O(pi)nion Utthappa

वडीलधार्‍या माणसांच्या संस्काराचे मोल कळण्यासाठी आपल्या स्वत:ला , बहुधा, अगदी वडीलधारे नाही , पण किमान प्रौढ तरी व्हावे लागते. दुर्दैव हे , की तो पर्यंत आपल्यावर   संस्कार करणारी वडीलधारी माणसे वृद्ध झालेली असतात , आणि अनेकदा कायमची निघूनही गेलेली असतात. त्या संस्कारांचे ऋण त्यांच्यापुढे व्यक्त करणे मग राहून जाते , ते कायमचेच. २८ जूनला आत्या गेली. जवळजवळ सहस्रचंद्रदर्शन करून , नंतर एका फार मोठ्या आजाराला वर्ष-दीड वर्ष मोठ्या धैर्याने तोंड देऊन गेली. मिळालेल्या दीर्घायुष्याचा , मला ठाऊक असलेल्या बहुतेकांपेक्षा, अधिक चांगला उपयोग करून गेली. पण तरीही तिने केलेल्या संस्कारांचे ऋण व्यक्त करण्याचे राहूनच गेले. आत्या ‘उच्चविद्याविभूषित’ म्हणतात तशी होती. इतकंच नव्हे तर संशोधक, विचारवंत आणि शिक्षणतज्ञ होती. एखाद्या विषयाची साग्रसंगीत , सांगोपांग , सखोल , तर्क-विवेकाने , चिकित्सा करून ती अभ्यासपूर्ण भाषेत मांडणारी होती. अर्थातच तिने मला शिकवलेल्या गोष्टींमध्ये वैचारिक , बौद्धिक गोष्टी तर होत्याच. पण मी तसा, लौकिकार्थाने, डॉ. सुमन करंदीकरांचा विद्यार्थी नाही. ‘आपणच’शी माझा संबंध असला तरी...

एखादी भाषा राष्ट्रभाषा केली म्हणजे ती वापरली जायलाच हवी असे का? ते स्थान केवळ प्रतिकात्मक किंवा एकूण इतिहासाचा / संस्कृतीचा विचार करता दिलेल्या सन्मानाचे स्थान असू शकत नाही का?   थोडं गमतीनं सांगायचं तर – आपला राष्ट्रीय प्राणी वाघ आहे म्हणून तो प्रत्येकाने पाळावा अशी अपेक्षा त्या सन्मानामागे आहे का? किंवा तो संख्येने सर्वाधिक असलेला प्राणी असला पाहिजे असा अट्टाहास आपण धरतो का?  राष्ट्रभाषा ही भावनिक गोष्ट आहे – व्यावहारिक नाही – ही गोष्ट मुळात लक्षात घ्यायला हवी असे मला वाटते.   संस्कृत व्यवहारात स्वीकारावी, किंवा शासनाने ती स्वीकारली जावी यासाठी काही विशेष प्रयत्न करावे असे मी म्हणत नाही. व्यावहारिक अर्थाने कोणतीही भाषा भारत ‘राष्ट्रभाषा’ म्हणून स्वीकारू शकत नाही हे आपल्यातील विविधतेमुळे उघड आहे. पण तो मूळ मुद्दा नाहीच आहे. व्यवहारात लोक व्यवहाराला योग्य ती भाषाच वापरतात. उद्या सर्वाधिक पगाराची नोकरी मिळविण्यासाठी संस्कृतच्या ज्ञानाची गरज निर्माण झाली तर आज आयआयटी चे क्लासेस चालवणारे तत्काळ संस्कृतचे क्लासेस चालवायला लागतील. व सगळे विद्यार्थी ही चर्चा बंद करून तिकडे...

Yesterday evening I had another wonderful opportunity to see a play called   'Tierno Bokar'. It was directed by Peter Brook. He was in New York for last month conducting a workshop at the Columbia University. This play was the outcome of that workshop. Tierno Bokar was a Sufi 'sage' from West Africa who lived in the last century. He was a wise man and a voice of tolerance when his country and continent were consumed with religion and politics-based violence. One of his students, Amadou Hamapaté Bâ, who is apparently a great writer and has been a guiding light to UNESCO after Mali’s independence in 1960 (I had not even heard this name until yesterday… but that only shows how ignorant I am) has written a book about his master. The book is titled ‘The Life and Teaching of Tierno Bokar - The Sage of Bandiagara’. The play was based on this book. The performance itself took place in gymnasium of a one of the Columbia University colleges. They had converted it into an ...

Yesterday evening I had one of the most surreal experiences of my life. I saw Amitabh Bachchan ! Real.... exactly as Einstein had said about Gandhi.... 'such a one ever in flesh and blood... ' This was at a retrospective of his films that was organized by the Lincoln Center Film Society. Yesterday's event... 'An Evening with Amitabh Bachchan' was the culmination of that festival. He appeared in person and was interviewed for over two hours. He spoke about many things, his movies, his image as 'angry young man', his favorites stars, politics, his financial troubles, his second innings... The event began with a short documentary on him... it started with the narration by its creator about when he started watching Hindi films and what it means to him... it started with a troop of traditional artists telling a mythological story using an old painting... with a typical Rajasthani folk music as background... It was intermixed with famous writers .... Salman Rashdi...

I heard the Veer Zaara songs yesterday…. The soundtrack of the new Yash Chopra movie… based on the tunes composed by Madan Mohan and sung by Lata and others… You know… Sometimes there comes a moment that reinforces one’s belief… this was one of those moments. I had a conversation with a friend of mine the other day… about a biography of Balgandharva that I was reading at the time. I told him about how, in the twilight days of his career, he still used to perform his pet role of Sindhu in Ram Ganesh Gadakari’s ‘Ekach Pyaala’. He was paralyzed in one side of his body and could not even stand at times… and then he used to perform sitting in a chair!! And the shows were still sold out… (Or ‘house full’ as we call them)!!! No doubt it shows the enormous affection he commanded from a Marathi man and mind….and no doubt what people were there for was his singing and not the ‘play’ per say…but we should also note that even his voice was way past its zenith at that time. This is mid 195...

This past Friday, about the same time Pramod was having a great time at Sachin's, I also had a Tendulkar experience of my own... but of a different kind. I watched the performance of Vijay Tendulkar's Sakharam Binder, performed by 'The Play Company' of New York. The cast was mostly native (except Sarita Chowdhury who played Champa and Sanjeev Jvheri in a small role). The play was translated by Kumud Mehta and Shanta Gokhle and was directed by Maria Mileaf. The performance was in a very small theatre, that had only 13 rows. It is part of the 59th Street Theatre Foundation Building. The building hosts the offices of this foundation and two or three small theatres. Each theatre seats at best approx. 150 people. But they have a small stage, and the necessary lighting arrangements. There was no curtain. It reminded me of Sneh-sadan in Pune except that there was more than one theatre in this building. But the feel was very similar. A small performance for those who are willin...