Ashok’s blog on Loyola School: The ARChive

A few weeks ago, Anand R (1993 ISC) asked me to write a blogpost about Loyola’s music stars, especially in Indian rock. The universe conspired. Within days, I received a mail from Deepak Madhusoodanan (1996 ISC) alerting me to the exploits of his batchmate Jishnu Dasgupta (1996 ISC) and the band Jishnu is part of, Swarathma.

Excerpts from an e-mail interview with Jishnu

How musical was your childhood?
Quite a lot. My father is a classically trained singer who loves Rabindra Sangeet and old Hindi film music, and our home was always filled with strains of one or the other. Though my father tried to instill in me an appreciation for the above, it remains my regret that I was too much of a ‘teenager’ to listen to him at that time.

After Loyola, you did your B.Tech from NIT-Allahabad, worked in TCS, studied at XLRI… What were your encounters with music during those years?
In Loyola I participated in ‘solo song’ in the Youth Festival in Std IX. I came fourth. There were four participants. Needless to say, I was quite low on musical confidence. Something changed after I went to NIT –- I was in two bands, we got featured in RSJ (then India’s only rock magazine) and played inter-college events. That’s also when I started to play the guitar (the guys from the North east made it look cool and easy!)

I played with a few colleagues while at TCS, not serious bands, but mostly guys looking to have a little fun on weekends. XLRI was a rich musical experience. I met Abhishek, Satadru, Bharat and Poornima who would later become the members of bodhiTree (of the class of 2006) the band that composed, recorded and released on the internet songs like ‘GMD’ and ‘Sabke Katega’. They went on to become cult hits and found their way, with no mass media at all, into every cell phone and iPod in India (and even abroad). I remember being quite taken aback by the response. Though no one in bodhiTree wanted to take music as a career at that time, the experience remains one to be cherished.

I joined ITC after that and was posted in Bhopal and Indore, not particularly known for live music. But I don’t know how, but we started Indore’s only rock band called Square One with some college kids I happened to meet in a Barista. We did about 4 or 5 shows. What fun!

How did Swarathma come together? Did you search for like-minded souls, or did you bump into them, or…?
Swarathma had been an active band for about a couple of years before I met Montry (who played guest drums on a bodhiTree gig in Bangalore). When I moved to Bangalore while with ITC, I gave him a buzz. It so happened Swarathma was looking for a bass player at that time. I met up with the guys, really loved the music, got along with the guys and voila!

Writing and composing songs — are these group activities in your band? What happens when differences crop up amongst creative people? How do you resolve them?
In the scenario of a collaborative songwriting process, conflicts are not only inescapable they are invaluable. It is only with conflict (resolved constructively) that our music becomes better.

Even though we may disagree, we have immense respect for each other’s musical tastes and abilities – we also love each other as dear friends. The combination causes most conflicts to be resolved and helps the music come into its own.

What’s your typical work+music day like?
We’re quite contrary to the image of a band. We rehearse thrice a week from 6.30 am to breakfast. The rest of the day is devoted to individual practice, jams and other things. Afternoon onwards we usually are involved with non-music stuff.

Do you see yourself turning a full-time musician? What’s your advice to those who wish to pursue a career in music? Should music be combined with work, or can we in India think of becoming full-time rock musicians?
As of January 2009, I consider myself a full-time musician. I’ve made (tough) career choices that allow me the freedom to play and create music.

As for advice, I’m most unqualified to dish out any. But what I did was to follow my heart, for I have one life to live. It is hard, with a career, with responsibilities, but if you really really want to do something, you will find a way.

Which other Indipop bands would you recommend to your fans? Who are the other cool kids on the block?
There are some bands we really like -– Faridkot (finalists in the Channel [V] launchpad as well as in Radio City Live (the contest we won).

As a student, you have endured the music classes at Loyola. If you are the school’s music teacher now, how would you teach music?
I have really no idea. None of the music I play has ever been learnt in any class. To my mind, we need to resist the temptation of regimentalizing and taking the fun out of music.

Maybe it can be taught in a way that makes music classes memorable… maybe that’s too much to ask!

Becoming a successful band today is not just about musical creativity, it’s about how you market yourself. As a manager-cum-musician, what’s your advice to music groups struggling on the marketing front?
Believe in the music you are playing 100%. Everything follows from there.

Use the internet. Constantly generate content that engages your listener. Bring him or her closer to your band with it. Social networks, websites etc.

Play more gigs, work the crowd -– be known for something that it truly you.

Listen to Swarathma

Jishnu on BBC (hat tip: Sandeep K (1994 ISC))

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Dr G. Thrivikraman Thampi, who taught Malayalam in various schools including Loyola, died 29 May at his residence in Parvathipuram (in Kanyakumari District), the Mathrubhumi newspaper reported yesterday.

Hat tip: Harikrishna M. (1994 ISC)

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Thampi Sir taught in Loyola in the late 1980s and 1990s. The bald schoolteacher with a doctorate degree stood above his colleagues, also literally — he was over six feet tall. The news of Thampi Sir being awarded a doctorate reached him when he was a teacher in Loyola. Hence, many of us know that it was awarded for his research on place-names, which has since been published as Sthalanama Padana Pravesika. (According to the Mathrubhumi obituary, he won it from a German university, but my recollection is that it was a Belgian one.) My brother, who was taught by Thampi Sir, always used to go ga-ga while discussing his Malayalam classes. Those less fortunate, like me, have to content ourselves with discovering Thampi Sir after his death.

