09 April 2026

Maharashtra Heritage : Folk Music

 What did people do before the television? What forms did entertainment take before the advent of electricity and all the technologies that came after it changed the way we lived forever?

The human mind needs to be fed just as much as the human body does. The food for the mind is song, dance and music. All of which is used in folk entertainment. Each region had its own typical folk music and dances. It is sad to say but these are all dying a natural death, as the younger generation grows up watching cartoons on TV and playing video games.

In my case I never encountered folk entertainment at all till I was in college and deliberately sought it out. In culturally rich states it is easy to keep your ancient folk entertainment alive. Rajasthan has done a great job of preserving folk entertainment and so has Bengal. Alas the same is not true of Maharashtra.

Strange to say that despite the number of talented artists and the booming theater and film industry, the Folk Entertainment is a dying art form in Maharashtra. What the folk entertainment consisted of is listed here.

Kirtan

A musical discourse by a priest or learned man. This is the most common form of entertainment and is not restricted to the state. Bhajan Mandalis or singers of hymns would be the norm for any state rich in Hindu Population. What may be unique to Maharasthra is the Bhajan Saptahs or week long continuous singing of Bhajans. The sound of the cymbals and mridangs would accompany the singer.

In most temples there would be a priest singing the Kirtan and then explaining what was said in the mythological story. Its relevance to human life and living would also form part of the sermon. The elderly would usually sit for these Kirtans on all days of the week after lunch till it was dark and time to return home for dinner. Discourses and debates were common after the main Kirtan was over.

Gondhad

A noisier version of the Kirtans. A troupe of trained musicians would accompany the entire community as they gathered to sing in the praise of the saints and gods. It was more of a collective activity than actual prayer. In fact it was reputed to be a noisy rather than a musical affair. There is even a colloquial saying in Marathi, "Gondhad karo Nakka", which literally translates to don't create cacophony.

Povad

Akin to the odes and ballads sung for heroes of the past in English, Povads were poems composed on the many Maharashtrian heroes. Most popular of all being Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Povads would usually describe events in the life of these great leaders. The stories and situations were set to song and sung out with great fanfare.

Sangeet Natak

Simply translated it would mean a musical drama, yet it was not simple. The drama would contain elements of Hindustani Classical Singing as characters would burst into song as part of the drama. I would compare it to the Opera. The folk version just had one flaw, with a number of encores being asked for and provided an regular 3 hour Sangeet Natak could last up to 5 hours. (My father attended one with his mother when he was a child. It took the better part of the night and they missed dinner.)

Tamasha or Launi

Moving on from the sophisticated man's entertainment to the masses. The Tamasha was originally a platform to show a mirror to society, but degenrated into a crude and erotic dance form. The movements and lyrics contributing to ribald fun. Very popular among the rural areas, it is one of the forms of folk entertainment that is in a healthy state even today. The Mahar and Kolati communities are traditionally associated with the Tamashas and Launis or love songs.

There may be other forms of folk entertainment that I have missed out completely. I am by no means an expert, but since I know something about the folk entertainment of Maharasthra, after a long conversation with my father, I decided to share it with you. Do feel free to mention any performing art form that I may not have mentioned

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05 April 2026

Eye Exercises to Strenghten Your Eyes

 Despite being an avid reader I avoided glasses till I reached the 10th Class. Then with the combined effect of studies and sleepless nights I began to get solid headaches. That is when I was taken in for eye tests and came back with spectacles. The number was quite low. +0.05 and I was instructed to wear them all the time.

As any teenager would, I reacted quite badly to the news. Although my mom got me some nice frames, I felt I looked aweful. That is when my Grandpa told me to do this set of eye exercises. He said if I did them regularly I would not spoil my eyes any further, as the eye muscles would get a good work out and become stronger.

Having nothing to lose, I started out and was doing them daily for about nine months. It would take me about 15-20 minutes to do the whole set. Then as i went into the tenth month, I started getting my headaches again. Oh no! I though to myself, now i'll get an increased number and will look like an absolute horror.

Off I went to the optician again. This time I was in  for a pleasant surprise. When he had finished testing my eyes, he asked for my glasses. He then checked them for the numbers and asked me who gave them to me? I told him I was prescribed glasses 10 months ago. Guess what he said? You don't need glasses. Just get rid of them and your headaches should vanish. And they did.

It wasn't till many years later that I got glasses again, that was a year or two ago. I know I must start the eye exercises again and I might just get rid of them this time as well. All it takes is 15- to 20 minutes a day. If only I can do it as regularly as I did them as a child.


Step one

With the middle finger gently massage the closed eye lids. Now open the eyes and fix two points. One in the distance and one right up close. Now close your eyes and open and focus on the far away point for 10 seconds and then shift to the close by point for 10 seconds. Repeat ten times.

