Ashwin Bhandarkar

Fanciful ideas about breaching embankments (6)

Guest article by Ashwin Bhandarkar

(The regular readers of SoY are aware that Ashwin Bhandarkar is a BITS Pilani and IIM Calcutta alumnus and is an IT professional based in Pune. What makes him exceptional is that he has had over ten years of formal training in Hindustani classical music. This (Pun)dit (Pun)-e-kar, in a befitting यथा नाम तथा गुण, is also blessed with incorrigible punny bones which we have seen in plenty in his previous posts.

Ashwin continues his penchant for combining the profound with the light with the Title of this post, which is a cleverly crafted convoluted conundrum, which you can crack only if you are a cruciverbalist. Oh no, this is not how I write! This post must have infected me with a bug which you encounter in the very first sentence, and which permeates the entire article. You don’t have to specially look for it, you can’t miss it as it comes. But make no mistakes; Ashwin’s matter is never mundane, his mastery over music is magnificent, and the melody is always absolutely mellifluous.

Lastly, a little information about Ashwin’s perseverance with this post. He first appeared as a guest author on this blog over three years ago, and this post is also as old, because right then he had placed his handkerchief to reserve this topic for himself. After reading it, I can imagine why it has taken him so long. Now the hanky goes back to its holder until he or another guest author puts it to reserve a seat for another topic. Thanks a lot Ashwin for another superb post. – AK)

Andal's dream_Painting by S RajamI’m sure that cryptic crossword buffs amongst SoY readers would have cracked the crossword clue that is the title of this post. Let me solve it for the others:

‘Dams’ is a synonym of ‘embankments’. In crosswords, ‘about’ is the cryptic clue for ‘Re’, the short form for the reference line in formal letters. ‘Breaching’ between ‘about’ and ‘embankments’ indicates that the solution is an anagram of ‘Re Dams’. Now, what is a 6-letter anagram of ‘Re Dams’ that means ‘fanciful ideas’? ‘Dreams’, of course! And, songs about dreams are what this article is about.

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Swing a song of sixpence

Swing into the New Year with guest article by Ashwin Bhandarkar

(A promise made is a debt unpaid. When Ashwin Bhandarkar wrote his first guest article on 6 May 2017, titled Beena madhur madhur kachhu bol, I had indicated he would be writing more articles for SoY. Here he makes good his promise, and I thank him profusely for that. There is yet another good news for music lovers – this is different from the theme he had reserved with me originally, which means we can expect more from him.

Ashwin is one of the select Group of Music Experts on the blog. As for his day job, he is a BITS Pilani and IIM Calcutta alumnus, and works with an IT services major in Pune. His last post established his reputation as a Pun-dit Pun(e)kar. In this one, too, he wears his scholarship lightly. He presents an amazing range of ‘Jhoola’ songs from Hindi and regional films, and Hindustani and Carnatic classical music. There is no better way to ring in the New Year than swinging to the massive playlist (42 songs) he has compiled in the end. Thank you Ashwin again, and wishing everyone a very Happy New Year. – AK)

Raagmala_Raag HindolIt feels so good to be back as a guest writer on SoY! My prolonged absence, after a debut that I am not shy to say I am proud of, can be attributed to a combination of procrastination, writer’s block and the fear of not being able to come up with something that would hold the attention of my readers. A few days back, I decided that enough was enough and that everything would work out well, provided I only put finger to keyboard and got started. So I swung back into action in right earnest over the weekend by beginning this article on songs on swings.

One of the criticisms of my debut post was that readers had to wade through a lot of stuff before they could get to the music. Stung by (and that was not an intentional pun on the topic of my previous post – my coming up with it was by hap-pun-stance) this, I decided that for future posts, I would get on with the business of presenting the songs curated by me, without much ado. So, here goes…

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Beena madhur madhur kacchu bol

Guest article by Ashwin Bhandarkar

(If we broadly divide the SoY community into two categories – ‘music experts’ and ‘others’ – Ashwin Bhandarkar belongs to the first category. Therefore, it is not surprising that he is appearing as a guest author; the surprise is that it has taken him so long to do so. He explains that he has “had a bee in his bonnet” for long about contributing a guest post; finally it took DP Rangan’s post on flowers to spur him to write on the connected theme of ‘bees’ and ‘honey’.

An expert who can write with a light touch is a treat to read. Ashwin’s content is impressive and shows his deep knowledge of music across genres. But what makes the piece delightful is his unpretentious style peppered with a dash of humour. It gives me great pleasure to welcome and introduce him as a guest author. Ashwin is an alumnus of BITS Pilani and IIM Calcutta, and is working with an IT services major in Pune. – AK)

Bhanwra bada naadanEver since I started following SoY, I’ve had a bee in my bonnet about contributing a guest post, but for the life of me, I could not make up my mind about the topic. Then, all of a sudden, inspiration struck after I read D.P. Rangan’s latest post – if flowers can make their debut on SoY, then it follows that bees should not bee far bee-hind, right? Therefore, busy as a bee though I have bee-n over the past few weeks, I managed to take some time out to type this post on bees – and honey – in Hindi film music and other musical genres, and luckily for me, AK has found it good enough to be published. Hope SoY followers find it interesting.

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