ASSAMESE ON THE SWEETER SIDE LIKE FRENCH

Inside the cosy studio, mumbling to get the exact pronunciation right, Lou Majaw finally emerged exasperated, but chuckled: “Assamese language is on the sweeter side like French, but also a tongue twister.”

Majaw was recording the title track of an Assamese movie, Surjasta here today at the picturesque home studio of Sten’s. It is the first attempt by a Khasi singer to render voice in an Assamese track. Majaw, who is known for his rendition of Dylan numbers, was struggling to get the exact pronunciation.

“Kha…Khaa..,” music director and composer, Kishore Giri reminded the singer about the nuance of phonetics. Majaw dutifully obeyed and put in his effort with his baritone voice. The end result was a beautiful track that has its signature of a visibly undulating Khasi hills flowing over the meandering valleys of Assam.

“Assamese language is on the sweeter side like French and it is also a tongue twister for me, as I am not that much gifted as a linguist,” Majaw, said, attired in his trademark track pants, sleeveless T-shirt, only adding a Gamocha, tucked under his flowing locks.

The singer said that although it is difficult at times to get the correct accent of the language, but he anyway wants to sing the song with a “Khasi twang.” “If the song is sung with the correct accent than it would not be different. I want to sing in Assamese with a Khasi twang,” he reasoned.

He said that Giri first approached him to sing the title track and he jumped at the idea, taking it as an opportunity to “learn new things.” “We need to go beyond our limitations or else things gets so monotonous and boring,” the Desi-Dylan said.

Giri, on the other hand, said, he zeroed in on Majaw not just because he is a dear friend of his, but also to bring people of the two neighbouring states closer with such projects.

“When there is so much of conflict in this world, such endeavor would bring people together. Lou singing with a Khasi accent in Assamese is all about harmony in music that hopefully would resonate in the lives of the people of the two states,” the music director and also the composer said.

Meanwhile, the film’s plot revolves around busy parents in today’s world not getting enough time for their children. It is being produced by Rosy Bora; Pradyut Kumar Deka is the Director, while the title track was penned by Jitumoni Bora, a local journalist.

160 TUK-TUKs ON FIRE FOR WATER :RICKSHAW RUN

Sep 9, 2012– After the noodles were washed down with horse milk and vodka during the Mongol rally, the  3500-km Rickshaw Run, from Shillong to Jaisalmer, would experience “spicy” chapattis and “interesting” chutneys on the Indian roads.

160 adventurists would ride on auto-rickshaw,onomatopoeically called Tuk-Tuks, from around the world for the back-crunching journey from Meghalaya's (India) state capital, Shillong to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan to raise funds for clean drinking water. The Race comprises of 67 teams, including 30 women Tuk-Tukians.

Former Meghalaya Home Minister Robert Garnett Lyngdoh flagged off the Race from Shillong Club here today. The Auto rickshaws or “glorified lawn-mowers” are expected to blast the finishing lines on September 22.

The race is organized by UK-based group “The Adventurists.” It’s an initiative, by the not-for-profit social enterprise, Frank Water, to provide sustainable, affordable, clean drinking water for communities around the world, including India. The Current batch of adventurists has already raised over 50,000 Pounds for official charities in India.

“It is not a Race as there are no trophies waiting at the finishing line. The award of this  Race is the adventure on the road and getting in and out of the interesting pickles and getting to lick it through a lifetime,” Tom Morgan, founder of the auto-rickshaw run, said.

Steve Owens and John Spanswick, who took part in the 15,127.8 Km Mongol Rally in 2010, from United Kingdom to Mongolia, are raring to ride the Tuk Tuk.

“We reached Mongolia surviving totally on noodles washed down with mare’s milk and Vodka. We are sure to reach the oasis of Indian desert within two weeks whatever the Indian roads may be, we are pretty much excited,” Owens said.

Laura Salmon from United Kingdom is itching to ride her “Tuktanic.”  Hoping that her mean machine is not “inauspiciously named” she went on to say that the Tuk Tuk is the ultimate feat of “non-engineerance designed  for this ultimate long distance race.” 

Adolf Lu Hitler Rangsa Marak

It is somewhat easy to change the name of a shop, like what the clothing outlet in Ahmedabad, named Hitler, did recently. But what if the name-changing is not related to a shop exactly?

Adolf Lu Hitler Rangsa Marak, the suspended Nationalist Congress Party legislator from Northeast India's Garo Hills has no issues with his name and has no plans to change it in the near foreseeable days.

However, he corrects: “I am no dictator” and continues that people in his constituency so far has never questioned him about his name, made notorious by the German dictator.

The legislator said he had no say in the naming ceremony as an infant when his father fondly called him Adolf Lu Hitler and then completed it with the surname.

“I have never asked my father why he chose this name for me. And people in my constituency or in Meghalaya never asked me why my parents have chosen this name,” Marak, known more popularly as Adolf Lu Hitler and sometimes Lulu, said.

But, recently in Ahmedabad a small garment outlet was forced to change its name (Hitler) after protest from the Jewish and the local community.

The Jewish community was particularly upset as the German dictator inflicted untold misery and violence on the Jews during World War II. Jews by the thousands were massacred in concentration camps. The name Hitler became synonymous with mass murder world over.

But, the general notion in India is that Hitler is associated with someone who is strict, like as the shop owner in Ahmedabad explained that he named his shop after his partner’s grandfather who was a strict disciplinarian.  

On a similar plane, a somewhat popular soap, which is running on air, calls itself “Hitler Didi” after the protagonist, who is depicted as a strict disciplinarian. In India, there were no issues with the name of the soap whatsoever, but, in the US the same soap is titled as “General Didi.”

“Indians are more sensible. We don’t believe a name represents a person’s true character. A person who goes by the name, Hitler can be a good person or a bad person… Similarly, a person who may have the name of a God can also be a good person or bad. The name has got nothing to do with it. Names are characterised in jest only,” political scientist, Apurba K Baruah from the North Eastern Hill University said.

Baruah quoted Shakespeare’s famous quote “what’s in a name… that which we call a rose…to home in his point of view, but you ask the Hitler from Meghalaya and he goes on to lament how he was mocked by US airport authorities years back when they all stood up in unison, after reading his name on the passport, and hailed him as Hitler - the infamous German dictator.