Jaladhara: Evoker of romance in Kalidasa ….

Being evoked by “meghamaslishtasanum / vaprakreda parinata gaja prekshneyam dadarsa”­—a cloud resting on the mountain peak that charged the peak in mimic fray, / as an elephant attacks a bank of earth in play—on “…Ashadhasya prathama divase (MS s.2)—the first day of Ashadha, a month in the Hindu calendar, the day when monsoon starts—poet Kalidasa romances with megha by making the emaciated protagonist of his kavya, ‘Meghaduta’, “bade him [megha] a  welcome couched in affectionate expressions, after worshipping him with fresh jasmine flowers”, for, he is “desirous of sustaining the life of his beloved one, and of sending news of his welfare to her [his wife] by the cloud” (MS s.4).  And thus beginning his kavya ‘Meghaduta’, and adorning it with Vipralamba sringara rasa Kalidasa immortalized the words, “Ashadhasya prathama divase”—the beginning of rainy season and the ‘romance’ of the Indians and Indian poets in particular with varsha, rain, and the varsha ritu, rainy season.

The poet portrays the love in severance, the longing and anguish of lovelorn Yaksha in the rainy season as is reflected in the 3^rd verse itself, where the poet very provocatively questions in ‘mandakranta’, a prosody that could best sing and linger  the long-drawn out plangency of longing in separation thus: “Meghaloke bhavati sukhinopanyathavritti chetaha / Kanthasleshapranayini jane kim punardurasmathe (MS s.3)— at the sight of a cloud the feelings even of the happy are changed, how much more must this be the case when the person longing for embracing the neck of his beloved one is far away from her?”

The grief of separation being so intense that the Yaksha, knowing fully well the nature of the cloud— “What possible connection can there be between a cloud which consists of smoke, light, water and wind and messages which can be carried by creatures endowed with sound organs of sense?” (MS s.5) —yet, in all his eagerness and foolishness, implores thus: “O cloud, thou art the refuge of the distressed; please, therefore, take to my beloved one a message from me… thou art go to the seat of the Yakshas, called Alka” (MS s.7). For, according to the poet, “… kamartah prakritikrupanah chetana chetaneshu…” (MS s. 5)—the distracted lover fails to note the distinction between the inanimate and the animate.  

In a similar vein, he then offers directions to the cloud as to how to reach his house in Alkapuri that affords him good visuals which could beguile the fatigue of his journey. Here and there he also advises the megha to bestow his kindness on the women “going to lovers’ houses at night … to show the path by lightning bright like a streak of gold on a touch-stone and not to make noise by thundering and discharge water, for they are timid” (MS s.39). Perhaps with a concern for the farming community, Yaksha then advises Megha that it is not farmers alone, even their wives—“tyayyayattam krishiphalamiti bhruvikaranahhaznyha / preetisnigdhyrjana pada vadhulochanyha…” (MS s. 16)—who are “innocent of all coquettish art” look at varsha [you]  with “loving glances", for on thee depends the fragrant furrow’s fruitful outcome: the net result of ploughing the land, sowing the seed, nurturing the shoots with appropriate manure to grow richly till ripens and finally harvesting the crop—all that squarely rests with Megha [you] and the rains that you bless them with.

Hastening back to his own plight, he also reminds cloud not to forget his prayer half the way, of course, subtly saying, “…those who have undertaken important business for their friends are never remiss” (MS s.40).

On reaching the top of the Himalayan mountain, Yaksha says, he [Megha] could see Alkapuri, “as on lover’s lap, with her white garment in the shape of the Ganges disarranged, with full of lofty palaces” (MS s.65). He then guiding him to his palace, advises that he can identify his wife as  “the lady full of deep distress…changed like lotus creeper blighted by frost (MS s.84); face resting on her hand and partially visible through dishevelled hair, eyes swollen through bitter weeping, the lower lip assuming different color owing to the heat of her sighs” (MS s.85) —and if she is not asleep, “O cloud, thou shouldest say to her thus: 'Thy consort living in the hermitage of Ratnagiri is doing well. O, fortunate one, do not be very much afraid; who enjoys constant happiness or suffers uninterrupted misery?(MS s.114);  “They say love dies away during separation; [this is] a thoughtless assertion. Affection becomes accumulated as its desire for the object loved is intensified from non-enjoyment' (MS s.117);  my curse will come to an end when Vishnu rises from his serpent couch … pass the remaining four months … afterwards, we shall enjoy in the light of autumnal moon…” (MS s.115).

