Mahindra Kabir Festival

Kabir on the Ghats

The Setting

Dharbhanga Ghat

What a setting it was.  Early days of a winter eager to come to Banaras. Late rays of the Sun reaching down to touch the Ganga. People bowing to both – the river and the Sun like they have all been doing for eons.

Some tourists passed by on boats while a few stopped their boats and walked up the dozen odd steps – the stage for the session. Some just walked by while few Sadhus remained unaffected. The world continued to do what it did. About 80 odd people sat amidst flowing curtains and resting pillows – both in lively colours. Flowers added to the colours!

Chota Nagpur Bageecha

For the evening session Roy (of the JLF fame) entered at the same time as us and greeted me in English and mumi in Hindi. He did this with an ease and elan I have come to associate with him in what little glimpses I have had of him.

The audience size was friendly and demeanour pleasant. 2 stalls – one of chaat and the other of clothes were up. Thandai was served in the third; in kullad, with bhang and free.

The Music

Chota Nagpur Bageecha

The evening began with a Shankh play or it is recital! One of the first songs ‘Mastak par Chandrama  bole” was a delight for a moon-lover in me.  

Bindhumalini and Vedanth then took the stage over; so lively they were. Their voices flowed as they sang Human hain isqh mastana. They ended with the timeless Kumar Gandharva Udjayega Hans akela and some from the audience joined them.

Shubha Mudgal was the final performer for the evening session. She has retained that charisma (voice, presence and more) over all these years. Despite it being a Kabir gathering I wished – for a moment – that she would sing a favourite of mine from AKS – Raat aati hai chali jaati hai.

Assi Ghat

The evening began with a prayer. This was followed by a group from Rajasthan that played Nagadas. It was an energetic and youthful performance by a team which only looked old – experienced may be a more suitable term. Tossing the equipment and honing their moustache they ended their performance with a flourish.

Harpreet – with his two colleagues – came then. They were fun. On occasions I could not get what he was singing but he got the crowd crazy when he sang Bubli Banarasi. Three of them young with their ‘normal’ clothes and body-language perhaps an indication of the change youth in heralding – including in music.

The Story

Dharbhanga Ghat

My first experience of Dastangoi and the sharp eyed Ankit Chaddha exuded confidence and an air of someone enjoying what he is up to as I saw him check the acoustics.

By way of a fable he put across how logon ko sach dekhne ki aadat nahin - aur nanga sach to bilkul hi nahin. Kabir used to speak the truth – naked truth – and weave them into stores and songs.

He delved on during Kabir’s time in Kashi both the maulvis and pundits troubled him and how Kabir remained unaffected! While today we engage in intellectual discussions of whether Kabir wore lungi or dhoti. Our attempts to explain Kabir are as futile as trying to explain (the concept of) Hindustan.

Kabir – at the crux – was a lover; an ashiq and not a shayar or a kavi. A couplet he said went thus – Marne ka shauk hai - to aa - tuje ishq ki taleem du. I could not help being reminded of Osho’s talk on Kabir where he compared Kabir to a Himalayan spring and said Kabir had what no other preacher – not even Mahavir or Buddha had – freedom from all sorts of baggage including education.

Jis ko kachu nahin chahiye – woh hi sachchha shahenshah

Weaving

Dharbhanga Ghat

One of the sessions was on weaving – Abha Dalmia in conversation with Roy. Kabir, she said, used to sing while weaving – it provided him a sync. She brought up points of the Banarasi loom being the most versatile of looms and how the weaving here had received patronage from the then states of Indore and Gwalior. She also added how she had tried to bring in fresh design including from other Asian countries. Abha’s responses to questions could have been way better; questions that delved from the weavers’ earnings to differences between a hand woven and a machine woven saree. She also ended up with the clichéd lines – the youth do not want to take up weaving and I have done a lot.

The Questions

Page 3 crowd were interested as page 3 people are – the uncle in the seat ahead went off repeatedly for food and was also looking up whats app when stationary. How much of Kabir were we all taking in? Is there anything Kabir about this? Has it always been like this? Do we see contradictions in these sessions as we seek a perfect world; a world history has perhaps never seen.

Was the evening session at Assi Ghat a case of making the making the Ghat a private property and restricting access such that elite had all the fun. Or was this a case of 1,000 getting to watch from a distance for free as 25 had paid or bore the cost to watch it from proximity. Like a friend once said arts and entertainment have been supported by the elite since centuries!

During one of the sessions when sitting arrangement had been put up – neat and colourful clothes and mattresses some of us showed our colours as well. Some people took off their shoes and walked – others just walked on with their foot-wear (including wet foot-wear) leaving their mark on the till then spotless yellow and orange. Why do we go out of our way to show our disdain and disrespect for a lot that is of collective use?  

The Festival website here