* * *

A neglected aspect of the much-praised student-teacher relationship of Loyola is that students know very little about their teachers. That neglect is most striking and shameful in the case of Dr Thampi, for he was a scholar who, even before he set foot in Loyola, had etched his name in the annals of Malayalam literature and Kerala historiography.

GTT was born on 23 September 1929 in Manavalakurichi, in Kanyakumari district of Travancore state. Growing up in a Tamil-speaking village in a state dominated by Malayalam speakers, GTT became proficient in Tamil and Malayalam. When Kerala state was created in 1956, his native village, along with other Tamil-speaking taluks, went from Travancore state to Madras state (renamed Tamil Nadu). But GTT began his teaching career in 1957 in Kerala. For the next four decades, he taught in various Nair Service Society schools and Loyola, Trivandrum. He also served as President of a cultural history organisation in Kanyakumari district.

Our generation will most likely remember GTT as a teacher. When we are gone, he will be remembered as a scholar and litterateur. His oeuvre comprised researched studies (on place names and ballads), a biography (M Rajaraja Varma), children’s literature (Bhoomi Enna Muthassi), on grammar (Vyaakaranavum Vrithaalankaarangalum), historical non-fiction (Mandaykkaadinte Charithram; in Tamil), and a historical novel (Aditya Varma; in Tamil). He also published articles in periodicals (including Malayali, Malayala Rajyam, Manorama, Vijnana Kairali, and Vachinad) and presented papers at seminars organised by the University of Kerala, the latter on studies of grammar and folk literature.

In 1984, the Kottayam-based Writers’ Cooperative published two works by GTT — Thiruvaathirakali Paattukal, and Valiyakesi Katha. The first was prompted by a “renaissance” of thiruvaathirakkali performances in youth festivals. GTT compiled several songs of this popular art form of southern Travancore (according to the book, the corresponding art of northern Kerala was kaikottikali) and wrote a researched article to accompany the compilation. The second (Valiyakesi Katha) is his most notable contribution. Valiyakesi Katha was a ballad that he had heard of when he was young. When GTT began his literary odyssey by going about collecting thekkan pattukal (literally, “songs of the south”; the vadakkan paattukal are more familiar to Malayalis), he had little hope of stumbling upon Valiyakesi Katha, estimated to be written around AD 1696. After several years, when he discovered this popular ballad of southern Travancore, he published it with his notes explaining the meaning and historical context of the composition. This work became a textbook for MA students of Malayalam, in Kerala University in the 1990s.

In 1999 and 2000, out came two studies on thekkan paatukal. The 1999 work — Thekkan Paattukal: Oru Padanam — was published by the Trichur-based Kerala Sahitya Akademi and is a good introduction to songs and ballads of southern Travancore. In less than 80 pages, GTT lucidly touches upon various aspects of the songs — their language, their descriptive styles, their themes (devotion, heroic exploits), their typology, and the method of writing on palm leaves (even how the leaves were readied and bound with wooden pieces). In it we enter the world of southern heroes like Eravikutty Pillai,  who match Thacholi Othenan of the northern ballads.

In contrast, GTT’s 2000 book — Thekkan Paattukal: Chila Adisthaana Chinthakal — published by the Trivandrum-based Rajarajavarma Bhashapadana Kendram, is not for just everyone. It is a sequel to the 1999 book, and intended for those who wish to go deeper into the linguistic and literary aspects of the songs. It is based on a study of 17 songs and ballads, that include those he found in books, unpublished scripts, and palm leaves; those he could recall; and those he heard from others. A dying tradition, some of these songs continue to be sung, in private temples in Kanyakumari district, every evening after deepaaraadhana. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the foreword to this scholarly book was written by GTT’s Loyola colleague, poet, critic, and my Malayalam teacher in high school K.V. Thikkurissi.

In his books, GTT lamented the neglect of the study of thekkan paattukal and in general, the literary culture of the past. “It is not just stories that we learn from the ballads. We can, in them, find the political conditions, cultural customs, and social history of that time. In these ballads, we can see the people of that era,” he wrote. These two recent works on songs of southern Kerala reveal a patient man who went about collecting songs, and decoding them, so that our past can be enjoyed by our future. His native soil was fertile to supply the knowledge of Tamil and Malayalam that such an enterprise called for, but the passion and persistence were cultivated.

It would be a fitting tribute to institute GTT prizes for researched essays in Malayalam by school children, on any aspect of Malayalam literature. GTT, who pored over songs written on palm leaves as well as quickie publications that appeared on pavement stalls will not object to the medium of the document — it can be a humble essay, a creative multimedia presentation, or one prepared for the mobile phone screen. As long as the research exercise fans the flames of curiosity and students learn more about their culture, Thampi Sir would be alive in Loyola, perhaps more meaningfully than he ever was.

This blogpost is based on an obituary in the Mathrubhumi (31 May 2009, p. 8), and four books by GTT.

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