Safety and Health Administration experts should never stop warning us or preparing us for the deadly harm technology can sometimes do.