Thoughts on Forum Decorum - Rasikatvam ??

[saveri]

The new thread started on Sanjay by Varnam has triggered this thread.

Precisely for the reason, (I felt) , that this forum was somewhere getting into some sort of mafiadom, and too much gossip based writing ,I kept away for long.
I'm tempted to come and peep like a cuckoo in the clock, to announce that it is time, that we should keep this as a review platform without biases.

There could be some brilliant forum members, who would say "vandhutaan da vandhutaan" !!! Still having decided to write, I hold loftily the pen of expression, which may or may not be agreeable to all.

After an analysis, my (personal ) analysis of this forum is that, some like TMK, Su.Prakash, GV, and some junior upcoming artists (JUST TO NAME A FEW ,pls.... ) ....... (dont start a fighter thread on this !!!), get nothing but praises and praises.

Some legends, like TNS, get the smoothest to the roughest beating, swinging up and down like a yo -yo. Very electrifying sometimes, very vituperative sometimes (Barring his die hard fan !)

If someone is a die hard fan, so be it. Let us not ridicule him or her. We do not have to keep on replying to all threads. It takes two hands to clap.

If someone has/ has not been mesmerised on a particular day by an artist, so be it. It could well happen that ,that's what it was. All of us have our days.Artists are NO GODS. They too are HUMAN. But what separates them is by far their consistency of performance, without which , a certain stature cannot be reached on the stage.

One thing that this forum members could re-pledge is that Art is bigger than the artist. On that basis, my bit of basic decorum value list is as follows :

1. let us refrain from making "personal", (I repeat personal,) remarks and judgements, on voice, age etc.

2. let us not calculate the timings of the alapana, swara etc. and then judge the artist. It is not some race against time.

3. let us not openly compare artists on a one to one basis ( we may have it in our minds, but let us maintain forum decorum)

4. let us not forget that we are reporting on the basis of our OWN backgroungs, understanding and appreciation and give riders and explanations to prove that.

5. let us refrain from listing , which artist attended etc etc and on that basis make an assumption of goodness of the concert.

6. let us not declare that we know an artist personally, and on that basis, make a comment; we may but, then musicianship is different from friendship.


Art and artists need to grow and as rasikas, we also have to grow and sometimes grow with the artist. Healthy and constructive analysis will help this.

A few thoughts came to my mind and since they could not be held under my grey cells for too long, I mustered the "GUTS", to pen them down, expecting fully well, what is coming my way !!!!!.

[coolkarni]

.

[anupama]

Excellent Saveri , what you have said is very true few artists like TMK Suryaprakash gv gg and few other junior upcoming artists get nothing but praises and praises and get reviews for most of their concerts .
After deep analysis i noticed that few members have reviewed 2concerts simulteneously held at Mambalam ( 4 30pm to 6 45) and at mylapore ( 5pm to 7 pm) same day date and timings ( different threads, topic) saying that he has attended both concerts
how was it possible?? Very absurd indeed, that person must have played a dual role like MGR Sivaji ,

Members sometimes fail to give Healthy and constructive criticism, they have rights to review the positive and negative aspects a concert, but In one thread an artist is condemned as a " very average singer"

[amrithavarshini]

I myself wanted to putforth all the points mentioned by saveri , Thanks for starting this new topic saveri thank you very much for the points suggested
. Hope all the memebers will follow the worthy
suggetions henceforth,

[vasanthakokilam]

Saveri, Kji: Those are all great points. A sort of rasika manifesto, a set of guidelines to follow.

Occasionally, we also have to deal with rasikas who get carried away and create multiple ids and post for or against a topic. This can skew the nature of the discussion. ( btw, this is an apt occasion to state that such multiple ids are prohibited in this forum, It is easy to detect but it takes a little while for the mods and admins to get to it and clean up such ids. It is requested that members do not resort to such things ).

[gopubabu]

Saveri said

"that this forum was somewhere getting into some sort of mafiadom, and too much gossip based writing

and we should keep this as a review platform without biases. "

absolutely true.

[kamalamba]

I agree with everything Saveri has written.

In addition, I do not even have a problem if a rasika likes a particular artist and follows their concerts and writes about them to share their views etc.

However, what seems unnecessary is

1. to openly and in an extremely biassed manner compare one artist versus another; there have been uncalled-for comparisons of TMK vs Sanjay (reminds me of my school days when there would be MGR vs Sivaji Ganesan or Kamal Hasan vs Rajnikant or MSV vs Ilayaraja... type comparisons).