Every year, as the monsoon rains set in, this cloud poem, touching every reader with her cool fingers and consuming his/her heart with a burning anguish revivifies him—the Sahrudaya, besides gaining fresh youth for itself. With every passing rainy season it becomes younger and younger for, no soul can afford not to be moved by Kalidasa’s verses that are “smooth, like blossom-clusters” depicting not only his love for nature, but also his respect for “all life, from plant to god.”  

Keywords: Kalidasa, Meghaduta, Meghasandesam...

Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai

Fifty years ago this month, I remember returning from home after summer holidays to Vivekananda hostel for completing the final year of my degree course. Soon we settled down in the new rooms allotted to us, and the classes too picked up momentum, indeed got into full swing. Having got used to the new routine … one evening as the Sun was retiring for the day, my roommate and I walked out of the hostel towards the pavilion.

The evening was pretty silent except for the chirping of birds from the avenue trees … indeed, their cacophony made the evening shudder a little. Reaching the pavilion, we sat down at the far corner of the steps. Radio was blaring out Ceylon from inside the room. Staring at the dancing of the tiny leaves of the leguminous trees in the gentle breeze of the evening ... we struck a conversation. Suddenly, my roommate fired a question: “What next?”

“Next…of what?” enquired I.

“Oh! Come on, don’t be smart…Are you still for Entomology or changed your mind during the holidays?” he questioned casually. 

“Oh! My god…you are already on the other shore…showing me the dim future…of no summer, no winter holidays, no re-openings…no returning to hostel…only the drudgery of eking out a living…anyway, Oh! No, I would, in all probability, end up in a Block Office, perhaps ‘Sir-ing’ the bosses, politicians and all kinds of riff-raffs.…”

“Why re, won’t you go for PG? Giving up all your craze for Organophosphates, neurons, axons, dendrites, synapses, AChEs, AChEIs … teaching pest co….?”— so continuing he was … but I had already been carried away from him by the magical voice of Kishore Kumar from Radio Ceylon … exuberant strain ... romance .... flowing gently … “Gata rahe mera dil tuhi meri manzil” … with such an ease and élan and just hitting the right chord … followed by an equally magical saxophone humming … starting too softly and gracefully reaching the high octave … and then came that usual deep baritone announcement of Ameen Sayani, of course, with a touch of melody … “Navaketan International presents … Guide”.   

Listening to saxophone that spread romance all around … was such a thrill … in that sudden gush of excitement … I literally shook my roommate, just as an earthquake shakes a man, merely to draw his attention to that catchy tune … But he coolly splashed water all over my excitement whispering: “Yes, why … there are about half a dozen songs … all are melodious … heard them during the holidays.”

Right … they had a radio … all the songs must be catchy—what else you expect when SD Burman and Dev Anand’s Navaketan join hands? Of course, at home, I did read about the making of Guide by Dev Anand, based on R K Narayan’s novel of the same name, in Hindi and also in English, with Pearl S Buck as the Co-producer … and the kind of displeasure the writer of the novel, RKN, aired over its overblown canvas—particularly, of the lives of the ‘hemmed in’ characters. … and so on. Yet I was so excited, for I heard the song for the first time … and it just sounded as though Dev himself was cooing.

Lo! Again … another song!  This time round it was Burmanda himself in his typical broken voice … “Wahaan kaun hai teraa / musaafir jaayegaa kahaan / dam lele ghadi bhar” … (There is no one your own, / O traveler! where will you go / take a breather here…), followed by “Rome, Paris, London, Delhi, Agra, Jaipur” … all rolling out like gentle waves … followed by Ameen Sayani, saying, “… Raju … Guide.”  Pretty catchy ad … and novel too …

Indeed, the ads in Cine Advance and Screen too were quite novel. The entire central spread of the paper was left blank except for a small snapshot of Dev Anand — if I remember rightly, only his face — on the top left-hand corner of the page, and on the right-hand bottom corner, a wooden post with labels written Agra, Delhi, Jaipur on them and below it Guide — A Film by Navaketan International. Very typical of Dev’s novelty!

