Proud of you, Zubeen Garg!

Good to know we have an artiste who can stand up and fight for what he believes in. And that he will not be censored.

The United Liberation Front for Assam ( or ULFA),  true to its form, issued a ban on performing Hindi songs during a function in Guwahati to celebrate Bihu, the Assamese new year.  While other musicians gave in to the diktat, not Zubeen. He is reported to have said, "No power can dictate an artiste. We have our own freedom. I have earned nationwide fame singing Hindi songs. It is our national language. Who are they to say Hindi songs will destroy Assamese culture. It is an outdated ridiculous idea."

So proud of you Zubeen Garg! You sing so well in Hindi. I believe you can sing in many Indian languages and sound like the native. I would love to hear you sing in Assamese too. I wish we had more music festivals all over the country where singers from different parts of the country sing in different languages.

Great art in any form,  while it may have strong local roots, reaches for the world.  It can't and shouldn't be curbed.

Music knows no boundaries.  Glad you stood your ground against the rowdy censors!

More links to posts on Rowdy Censorship
Extremists frigthen us into silence  
A film maker who stood up to the rowdy censors

Zubeen provided security

Anna and spontaneous protest

At my neighbourhood market in Delhi:

 The protest against the denial of the right to protest builds up. It began when a group of persons holding candles and shouting pro-Anna and anti-corruption slogans came in a procession and entered the market square.

PS: Notice the 'Citizen First' board. Ironical?

Quickly, the group swelled. The late evening shoppers, the momo munchers, the pani-puri poppers joined them. There was the aunty, the uncle, the dude, the dudette, the bhaiya and the bhenji. One aunty stepped on to a cement platform and urged the gathering to come out in support for Anna. "Act NOW!"  she urged. A dude took over. There was some slogan shouting. 

They lit the candles. The little platform was soon ablaze. It was a fire of protest againt a system that was throttling free expression.  The last time I had seen candles on the platform was during Diwali, put up by the shopkeepers in celebration. But today, the candles were an Indian's expression that all was not right with her/his world.  The news of the government deciding to release Anna came in. But the people did not go away. Instead they decided to gather there every day at the same time and continue their struggle.

And the little flames that flickered seemed to be saying: "Let there be light. Let us lift the darkness, the cover of corruption from Indian life..."