Sunday, 22 September 2024

Women Safety and Men’s Upbringing in West Bengal

Recent rape and murder of a female doctor in Kolkata has raised nation wide alarm just like Nirbhaya rape case did in 2012. It is evident even after the Nirbhaya case perpetrators were hanged there is no deterrence in rape crime. There is no doubt the issue of women’s safety bugs the nation. Kolkata with its prominence in social reforms, culture and intellect has failed to make it safe for its women. Kolkata women are educated and progressive in nature. Bengali women have joined workforce since long. Widow remarriage is nothing new in this part of the country and it is said Women are Stree Shakti and the people here pray to goddesses every year with such pomp and glory. However the same feeling of respecting women is not reflected on the streets. The shocking incident of RG Kar is a testimony of what is wrong regarding women safety. 


 There are protests being organized, social media is flooded with anger and memes to create awareness against hate crime against women, but the authors feel this armchair protest and keyboard warriors achieve nothing to curb the crime. The current author has left Kolkata in 2005 and stayed in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Guwahati for last 19 years. His maximum time was spent in Mumbai (10 years), Pune (5 years), Guwahati (2 years). Snob high nosed Bengalis from Kolkata had always jeered “Non Bengalis” and passed snide remarks about their culture. However I saw no eve teasing and roadside Romeos in Mumbai, Pune or Guwahati for last so many years. Kolkata and Bengal is still a hotbed of eve teasing. There is a strong undercurrent of dowry, domestic violence, eve teasing and lack of support for working women beneath surface veneer of cultural sophistication in Bengal. Many Bengali women are still trying to break the glass ceiling. However, the so called “Uncultured” states of India according to Bengali genteel bhadralok, do not exhibit eve teasing culture. Mumbai, Pune and Guwahati are safe for women according to me. In Mumbai, at midnight female passenger is safe in a local train. At any time of the day Mumbai is safe for women. I have stayed for a pretty long time in Powai, Navi Mumbai and taught in Xavier’s Mumbai. I never seen fear in the faces of my girl students in Pune, Mumbai or Guwahati. In Pune I had stayed in Viman Nagar and Lohegaon without seeing any eve teasing cases. In Guwahati I never see boys in groups teasing women and passing lewd comments, however in Bengal it is still the case. “Rokbaji” they say is rampant in Kolkata. Groups of young men with teacups and cigarettes in hand are seen to tease any passing girl. In localities or “Para” as they say boys find vicarious pleasure in making lewd comments, ogling, jeering and teasing women. In the lanes and bylanes of Kolkata eve teasing is a common pastime of young men. Staring is not an offence. These are the same boys who join plum IT jobs out of Kolkata and want submissive women to marry them and take care of their domestic work. Boys are not trained from young age to take care of their daily household chores. Most of the Bengali educated families train their boys to excel in study and get plum jobs. They are all dubbed as “Brilliant” “Gem” “Studious” and then they behave as entitled men bossing over their women. Most of them marry not for a loving partner but for someone who will settle in happy domesticity and take care of their “Sansar”. I have seen many of these bachelors accommodation in Mumbai and Pune and I dub them as Pigsty. Only a marriage rescues these high earning bachelors from unkempt household and brings some order. 


 Reams have been written on how to train our men so that rape crime is prevented but nobody talks about the actual methods to train these boys. The actual education comes from the household where parents teach the equality concept and no gender bias to their boys. From the dining table they learn girls have equal share of nutrition. Many mothers try to feed their boys with bigger pieces of fish and chicken than their girls. From the kitchen the boys must learn how to cook and clean as a basic survival skill not to think this is a woman’s job. They must learn how to iron clothes, keep their room tidy and belongings neat. They must understand they can also make a cup of tea when their working wives come home and do the laundry. They can also participate in their child’s school education, most of the mothers actually take care of school level education in India. It is time fathers learn how to educate their child at home and prepare them for school. Going to “Bajaar” should not be the only prerogative of these entitled males, they have to bring in participation in domestic chores. When a parent decides to allocate funds for future education for both boys and girls should be equally dealt with. It should never be like saving for daughter’s marriage and son’s education whereas a daughter’s education takes backseat. The concept of bias free upbringing begins from ancestors. If the fathers stops getting privileges like not cooking, cleaning ; continues watching TV reading newspapers and ordering tea and coffee then the boys will learn how domestic chores are not priority of a woman. The recent rape case may have different cause, there may be ugly details getting unearthed but overall, I feel respecting women begins at home and the society. It is high time our boys learn and the parents advice accordingly.