Coming back to the  song “Wahaan Kaun hai teraa”, I must not forget to say that it had some mesmerizing flute bits of that well-known Manohari Singh in between the lyrics: “Beet gave din / pyaar ke palchhin / … bhool gave wo / tub hi bhulaa de.” Indeed, as the enchanting Manohari Sing’s flute slips in and out of Burmanda’s inimitable nasal voice, rasping but melodious voice reciting the lyrical poetry of Shailendra, you feel it’s a duet by Burmanda and flute. Singing in a folk style and aptly aided by the strumming of do-tara (a two-stringed musical instrument) in between, Burmanda had enhanced its overall impact. The simple lyrics, penned by Shailendra, are highly philosophical and yet very touchy: Kehte hain gyaani (The wise say) / duniyaa hai faani (this world is mirage) / paani pe likhi likhavi (everything is written on water) / hai sabki dekhi (it is seen by all) / hai sabki jaani (experienced by all too) / haath kisike na aavi (yet, no one could hold it) / kuch tera na mera (nothing is yours nor mine) / musafir jaayega kahaan (where will you go then, O traveler) … I love the song for its simple words that echo pain, pleasure, anguish, misery, hopelessness and whatnot of Raju or ….

The other loveliest song of the movie is Rafi’s “Tere mere sapnae  / abb ek rang hain…” penned by Shailendra. Here too we hear Manohari Singh playing matching pathos from his saxophone — listening to the pathos poured out by Rafi … intermingled with saxophone and violins … is an experience in itself that one simply cherishes listening on and on. 

And what matters more with this song is its picturization by Vijay Anand. As the scene

begins with Rafi’s voice slowly pouring out Raju's heart... Tere mere sapnae so touchingly, we see Raju and Rosie in the center of the canvas … just two of them,  that too, their bust only. And remember, all this in the dusk. You only have to imagine its impact on the underlying pathos of their romance.  To better appreciate the whole scene you must first know that Rosie, the heroine, deserting her husband, has just walked out of his life and tells Raju, “Raju, main bahaut dukhi hoon… har taraf andhera”(Raju, I am terribly sad… I am encircled by darkness) … and of course, Raju, the hitherto carefree person, comforts her by holding her close. And the song we are talking about follows.

As the song advances, we see the camera moving slowly around the duo capturing their moods without, of course, intruding into their intimate moments. Vijay Anand pans the camera out gently for tracking the whole trauma of their love that is still evolving and the resultant drama of the pair and depicts it as though happening on the stage with just two cuts in the picturization of the entire song that indeed moves so slowly like the creeping darkness of the dusk. The most entrancing shot is: as Raju coos … Tere dukh abb mere, mere such abb tere / tere yeh do naina, chand our suraj mere / O mere jivan sathee …

Rosie is in his hold, of course, with much discomfort, for she is obviously undergoing a terrific intra-conflict, but no sooner does he finish singing, she releases herself and walks away with her fist held tightly — the reason being, having just walked out of her husband resolutely for ever, she is perhaps still not sure of her future—while Raju, perhaps, in respect for her dilemma, remaining where he is, stretches out his hand for her to join him, and the camera tracks Raju’s outstretched hand without any break, taking it to one end of the screen,  and then the camera moves back to track Rosie without letting any gap creep in, and tracking her on the other end of the screen, lets us notice Rosie staring at him, face writhed with anguish, then slowly moving towards him — by then she might have resolved her conflict — as she hugs him,  the camera gets the pair come on to the center of the screen again and Raju completes airing the rest of his assurance: lakh mana le duniya, sath naa yeh chhutega / Aake mere hatho me, hath naa yeh chuutega / o mere jivan sathee … holding her tightly in his embrace. What a winsome picturization! It is to be seen and enjoyed; I cannot put it in words so expressively. 

The other most favorite song of mine from the movie is a sad melody: “Din dhal Jaaye haye raat na jaaye,” for the sheer pathos that poured out from that mellifluous voice of Rafi. Indeed I am crazy of even Dev’s dialogues preceding the song —“Kohi Hai”, Dev Anand in his usual style. Then the boy: “Kya baat hai sir, aaj aap bahaut pee rahe hain?” Raju, again in his usual rat-a-tat style: “Zindagi bhi ek nasha hai dost. Jab chadhta hai to poocho mat kya aalam rehta hai… lekin  jab utarta hai, — for they elevate the mood of the listener and prepare him for the song that follows.