2. It also seems unnecessary to put down legends (for example, TNS), for the reasons that his sruti has been a problem, or that he uses complicated kanakkus....

3. Finally, it also seems unnecessary to pry into and discuss aspects not related to on-stage performance. We have seen many examples of such stage-unrelated issues discussed in the recent past.

[kartik]

1. let us refrain from making "personal", (I repeat personal,) remarks and judgements, on voice, age etc.

Disagree-Sometimes,artists get carried away by their fertile imagination,but the voice is no longer co-operative due to age.The other problem could also be that several die-hard fans go to attend concerts of a single artist the entire season,and they would feel let down when the sruti alignment is no longer there,the voice cracks at higher octaves.

2. let us not calculate the timings of the alapana, swara etc. and then judge the artist. It is not some race against time.

Disagree-This is particularly necessary for specific cases such as "RTP for RTP sake"-20 mts of RTP, with 4 minutes of alapana,3 minutes of return,4 minutes of tanam and 7 minutes of pallavi with 2 minutes of "mini-thani".Imagine a bhairavi rtp or a shanmukhapriya RTP in this format.
This disturbing trend needs to be brought to the notice of artists,I dont personally see anything wrong with this.
It could sound a bit embarassing for the artist-it could be lack of planning,lack of imagination to elaborate a raga,bad voice, anything.But if the rasikas highlight an instance of an RTP- a glorious celebration of Carnatic music -reduced to a trivial excercise , then I think it is perfectly fine.

3. let us not openly compare artists on a one to one basis ( we may have it in our minds, but let us maintain forum decorum)

Good point-but perhaps it makes sense when an artist who say,is from a MMI bani but trying to move away and make her individuality felt.Comparing contemporary artists...well...thats a tough one,but a natural point of discussion...the similarities...the vagaries.

4. let us not forget that we are reporting on the basis of our OWN backgroungs, understanding and appreciation and give riders and explanations to prove that.

Disagree -Dont the artists know it?Or are the endless kanakkus meant only for the elite at the cost of the average rasika and a pompous show of knowledge?

5. let us refrain from listing , which artist attended etc etc and on that basis make an assumption of goodness of the concert.

Disagree-Why not-If an artist attends a concert of his contemporary(for whatever reason)in this world of increasingly bloated egoes, we should give the benefit of doubt that it is of mutual respect and that she has wanted to be a rasika of the "art" and not the performing.I think it demonstrates humility,and if someone has spotted a high-flying contemporary artist attending her peer's concert, I think it is healthy and laudable!Ha,but the last bench,first bench,burka-clad stuff are immaterial.

Art and artists need to grow and as rasikas, we also have to grow and sometimes grow with the artist. Healthy and constructive analysis will help this.

Saveri,it may be good if you can cite examples of what ought to be covered in a constructive rasika "review" or whether we want composition lists?I am a bit confused.

While I am not in favour of bashing of artists,I am not too sure how one can provide constructive/sincere feedback without touching upon the weaknesses and just use superlatives in praise!!That would be of no use

I am sure the mature artists care more for the negative feedback than for the positive ones!!

[bilahari]

Saveri,
While I agree with you that the forum has become a lot more fractious recently, with regards to your commandments, my specific thoughts are:

1. Agree with kartik that age-related vocal problems (or lack thereof) are perfectly fair ground for a concert review. It would be rather strange to not mention such observations/ opinions in a review. However, I fully agree that we should restrict ourselves to comments on the voice and not form judgments like "he/she should stop singing."

2. The observations of duration of components is sometimes a clearer and more objective reflection of proportion, which you'd agree is extremely important in concert presentation. For instance, it is only natural to say, "X played a 25 minute thani in a 1.5 hour concert and it just dragged on and on." The number does give readers a better idea of the reviewer's complaint. And few reviews I have seen on this forum treat these numbers as anything but an auxiliary observation. The time does not contribute to the formation of the opinion primarily.

3. More specifically, we should avoid putting other artistes down at the expense of complimenting others. This has been a problem in our forum recently.

4. Agreed. These are individual opinions and to each his own. Said a thousand times over in the forum and well worth repeating.

5. This is nothing but light and harmless "vambu" (gossip) and I have not seen one instance in the forum where the specific audience members were seen as a reflection on the quality of the concert. Or did I not catch your drift? If so, please clarify.

6. Right on, but not a major problem in the site as well. I can only think of one instance in recent times of this problem.