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 Author Dr Biswa Prasun Chatterji, PhD (IIT Bombay) Professor, Faculty of Science Assam down town University

Wednesday, 3 July 2024

Western Classical Music, Death and Funeral

 Actually Mozart was very afraid of death. He died quite young and during his last days he was commissioned by a Count in Vienna to write a Requiem which he did with a dark assumption that the messenger of the Count is a harbinger of his death which was near. Listen to Mozart's Requiem

 



Then Beethoven courted death when he was turning deaf. Music was everything to him and how frustrating it must have been for him to discover at the prime of his musical career that he is losing the sense of hearing. A musician turning deaf is like a surgeon who cannot hold a scalpel because his hands tremor or like an orator who cannot speak ! Beethoven thought of suicide and wrote a will which is famously known as Heligenstadt testament ..

.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heiligenstadt_Testament ...

he actually changed his mind after a visit to a countryside and celebrated by writing the Sixth symphony which I believe is his best. A movie on Beethvoen called Immortal Beloved




Then Gluck's opera Orpheus Euricye speaks of death. This opera is based on a Greek mythological story where Orpheus laments his lover's demise and go to hell and heaven in search for her. Listen to this....



Rossini, Bach and Handel also wrote several mass to be performed during burial ceremony in church.

Wednesday, 24 January 2024

An Indian Surgeon did world’s first pig heart transplant to humans in 1997

Apropos your Feature on Pig Organs Head for the Clinic (1), this is not the first pig heart transplantation in the humans in the world. In 1997 in Guwahati India a heart surgeon Dr Dhaniram Barua, FRCS transplanted a pig heart in a human patient (2,3). The patient survived for a week but passed away after that. There was a huge furore in the media and the surgeon’s office was ransacked. Due to lack of ethical clearance Dr Baruah was given a 40 days jail term as reported in Nature in January 1997 (4). However, Dr Baruah’s pig heart transplant was historically the first in the world. Mentioning David Bennett as the first recipient of pig heart is a distortion of history and it should be corrected and credit should go to the pioneer. It is understood that David Bennett’s case involves a genetically modified pig heart with a Crispr/Cas mediated gene editing which itself is a novelty; however, to be historically accurate Bennet was not the first human to have received a pig heart. 

Dr Baruah achieved this feat 25 years ago unbeknownst to the western media with a normal unmodified pig heart. In fact, when Bennet’s pig heart transplant was published in January 2022 several Indian newspapers recounted Dr Baruah’s pig heart transplantation surgery of 1997 (4). Though Dr Baruah’s surgery crossed ethical boundary it has to be appreciated as the world’s first pig heart transplant in humans. He is a maverick whose methods might have been unconventional but the fact that he performed world’s first pig-to-human heart transplant in 1997 and the patient survived for a week cannot be ignored and denied. I urge the editor to please include this fact to correct an error in history of transplant surgery. 

 References: 
1. Sara Reardon (2022) PIG ORGANS HEAD FOR THE CLINIC. Nature. Vol 611, pg 654-655 
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhaniram_Baruah, last accessed on 26/11/2022 
3. Mudur G. Indian surgeon challenges ban on xenotransplantation. BMJ. 1999 Jan 9;318(7176):79 
4. K.S.Jayaraman. (1997) Pig heart transplant surgeon held in jail. Nature. Vol 385, pg 378 
5. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/transplant-jogs-dhani-ram-memories/articleshow/88843361.cms last accessed on 26/11/2022

Payment for Journal Reviewers

 Of late I have noticed a sea change in the publishing model of research articles. Most of the publishing houses and journals are adopting the pay and publish Open Access model. Earlier payment was looked down upon and it was thought if your article lacked quality, you published  by paying money. But things have changed rapidly in the past 5 years. More and more journals are becoming Open Access and payment by the authors have become a norm (1).

I have also observed the reviewers are slow to act; they send their opinions across after prodding and pleading. Every editor knows how difficult it is to make the reviewers submit their comments in time. Sometimes it takes months. Their reluctance to review for a journal is not caused by professional ineptitude but by lack of payment. If the journals are taking money for publication then the editors can pay, whatever small the amount may be, to the reviewers. Silver tonic always works in getting things done. Money can be an incentive for the reviewers and the reluctance and lethargy to review can go. This can also be a pathway to generate more income by the reviewers (2,3). The process of review actually takes a long time now and mars the spirit of the scientists who submitted their articles for review. I suggest the journal editors think of paying their reviewers for speedy publication (3). Many scientists prefer a journal for faster publication process. As you increase the speed of publication, the journal profits by attracting more authors and revenue generation in the end.

Reference
2. Open access pay-for-review option — ethical question. Nature 590, 36 (2021)

Friday, 7 April 2023

10 top-of-the-mind Western Classical Music Pieces

 In advertising there is a term-"top-of-the-mind" or product recall. That means what comes up in your mind when you think about a particular subject; say you think of Impressionism van Gogh comes to your mind. You think of cold drinks Coke or Pepsi comes to your mind. 