This hypnotic song begins with a soft  alaap … Hmmmmmm … Din dhal jaaye haye, and the hallmark of the song is the way Rafi renders haye … then, like its parent raga Yaman-kalyan, the song flows to  fathomless bottom to quarry viopralamba shringar, duly supported by matching lyrics: Dil ke mere paas ho itne phir bhi kitini door (You are so close to my heart and yet so far away) / Tum mujh se main dil se pareshan, dono hai majboor  (You’re troubled by me and I’m troubled by my heart, both are helpless)  / Aise mein kisko kaun manaaye (In such a situation, who can comfort whom) … The lyrics delivered in a very low voice by Rafi to the accompanying equally soft orchestration, particularly flute … all cumulatively make the listener go along with the song in the same mood … haunt the listener  even after turning off the box, for they are so pregnant with dense philosophy. This extraordinary impact is certainly more due to the simplest words chosen by Shailendra that convey the mysteries of life very effectively.

Simply put, the music, lyrics, dances, and performances of Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman, particularly her colorful dance movements, Vijay Ananda’s direction — everything meld so well that the film remains a landmark in Indian cinema.

I have been listening to these songs for about 50 years now, and no matter how many times I listen, I never get tired of them. For that matter, even the other songs — “Kaanton se kheench ke ye aanchal”; “Saiyan Be-imaan; kyase kya ho gaya bewafa tere pyar me”; “Piya Tose Naina Laage Re” — are equally pleasant to listen to.

There are so many memories associated with Dev Anand, his film and the songs … my roommate and I used to talk at length into the nights about Dev’s hats, scarves, stiff shirt collars, his diagonal walks — watch how he leads Rosie holding her with one hand and with scarf dangling from the other hand while cooing Gatha rahe, his caressingly putting his hand over her shoulders, and whatnot….

I must also share here how I, while in Kalyani University, had enjoyed listening to Mr. Pradeep’s singing kyase kya ho gaya bewafa tere pyar for nights on … sitting in his room in the Lake View Hostel that was fragranced by Rajanigandho flowers with coffee mug in hand.…

Well! Beet gaye din, pyarr ke palchhin / sapna bani wo raatein.  


Keywords: Guide, Dev Anand, Waheeda Rehman, Vijay Anand, SD Burman, Navaketan    

Banking & Research - XIII : Efficient Intermediation

Intuitively, we are all well aware that the banking and financial system of a country plays a key role in mobilizing savings from the society and channelling them into productive investments. It is this intermediation that ultimately defines the pace of a country’s economic development and the quality of life of its citizens. Indeed, society often takes for granted this critical function of transforming society’s savings into investments by banks. But, financial intermediation is fraught with many risks. Hence, a well-functioning banking and financial system is a must for a country’s long-term economic prosperity.

To accomplish the task of efficient intermediation, there is a real need for a sound institutional framework duly supported by an equally effective legal system that can induce households to save a part of their current income and entrust it to financial institutions for safekeeping. In the whole process of entrusting their savings to the banking system, the households would be interested in an adequate compensation for the quantum of risk they are taking under the exchange. And, for banks to fulfil this requirement, they must enjoy a wide array of safe investment avenues. Thus, the assets side of a bank’s balance sheet becomes equally important for financial intermediation. Any non-prudent lending exposes a bank to losses. Such losses on the assets side are certain to result in banks’ defaulting, under their obligations to depositors. If a bank’s ability to honor its deposit obligations is doubtful, then its very ability to retain deposits comes under question. Once depositors lose confidence in a bank, it becomes difficult for banks not only to retain the existing depositors, but also to mobilize new deposits. No wonder, if such a predicament generates a “run” on bank. Such a run on a single bank is potential enough to generate a contagion effect that can ultimately cripple the very financial system of a country. An efficient banking system, besides impacting the costs of financial intermediation and the overall stability of the financial markets, facilitates efficient allocation of the scarce financial resources, particularly in developing countries, paving the way for an integrated economic development. Thus, to have a sustainable economic growth the banking system of a country must be sound. An extension of this analogy asserts that prudent risk management systems are a must for a sound banking system. In other words, it is the management of balance sheet risks by the intermediaries that ultimately ensures a sound financial system in a country.