With respect to artistes like TMK, Suryaprakash, I don't understand why you'd think that all the reviews are overwhelmingly positive. There have been major mixed opinions on TMK's Academy concert, and I can think of several other reviews offhand which mentioned several flaws. I think it's important to look at specific reviews rather than general trends. It is unfair to complain that TMK's reviews are generally positive because perhaps he does present good music consistently. It would be fair, however, to complain that specific reviews are nothing but empty hero worship of his greatness, but this is not the case at all. An excellent example is rajeshnat's reviews of Suryaprakash, where he's quite honest with the specific things he did/didn't like about each rendition, even as he enjoyed the concert as a whole. THIS is the objectivity I find lacking in several reviews.

Thanks for starting an important discussion, Saveri, and let's have more people chip in.

[saveri]

Cool karniji : I welcome and accept your point No.6. Go ahead. Point No.7 is our ULTIMATE objective.

Kartik : I had already said that "I knew what is coming my way"

I am a slightly greying rasika in this field of Carnatic music of which I am "passionate" to the core , (student, listener, singer etc).

Luckily I have got to see, interact in person and hear a few of the Past Masters , Living Legends and many of the youngsters, (Seniors and upcoming), and one naturally can see the floatation of time and values as they swing by in this Sangeeta Saagaram.

I have not asked anybody to coochicoo or shower praises for an artist. By the very same logic, vituperative language and value judgements are not only harmful but also bring a lot of bad blood, when the whole purpose of this art form is to refine us.

1.As for your question on the artist showing their virtuosity - pompous show of knowledge :

My opinion is that an artist can bring to table only that he or she is expert at. He / she became famous and known for certain aspects of music and hence had a following. Unless there was an element of "ranjakatvam" in the whole exercise, the artist would have been shunned long time back.

Just as there are gradations of listeners , there are gradations of artists, some experts in one and the other experts in the other.

Some experts choose to show their prowes on stage, some suppress it. It is highly an artist's prerogative to choose to do or not to do. If it is not appealing to us, let us refrain from attending the same or having attended , writing about the same.

Each one has brought to the table a certain formula that works well for himself or herself and the audience. Some go for intellectual stimulation and some for claps. Some of the artists have even tried to bend their backs to constantly please rasikas and have lost their bearings in that process. Some have got it fine and right.

2. As for constructive criticism :

we could word our critique in a nicer language. Don't have to adopt a slam bam approach ! Yes if u heard Manji or Mukhari in his Bhairavi, by all means go ahead and say that. But U also be sure of the various aspects of the ragas before u choose to comment. Also say it in a non offensive manner.

Constructively criticise the young ones and the upcoming ones. Why should they only be showered with praises? Doesn't some sort of psycophancy creep in there too?

3.As for artist attendance list :

go ahead and appreciate your favourites, nothing wrong. But don't make judgements on where he or she sat, who he was seen with, his relation or otherwise with the artist of the day.

I read , ( quote ): TMK had come for Sanjays concert, but was sitting upstairs, why not in the front row in the ground floor. The next day he sang Eppo Varuvaro, was it inspired by the first day listening? WHY ? Can't they listen to each other , biased or unbiased? They too are humans, for God's sake. Why should each be inspired to compete? Are we in some sort of dog eat dog stiuation?

Looks like even if artists want to be friendly and have a fraternity, its rasikas, who kindle controversies and spoil the entire atmosphere of brotherliness. This camp vs that camp. Our music has for long suffered these nonsense, at least let us now make an effort to reduce that. That was my intention.

4. As to the question of time :

If the thani was long say so, can even say that the raga alapana was too short or too long, for the mood of the song to be followed.
But what i increasingly see, is that capabilities and capacities are judged by the length of the alapana, or otherwise. Let us not make such judgements.

5. As to the question of personal judgements on voice , age etc.:

It is not what u say, but how u say it is what makes it hurting. Also some say that he/ she should stop singing etc. , because the voice is lost, or the sheen is gone. Such ones could be avoided. Dont like it, stop listening or live with the phase of recordings that u liked.

6. Last but not the least, dont judge a colleague rasika's response by his fondness for an artist's musical style and thereby condemn his opinion or the artist in question. Many rasikas, may like two artists of diverse styles, because many of us love , live and like some diversities in most aspects of our lives.

Having said all this I am reminded of the great Violin Maestro, Yehudi Menuhins' comment :

One day i don't touch my violin, my hands tell me.

