Fusion is here to stay!

Do you remember listening to something peppy, but with simple and rustic lyrics? A combination of tabla, electric guitar and drums! It’s fusion. A fusion of various sounds of traditional and Western instruments.  It has created a fresh form of music which is also called contemporary or world music by some. But the concept and visualization is fusing two different forms of music and the result is ‘Fusion’.

Fusion music has become popular in the last decade in India. Fusion means the combination of two separate forms of music. When they forms are combined, a third form called Fusion is created. Fusion music was conceptualized by musicians who wanted to combine the best of two worlds and also to promote easy listening.

Several bands promoted fusion music in India. Tavleen Singh, the famous percussionist, is known as a great fusion artist. Similarly, Colonial Cousins , a band comprising singer Hariharan and music director Leslie Lewis became quite popular in the Nineties. They made some memorable hits like ‘Sa Ni Dha Pa’ and others  which are typical fusion songs.

Indian Ocean, a band comprising four close friends, developed an idea by Rahul Ram, the vocalist. Their album ‘Kandisa’ became a popular  hit amongst the youth, particularly college students. Their songs ‘Maa Rewa’ and ‘Kandisa’ were huge hits. Remember, ‘Peepli Live’ which had some Indian Ocean songs like ‘Desh mera rangrezia babu’. The songs of Indian Ocean describe various issues of life in a simple and rustic manner.

 One of their songs, ‘Hille le’ was originally written by a famous poet from Bihar, Gorakh Pande, and it is a satire on issues like corruption and aristocracy. It has a rustic feel to it. But it uses electric guitar, tabla, drums and synthesizer in harmony. The result is a power- packed song which is truly soul stirring.

Fusion music was popularized by the Pakistani band ‘Junoon’ which used various famous sayings in a totally different and modern form. Their song ‘Khudi ko kar buland itna ki har taqdeer se pehle, khuda bande se khud poochhe, bataa teri raza kya hai’ is an adaptation of a popular saying by poet Allama Iqbal which tells a man to be strong and totally in control.

Fusion music has been criticized by experts who see this as corruption of music. But as long as fusion is pure and sends out a message, it will be popular. Youngsters can be inspired as fusion songs do not use any explicit lyrics. So, as long as you are listening to something which is pleasing and is also soul stirring, go for it. Who knows you may come out with your own album someday!

Online gaming: easy entertainment

Internet gaming has grown over the years. Millions of people worldwide are caught up in a whirling vortex of online gaming and the number of addicted people is increasing with each passing year. The addiction of gaming began with hand-held video game devices on which children could play simple games such as Tetris, Car Racing and Feed the Snake.

Nowadays, video games have become essential part of gadgets. Mobiles, computers, tablets TVs and set- top boxes come loaded with games such as Sudoku, Cricket, Solitaire, Tetris, etc. Users can instal third-party sophisticated games on their computers which are played on Play Station and X-Box. There is a huge market for games on Android or iOS enabled smart phones and they can be bought from their respective stores.

Fast broadband Internet connection, interactive social networking game applications and availability of games as browser add-ons have given a boost to online games. The success of online games such as Angry Birds, Farm Ville, Fruit Ninja, Mafia Wars, Bejeweled, etc., can be gauged by the number of users playing them online.  More than 700 million copies of Angry Bird alone have been downloaded on different platforms since its launch in 2009. According to Facebook blog more than 236 million people play games on the social networking website.

There is a variety of games available such as arcade games, racing games, war games, strategy games, word games and sports games on hundreds of gaming websites. There are many websites on the Internet for playing different kinds of games.

Zynga.com has one of the largest collections of free games and the site claims that it has over 240 million monthly users. Some of the most popular games available on the website are CityVille, Zynga Poker, Draw Something, Hidden Chronicles, FarmVille, CastleVille, Words With Friends, Empires & Allies, Scramble With Friends and Mafia Wars. A Bit Lucky is a developer of high-quality games such as Lucky Space and Lucky Train that are among some of the highest-rated games on Facebook. The games designed by this developer are available on Facebook and other social media platforms.

