Felicitation at Smt. Vedavalli's Saraswathi award function

[sureshvv]

Speech by Sri Gopalakrishna Gandhi:

It is an honor to be present here today and to join all of you in felicitating Vedavalli Ammal.

Two words come to mind when one thinks of Vedavalli Ammal.

The first is 'respect' and the second 'tradition'.

She personifies the respect that tradition commands and symbolizes the tradition that respect enjoys.

I shall not detain you with words of appreciation on Vedavalli Ammal whom most of you know much better than I do, beyond saying that seeing her is a benediction, hearing her an education in the aesthetics of restraint. She is the embodiment of arivu and pannbu. There is to her personality something of the aroma of a puja and the sound of its mani. Then again, not some tinsel mani made of alloy of thin gauge, but one of those true bell-metal mani-s that are heavy to hold, strong to ring and which resound in direct proportion to the grip of the fingers holding it.

With your permission, I shall share with you some thoughts on 'respect' and 'tradition' - and all in a matter of ten minutes, no more.

Respect is like the fragrance of the magudam flower; it is either there or not there. You cannot conjure it, imagine it, create it. You cannot plant it, install it. Nor can you sub-divide respect like the Padma Awards are split up into, into Vibhushana, Bhushana, Shri. Or like All India Radio's categorizations. You cannot have Respect Grade I, Respect Grade II. Respect neither waits for appointments, nor promotion from one to the next above notch. Respect is respect.

Respect does not come from applying for it, lobbying or petitioning. It does not also come by demanding or snatching it. It is not even, as is often supposed, earned. Respect is accorded, unasked, unsolicited and in fact undesired.

It is not measured. It is not measurable. There is an attribution in the Srivishnusahasranamastotram: Aprameya, that which cannot be measured. Respect cannot be measured. Acknowledgement, appreciation, recognition and even regard can be. We sign off letters with 'regards, best regards, warm regards, high regards' and so on. That practice in dividing regard is unfortunately carried mindlessly into saying 'my deepest respect', 'my highest respect', but that is neither good English, nor good maryadai.

Respect, pure and spontaneous, comes from the working of one's instinct, not from judging or evaluating. It comes from feeling, wordlessly, image-lessly.

There was a time, not all that long ago, when respect and high office went together. Today that is not the case. High offices are under pressure from low machinations. There was also a time when respect for artists was axiomatic. That too is not the case today. Artists are under pressure from philistinisms.

I have used the word in the plural for the phenomenon is multi-dimensional. There is the philistinism of the patron whose largesse is boundless, but whose discernment is not. There is the philistnism of the sponsor whose help is timely but comes with an ego and, alas, a logo. There is the philistinism of the audience which wants as if from out of a menu card, made-to-order emotion of the ragam, high speed in the tanam and catharsis in the pallavi. Looming all over these is the philistinism of the market which has its own version of respect and reserves it for that which earns, which pays, which can be bought and sold and which does not think culture is beyond its domain. This philistinism has a huge new instrument at its call, information communication and technology. With the great good it does, it is also bringing into play something that looks to becoming a rival to respect. And that is success.

Success is to respect what junk food is to nourishment. Success is to respect what perfume is to fragrance or cosmetics to a smile. Success is to respect what power is to prestige, status to stature. Success is to respect what a contract is to trust, what an investment is to faith, what obligation is to confidence.

Success is to respect what fashion is to tradition.

Not everything about tradition is right. I can think of many things about what goes by tradition that require review, rejection. And let us not forget each tradition was a new idea once, a contested and even resented idea and became a tradition because there was a need for it. Ariyakudi could not have set a tradition of concerts in a vacuum. He took something from here, something from there and when the assemblage became credible, and the space for order out of chaos looked like it could be filled, a tradition was born.

Nothing in Creation is flawless, except perhaps forgiveness by the person entitled to forgive. Nothing in Creation is infallible, not even forgiveness. But that which rings as true as it is, looks as honest as it is, and seeks nothing for itself except the validation of the experiencer, and retains its credibility for more than one generation, is tradition.

To be traditional is not the same as being orthodox.

Orthodoxies have heterodoxies.

Tradition has only deviations.

Orthodoxy punishes, tradition corrects.

Orthodoxy chastises, tradition chastens.

Orthodoxy's finger is admonitory. Tradition is remonstrative.

Orthodoxy is orthopedic, about bones, Tradition is muscular, about tones.

