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CULTURAL CONNECTIONS:

• Kolkata and Other Losses - by Stan Brush
• Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Musst Musst
  

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“Kolkata” and Other Losses
by Stan Brush

There it is in print, in the paper, a news item originating in New Delhi announcing that the Government of India approved the formal request by the Government of West Bengal that Calcutta be changed to Kolkata!

What a shock! As an American son of the Bengal soil, born and raised, I grew up with Calcutta, “Cal” we called it, as my city standard. My friends and I in Khargpur, a railway town just seventy miles to the west, thought of Calcutta as easily the best city in India, surpassing Bombay and far above any of the cities inland. Our reasons were mostly sentimental ones, of course, and were based on the very limited experience of youth. Just a fierce “hometown” loyalty. Years and many distant traveled miles later Calcutta fell into a more reasonable perspective. Not the supreme manifestation of urban civilization I had once thought, but an aging metropolis rich in history and culture, struggling to keep up with the demands of modernity, and not doing it very well. But the memories lingered, stirred into life by the name “Calcutta” whenever I encountered it in print or in the air. This, despite the calumnies hurled at it by Kipling, his “City of Dreadful Night,” and other writers who failed to see beyond the surface to the soul. Memories nurtured by the fact that in the midst of name-changing everywhere else in India, most notably Chennai for Madras and Mumbai for Bombay, Calcutta remained Calcutta for Calcuttans at home as well as abroad. An eternal verity no longer eternal!

So now the conversation begins between my rational self and my sentimental self, as we try to reintegrate after losing Calcutta.

RATIONAL SELF: You knew it was coming, long overdue after fifty-three years of independence. With Bengalis in charge, and because people in charge get to name what they are in charge of, it was to be expected that the English name would be changed despite the fact that the English founded Calcutta. Look at Nieuw Amsterdam becoming New York.

SENTIMENTAL SELF: True, but Calcutta wasn’t an English name. It was Bengali. Why did they have to change it?

RATIONAL SELF: Derived from Bengali, no doubt, but that wasn’t the way it sounded in Bengali. The new version does. For the Bengali residents of Kolkata to call it Kolkata is to take possession of the city emotionally. At least it’s a phonemic variation of the same name. In Chennai the residents never called it Madras in Tamil. It was always Chennai, or at least this is how it has been explained to me. Madras was the name given by the English to their trading post and, later, to their province. It’s been relegated to history and to an inferior quality of printed cotton fabric. Bombay was also shown the door, so to speak. The long history of the Portuguese and English as the founders and builders of Bombay is just that. A local Goddess Mumbai, whose shrine was encompassed by the city, now reigns in a city that now bears her name! At least Kolkata is the same name spelled differently! Be honest. Remember your alarm at seeing Howrah spelled Haora a few years ago on a Survey of India map? That was a harbinger of more changes to come!

SENTIMENTAL SELF: Okay, but that doesn’t mean I feel any better. Although, with time, that may change. What really worries me, though, is all the talk of dropping India! After all, it’s a foreign name. It began with the Greeks and the River Indus. The Greeks and the seemingly endless train of their successors have gone. The Indus, except for its remote headwaters, no longer flows through India. So what, are we going to have? Bhartiyas in Bharat?

RATIONAL SELF: Well, yes. Prepare yourself!

SENTIMENTAL SELF: Maybe it’s time for me to go, too? So many changes. Too many losses.

RATIONAL SELF: Come now. Life itself is a process of adjusting to change. We can’t wait to see what the future brings. Yes?

SENTIMENTAL SELF: Yes.

Copyright 2003 Stanley E. Brush

Email Stan at sebab1@juno.com

Musst Musst CD Jacket

Several years ago we came across an entrancing CD,
"Mustt Mustt" [pron. muus-tah muus-tah] on the Real World Label, a world music collaboration between Canadian producer Michael Brook and the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan of Pakistan. At the time of the recording, Nusrat — internationally reknown for his astonishing vocal versatility— was considered the greatest living master of 'Qawwali'....the devotional, spiritually uplifting music of the Sufis.

Some avid NFAK fans familiar with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and his musicians' more traditional 'Qawwali' performances & recordings ("Shahen-Shah") are somewhat critical of this experimental musical venture. However, it was our introduction to Nusrat and Party....and listening with fresh unbiased ears, we find its driving danceable rhythms, soaring vocals and heartfelt laments fascinating and amazing, compelling and intriguing.

If you enjoy world music's cross-cultural blend, "Musst Musst" is well worth your time. You won't regret taking a listen.

Here's a link to hear a few partial cuts from the album.

MUSST MUSST
Editorial Review - James Rotondi

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in Concert

The late, great Pakistani Qawwali singer's first collaboration with producer / guitarist Michael Brook took the passionate, gymnastic tenor out of tradition... Recorded at Peter Gabriel's expansive Real World Studios, the album combines ethnic percussion, programmed beats (some by Gabriel himself), Brook's atmospheric and infinite guitar swells, and loop-based motifs with Khan's complex, ornamented vocal delivery and devotional lyrics....Mustt, with its fiery vocal runs and funky, ethereal production, has become an important touchstone in the ethno-techno movement....

Visit Our Secure Online Store

The store offerings will be expanding substantially as we work with Stan's vast collection of superb images of India & Pakistan and neighboring countries taken over several decades.

Many cards & bookmarks available now....featuring:

• Majestic Peaks of Inner Asia,
• Kashmir,
• Handicrafts & Textiles
• Moghul Architecture

Be sure to come take a look!