Roundgames, Gamesam, Addictinggames are a few websites which regularly update their database of flash-based games. Twoplayergames.com and Flyordie.com have a large collection of multiplayer games that are played by two or more players simultaneously and then scores are tallied. A few websites such as Zapak.com and other are websites that allow game developers to submit their games. One should regularly update browser plug-ins such as Adobe Flash Player for playing online games because most of these games are flash-based. 

No tension

Teenagers, like adults, may experience stress everyday and can benefit from learning stress management skills. Most teens experience more stress when they perceive a situation as dangerous, difficult, or painful and they do not have the resources to cope.

Teens can decrease stress with the following behaviour and techniques

1. Exercise and eat regularly.
2. Avoid excess caffeine intake, which can increase feelings of anxiety and agitation.
3. Avoid consuming drugs and tobacco.
4. Learn relaxation exercises, for example, abdominal breathing and muscle relaxation techniques.
5. Develop assertiveness training skills, for example, state feelings in a polite and firm manner and not in an overly aggressive or passive way. “I feel angry when you yell at me. Please stop yelling.”
6. Rehearse and practise situations that causes stress.  One example is taking a speech class and see if talking in front of a class makes you anxious.
7. Learn practical coping skills, for example, break a large task into smaller, more attainable tasks.
8. Decrease negative self-talk— challenge negative thoughts about yourself with alternative neutral or positive thoughts. “My life will never be better” can be transformed into “I may feel hopeless now, but my life will probably get better if I work at it and get some help.”
9. Learn to feel good about doing a competent or a ‘good enough’ job rather than demanding perfection from yourself and others.
10. Take a break from stressful situations. Activities like listening to music, talking to friends, drawing, writing, or spending time with a pet can reduce stress.
11. Build a network of friends who help you cope in a positive way.

By using these and other techniques, teenagers can begin to manage stress. If a teen talks about or shows signs of being overly stressed, a consultation with a child and adolescent psychiatrist or qualified mental health professional may be helpful. 

Stage a play, spread joy

The impression of a play created on the audience is due to the total effect of several factors which one would do well to know.

Annual days in schools are  an eagerly-awaited occasion for most students. That is the time for drama enthusiasts to stage plays and spread joy. What a great day it is for the actors! What fun for the beholders! What great pleasure for all when the play is on and over! How happy everyone is as one wends one returns  home!

Such joyous occasions are no doubt few and far between. But these  few become memorable because of the excellent role each actor has played. Each playing one’s part to the best of one’s ability. All performing  with  team spirit. All actuated by one desire— to make a good impression, to make the play a success. The success that comes from planned effort and sincere performance. And a host of other factors.

What are the points that one should remember to make a play successful. First comes the selection of a theme. Choose a story which all or most of the performers know. A story that  appeals to most of the members of the troupe. That will considerably help in presenting the sequence correctly. 

A story with an Indian locale or one based on the works of Indian writers would have wider appeal than  Western works. Particularly for youngsters, Indian stories would be easier to put on the boards than foreign ones.

Having chosen the story— be it from the epics like the Ramayana or the Mahabharata or the various Puranas or Indian history or folklore — the next thing to do is to  prepare  the scenario and the script. This is a job that calls for much imagination and literary talent. Breaking down the story into various scenes and writing the dialogues of the characters and stage directions to build up the effect of the dialogues need special talent.

All are not good dramatists. If there are no good writers among the group that  presents the play the help of outside talent has to be availed of. School students  can get help  from parents or teachers with talent in theatre. The guidance of elders in scenario and script writing, in settings and costumes and make-up, is necessary for children to make their play appealing. And in cities, the dramatic societies and theatre groups can be approached for assistance.

Next comes casting —assigning roles to the children who will be acting in the play. This is the job of the producer/director. Here the criterion is who is best suited for which role. Individual preferences and choices can be considered only in relation to suitability. 

All cannot play the part of kings and queens, nor of ministers and commanders-in-chief: some have to act as servants and soldiers, some as villains and demons. Irrespective of the role one is assigned one should play one’s part well. When all the participants perform their respective roles well the play proves to be a success.

To do one’s role well, one must not only have talent in acting but must know one’s part well. One must be natural in one’s delivery of dialogue and action or facial expression. That means one must feel one’s part. An actor commands appeal by evoking the emotional response of the audience.

