हिन्दी और अंग्रेजी के बीच कशमकश

मैं हिन्दी भाषा और अंग्रेजी के बीच कशमकश पर बने वीडियो या फिल्में बड़ी उम्मीद से देखता हूं पर हमेशा निराशा हाथ लगती है क्योंकि उन सब में अंत में जीत हमेशा अंग्रेज़ी की होती है पर बखान हिन्दी का किया जाता है. चाहे वो श्रीदेवी की English Vinglish हो, इरफ़ान ख़ान की Hindi Medium हो, या फिर हाल ही में समाप्त हुए India, West Indies के बीच test cricket के बाद जडेजा और भोगले के साक्षातकार पर बने इस वीडियो पर हो. जीत अंग्रेज़ी की होती है। यहां भी बताया गया है कि जडेजा पहले अंग्रेजी अच्छी नहीं बोलते थे. इसलिए उनसे प्रश्न हिन्दी में पूछा गया. पर इस बीच उन्होंने अंग्रेज़ी पर मेहनत की और जवाब अंग्रेजी में जवाब देने चाहे. पर ये वीडियो वाले भाई साहब दर्शकों का मज़ाक उड़ा रहे हैं. English Vinglish के अंत में भी श्रीदेवी धाराप्रवाह अंग्रेजी बोलती दिखाई गई है। भारतीय लोग अपनी भाषाओं का कितना भी समर्थन कर लें, अंग्रेज़ी की गिरफ्त से बाहर नहीं आ सकते. अगर आप अंतर राष्ट्रीय celebrity हैं तो आपके पास तमाम भाषाओं के मीडिया कर्मी आपसे आपकी भाषा में प्रश्न पूछने और उत्तर सुनने का जुगाड़ कर के आएंगे। आपको उन सबकी भाषा, चाहे वो अंग्रेज़ी हो, जर्मन हो, रूसी हो, चाइनीज हो, सीखने की ज़रूरत नहीं है। अगर आप ज़बरदस्ती अंग्रेजी का ज्ञान दिखाने पर तुले हैं तो आप ख़ुद अपनी भाषा की भद्द पिटवा रहे हैं।

Djay app and Ipad

While using DJAY App from the Munich based company Algoriddim in iPad is a bliss as far as controls are concerned, it is not so friendly as far as the file management is concerned. First getting the mp3 files into an iPad is itself an issue. Even if you have managed that, you can't rename, search, move, delete the files (like in Serato) inside the app. You can't even know the filename from the title (if it is different than the title). The app displays only the title, and gives no option to know the filename. It has happened with me quite a number of times that I want to move or delete a particular track being played in app but don't find it in the iPad. One more important point, if a folder in iPad contains a lot of mp3 files, it can take a lot of time till the files are displayed in the DJAY App. Once I saw that even after half an hour, the app was still loading the file information. App even does not give any kind of indication as to how much time it is going to take to load the files. This can be very risky if you plan to use it in a real gig. You are on the stage and realise that the files are not showing up at all. Serato (in PC) takes just a couple of minutes to load all file information in a folder.

Using Spotify Premium Account with DJAY is also not a practical solution. The app doesn't let you record a mix if you are playing tracks from Spotify. You can see the Spotify playlists inside the app but you cannot save a track into a Spotify playlist  within the app. You have to save it in an app internal playlist. That means the track you saved in the app playlist will not appear in the Spotify playlist. The company should work on these things. Although the Spotify can be used offline with the Spotify app, but cannot be used offline inside the Djay app. You have to be connected to internet if you want to use Spotify inside the Djay app. Why soundcloud is not included in the app, is a question worth considering.

But otherwise it is a blessing to use iPad and the app, because iPad is very responsive for triggering cue points or loops without any delay. It is much more convenient than a physical controller. And you can practice the mixes while lying in the bed, or while sitting in a train or plane without needing a lot of cables and gadgets. iPad is all you need. A controller is only needed for live sessions due to the double sound card, separate volume controls for cueing, the crossfader and multi-touch controlling. Djay app uses all the space available on the screen very optimally to put as many controls and features as possible. I will write separately about the features.

