[Reader-list] 5th posting.Dripta Piplai

[Dripta Piplai]

A large building at beckbagan crossing, Calcutta-wooden chairs covered with red carpets,coloured glass windows,smell of new books,an unusual silence.The picture of Viswa Bharati Office was absolutely like this.
  I went to the publication division first to meet a person who is famous for helping the researchers. Inwanted to see some documents of the Music Board, though, I knew, it is not at all an easy job-still, I tried.
  The helpful person told me to talk to a specific person at the Music Board.
  The reception room of the Music Board is nicely decorated with old photographs of persons like Dinendranath Tagore and laminated page sof Swarabitan are on display.
  I asked the person about the rules and regulations of the board and also asked whether there are some printed documents or not.The person suddenly started giving me word by word dictation( he had doubts regarding why people from non-music-academic background can do research on Rabindrasangeet,why this young girl is asking him irrelavant questions,and he doubted that today's researchers may not know good English).
  Let me quote him now- ' At the time of existing copyright our concern was usually to examine the efficiency of a Rabindrasangeet singer through an audition ...where the selected experts were present.' ( as I asked him by which body the selection was done, he told me to erase the word 'selected'.He was not sure that whether the secretary or the VC canm select the board members)
   
  Anyways, he told me in details about the procedures of audition( In between he mentioned several times that he has read Einstein and he knows what is a researcher's job and what is not)
  One important task for me was to collect or at least listen to some sample of cancelled audio cassettes-which were cancelled for the reason of 'Non-efficiency'.The person told me first that they do not have any good audio cassette player,so he cannot help me. As I told that I can bring my own-he told that I can do so.But he kept questioning me that why it is needed, why I am doing this work,etc etc.(Again he commented why a person who doen not have any musical sense can do such a research).
   
  The time I was supposed to leave I told him that I am coming again-he just started shouting at me. The words were- 'we'll not help you.' I tried to show my letter from SARAI and told him that it is an organization under Central Govt.,he shouted that Viswa Bharati is above any Centarl Govt. organizationand he will not help me and told me to leave.
   
  The experience scared me a lot.The influence of Viswa Bharati Music Board in Bengali High-culture and its consequences raised many important questions,too. It became quite evident that the practice of Rabindrasangeet is continuously being threatened by some authorities which is a threat towards the freedom of the performers in the domain of city-culture.
   

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