Jannayak's Jalebi Ki Factory: RaGa's Deep Disconnect From The Lives Of Everyday Indians Is Never-ending

Navaratri Notes — Inanna, The Goddess of Life And War

Dear Reader,

Today, on the second day of Navaratri, Aravindan's Navaratri Notes speak of 'Inanna, The Goddess of Life And War'.

• She was the Goddess of the mountains and the Goddess of the sky. She was the Goddess of war and the Goddess of verdant fields. She was Inanna, the divine force where the heavens and earth converged.

• Read about this Sumerian goddess who found her manifestations in other cultures across the ancient world, here. While sacred chants of Inanna no longer echo in the places where She once manifested, she hears the suktas from the East.

And for today's recommendation from Aravindan's commentaries on the Lalita Sahasranama, we have this one — 'Because The Mother Never Blinks'.

• Here her eyes are likened to the fish playing in the river of beauty of her face. So just like the eyes of the fish, her eyes too, do not wink. They look everywhere, at every instant of time.

🎵 Music Recommendation: This rendition of Kalidasa's Shyamala Dandakam is quite famous in Karnataka - a simple example of the grand cosmopolitanism we have inherited.

• A mid-1st millennium poet's work celebrated with hoary devotion in the 21st century - presented in 7 ragas and impeccable diction by someone who doesn't even speak the same language at home.

• And if you were to note Rajkumar's expressions you'd see that we inherited not a museum-ised classical culture (say, as in Europe) but a living, breathing tradition practised with the same devotions and emotions. It gets kitschy if you're not clued in but that's OK.

Also: This cosmopolitanism we enjoy is the result of cultural excellence and scholarship - so while we do celebrate Kalidasa perhaps we should also see if we're producing anything remotely close in our age as well.

- Amar Govindarajan

The Far-Away Jannayak!

"If these jalebis go across the country and the world, then maybe, their factory will have 10,000 to 50,000 workers. But they are trapped in (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi ji's chakravyuh," asserted Rahul Gandhi while campaigning in Haryana.

My colleague Nishtha, like a nishthavaan journalist, stepped out to test this idea of Jalebi factories.

"Should jalebis be made in factories?" she asked the street-side jalebi vendors. And lo, unbeknown to this yet another ingenious idea by India's Leader of Opposition, they laughed at her.

But really, who will eat factory-made jalebis, and why is Congress' Jannayak so cut off from the lives of ordinary Indians?

Read Nishtha's piece to know the fate of "the innocent jalebi" — will it ever escape Modi's chakravyuh and be promoted to the factories?

Until tomorrow,

Anmol N Jain