LAST CHRISTMAS......

"Last Christmas, I gave you my heart..... but the very next day... you gave it away....."  the familiar tune resounded around the shopping centre....it was April and 46 degrees and this was India....but this '80s tune by George Michael and 'Wham', dealing with love in a ski resort, in the middle of winter,  seems to transcend all barriers and is one of the most popular Western tunes in India !

The theme of love and separation, in 'Last Christmas',  is the backbone of Ghazal music - much loved by most Indians.  When I asked the Indian students about ghazals, they directed me to the husband and wife duo, Jagjit and Chitra Singh and urged me to buy one of their CDs.

Ghazals were derived originally from Arabic poetry in ancient times and came to India in the 12th century.   Once the preserve of sufi mystics, the pure poetic form, developed into song, in the 18th c.  In the 1960s, Jagjit Singh, is credited with transforming the classical ghazal and giving it mass appeal, to be enjoyed not just by the educated elite, but giving it a melodic format, which everyone could sing along to.  Jagjit has performed in parliament for India's most prominent politicians and this musical art form has become part of many Bollywood film scores.

The Ghazal lyrics, of course, have layers of meaning - love for the sweetheart, love for mankind, love for life.....I wouldn't say that the 'Wham' classic goes quite that far....but it's a damn catchy tune, even in the blazing sun in April..............."this year to save me from tears, I'll give it to someone special....."

CUCKOOS AND MANGOES

The mango trees are all laden  - the oval fruit, which range in size, from small to large, dark green, through mottled to yellow, hang heavily, like ornaments on a Christmas Tree and the sound of cuckoos is everywhere, especially in the morning before the clammy heat of the day has really set in.  The cuckoo call is unmistakable - it's more of a shriek, than a call and seems to rise in intensity and velocity, as a vocal protest against the hot air which radiates off everything.  The panic stricken sound seems to expresses my own feelings, as I am overwhelmed by the inescapable heat.

Returning to India, after a month away, sharpens one's perception of things, eliminating unnecessary detail, like a quick graphite drawing.  It intrudes in an uncompromising way - like the cotton mattresses, which are as hard as a slab of marble - you know you can't win and you must go with the flow, because, it is the only solution.  Woe betide you if you try and eat apples, when mangoes are in season.  India reminds me of a very wise, very old woman, whose motto is.......... 'anything which makes life easy, is bound to be bad for you'.