But one more very important use of djay app with iPad is to practice dance choreography. You can set cue points at various points of the song to practice steps at those portions. You don't have to search the points again and again as it takes time to perfect the steps. You might have to practice the steps 20-30 times till it is embedded in your mind. Moreover you can reduce the tempo of the song to work on fine movements.

dance fusion with Hindi songs

Rajneesh Mangla and Barbara Pais presented a medley of various social dances on some all time Hindi hit songs in Munich on 23rd November 2019 in an event organized by Aman Creations. They took around three weeks to conceptualize the choreography, select the music and to practice the steps. They come from different dance backgrounds. Rajneesh has learned some Latin dances like Forro, Samba, Bachata in last years and Barbara is more towards swing dances. But they helped each other to understand the steps and to make everything work. It took immense amount of patience for both of them to understand each other's musical language, conceptualize each beat of the music to present as many steps as possible from each dance form. The outcome was astonishing.

Here is the list of songs:

song	dance style presented	tempo (BPM)
तू तू है वही दिल ने जिसे अपना कहा	Bachata, Samba de Gafieira	73
चढ़ती जवानी मेरी चाल मस्तानी	Forro	114
बोल बोल कुछ तो बोल, क्या नाम है तेरा	Shag	108
दीवाना मुझ सा नहीं - ओ जान-ए-जाना	Lindy Charleston	95
दे दिया दिल पिया, साथिया	Forro, Zouk	97

According to Rajneesh, the Hindi songs have normally been the byproducts of commercial projects (mainly movies) and have been partially responsible for the success of the movies. So the songs were not restricted only to the Indian folk styles. The composers did a lot of experiments adapting styles and melodies from all over the world, to make the songs as exotic as possible. That is why we can hear a wide variety of styles in Hindi (film) songs. But the way these songs were brought to the screen often did not correspond to the music styles. So Rajneesh always wanted to learn as many dance styles as possible to dance on these songs.

Barbara, who comes form Portugal, says this small project reminded her deeply that she loves to dance. Also it was a nice experience to create something from scratch and bring it to the end. She is not a total stranger to India or Indians. She has many Indian friends and has been to India for a Yoga camp. There are couple of things about Indians which intrigue her, like why Indians are so obsessed with cinema, why the popular music comes mainly from films, why Indian female singers sing in such a thin voice, why Indians look younger than they are. 

Republic Day Celebration

प्यारे भारतीय मूल के जर्मन वासी मित्रो,
अपने पचास साल के जर्मनी आवास के दौरान पहली बार बर्लिन के राजदूतावास में आयोजित २६ जनवरी के संविधान -दिवस समारोह में मैं सम्मिलित नहीं होउँगी क्योंकि जिस राजदूतावास में अब तक भारतीय मूल के नागरिकों को सम्मानपूर्वक आमन्त्रित किया जाता था वहीं हमें अब तिरस्कार का सामना करना पड़ रहा है।पहली बार भारतीय मूल की महिलाओं को दूतावास की Womens Association से बिना किसी कारण के बाहर कर दिया गया।इतना ही नहीं, इस संदर्भ में किये गये मेरे पत्रव्यवहार का उत्तर देना तो दूर की बात पत्र पहुँचने की स्वीकृति तक नहीं दी गई। पिछले दो वर्षों से 10 जनवरी को NRI दिवस नहीं मनाया जा रहा।ना ही राजभाषा दिवस मनाया जाता है और न ही रवीन्द्र जयंती।ऐसे ही और भी कई एक उदाहरण हैं,जिनमें भारतीय मूल के लोगों को सम्मिलित नहीं किया जाता।फिर चाहे गाँधी जयंती हो चाहे होली-दिवाली।हम लोगों ने अब तक भारतीय राजदूतावास द्वारा आयोजित कार्यक्रमों को सफल बनाने में अपना पूरा सहयोग प्रदान किया है।भारत के सही राजदूत हम हैं।तिरस्कार के अपमान को सह कर जो लोग केवल खाने-पीने के लिये या व्यापारिक संपर्क बनाने के लिये 26 जनवरी के सम्मिलित होना चाहते हैं तो अवश्य हों,लेकिन इस बात का ढोंग ने करें कि वे अपने देश के लिये या भारत माता के लिये कुछ कर रहे हैं। अंत तुलसीदास जी की एक चौपाई से करना चाहूँगी
"आवत मन हरषै नहीं, नैनन नहीं सनेह,तुलसी वहाँ ना जाइये कंचन बरसे मेह।"