Similarly what comes to my mind when I think Western Classical Music?


1. Beethoven's Violin Concerto 

The Rondo movement is hummable and so memorable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD6UT-y2HPo


2.  Eine Kleine nacht Musik by Mozart

The first movement is sprightly and forever favorite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy2zDJPIgwc


3. On the Beautiful Blue Danube

This waltz by Johann Strauss needs no introduction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKkDMiGUbUw&t=165s


4. Four Seasons - Spring

This one by Vivaldi may be written in mediaeval age but how popular is it still now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfKxEH699Nw


5. Fur Elise

Beethoven's iconic piano piece is everywhere from ringtone to elevator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGLpHxdsLtM


6. Turkish Rondo

What a pretty piece Mozart wrote.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6ryaQ6Gtpg


7. Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring

Bach's eternally moving piece which makes Christmas or Easter incomplete

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7PNFDrcqmY


8. Chopin's Nocturn no.20

Reportedly this piece saved life of Spillman from Nazi torture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9oQEa-d5rU


9. Tchaikovsky's Song Without Words

A short and sweet passage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=907KXouF3Mw


10. Mozart Elvira Madigan Piano Concerto no 21,2nd movement

Soothes your soul, just flow with the music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRCEwy5XQSs


This is not the end....I add 10 close contenders

1. Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, 3rd movement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xsjrbpo0qQ

2. Moonlight Sonata

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu7hscHkfPw

3. Tempest by Beethoven

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KMGcOYHSs0

4. Hungarian Dance no 5

This chirpy Brahms piece is musical

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzo3atXtm54

5. Paganini caprice no 24

Was Paganini a rockstar?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ307sM0t-0

6. Schumann Traumerei

Remember the Raymond ad?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z82w0l6kwE

7. Schubert's Serenade

evokes cinematic emotions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=widDAQKdlUA

8. Mozart Symphony no 25, 1st movement

Titan ad anyone??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNeirjA65Dk

9. Pachelbel canon

Can you imagine a marriage in the western world without this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlprozGcs80

10. Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyM2AnA96yE

** Can't stop sharing this Anthem of the EU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqs9a2Cxv5c

Sunday, 12 February 2023

Music Education: Chamber Music

 

Chamber Music    

Chamber music is music written for small combinations of instruments, expressing intimate and personal emotions. Originally it was meant to be performed inside a room with friends and not in the concert hall. From the room or chamber this music gets its name Chamber Music. Almost all the composers have written beautiful music in this form. But the best chamber music has come from Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms. Chamber music starts with the combination of two instruments, a "duo" as it is called and goes right up to nine instruments or "Nonet". More than nine instruments become music for small orchestra or chamber orchestra. For these small orchestras the composers have also written works and these are known as sinfonias, or sinfonettas, or concertinas, in other words small symphonies and concertos.

Given below are the different categories of chamber music.

 

The    Duo   : This can be in various combinations, two violins, violin and piano, piano and

oboe, piano and clarinet, piano and flute, piano and horn. The most common is the violin and piano combination and in this, the works of Mozart and Beethoven are the momentous.

The Trio Sonata: This is virtually a duo because the third instrument merely holds on to the note like the Indian Tanpura. Bach and Handel wrote a lot of Trio Sonatas. The form really existed in the Baroque Age (1600-1740).

The Trio: Very popular chamber music form. The most Popular combination is violin, piano and cello. There are other combinations, violin, viola and cello (known as string trio). Beethoven wrote some wonderful string trios. Then there is clarinet trio or clarinet, cello and violin in which combination Mozart wrote and so did Brahms. but the most famous trios are the piano trios of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms. Dvorak's "Dumky" trio is also a lovely work;

The Quartet:         most important is the string quartet in which some of the greatest music of the composers have been written. This consists of two violins, viola and cello. The string quartets of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert arc the most important. The string quartet like the symphony can be called the backbone of western classical music. By dropping one instrument of the string quartet usually the second violin and adding either piano, horn or clarinet, the composers have obtained unique patterns of sound. The two piano quartets of Mozart, written for piano, violin, viola and cello, are very great works. Brahms wrote three piano quartets and so did Beethoven and Dvorak. Mozart also wrote flute quartets and oboe quartets and also a horn quartet where a fourth instrument outside the string family is added onto a string trio.

Quintet: The addition of a fifth instrument either a viola in case of Mozart and cello in case of Schubert     creates the form of the string quintet. Mozart's string quintets are great works and so is the string quintet of Schubert. If the fifth instrument is a piano it is known as a piano quintet as in the case of Schubert's popular Trout Quintet. Schumann, Brahms and Dvorak wrote piano quintets. Mozart and Beethoven also wrote a quintet for a combination of a wind quartet, that is clarinet, oboe, bassoon and horn and the piano as the fifth instrument. The piano and wind quintets of Mozart and Beethoven are utterly ravishing works. Mozart, Brahms and Weber also wrote clarinet quintets, where the clarinet takes the place of the piano.