The next day i don't touch my violin, the violin tells me.

The third day i don't touch my violin, the AUDIENCE tells me.

On that note, i say goodbye.

[kartik]

Kartik : I had already said that "I knew what is coming my way"

My apologies if I sounded caustic-that was/has never been my style-but it was important for me to express myself.
I myself have been disappointed with a few aging artists failing to understand the increasingly glaring limitations of the ageing voice.
Coolji,with whom I have shared several years of musical experience,knows for certain what I mean.We have exchanged hours of excited conversations/music clip demonstrations over phone for just that untouched aspect of a common raga.


I think there is also another point.Several rasikas in this forum are sincere.I have seen several reviews where they have said the artist's voice was shaky at the beginning but settled down towards the main.People are willing to wait,give their favourite artistes time-they realize they too are humans and with so many concerts to deliver in the season,it is but natural that voice shows signs of tiredness.But it is here that the artists also step up and try and be consistent.

2. As for constructive criticism :

we could word our critique in a nicer language. Don't have to adopt a slam bam approach ! Yes if u heard Manji or Mukhari in his Bhairavi, by all means go ahead and say that. But U also be sure of the various aspects of the ragas before u choose to comment. Also say it in a non offensive manner.

Agreed fully,This should be the essence of an intellectual review.

But,
If there was a slip in alapana,it should be brought to notice.(I am sure people would think twice before stating anything in this exalted forum)
If there was a tala slip,it qualifies too.
When a sruti lapse was spotted
When an artiste attempts a grahabedha and struggles to get back to the main raga.
When there is lack of planning in a concert.
When artistes refer to notes for Pakkala Nilabadi.
When the pakkavadyam is given a raw deal
When the return exceeds the length of the main artist's alapana
When Shankarabharanam is the main and Janaranjani RTP is taken up
When for example-KVN sang Kambodi,Yadukulakambodi and Harikambodi in the 1978 Bangalore Ramanavami celebrations concert
When Marathi abhangs are sung-HOW MANY CHENNAI RASIKAS UNDERSTAND MARATHI,even if it is chaste Marathi?
When tukkadas take up 45 minutes.

Several special ones
When the artist keeps the audience guessing by withholding the key phrase of the raga
When the main artist smiles at the accompanist when she slips
When the main artist goes around with SRGP, waiting for the accompanist to play Mohanam and then change the Dhaivata to Vasanthi and flash a smile.


5. As to the question of personal judgements on voice , age etc.:

Dont like it, stop listening or live with the phase of recordings that u liked.

The music needs to decide if rasikas want to listen live or they want to live the phase of recordings,not the artist.Never take rasikas for granted.

On that note, i say goodbye.

That would be a shame.

Kartik

[cienu]

When Marathi abhangs are sung-HOW MANY CHENNAI RASIKAS UNDERSTAND MARATHI,even if it is chaste Marathi?

For that matter not many Chennai rasikas would understand Telugu, Kannada, Sanskrit etc And I also know of some highly knowledgable rasikas for whom lyrics and their meaning are not paramount (& I wish to state that I'm not contesting that view point in this thread)

I feel to single out Marathi alone may not be right.

After all Thanjavur was a cultural melting-pot of Tamil. Kannada, Telugu and Marathi cultures under the rule of Vijayanagara (Nayaka) chiefs of Karnataka/Andhra and Maratha kings & CM has been enriched by contributions of some great Marathi exponents like the Mridanga Vidwan Narayanswamy Appa, Gottuvadyam exponent Sakarama Rao (Semmangudi's Guru), Kanjira maestro Harishankar etc.

[Varnam]

Dear Rasikas,

Thanks for this initiative.

A simple, genuine appreciation of one’s music has flared up some unwarranted attention & reviews.

As a new comer into this forum with an undisclosed personal identity, there is nothing personal about these remarks anyways. Such things only make ones convictions stronger.

Of course, "the pristine CM"

[rajumds]

Let's remind ourselves that it is an online forum and with membership unrestricted we will have all kinds of opinions. It is very difficult to restrict and control the direction of a discussion.

It is up to a member to decide whether he wants to read and respond to a particular post , just as you choose a concert to attend.

My request will be - Just review a concert and comment on the performance of the artists in that particular concert . Refrain from making general comments, but if an artists performs below par and there are obvious slips, there is nothing wrong in pointing it out.. Listening to music is a personal experience and most of the review are likely to coloured.

