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Reminiscing about Salim Durrani

Thinking about Salim Durrani (MM, Jan 1-15) along with Partab Ramchand, I recall a couple of incidents which happened in the late fiftees when Salim was in full cry. I was in Nagpur then and the year was 1959 or so. West Indies who were touring India were then playing a match against Central Zone. Those days touring teams would play a number of matches against some states elevens and four or five zonal teams. Salim Durrani was playing one such match in Nagpur and as an avid cricket fan, I was in the ground as a spectator.

At that time Mughal-e Aazam, a movie with Dilip Kumar, Madhubala and Prithvi Raj Kapoor was running in theatres. Dilip Kumar played Jehangir who was also known as Salim. Akbar was opposed to Salim – his son – loving Anarkali a commoner. A fantastic verbal duel arises between father and son. At one point Akbar screams at his son Salim tujhko badalna hoga.

Salim Durrani was erratic in his bowling. Some one shouted from the gallery Salim tujhko badalna hoga meaning Salim, you have to change your tactics. An uproarious laughter emanated from the galleries. Salim looked back and smiled.

In the same match, one Mrs. Phadke, a local college lecturer was walking along the gallery trying to find a seat. Again a film – Madhumati was running with Vyjayantimala and Dilip Kumar. There was a song in the film Ghadi ghadi mora dil dhadke meaning “my heart pounds every minute I see you”. The vociferous crowd ran in to another scream adding Hai Phadke bai dhadke.

Another uproarious cheer emanted from the witty crowd.

I was young then and enjoyed the situations much, agreeing with Worsdworth – it was very heaven to be young.

T. Santhanam
2, 5th Street, Nandanam Extension
Chennai 600 035

Editor’s Note: We wish to inform Reader Santhanam that Mughal-e Aazam was released in 1960 a year after the match he writes about.

Classical music at crossroads

The Editor’s reporting on the music season this year being lackluster should be an eye-opener.

For several years now, sabhas have seen depleting audiences for music programmes. Perhaps, there is more crowd at the canteen than in the auditorium which speaks volumes for crowd response. Ticket sales have plummeted, forcing sabhas to seek corporate sponsorship. There is only so much forthcoming from corporates 

Once upon a time there was no entertainment of sorts except cinema. Sabhas were in few in number, programmes were limited, so there was good response to music. We should remember that classical music attracted only a minority population and that will be the case always. What is perturbing is that today’s younger generation is not attracted to classical music. I remember attending a few programmes during the “season” many years ago and found the auditoriums consisted mostly of senior citizens. Attention span being very short these days, it is not surprising that you do not find young people in today’s music concerts.

Time has come to do a total rethink about the season’s format to attract large numbers. For this sabhas have to devise new strategies instead of relying on old formats. They should spread the season throughout the year and adopt online and offline formats. Please remember that you have so many options to listen to music in your home. Ways must be found to find a place for the “season” in this crowd.

In Ahmedabad, Saptak has been a regular feature in December every year. Year after year, I find the same senior musicians featured in the programmes. Hindustani music has rigid norms about what raga should be played during different times of the day. Most likely you hear the same raga year after year. There is no change. Once again, you find only senior citizens in the auditorium.

North or South, classical music is at crossroads. What is the way out?

P.S. Seshadri
Ahmedabad

Astronomer Guillaume le Gentil’s view of Pondichéry between 1761 and 1769

Guillaume le Gentil (read,‘Guillaume’ as ‘ghee-yôhm’; ‘Gentil’ as ‘Jhaan-thil’), a professional astronomer, was born in Coutances, France, in 1725. He clarified details of some galaxies, star constellations, besides many other fascinating aspects of modern astronomy: for example, he catalogued the dark nebula, presently referred as ‘le-Gentil-3 constellation’.