Step two

Close your eyes. Look up and rotate the eyeballs clockwise for 5 circles and then close them again. Now look down and rotate them anti clock wise for 5 more times.

Step three

Now look up and then look down. Follow the line of sight. You must not go from one point at top to one point at bottom right away. Slowly follow all the points that make an arc. Now again slowly look up. Do this ten times.

Step four

Now its time to look from right to left and back again. In the same way that you did in step three. Again repeat the exercise 10 times.

Step five

Next we look from left top to bottom right. Again follow the arc as you go diagonally up and down. Repeat 10 times.

Step six

Now we make the arc from right top to bottom left. Again do the eye movements 10 times.

Step seven

So far all the eye movements have been smooth and flowing. Now starting at the top we move the eyes clock wise to right top, right, right bottom, bottom, left bottom, left, left top and top again. It is like doing the clockwise circuit, only you go directly to a point in that direction and pause a second before you move to the next. Repeat 5 times. Do the exact same thing in reverse. So move anti clockwise and pause in all the cardinal directions. Again repeat 5 times.

Step eight

Now close your eyes and count till ten. Relax the eye muscles. Your eye exercises are done.


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29 October 2021

Z is for Zest

        The A to Z challenge and writing about woman entrepreneurs. You may read the previous posts here. 

B is for Business Plan




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Z is for Zest

The average customer is looking for a specialist, not a vague offering from a generalist. There are too many offerings in the market which are substandard and not up to par. This often lead to disappointment with the products or services that have been purchased. The expert is who they hunt for through word of mouth recommendations within their friend circle.  That expertise is what the customers are willing to spend their hard earned money on. 

This means you need to be an expert at whatever you are offering. This involves have a great zest for the business that you are building.  To train yourself and practice till you are truly the only person who can offer your potential customers what they need. And even that is not enough. Your offerings need to be simple and clear for easy accessibility. The message should be clear for your potential customers to pick up. 

How you position yourself will have a huge impact on your success as an entrepreneur. A common mistake many newbies make is trying to be everything to everyone. While it may seem like a good idea to make money instantly, in the long run your mission statement as a business owner will be completely muddied and there will be no clarity among potential customers regarding what you actually offer. The confusion that results from this ambiguity will harm your bottom line.

Even if it goes against your grain, try and position yourself as an expert in one area as you enter the market. Subsequently as your customers begin to know, like and trust you enough to try something else that you offer, it will be easier to convert them. This brings us to the question about projecting yourself as an expert. What exactly do you need to do here? You can start by providing free content to your customers on your own website. When they perceive value in what you are sharing, they will retain you as an expert in their minds.

Make yourself more accessible by being available in many places online. Besides your own social media pages and the company website, you may consider going on other websites as a guest contributer. Be it a blog posts or a podcast interview, continue to provide high value content to the customers that showcase your knowledge and boost your expert status. If possible write a book. It's one of the easiest ways to claim credibility. 

We have established that creating expert status involves providing your customers with quality content. This will differ from industry to industry. In the exercise there are pointers on how you can develop the kind of content that will provide value to your customers. 

The Exercise 

What You Will Need: Paper and pen, some time to introspect

Decide what you would like your primary focus to be in the business. This will depend on who your intended audience is. What you sell to children, will not be the same as what you sell to their mothers. At the same time what you sell to a working woman will not necessarily be the same as what you sell to a grandmother.

It is helpful if you have profiled your ideal client as it will allow you to know what they want. Once you have understood their requirement and then seen how you can meet it through your business offerings, you need to gain a deep knowledge of the topic. Being willing to improvise after listening to your customers is very important.

Think of what you have in common with your ideal client. What special interest do you share? Have you been through what they are struggling with? How can your experience and knowdelge benefit them in the current scenario? Now work out how this can become a unique offering. 

Enhancing your expertise is something that can be done at every stage from novice to old hand. Updating your skills by attending new courses, or reading up about new findings and research can both help in getting you to improve your knowledge. The more you know, the easier it is for you to find the perfect solution for your customers.

Once you know who you need to get in touch with, what they are looking for, and how you are going to provide it to them, all you need is the zest to keep on going!

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28 October 2021

Y is for Yes

       The A to Z challenge and writing about woman entrepreneurs. You may read the previous posts here. 

B is for Business Plan


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Y is for Yes

In your journey as an entrepreneur the essence of your experience should involve feeling happy and abundant. The act of running a business should make you feel free and uplifted. If all that you feel is driven to slog due to anxiety to make it all work, you are not in alignment with your life purpose. If the only thoughts that come to your mind when thinking about your business are causing you to feel burnout, you definitely need to change what you are doing.

It is time to sit down and think about the reasons why you are trying to run a business in the first place. What do you want to create? The ultimate goal of running a successful business needs to be defined for you. What is correct for you need not be correct for someone else. 

