The powers that be
in the music industry claim that it is suffering and according to me here is
one of the central reasons. You cannot have a music industry that flourishes
independent of the musician. That guy over there busting his ass on stage,
playing his heart out and loving every moment of it is also working.
No one has the right to ask him why he isn’t
doing it for free!
Incidentally as
some of you may know I run a business as well. One of my customers owed me a
large chunk of money at one time and when I stopped work saying that I would
continue after being paid what was due to me, the following situation arose:
He was upset(!).
That’s ok with me. It was intended. He then told me that so many other people
worked for him without being paid much more. I congratulated him on that,
reminded him that we had never offered to do so, that we still wanted our money
and that we remained very clear on that. He actually then started giving me
gyan (which to be charitable to him, he believed to be valid) about the merits
of what others were doing, followed by forceful recommendations that my company
should do the same!
Something kinda
broke inside me at that time and I said something to the effect that “if you go
out on MG road, you would find hookers there any day. Now it is fine by me if
you want that kind of woman, however please don’t start asking me why I don’t
send the women I love over there!”.
That shut him up
nice and quick and maybe more importantly his mind opened up to the fact that
there is a certain dignity in any labor that just can’t be belittled. God knows
that many people in this wonderful country of ours are not educated about this
concept.
This world would be
a much better place if people just did the kind of jobs that they loved to do
and got paid for it. I am an evangelist for that kind of thinking and the next time
you find somebody belittling an artist I hope you would take that situation to
a much better place.
taht wud have felt like a tight slap on that guy's face
Posted by: shedhead | March 16, 2008 at 12:56 AM
Hi!!! felt nice to hear about your escapade...for want of a better word though!! and more about how you've handled it. Frankly though, i feel that the malaise is deeper than we think it is. It transcends art forms and lifestyles. It's borne out of a curious mix of sycophancy and nepotism in every sphere of our life. More out of a lack of peer appreciation and the ultimate subjugation of meritocracy. The businessman in your story could be replaced by any other corrupt guy we have come across and the fundamentals would still remain the same. Take for instance the recent cover story by a news channel on how boys and girls are subjected to humiliating segregation inside graduation courses.Its thriving because we chose to accept it as a social norm. I knew the story quite some time back. Its inspiring to know how subtle your answer was to a nagging social doubt!!! cheers !! keep the crusade on!!!
Posted by: Ivoryman | March 17, 2008 at 11:07 AM
Hi!!! felt nice to hear about your escapade...for want of a better word though!! and more about how you've handled it. Frankly though, i feel that the malaise is deeper than we think it is. It transcends art forms and lifestyles. It's borne out of a curious mix of sycophancy and nepotism in every sphere of our life. More out of a lack of peer appreciation and the ultimate subjugation of meritocracy. The businessman in your story could be replaced by any other corrupt guy we have come across and the fundamentals would still remain the same. Take for instance the recent cover story by a news channel on how boys and girls are subjected to humiliating segregation inside graduation courses.Its thriving because we chose to accept it as a social norm. I knew the story quite some time back. Its inspiring to know how subtle your answer was to a nagging social doubt!!! cheers !! keep the crusade on!!!
Posted by: Ivoryman | March 17, 2008 at 11:09 AM
The problem here cannot be pin-pointed singly..it is all connected...there is no single place we can take and say "look, here is the problem and this is the solution to it"..
The fact that the world trickles down to one thing at the end of the day - money ..is so sad and is totally uncomprehensible..in fact it is we humans who brought money into the system...and for that to be erased out is also in our hands..to judge every human by the amount of labor or work he does is yet another indigestible truth we live in..when we see mankind as one single whole then the problem ends there..
now,it is easy to say that we are parts of the whole...but to realize it is the actual journey..at the end of the day each of us, as humans, want to love and be loved...but getting caught up in the system we tend to give a value to every thing in terms of money..any kind of art, for example is priceless..who decides what it is worth??
but yet we don't cease to add a value to each and everything we see or experience.. sigh!
mmm...to just give an example..libraries were not free even 100 years ago...people had to get together for that cause and today the fact that public libraries are free is taken for granted..the political borders, the differences, and everything that comes under these categories are all man-made..even the hookers you talk about are parts of us...(we brought in all these differences and by no means is their existence lower than ours..)
and without all of us in it, the 'whole' will not make any sense..
we all have our purpose in this vast and magnificent universe and belittling another does not make us any better..well, there is a way to make people understand otherwise...with love..that works much better..trust me..
when we try to make a point in a crude way..we think we are independent of the whole..how difficult is it to understand that love is the only thing that works??
no matter what, we are intricately connected to each other..and we breathe and live like a single organism..and we have a purpose in its being!
Posted by: earthling | March 18, 2008 at 11:22 AM
The problem here cannot be pin-pointed singly..it is all connected...there is no single place we can take and say "look, here is the problem and this is the solution to it"..
The fact that the world trickles down to one thing at the end of the day - money ..is so sad and is totally uncomprehensible..in fact it is we humans who brought money into the system...and for that to be erased out is also in our hands..to judge every human by the amount of labor or work he does is yet another indigestible truth we live in..when we see mankind as one single whole then the problem ends there..
now,it is easy to say that we are parts of the whole...but to realize it is the actual journey..at the end of the day each of us, as humans, want to love and be loved...but getting caught up in the system we tend to give a value to every thing in terms of money..any kind of art, for example is priceless..who decides what it is worth??
but yet we don't cease to add a value to each and everything we see or experience.. sigh!
mmm...to just give an example..libraries were not free even 100 years ago...people had to get together for that cause and today the fact that public libraries are free is taken for granted..the political borders, the differences, and everything that comes under these categories are all man-made..even the hookers you talk about are parts of us...(we brought in all these differences and by no means is their existence lower than ours..)
and without all of us in it, the 'whole' will not make any sense..
we all have our purpose in this vast and magnificent universe and belittling another does not make us any better..well, there is a way to make people understand otherwise...with love..that works much better..trust me..
when we try to make a point in a crude way..we think we are independent of the whole..how difficult is it to understand that love is the only thing that works??
no matter what, we are intricately connected to each other..and we breathe and live like a single organism..and we have a purpose in its being!
Posted by: earthling | March 18, 2008 at 11:22 AM