Saveri , I don't think it is correct on your part to start a thread and then say goodbye on the second post. As the initiator of this thread it is your responsibilty to anchor it to its conclusion.

[rajumds]

Going through this thread had me introspecting about the general direction of the forum itself. While there has been a phenomenal increase in the membership over the last two years, whether there is an improvement in the quality of discussions is a debatable.

Most of the discussions of late have been in Kutcheri reviews and general discussions. It is long time we had discussions of depth as we had in discussing Wodeyar/GNB/MDR/DRS in vageyyakara forum. Or about ragas / talas in technical discussions or analyzing the meaning of krirtis.

Those brilliant discussions on tala in Ravishankar puzzle thread and in melakartha raga discussions.

Discussions about talaprastara , analysing tanis, structuring of tanis, discussions about Brhamam , about secular kritis in CM, super conscious state in music , ... the list seems endless.

Some of our scholarly members like VGV , DRS have stopped posting.

I really wish we could have such discussions with depth and knowledge again in this forum

[Nick H]

Goodness: I rarely read the revue threads, except for occasional curiosity about a favourite artist. My reason for not doing so is, in the absence of the knowledge and experience that allow a song and raga list to spring to life in the mind, they tend to be rather dry.

It seems I've really been missing a lot!

Combining two wonderful words from my mothertongue (sincerely): to be vituperative is preposterous. In fact, it is, of course, worse: it is (doesn't the word come from vipers, snakes?) poisonous.

Otherwise, in a forum where the members include performers, musicologists, composers, archivists, rasikas with a huge knowledge/experience bank... all the way to novices and newbies, it is inevitable that more-or-less whatever can be said, will be said.

[rshankar]

Disclaimer: This is germane to not just reviews, but any comment posted on this forum or anywhere else on the wwweb.

In a democratic forum that truly allows anyone to post their views, it will be difficult to anticipate rules to be adhered to, and self-policing may even become a reality with adolescents before it can be expected in forums such as these. That being said, I do believe that posters, for their own peace of minds should develop thick skins (actually, as I have mentioned before, 'three parts armored plate and one part rhinicerous hide' would be more like it:)) and stop responding to percieved or real slights (to themselves, what they posted, or to their ideal). This simply will result is a huge reduction in traffic. Many inflammatory posts are made just for that - to stand back and enjoy the 'rise' achieved! 'Operant conditioning' may work for more than just training dolphins.

[Amruthavarshini]

In his recent concert held in Padma Sarangapani schools, Virugambakam, TNS sir sang in the order as mentioned below-
Darbar, Mohanam, Dwijavanthi,Vijayasri and then Nayaki on request.

[kartik]

Edited my post suitably

[cmlover]

Not everybody is visiting this Foeum to be well-informed. Quite a few come here to entertain and be entertained. Light-hearted banter is part of the show! There are the Sadists who enjoy by tormenting others through verbal volleys by attacking their favourite artistes/idols. At the same time there ar Masochists who wish to be tormented (hope their numbers are small
Some do come here to find 'pearls of CM Wisdom' and they do find them once in a while. There are those who just want to unload their hearts by sharing secrets anonymously attributing them to some celebrities; not out of malice but to unburden their heavy hearts. It is a form of mental catharsis. All are welcome here as long as they follow the rules and as long as whatever is said is said decently. Only the 'Terrorists' who wish to damage this site with spams and destructive 'viruses' are unwelcome. We are always alert for those dangers.

So let us all thank God and (certainly Srkris our webmaster!) for this Gateway he has provided for all categories of Rasikas and enjoy our lives focussing on CM as the Best Medicine for all our ills both physical and Mental!
sarvE janA sukhinO bhavantu |

[Amruthavarshini]

Thanks Karthik:)

[saveri]

My intention was not to stand up like Moses on Mount Sinai and release " Commandments", "Dictats", " Fatwas", etc etc. trying to condition, direct, train or navigate thoughts and actions. Neither has it been intended to be a "show of pearls of wisdom".

Also I fully understand that " Operant Conditioning " is for Dolphins and not for live wire humans with the sixth and seventh sense, now going on perhaps to the eighth!!!!

I came into this forum , only because it was a nice motley group of all kinds of people interested / passionate about music.

Down the line ( I felt) the threads became "noose" and many a time many of us were all over the place. As a fello forumite, I was capitulating on all the myriad posts , and a few thoughts that kept plaguing me, needed a vent in the form of a post. In retrospect it is introspection , brought to words.

