reviews on Prashant

...AND, THE REST IS HYSTERIA!
Mandeep Lama

'Wow!' is the word!

PRASHANT TAMANG's tryst with the coveted Indian Idol title began long before Sony Television's hunt for the mega singing sensation of the year 2007! Curiously it all began with a cop! Not Prashant. It began with Prashant's boss Zulifkar Hassan, the Joint Commissioner of Police currently posted at Kolkata.

About two years ago, Zulfikar asked Rajman Rai, the Band Master, to include contemporary songs, the Himesh Reshammiya type of songs, in the Kolkata Police Band's repertoire. The Band Master told his boss that the pipe-band, popularly known as the mashak baja, which is an enduring gift from Scotland to the world of uniformed musical bands, handles the old melody based songs superbly, but it cannot handle the present generation rap or the hip-hop numbers. He further emphasized that only an orchestra team armed with keyboards, octopads, guitars et cetera can negotiate the fast paced beats and the unconventional contours of the modern pop music. Without thinking even for a minute, Zulfikar Hassan gave order to Rajman Rai for forming such a band without delay. The Band Master immediately launched a hunt for talented singers and musicians within the Kolkata Police Force. They all came in fast and furious! Keyboardist, Saxophonist, Guitarists, Flutist, Tabalist, Drummer, and Mandolin, Octopad and Dholak players. Also came in the croonners. Among them there was Prashant, the cool dude from Darjeeling. Rest is, as the cliché goes, all is history! Or, should I say hysteria? I think the expression of hysteria fits the bill more accurately at this juncture! In the last two days since the announcement of the Indian Idol result I have been trying to find an appropriate metaphor for our joy and happiness. I confess that I have failed miserably in my enterprise. Hence it is hysteria for me.

No sooner Prashant was crowned, I started receiving messages on my cell phone. First it was a downpour, then it was a deluge! One thing was obviously clear in those messages. About 80% of the messages I received were very bold and aggressive in tone and temper. They talked about the Gorkha valour, Gorkha pride and the Nepali people's customary habits of not bowing down to any challenge or circumstance (sic). I received messages that openly lambasted those groups of people who did not support Prashant. The types of rhetoric like ' We will show them!' and ' We have shown them!' filled up my message box.

The out pouring of joy and happiness in such a belligerent manner pushed me into some deep thinking. I was also trying to coin some unique quote or phrase of my own to express my feelings. Ultimately I decided on one, and sent the message to many of my friends. My message was devoid of any grand utterance. It simply read : God may give us enough strength to accept victory with great humility and wisdom, and spread the message of music - love, peace and harmony. There was immediate response to my message. Dr Diwakar Pradhan called me almost immediately and excitedly exploded, 'Jyojyo, this is the most erudite message!' A lot of people who rang me up thought that my victory sms was the correct way of thinking at that historical moment. I was pretty satisfied. Thankfully there are a lot of sane people who have the courage and capacity to rise above the blatant macho mentality.

After the initial euphoria it is actually the time to thank all those people who have played crucial roles in the crowning of Prashant Tamang. On my behalf I intend to fulfill my obligation as a member of my community through this write-up. However, my precious thank-you is not for that vast majority of people who did proper and also not so proper things to see Prashant wear the Indian Idol crown. Instead, my sincere thanks and unrestrained adulations are reserved for those special species called homo-futurus (mankind is no more called the homo-sapiens!), who did everything in their reach, power and capacity to obstruct Prashant's path! It is due to these people that the whole of central and eastern Himalaya ignited into a raging fire that soon engulfed the entire Nepali world.

It is due to this reason my sincere thanks go to Richa Aneja who flagged off Hate Prashant campaign. Richa united us in the very initial stages of the competition. How can I not thank her? Next comes Anu Mullick with his grand cigarette comment! The effect of Mullick's comment was absolutely magical. The Gorkha rage reached the seventh heaven! I, therefore, cannot thank Mr. Mullick a bit less. Then there was a grand comedy enacted in Rubaru with the contestants. Whoever he or she may be, that person is absolutely genius! I am talking about the brain behind the dandy drama called The Darwan Dress! This farce united the Nepalese and consolidated Gorkha solidarity on a global scale. I also thank the Chief Minister of Meghalaya for declaring Prashant's opponent as his state's Brand Ambassador. This announcement kicked the shit out of those Nepali-Gorkha brothers and sisters who had remained criminally complacent toward Prashant's fight till that time. Tons of thanks to Meghalaya MLA Manas Chowdhary who allegedly declared to spend Rs. 1 crore on his candidate's campaign. Thanks are also due to Shillong Times which berated Sikkim and the Sikkimese people time and again. I also thank those misguided elements in Khasi community who promised to drive away Nepalis from the state in the event of Prashant winning the Indian Idol title. And, to top the chart, who can forget the abominable expressions on the faces of the Indian Idol judges each time Prashant made his appearance on the centre-stage. I am particularly dissatisfied with Javed Akhtar. It seems that I had mistakenly taken him for a top grade intellectual. I respected him a lot. That is history now. Javed Akhtar exposed himself to be what he really is - a pseudo! From Richa to Javed and Alisa Chenoy, these are the people whose Hate Prashant campaign and utterly biased views united the whole of Nepalis and the Nepali speaking populace. Without support from these fabulous feline creatures Prashant would not have achieved what he has achieved.

Now, the question is how to celebrate this stunning victory? With all the sincerity at my command I will say that I do not have a clue. In fact I have been telling my friends that Prashant's victory is so huge, so grand that the true magnitude of it is still to sink in me! I am truly out of my balance. However, I know that the formal celebration in the North Bengal region of Darjeeling Hills and Sikkim, and also in the rest of the world, will have to be a well choreographed magnum opus. Let our cultural and ethical opulence be displayed with dignity, substance and charisma before the world audience. Let us, for once, not indulge in wild ribaldry or orgiastic carnivals. The world has seen and acknowledged the Gorkha valour. History, now, has provided us with a rare and unique chance to show-case our creative talent on a global platform. Let us not waste this chance on senseless festivities and on egoist enterprises, or on the self promotional activities. This is the first time that we would be organizing a formal celebration of titanic proportions. And, clearly we neither have the expertise nor the experience to successfully handle such a grand occasion. As such, I would like to forward a minimum of three suggestions: 1) Darjeeling Hills and Sikkim should come together to form an Apex Body to chart out and oversee the formal celebration including a grand reception to the new Indian Idol and also give directions to the Nepali people residing in the north-east, Deharadun area and elsewhere in India and abroad. 2) The Apex Body may hire one professional Event Management Group either from Delhi or Mumbai. 3) On the celebration front, choose a day on which the whole of Nepali and the Nepali speaking world may light up diyo-batti as a mark of joyous celebration and solidarity. I may be only dreaming, because a lot of people are already running around with their petty agenda to rope in Prashant.

Whatever! At this moment I am unable to clearly think beyond the above three agenda. As I have mentioned earlier, I am still stunned by the magnitude of the Event! I need time to rearrange my thinking faculties and regain my calm composer.

Congratulations Prashant! You have done us proud