Orthodoxy is enthroned, tradition is on and is an asana. It is a position of repose, not of authority. It seeks to make us whole, not make us obedient.

Tradition should not be mixed up with age. Once can be old and a rake, young and responsible.

Tradition requires respect, not rote.

Respect for seniority or chronological respect, should not be routinized. I am not an atavistic believer in ancestor worship. But I do lament the not so gradual disappearance of certain rites of respect for seniors and for elders, like touching of grand-parental if not parental feet on departure or return home, or on anniversaries. This becomes particularly so when one finds that the reverential touching of feet as such has not gone out of vogue, but has only undergone metastatis, the recipients of prostrations being unembarrassed political gurus and unabashed godmen and godwomen. And when one finds that the extended namaskaram or pranam of old has got fancy modern equivalents, quite abject and even servile in themselves. I refer to the new young genuflecting before an uncertain future in terms of liberal life-styles and work-styles that they have unquestioningly adopted.

The erosion of respect for social or community institutions and leaders comes, I think, from the social co-efficients of economic liberalization and globalization. Today 'management' has its gurus, The Board Room its gods.

Respect is often linked to admiration for skill. There is respect for a great musician, a dancer or sculptor, an actor or a sportsman because that person has honed a great skill to near-perfection. And Thank God, we have such skilled persons among us in great numbers. Thank God we have a Vedavall Ammal amongst us.

At the heart of respect lies trust in the genuineness of the person or the tradition. There is this word, common to both Tamil and Hindustani, asal. That which is asal has respect, is traditional.

The asal does not deceive, does not betray. A person who is asal will to the best of his or her ability do what is right rather than what is expedient (though those two are not necessarily antithetical), seeking neither applause, nor gain.

He or she can be trusted, 'nambalaam'.

Respect is above prestige, higher than esteem, beyond regard and ahead of admiration. It is not the subject of politeness, civility or courtesy.

Nambikkai, belief, credibility, trust and trustworthiness are under threat. We must value them the more for their being under threat, for not to do so would be to lose the challenge of receiving and the fulfillment of giving respect. Vedavalli Ammal, I offer to you respect.

[mahavishnu]

Speech by Sri Gopaldas Gandhi:

Suresh, did you mean Gopalakrishna Gandhi? (as in, grandson of Mohandas)...

[sureshvv]

Yes. Let me correct it. Thanks.

[cienu]

A wonderful speech by Sri Gandhi.
Thank you Suresh for posting it verbatim.

[sureshvv]

I should thank Hindu critic, Mr. Sivakumar, for snail mailing me the transcript. I attended the function but was late and could not hear the speech as it was made. But the transcript bowled me over enough to type the whole thing in!

[kvchellappa]

A wonderful and thought provoking speech, that upholds tradition placing it in right perspective and attracts respect unasked for. The speaker has high qualities and should occupy a high position. It is not rhetoric, but authentic admiration for the artist, an expression many of us would have found hard to get for the feelings we have for her.

[arasi]

Sri Gandhi's speech is like listening to poetry. His imagery and his philosophical thinking are a treat to listen to. His soft spoken words are soothing to the ears.

The many ways in which he perceives the word 'respect'! Though he confesses that he does not know vidushi Vedavalli as much as those in the audience,the ChennaivAsis, he pays her homage aptly by speaking of her as one who commands respect in many ways.

Cienu,
I'm reminded of the lovely speech he gave on your mother's 77th birthday before she sang with Aishwarya.

Good to know that this part-thamizhar has come to live in Chennai. Hope to see him around in concerts this season. He heads Kalakshetra now, doesn't he?

[rshankar]

He is truly a sangamam of two wonderful thought processes (his grandfathers) - the only way to descibe his speech is 'maNiyAna vArtaigaL' (inadequately translated to 'gems of words') - In particular, I love the comparison between orthodoxy and tradition he does.

Suresh - thank you for posting (since you got this by snail mail, I assume you had to type the whole thing in!) - much appreciated.

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Suresh: Thanks for posting the speech--As Arasi points out his speeches are always thought provoking--I heard him @ the function to felictate Radha last december==an illustrious scion of the Gandhi-Rajaji family--best of both lineages. People like him should be leading the country--but to quote Edmund Burke the British parliamentarians-- "THE AGE OF CHIVALRY IS GONE--THAT OF SOPHISTERS,ECONOMISTS AND CALCULATORS HAS SUCCEEDED".