Mr. Nick : my usage of the word "vituperative'" was not used loosely, as there have have been times when some posts were none but that. Hence I used the word with utmost thought. I am not saying that always the posts have been wrong or bad.

Yes , we all get carried away at times , but then sometimes , we sit back and collect our thoughts and try to fall back in place and my effort was more that.

Yes not everybody needs to be well informed when we visit this forum. But then we all learn from many things we read and hear. I'm sure many forumites have gained by many posts and threads and tried to gain information , sharpen our knowledge or relearn if something that we know is wrong. I must admit , I have.

Rajumds : I said goodbye to this discussion yesterday, as I did not want to linger on this subject any further to the point of redundancy. Fully agree , that more indepth discussions like you have mentioned will help all of us get a lot more out of this forum.

To the best of my ability I have tried to be objective, more as a learning for myself, than to prepare a 'manifesto' and "hand it down" to all. THAT WAS NOT THE INTENTION.

Since this forum is an Open Gateway, and somewhere down the line knowingly or unknowingly, there is an element of influence on others thoughts, through this, it is in our own interest and our responsibility, to ensure that we process check to see that our gateway is not muddled or blocked. THAT WAS THE INTENTION AND THAT IT SHALL BE.

Hope I have brought it to a "logical conclusion" , cannot do any further !! BYE .

Pardon the usage of the word "I", as it is a personal clarification and not a show of "Ahamkaaram". !!!!

[Nick H]

...my usage of the word "vituperative'" was not used loosely

I am sure that it was not, I respect your use of the word, and I am sure that your choice of it was most accurate.

It is one of those English words that almost carries its meaning in its sound. It is not much to look at --- but when spoken, that is a different matter.

Excuse my sidetrack.

[girish_a]

There are the Sadists who enjoy by tormenting others through verbal volleys by attacking their favourite artistes/idols. At the same time there ar Masochists who wish to be tormented (hope their numbers are small

I am reminded of a joke.

"Hit me" said the masochist to the sadist.
"No, I will not" said the sadist, enjoying himself.

[Nick H]

... --- an old favourite of mine!

[cmlover]

The vidvaan was highly depressed. He badly wanted an outlet to let go his feelings and decided to punish a well-known raga as a wanton victim. He dived into the raga recklessly tearing it into pieces twisting and turning the swaras till they were totally mangled. Even the accompanists would not withstand the horror and would not collaborate on the assasination attempt. They had long quit as did most of the audience except one Rasika who stayed and kept on smiling as though he was in ecstasy. Finally as the vidvaan sobered and stricken by conscience started feeling sorry for his heinous crime. He turned to the Rasika and asked how he could enjoy such an unjust and unprovoked attack on a beautiful raga.

The Rasika replied:
'Sir! That raga was my most favourite. It has been haunting me day and night without relief for years. I was helpless. Now that you have killed it I am totally relieved.
I AM CURED.....

[Purist]

cmlover ; Good one

Hope contributor's to the forum in the Reviews section take a cue

[arasi]

CML,
Funny! And rAgadEvatai looked down from above, smiling at the tormentor and the cured...

[cmlover]

Once a mother brought her young son to me and said that he was totally addicted to movies and was failing at school. She had tried everything including corporeal punishment but nothing worked.
I told her to force him to watch his favourite movie repeatedly (at least five times a day) for the whole of the summer vacation. After one month she called to tell me that the boy was totally cured!

But I don't know whether he had a relapse in his later life

[arasi]

CML,

Seasonal Rasikatvam
- - - - - - - - - - - -
When music cures,
let music be the 'session'
and end all that ails us...

If slouching in a sabha seat
soothes a bruised soul, one
can stay away from the 'couch'
but go seek a physiotherapist!

Yes, I did miss you and other friends when I filled myself with the season's fare. Yet, glad that you were spared all the aches and pains...

[ANU]

I think Saveri, that you have done an indepth study on forum decorum. I agree with you on many points and disagree with you on some. I think that what is important is, we are all just rasikas. We are not 'qualified' critics, if you know what I mean. (Of course, the so called qualified critics can really shear with their sword-pens). But let us bear in mind that we may or may not be right in our views. Our main qualification is that we have heard a lot of music. Most of us (speaking for myself) would not really be able to pin point to a minuscule the actual worth of a concert. It's our preconceived notions, our lay impressions that we are expressing. And while we have every right to express these, we should remember that our non ISI mark views could put a sensitive musician off, especially if he is upcoming. So let us write away, but with a sense of responsibility.