Sushila Haque
26 January 2015
Embassy of india, Berlin

शब्द

आज शब्द अपना अस्तित्व खोते जा रहे हैं
वे अभिव्यक्ति न रह कर मात्र अक्षरों का ढांचा रह गए हैं
या ये शब्द अब अपने मायने ही नहीं रखते
सारी दुनिया के लिए या सिर्फ मेरे लिए?
कल तक तो ये शब्द प्रसन्नता के प्रतीक थे
और आज महज एक सवाल बन कर रह गए हैं
ये कोई नए शब्द नहीं, वही चिर परिचित से शब्द हैं
पर अर्थ? वे तो शायद किसी दूर क्षितिज पर जा बैठे हैं
जैसे धरती और आकाश का मिलन नहीं होता
वह महज एक दिखावा है उसी प्रकार शब्द और उनके पुराने अर्थों का दूूराव हो गया है
लेकिन वे महज क्षितिज की भांति छलावा दे रहे हैं अपने उन्ही पुराने अर्थों को संजोये रखने का.
लेकिन आज ये शब्द अपनी सार्थकता खो चुके हैं और तलाश में हैं एक नए अर्थ की
लेकिन क्या ये नए अर्थ पुराने अर्थों की गरिमा को रख पाएंगे ?
या ये शब्द यूँ ही बिना अर्थों के अर्थहीन हो जायेंगे?
सुषमा प्रियादर्शिनी, Stuttgart, Germany

DJing in Indian Context

Real Djing is not really relevent in indian context because mostly people just want to dance to their favorite or currently popular dance songs. So most of indian DJs just play the popular songs and change the song just by rotating the jog wheel. They don't use DJ console like an instrument. They are not musicians. They don't have that sense of rhythm. That is why many of them even don't mind using laptop's soundcard for DJing, which has a lot of delay. Of course DJing is more than that. Some commonly used DJ tools and effects are listed below.

as Basics, we know what for the DJ Controller is. Normally it is not just a Controller but also an external Sound Card with very low latency. That menas it reacts to the Actions on the console very fast, without delay. In fact it is a double Sound Card, one for the audience and one for the DJ himself. Both have individual volume controls. So the DJ can listen to different track than audience and make it Ready for them to listen, or match the beats and slowly fade it in.

The commonly used Tools are cue Points, fly loops, slicer, rolls (also called flux mode by native Instruments and bouncer by Apple), tremolo (exists in Ipad Apps but mostly not available in commonly used colsoles).

• Cue points (usually from 4 or 8 points) can used to trigger the song from some particular point without delay.
• fly loops can be used to put the song in a loop from the current playback point. the length of the loop can be altered in the count of beats.
• roll is used to repeat  the current point in rhythm but in background song continous to play further. That means when you release the roll button, the song jumps to the normal playback point. the speed of roll can be altered in count of beats.
• Tremolo is not available in most of the consoles, but is a sound modulation with a square wave which switches the amplitude alternately between zero and full in count of beats. It is actually the best DJ effect, but only iPad offers it till now.
• Then there are other effects like phaser, flanger, low pass filter, high pass filter and so on which can be used anytime. Then there is a sampler to trigger samples.

Normally it is useful to let your collection put in analyse mode in your DJ sofware which detects the tempo of songs and updates the mp3 tag information with BPM. You can actually see the mp3 files changed in file explorer. Then you can sort the collection in DJ software (like Serato) according to BPM and play the songs in increasing or decreasing order of tempo.

As 6/8 time signature is also very popular in indian context, but most DJ don't and can't differentiate between 4/4 and 6/8 songs. They just mix them as per demand. But it is recomended to keep 6/8 songs in a seperate folder, and play them seperately according to the mood.