Sextet: The addition of two more instruments to the string quartet makes it a sextet. Brahms wrote two beautiful string sextets. He also wrote string quintets like Mozart. Mendelssohn and Dvorak also wrote string sextets.

Septet: A combination of seven instruments makes it a Septet. The most famous work in this category is the Septet by Beethoven. It is a product of Beethoven’s youth full of passion and feeling.

Octet: A combination of eight instruments, strings and winds makes it an Octet. Schubert wrote a famous Octet for winds and strings while Mendelssohn wrote an Octet only for strings Both are captivating works.

Nonet: Nine instruments is a rare combination and only some contemporaries of Beethoven like Spohr used it. Chamber music ends with the Nonet. After that it becomes orchestra.

Practical reasons made composers write for small groups for it was not always possible to get a large orchestra. Sinfonias and Sinfonettas could be also performed easily. One can mention Mozart's serenade for thirteen wind instruments, a masterwork that remains unsurpassed in charm and beauty. Most of Mozart's divertimentos and serenades, which contain some of his most vivacious music is written for a small orchestra of ten to fifteen players.

Chamber music is the key to feeling the pulse of the composers. The greater the composer the better his chamber music output.

 

List of Chamber Music

1.    Haydn String Quartet ‘Lark’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNN_Kbuf7_U

2.    Mozart Quintet for Piano and Winds in E flat K452

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC9Qp6wKWsg

3.    Mozart Clarinet quintet K581 in A major

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTNbclgU3h4&t=380s

4.    Mozart: Oboe Quartet KV 370

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwTmzmi4AkQ

5.    Ludwig van Beethoven - String Quartet No. 14, Op. 131

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlFYC1U5viw

6.    Ludwig van Beethoven - String Quartet No. 15, Op. 132

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiVbMB6iLPc

7.    Beethoven - Piano Trio, Op. 97 (Archduke Trio)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mrfy_D9JVE

8.    Franz Schubert String Quintet in C Major, D. 956

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc3iX7x73JY

9.    Franz Schubert - Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667, "Trout"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMr4pDGo0KE

10. Johannes Brahms - Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-DqO_D1g1g

 

 

Music Education: Sonata

 

Sonata

Sonata refers to a particular structure or form of music in which composers have written works ever since the 16th century. A sonata can be for solo instruments like the piano or a combination of two instruments like the piano and violin, piano and clarinet, piano and cello, piano and horn etc. There is another type of sonata for three instruments known as Trio Sonata which used to be popular in the 16th and 17th centuries in which two of the instruments really played the major role and the third held the tune rather like the Indian tanpura or drone instrument. Sonatas are usually in three movements but there is no fixed rule. The first movement is constructed with two melodies rather like the first movement of the symphony. A simple formula will help to understand this construction. Suppose we call the two melodies A and B, A being strong and masculine, B being soft and feminine. How are they presented? The first part of the movement belongs to A then B is introduced and combined with A almost like a marriage and then out of the blending or the marriage of these two melodies a third melody or C emerges as the conclusion of the movement. Therefore we can map the flow of this movement with the following equation,

                              A       B        ABBA         C

Where A refers to  the  first  melody B  to the second melody ABBA to the blending of the two and C to the conclusion. In some sonatas there is an introduction before A, which appears rather like the opening of a door and we can call this section D. The first movement of the symphony and the concerto is based on this formula. So if you are good in catching tunes you should be able to follow these forms of music and have fun and enjoy yourself. Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Brahms all wrote beautiful Sonatas.

List

1.    Beethoven Moonlight Sonata    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5OaSju0qNc

 

2.    Mozart Sonata for Violin and Piano K378 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKeVF_Dluao&t=68s

 

3.    Beethoven Sonata Pathetique

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrcOcKYQX3c&t=615s

 

4.    Brahms Sonata for Cello and Piano no 1 Opus 38

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XiYrzsgWto

 

5.    Joseph Haydn Piano Sonata nÂș 59 in E flat, Hob. XVI:49

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWF-48jIrSU&t=754s

 

6.    MOZART Sonata in C minor, K. 457

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfptgKV1qI4

 

7.    Beethoven.Violin.Sonata.No.9.Op.47.kreutzer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COGcCBJAC6I&t=573s

 

8.    Beethoven.Violin.Sonata.No.5.Op24.Spring

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGFs7n6n3-8

 

9.    Beethoven Sonata N° 23 'Appassionata'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ak_7tTxZrk&t=58s

 

10. Beethoven Sonata N° 29 'Hammerklavier'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwZsDzGY1XA