Measurement of distance between the Sun and the earth was of considerable interest for the 18th century astronomers. One method by which this could be done was to observe the transit of Venus from different locations on the earth. Close to a 100 astronomers participated in the Sun-earth distance-measurement project, proposed by Edmond Halley (1656-1742) of Britain. Deputed by Louis XV, the King of France, le Gentil set out for Pondichéry, India. He had published a 2-volume book,Voyage dans les mers de l’Inde, fait par ordre du Roi, à l’occasion du passage de Vénus sur le disque du Soleil, le 6 Juin 1761 et le 3 du même mois 1761(l’Académie Royale des Sciences, Paris) in 1779. An English edition of this book by Frederick C. Fischer, published in 1964, is available. Helen Sawyer Hogg (1905-1993), an eminent American-Canadian astronomer, has written a series of articles on the astronomy promoted by le Gentil in the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada in 1951.

le Gentil circumnavigated the Cape of Good Hope to reach Pondichéry. When he touched Mauritius (then,‘Île de France’), a battle broke out between the British and French in the Coromandel. Consequently, le Gentil had to delay his onward travel to Pondichéry. He travelled to the Coromandel in a frigate ship proceeding to Pondichéry from France via Mauritius. As fate would have it, when the ship entered an unnamed region, 7o south of Paris, unfavourable winds pushed the boat in which he was travelling in the opposite direction. On the designated day for the transit of Venus, viz., 6 June, 1761, le Gentil was still on the boat at a location, 5o45’ south and 87o15’ east of Paris. In such a precarious situation, he could not fully observe the transit of Venus.

le Gentil arrived Pondichéry on 27 March 1768. He refers to his arrival as follows: “Such is, dear friends, the fate which awaited me at Pondichéry and which I owe to Mr. Law (who is Jean Law de Lauriston) Governor-General for the King … I enjoyed at Pondichéry the sweet peace, which is the support of the muses; I occupied myself … in devoting happy moments to Uranus; with my soul content and satisfied I await with tranquility until the approaching ecliptic conjunction of Venus with the sun comes to terminate my academic courses.”

While in Pondichéry he studied monsoons and their patterns and mapped sea routes to Pondichéry from Mauritius. He mused himself in studying Indian astronomy and how Indians used the four cardinal points in constructing temples. In his 700-odd page volume, he provides detailed descriptions of sky conditions in Pondichéry, and movements of wind and clouds, and the Sun’s appearance, particularly close to the next transit on 3 June 1769. He recorded minute details on an hourly basis. He particularly acknowledges the gift of a 1 m long achromatic telescope he got from the English in Madras. After days of clear skies, unfortunately the 3rd of June of 1769 was overcast and rained for two hours accompanied by gusty winds.He could observe nothing. Disappointed he returned to Paris on 1 January 1771.

le Gentil’s astronomical observatory (marked ‘H—I’) in Pondichéry, 1769. (Legend for other notations. A: army workshop, B: general store, C & D: Housing for the Capuchin Brothers, E: a house, F, F: ruins of a fortified house, G: flag mast, H-I: observatory.

On return to France, he published the book referred earlier, which includes his life and work in Pondichéry. Further to his observations of geographical, botanical, zoological, archaeological, and ethnographic details he saw and observed,he has supplemented his book with by elegant maps and India-ink sketches (see sample illustration attached). Part 1 of his volume entitled Notes ou remarques sur l’Inde (Notes or remarks on India, p. 87—352) includes five chapters. Chapter 1 — ‘de quelques costumes & usages des Indiens de la côte de Coromandel, etc.’ (On the apparel of Indians in the Coromandel Coast, p. 91—142), chapter 2 – ‘de quelques points de la religion des Indiens Tamouls (On aspects of religion of the Tamil people, p. 143—205). Chapter 3 – ‘Sur quelques points de l’Astronomiedes Indiens de la côte de Coromandel (On some aspects of astronomy practiced by the Indians in the Coromandel Coast, p. 206—264). In the remainder until page 352, he speaks of (a) the relationships he found between the four lunar periods followed in the Coromandel and the lunar tables formulated by the famous German astronomer Tobias Mayer (1723-1762) and (b) similarities and dissimilarities between the astronomy of India and that of the Chaldeans (Chaldea, 9th-6th centuries BC, the present-day Iraq).

le Gentil’s observations in and of Pondichéry and its environs offer an interesting read, although many of his anthropological and sociological remarks are either incorrect or exaggerated.

Anantanarayanan Raman
anant@raman.id.au

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