It is in this context that it has become a challenging task for every bank to formulate its “expectations” about macroeconomic indicators that are known to impact a bank’s business, and accordingly draft its risk management policies and practices. It is all the more aggravated with the kind of wild fluctuations noticed under various macroeconomic indicators such as rate of inflation, rate of interest, price of primary commodities, price of crude oil, etc., during the last two decades. Despite such wild fluctuations, the role of  ‘expectations’  in business decisions is gaining more importance. Today, a bank must be able to formulate its expectations about the conditions likely to prevail in the future, their impact on business prospects, and the counter-measures that can safely steer its investment plans in consistence with the expectations. A need thus arises for these expectations to be rational for averting any untoward shocks. But, expectations about the future behavior of economic variables such as rate of inflation, rate of interest, exchange rate, rate of primary commodities, etc., remained an enigma despite the evolution of statistical techniques such as the time-series analysis, econometric models, and survey of intentions of the concerned agents and organizations. The empirical literature about the accuracy and rationality of ‘expectations’ made about economic variables is quite limited. It is in this context that the article, “Do Bankers make Rational Economic Forecasts?”, attempts to evaluate the accuracy of the economic forecasts made by Malaysian banks and the rationality of survey data. The findings revealed that Malaysian banks do make rational economic forecasts for gross revenue and employment but not for capital expenditure.

As seen earlier, it is the credit portfolio that enables a bank to discharge its obligations to depositors and thereby ensures its sustainability. It is in this context that the article, Post-merger Banks’ Efficiency and Risk in Emerging Market: Evidence from Malaysia”, evaluates the effectiveness of the banking system in Malaysia in general and the impact of the mega-mergers in the banking system on the overall efficiency of the domestically incorporated commercial banks. The authors have used the non-parametric method of Data Envelopment Analysis to measure the effectiveness of mergers. They have also attempted to identify factors that determine the efficiency of banks by employing the Tobit regression analysis in the second stage regression. The results indicate that there is a minimal mean input waste among Malaysian banks during the post-merged phase. The results also suggest that a bank’s size has a negative impact, while market power has a positive impact, on the overall and technical efficiency of Malaysian banks.

In line with the central objective of managing the risk embedded in the balance sheet of banks for ensuring efficient financial intermediation, the article, “Duration Approach to Measure Bank’s Risks”, proposes a model to measure the risk that a bank faces in the discharge of its intermediation using duration gap between assets and liabilities. The article considers duration gap as a better approach to measure banks’ risk exposure since it factors in the impact of interest rate changes, and other shocks like market risk and exchange rate risk. The article, using a sample data collected from 16 banks to work out a duration ratio by using two proxies—one based on assets and liabilities, and  the other on interest revenues and expenses—concludes that the duration is measured based on interest revenues and expenses as a more reliable measure of a bank’s risk. This study throws open a larger scope for further research on the reliability of duration ratio as a measure of banks’ risk using time-series data over longer periods.

Greater attention is being paid towards infrastructure development in the country today. Private participation is encouraged even in sectors such as roads, ports, airports, etc. Simultaneously, new avenues for financing infrastructure projects are being thrown open. Even commercial banks are encouraged to lend to infrastructure projects in spite of the long gestation periods of such projects. At the same time, banks are also being subjected to rigorous regulatory supervision in terms of risk-based capital, identification of bad debts and provisions thereof. These conflicting demands have placed banks in a quandary, and thus, risk management has emerged as the prime requirement for the success of banks. Against this backdrop, the article, “A Model for Risk-based Pricing of Infrastructure Financing by Banks”, attempts to prescribe a model risk-pricing mechanism under infrastructure financing, by considering various macroeconomic factors that are prone to influence cash flows of the financed infrastructure projects.

In order to perform the role of financial intermediation in a country’s economy successfully, the commercial banking system must strive to strike a balance between risk-taking and the need to maintain public confidence. It is in this context that a well functioning government securities market including a viable secondary market can provide a set of safe assets that can support, at least, a certain quantum of intermediation with no risk. Simply put, a safe government debt essentially functions as collateral for financial intermediation by banks. That is the prime reason why the balance sheets of banks, particularly in developing economies, show large amounts of government debt on the assets side. Government debt also plays an important role as a benchmark for private sector bond markets. However, there is also a flip side: Too much exposure to government debt constrains the flow of credit to enterprises. Ever since Indian banking system has been subjected to rigorous prudential norms, banks have been found to maintain high exposure to government debt vis-à-vis private lending, as the latter is perceived as more risky. In this context, the article, “Government Debt: A Key Role in Financial Intermediation”, attempts to get as many plausible answers as there could be for the question, “Does state-contingent inflation on government debt represent an optimal way to conduct fiscal policy in response to shocks?”

Courtesy: IJBM Vol 4 No.4