Take for instance life coaching. One coach may be happy to help two people in the month, another may have the desire to work with ten people in the same time. However, in order to achieve that goal, they may be burning themselves out, while the person coaching just two people in the month is feeling aligned and satisfied.

Are you feeling the burnout because you are saying "Yes" to others so often, that you are scattering your energies. If there no flow to your work because you can't say "No" to people who want something from you. Your business may have been created to serve a certain purpose for your clients, yet, you need to feel happy and fulfilled when devoting your time and effort towards this goal.

Learning to say "No" is an important skill in keeping yourself rejuvenated. Unfortunately you have been socially conditioned to accept and fulfil unrealistic demands. Most people need to learn how to say "No" politely and without burning your bridges at a chance of working with the same client in the future.

The Exercise 

What You Will Need: Clarity and Practice

It takes courage to say no to a potential client. You will need to practice this as you will feel as though you are letting people's expectations down. It helps with the process if you can let potential clients know in advance just what they can expect and no further. A pre-emptive "No" can be worked into your interactions with them through previous conversations letting them know what you are currently preoccupied with.

When it's something you don't do:

  • When a client asks you to do something that exceeds the scope of your work, be polite and firm with your denial. You can say something like "I am sorry, but I'm afraid that won't be possible." Then you can go on and explain the scope of what you can handle and why it won't be possible for you to do what they are asking.
  • Offering an alternative is also a good strategy. If you can't take on a task that a client wants you to, it helps to collaborate with others who are offering similar goods and services to yours who will do what the client requires. This way, you are not saying a definitive "No", instead you are redirecting them to someone who can do the work for them.

When you don't have the time to do something:

  • If the client is extremely pushy, you need to work on maintaining the original "No". Some people simply don't give up easily, and this gives you an opportunity to practice staying resolute with what you have said. You can say something like "I truly appreciate your confidence in my abilities, but at the moment my plate is full and I simply will not be able to take on a project of this size for another six months."
  • Be prepared to miss out on the opportunities in the future. If the client can't wait for you, they will find someone else to accommodate them. This means that they may not return to you in the future. So, you should be willing to take the risk of losing their business altogether.

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26 October 2021

X is for Xenial

      The A to Z challenge and writing about woman entrepreneurs. You may read the previous posts here. 

B is for Business Plan



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X is for Xenial

Being Xenial is just a fancy way of saying being hospitable. The word comes from the ancient Greek practice of being hospitable to foreigners by showing them friendliness, kindness and compassion. The old times actually involved gifting physical items to these strangers, so that they felt welcomed to the land. All qualities that any successful woman entrepreneur knows will help develop customer relations with existing and potential customers.

While I may not have heard of it before I began research into an appropriate word starting from X for this series, I do appreciate the sentiment that the word carries. It is necessary to stay professional in your interactions with the strangers who come in contact with you via your business. Your very reputation will depend on it. At the same time, you need to be open and welcoming to them. Make them feel the need for your offering and help them to purchase it.

It can be quite the balancing act as you try to show them empathy for what they are going through, build their trust in you as a person and the solution that you offer, be sensitive to their triggers, use your awareness to help them get the best deal that you offer, and continue to build a lasting relationship with them, which stays in the realm of professionalism. 

The good news is, that's much easier to do as you go along. Yes, you will make a few errors of judgement along the way, but you will learn from each one of them. Don't waste copious amounts of time rerunning the errors in your head and belittling yourself for them. Soon you will become an expert on how far you can go, how much you can share and just how much vulnerability you can show them. In fact, being Xenial will become second nature to you.

The Exercise 

What You Will Need: To understand your boundaries

Any good relationship, be it personal or professional, needs well defined boundaries. While being Xenial, you are creating a space for these strangers to walk into. A space where they have the freedom to peruse whatever you are selling, without any obligation to purchase it. Here you are hospitable and available, but not crowding their freedom or free will.

It's a good idea to ask yourself a few questions about the products and services that you would like to offer to your potential customers. For instance, you may create awareness about the uses of a particular product that you sell, however you may not offer free samples to them. If they want to try it out, they need to purchase it fair and square. 

Another boundary could be related to the after sales process. It may be necessary to provide some after sales support to people depending on what you are selling. However, there may be tendency for them to exploit this option by demanding more than you are comfortable giving. Here it would help if you had a clearly defined policy on what you are able to help them with and what they need to figure out on their own. 

Don't get suckered into providing more than you are being paid to do. You need to honour your power and respect yourself, so that the clients understand exactly where you stand. At the same time help them congenially with whatever is within the scope of the goods and services that you offer. You can be a sounding board, but you are not there to make major life decisions on their behalf. As you begin to define your boundaries, it will help you greatly in being Xenial.

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