Raise your glasses to Jingle Bells, with a dash of Bhairavi!

If anyone else had sung those lyrics, we would have passed it off as another feel good ditty on a day of good cheer and universal rejoicing, but it was the assassinated Beatle front man John Lennon who wrote and composed that evocative song. Hence, you cannot miss the ironic scolding, the innate sarcasm that runs through the lines. What the great musician was really saying is that another year draws to a close, and the world continues to flounder on its merry ways, with nary a care about how to make it a better place. It’s an object lesson in how one must look at religious and milestone occasions like Christmas and New Year to reflect on whether we have contributed to making things better, or are we being instrumental in the gradual deterioration of all things meant to be cherished.

Having got that somewhat pensive thought out of the way, one may as well look at how we in India celebrate the birth of Christ, arguably the biggest religious festival around the globe, if one looks at the sheer multitudes worldwide who observe Christmas. 

The Christians, of course, ring in Christmas by attending midnight mass in their respective churches around the country, a solemn and uplifting occasion for them, singing carols in harmony. However, Christmas is a public holiday in our country and people of all religions join in the jollification in their own way. To most non-Christians, the celebration of Christmas is party time, big time. In clubs in Calcutta, Madras, Delhi, Mumbai and in many other cities, the party begins early and ends late. Alcohol is consumed in large quantities and there is music and dancing till the wee hours of the morning. Nothing even remotely resembling devoutness or religiosity here. Those who partake in these revelries wholeheartedly are assured of a sore head the morning after. The famous and now defunct paracetamol brand, Aspro, used to carry a front page advert in all the mainline dailies on the mornings of Christmas and New Year promising an instant cure for the inevitable hangover. Alka Seltzer did likewise in the western countries. December 24th or Christmas Eve, is like a dress rehearsal for the drinking and carousing to follow precisely one week later on the 31st, New Year’s Eve.

As I spent much of my professional life in Calcutta, the social pressures of corporate life enjoined upon us the need to be a part of these annual jamborees. Invariably, we would land up at one of the famed clubs, a British legacy and a standing monument to life as it was during the Raj. Speaking for myself, I never really enjoyed these year-end bashes. For starters the weather was too cold for my liking, necessitating a large brandy and splash to warm you up. Easier said than done, for you had to stand in serpentine queues to buy coupons which enabled you to redeem your liquid nourishment. To say nothing of the struggle at the bar with hordes of thirsty individuals waving their coupons to grab the bartender’s attention. The procedure had to be painfully repeated at the dinner queues, by which time it’s one in the morning, and you’re lucky if you can get anything hot on your plate. In between, everyone is dancing on an overcrowded floor, to the music of a cacophonous band, and no one can hear a word of what the other person is saying. Mostly we talk to each other in mime. When the clock chimes twelve, everybody is hugging and kissing everybody else like it’s the end of the world and the band strikes up ‘Auld Lang Syne’. If you have sharp ears, you can also pick up the distant sounds of ships hooting from the harbour to mark the occasion. After that, things get anti-climactic as the rigours of getting back home engulfs you.

That was then, and this is now. For the past 20 years though, my Christmas and New Year celebrations have been of a completely different and sober order. Sobriety is the key word! Without fail, I can be found in ‘chaste’ Chennai for the December music season. The excitement and fervour is all about Todi. Bhairavi and Khamboji; Tyagaraja, Muttuswami Dikshithar and Papanasam Sivan; Music Academy, Narada Gana Sabha and Tamil Isai Sangam; Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Ranjani Gayatri and Abhishek Raghuram. I have mentioned three names in each category for the sake of prosodic integrity, but readers can add their own favourites to this list. Of course, the storied canteens at the sabhas play their nourishing role, but enough and more has been said about this. The redoubtable Sriram V’s cultural tours and morning lectures and at the TAG Auditorium vie fiercely for popularity with the top rated concerts. I would not change any of this for anything in the world.

The ‘Season’, more than anything else, has been instrumental in Chennai being included in UNESCO’s ‘Creative Cities Network’, owing to the city’s ‘rich musical and cultural traditions’, something that everyone connected with cultural activities in the city can be inordinately proud of. It is distressing to note, therefore, that there have been a few naysayers who have sought to denigrate this unique distinction by highlighting the various defects in the city, thereby questioning the relevance of such recognition. Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth!
As a final, wistful reflection, the 25th of December, when I can be unfailingly spotted in Chennai, is significant for two notable musical reasons. The inevitable morning concert at the Music Academy features veteran violinist, Sangita Kalanidhi T.N. Krishnan and his family members providing a sumptuous instrumental performance. Of particular note is the tukkada segment, when the Master will invariably essay ‘Jingle bells, jingle bells’, as his personal tribute to Christmas day! The full house, irrespective of their religious denomination, simply lap it up. The evening concert on Christmas day will always find me at Krishna Gana Sabha, where the much younger Sangita Kalanidhi, but already a veteran, Sanjay Subrahmanyan has been regaling his hordes of fans with his sumptuous fare. One thing about this concert you can be sure of. Sanjay will not be singing ‘Jingle bells’!

To all our readers, a very merry Christmas, happy New Year and a thrilling music season.