In ancient India drama was highly disciplined. The emotions were classified under nine labels, the nava rasa’s. And rasa dominated drama. Strict rules were laid for staging of plays as well as for writing them (dramaturgy). Bharata, the celebrated author of the work Natya Sastra, is believed to be the first grammarian of the performing arts of dance, drama and music.

 The rigorous discipline of Sanskrit drama had its counterpart in the Greek drama of those days. The joy of living that cultured people had in olden days is mirrored in classical drama. And it is the same spirit that  motivates us to enact plays.

Colour contributed much to their joy of living. And India has rightly been called  the land of colour. It is the colours in costume and make-up that enhances the appeal of an actor’s performance. So we have the green-room experts  who look after the make-up which should be in conformity with the times and characters of the play. Never overdress. Nor be gaudy to a fault. Remember that clothes too play a part — in evoking the right atmosphere.

The first impression on the audience is visual in which costumes and settings make an impact. Dialogue and action begins  after the visual effect is made on the beholders. If the first visual effect is good the audience will follow the dialogues and action with greater interest than if it were other-wise.

 So the several elements that go to grip the attention of the audience have to be in harmony. One faux pas, one slip in one can mar the effect of the other. For a play pleases one due to the total effect of several factors. To know them well is essential for every stage  enthusiast. Then only can one spread joy through plays.

The generation gap The pros and cons

Anthony Burgess, an Englishman, whose A Clockwork Orange (both the book and the film based on it) had gained swift popularity among young people, was interviewed by a student. The following is a  sample of what he had to say, pertinent to the generation gap.

Q.  Are children different today from those when you were growing up?

A. I don’t think we were much different… The difference lay in the fact that we were not appealed to, catered, or exploited as a separate section of society. It is important to remember that this image of youth as a separate entity is not the world of you (young) people but of older people who want to make money. 

Therefore, when I was young we didn’t dress differently from our elders. We didn’t speak a different language. We had different ideas. But we knew that sooner or later we’d be absorbed into the bigger adult world, and didn’t cut ourselves off from it.

Margaret Mead sees youth’s alienation that is responsible for the gap, as not so much a matter of youth cutting itself off as being cut off by an adult society that imposes on the young “a delayed childhood”. In earlier days, the young were ‘hurried into adulthood through an early work experience and early marriage’ while today ‘the years of childhood are stretched out… to in clued the years of adolescence’ and during this artificially prolonged period of dependence, all their independence is ‘more apparent than real’.

Nearly always when this gap is being discussed, there are some who claim that the gap between generations is not wider that the  gap within generations. No generation is monochrome, they say. Each has its internal tensions, conflicts and extreme polarizations that tear it apart. Youth also subscribes to this view. “Some young people are born old”, complained a youth leader. “They’re every bit as narrow, reactionary and set in their ways as the worst among older folk. And there’s no changing them!”

Yet, the moment one speaks of the gap, one knows it is with direct reference to the gap between generations. It is unrealistic to dismiss this gap or to minimize it, and dangerous to take it for granted until a crisis or difficult situation occurs. The thing about the gap is that it is at once more than one kind of gap—a communication gap, a credibility gap and a cultural divide.

The Communication Gap   

Youth seems to be evolving its own language, with the intention of rendering itself incommunicado. There may not be much evidence of linguistic differences in this country but in other societies, exasperated elders complain of the difficulty they have in “getting through” to young people. “It is not only that they use different words”, said a parent, “but they use the same words differently”. However, the communication gap is widening more because of a lack of common ground. 

“Youth question everything—values, standards, customs, and hold nothing sacred anymore. While on the other hand they won’t answer our questions, when we try to find out what they’re up to, or they give evasive answers if they answer at all. Haven’t we a right to know? “ A common charge aimed against youth, irrationally enough, is inexperience.

The Credibility Gap

This rift shows that neither trusts the other’s judgement and decisions, nor acknowledges what right each has to make them “Older people”, said a critic, “point out all the opportunities and advantages that they have given us. Yet  they will not admit that because of these very things, they now have a great deal to learn from us, and knowledge that must be applied to real-life situations. 

