Flow

I was listening to "Vennilave Velli Velli Nilave" Tamil song from "Vettaiyadu Vilayadu" movie. The song is composed by Harris Jayaraj. The movie itself I like especially the NewYork scenes where Kamal goes to investigate the serial killers and the interesting dialogues with Jothika. The scenes of NewYork triggers another thread in my mind. Sujatha's (Tamil writer) 'Pirivom Sandhipom' novel. Part II of that novel has great narrations of the protagonist's time there , the love, education, twists etc. The description of NewYork is from the angle of a student from tirunelveli background attending a university.

Coming back, Harris in this song and in other songs I liked from "Vaaranam Aayiram" is very structured. I mean the music follows a pattern which I don't see it with the latest Rahman's songs. By this I don't mean I dislike ARR. In fact I mean to say that I like ARR's lack of structure or unpredictability more. Especially the 'Mannipaya' song from 'Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya' Tamil movie is a good example of the unpredictability of the turn of the tunes and the background score that comes and goes. I don't think it is a tune that can be played easily on your keyboard and it will in the end appear catchy. The song gets its value from the unpredictability and the orchestration itself.  I feel ARR has experimented more in his songs not only with instruments, singers, tunes but also with the way the song flows. It takes unpredictable turns and he seem to some how go anywhere he wants and finally be able to conclude aptly.

This I feel is like the way some one paints a modern art. They may start with a basic idea. But as they progress with the colors and sketches, new thoughts emerge. This is very much after seeing the interim output and based on that the next steps occur. This is like a continuous feedback loop. As a work of art or music progresses, you get new meanings and you change the course which is a more logical step and which would not have occurred to you when you began the work. I am sure most of the creativity hinges on continuous feedback and leaving it to guide the next step. This is not something a person with commercial interests would agree with. I feel humanity always evolves towards elegance, aesthetics in all the fields along with the utilitarian value of something.

I treat software also in this category. Developing software products of your own begins with some initial idea. However, as coding happens new things emerge. You read, hear, try new things. They can be new business models, new requirements, altogether new deviating ideas and so on. This is especially the case if you create software for yourself without time pressures, without some one having a concreteness about the outcome and the goals are absolutely driven by flow guided by usefulness and ease of use. That is where I feel even software turns into a work of art. The more you spend time thinking on what you are doing and refining it, it becomes more beautiful.

Note 1: I realize this article itself highlights the aspect of the 'flow'. It seem to meander from music to art to software one feeding as a input to the next guiding the overall flow.

Why the AAP phenomenon is relevant and needed for us

Post the elections, AAP has churned out lot of negativity in the press. Senior party members resignation, Kejriwal in jail, refusing bail and pursuing the case against Gadkari and all that. There is a lot of flak they have drawn in the media. Comments and feedback on AAP is totally in the negative. On the contrary Modi has started on the right foot with instructions to fellow MPs, clean governance, strengthen the hands of executives, friendly links with foreign states and so on.

Not that BJP or Modi and AAP are enemies. If BJP is doing the right things, it is good for our nation. It is not that AAP is the only force to fight corrupt elements. If BJP is making the right moves it should be welcome. After all, the face does not matter all the time. When it comes to giving good governance, the issues matter more than the face. Modi seem to be making the right noises towards this in my opinion.

However, it may raise the relevance of AAP here. Do we need it if the government is doing its job giving clean governance to the people? I have felt AAP is always needed as the informal Lokpal which was their core demand. AAP may not have done the right things recently. Their strategy to leave governance after the referendum in Delhi has surely back fired. A golden opportunity was lost by taking extreme stand in haste. In politics, abject honesty is not the one which may do maximum good, but a balance of things with an eye on public good without being dishonest. However, AAP being the new kid needs to do a lot of learning in this direction.

So whether we have BJP or Congress or some others ruling this country, once bitten badly with the experience of governance which was indifferent to the very people who elected them (I mean the previous Congress government) and pushing the economy to disaster with series of scam, the need to have a body or political force which can take more aggressive, non compromising stand on the issue of governance, corruption is badly needed for India at this stage. I see AAP filling this position irrespective of the face of it being Kejriwal or some other.

We need guardians who are not leaning towards communal or pseudo secular and just be issue based. So, in a country which has long been divided along communal, linguistic, caste lines and people have largely been aligned along these, it will take time to wake up from the sleep and start looking at the issues that plague our country that are immediate and burning like price rise or the expensive way education is turning to be or the bad roads and polluted cities and so on. We have many concerns right in front of us with the economy expanding in all directions and waiting to explode. In this scenario, we better build bridges than temples or mosques. We focus on things which first make our lives on this planet better not only for us, but for our children. That said, I liked Modi saying build roads not temples or something of that nature. That is the right thinking.

AAP as a movement should be exactly worried about these even if there is in-fighting among the leaders of AAP which I believe should be laid to rest sooner and people should shake hands to build a better India. After all they should never be behaving like the regular political parties we are used to. AAP should move forward to publish their 'Areas of focus' and use the funds and volunteers to help the existing Government to do better in all spheres. That would be a very positive thing and will go down deep in resurrecting their fading image.