No Takeoff

You don’t have to know even half a tillana or a taal to be outraged about what happened with the T.M. Krishna concert that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) pulled the plug on last week. After trolls reportedly drew attention to Krishna's distant left of Centre views, the concert was postponed. In a quiet communication to co-organisers SPIC MACAY, however, AAI cited 'exigencies'. On its website, the opening ticker continued to advertise some global aviation summit and expo with the tag line 'Flying for all'.

Exigencies

We are laughing and laughing. Make no mistake, we are crying too. We are laughing because AAI said 'exigencies'. And crying because two Novembers ago when there was a nationwide exigency someone twiddled his thumbs and said, 'Ghar me shaadi hai, lekin paisa...' We are laughing because the venue was the Capital, no less. We are crying because the park is named after Nehru. We are laughing because SPIC MACAY stands for Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth. We are crying because the youth with a capital Y form that constituency India's all and mighty might heed to, especially now. But alas, the youth with a capital Y can’t be persuaded to bare their fangs. We are not laughing that this should happen with someone named Krishna. We are only wondering what if he had been named after the right avatar.

Karmatic music

You might not know a kutcheri from a kachori, but you might have heard how Krishna turned Carnatic music on its head, upset the caste and culture bogie. He performed in a church, sang a song in praise of Allah, another on Jesus. He fights the green war — in the multi-genre music video “Kodaikanal Won’t” he collaborated with others to raise awareness on the issue of Unilevers’ dumping of toxic mercury in the south Indian hill town. He is unsparing of Modi sarkar’s doings, true. But if you know him by his timeline, last week he critiqued Tharoor's views on Sabarimala. When AAI announced what it did, an unfazed Krishna said, “Give me a stage anywhere in Delhi...I will come and sing.” It makes us sad that he had to even ask. It was a cue for a countrywide chorus.