We can’t accept their judgments at face value, that they know what’s good for us, because we see that even when they urge us to do the right kind of thing, they go about it in the wrong way”.

So much of the gap is the result of circumstances beyond anyone’s control today, with the onslaught of change that throws older people, especially, off balance. Youth, as a product of these times, can take radically changed situations more easily in its stride, simply because these situations are the only ones they know and are familiar with, having no memory of other days. 

On both sides, this gap is painful.

Youth culture is being commercialized by those who see big money in exploiting youth trends, whether these are youth-generated or not; fashions, song, dance, gadgets and typical haunts of youth such as discotheques, and the rest.

Parents in this country, despite the grave anxieties they express seem to take a secret pride in seeing their young so “with it”. Youth in the West, as often as not, earns what it spends, doing what would be regarded in this country (by old and young alike) as all kinds of ‘menial’ jobs. “What worries young people”,  said one earnest young person, “is that our youth is shortlived.

 Our ideals and enthusiasm die an early death, once hard necessities dictate that we become new cogs in the wheel to replace the old cogs who’ve done their day”. 

Survival strategy for men

Do any of you guys get dumped even before you have found your groove in a relationship? Does your girlfriend run out to beat you black and blue? Here is a ten point survival list that you should remember, come hail, come storm!

10.God, you look so much like your mom!

Better not say this to a girl, unless you want her for an aunt.

Move far off from this topic for safety reasons.

9.I would have invited you, but you’re no fun.

At this point, a white lie is mandatory.

8.Do not delve on the family fact file.

While some girls would just love a mature boy who talks about life and its small intricacies, others would go mad! They could not care less, especially, if you are not sincere. They are out for fun so this will get you into trouble.

7.Would have, could have, should have.

Talk philosophical whenever you want, with your friends but when it comes to your female pals, it is a big no! Avoid getting sentimental.

Keep it simple,  that is our advice.

6.Stop splurging money!

Never say this to a girl, even if she is the richest person around.

5.Keep the skeletons locked:

Do not be honest about your life unless you know where the relationship is going.

It may be cool for your girls to know about your past achievements and failures but it is no good digging the past.

4.Come on, a few little cramps never hurt anybody.

Instead, just ask whether they would like to have a can of coke. Remember, she never makes fun of your bruises when you were hurt at games. So be courteous and show concern. This would definitely make your day!

3.What’s the big deal? You have another birthday next day!

After forgetting ‘her’ birthday, the only option left for your is to run! Flee, before anything happens to you! Forgetting your girlfriend’s b’day is the biggest sin of your life; tell your parents, friends or siblings to inform you or promise her friends, chocolates for reminding you. She wants to feel special, centre of your universe, where she belongs.

2.You have put on weight.

This is forbidden territory. Suggest healthy eating, working out together or any such thing that does not hurt her.

1.That’s not the way my ex did it.

Never compare notes or else be sure to be dropped like a rotten potato.

Dress gracefully

It is amazing that the idea to fix a dress code for women has sprung up in a cultured country like India. Sixty years ago one had never thought that Western culture would influence our cultural heritage to this extent. Why is the young generation blindly going for Western outfits to follow the latest fashion trends?

There is no harm in being fashionable but why is a girl dressed up in a full-sleeved kurtasalwar and spread out dupatta be tagged as ‘behenjee’? Can a man attired in a three-piece suit and silken tie be a better chairman of a company?

But as change is the process of life, people have began to realize the grandeur of traditional Indian dresses. We can see people attired in pyjama, kurta and dhotis. 

The female mass find sarees and lehangas more graceful and more sophisticated. Indian beauty and complexion has unsurpassed charm which is enhanced in such costumes. Proud are we to behold that not only beauty but the grace and decency of Indian women reigns the world.

Girls may find jeans and T-shirts  trendy and smart but they are not unaware of the grace and style of other traditional costumes.Full attention and appreciation is what we all look for. Even a 3-4 year old child is eager to choose the best dress.

That is not surprising as the way we dress counts topmost to evaluate our personality. Our clothes depict our image. Clothes are just not means to cover our body; they are the mirror of our character. Thus, all of us should be selective in our choice of dresses. So, dress up gracefully, your dress is your expression. If you have grace you have style.

Hats off to you!