Fully desi horn OK please

With Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari mulling Indian classical instruments for car horns, three musicians weigh in on the idea

Leaving a legacy

I think it’s encouraging that there is at least some form of patronage for the classical arts, even if it’s someone else blowing our trumpet, pun intended. Wind instruments like the shehnai or flute might work for an idea like this one — something like the sarangi is softer while a monotone like what you get from the sitar wouldn’t work either. You need multi-phonic horns, like the ones that lorries on highways have. I also want to harp on the fact here that if you look at things more holistically, what is still remnant of ancient cultures like the Greco-Roman ones? It’s their philosophy, art, architecture and scientific progress, and not their economy because you might be in profit one day but the next day, the ship might sink. What you churn out as a result of your artistic progress is what’s going to stay, and I wish and hope our country would look at that. I am not talking about just this government, though. I am talking about moving beyond pop culture as a people and leaving a better legacy for the world, and if one day we are able to market Indian-made cars with Indian classical horns, then we’d be making some sort of statement.

Purbayan Chatterjee, 45, sitar player

Where’s the civic sense?

I think that this is a terrible idea considering the civic sense, or the lack of it, that prevails in India. The traffic system here is loud and unruly, and I don’t think that there is any classical instrument that will serve the purpose that Mr Gadkari is thinking of. But if he still does want to make it happen, then there are some instruments that might be useful, though I still have my doubts. One is the nadaswaram, a wind instrument played in South Indian temples that is thrice the size of a shehnai. There are also percussion instruments like the thavil, which is played with both hands and sticks, and has a strong sound, and the chenda, which is played upright and also has a strong sound, one that goes ‘tang tang tang’. And if Mr Gadkari 
wants to have another shot at winning West Bengal’s heart, he can try the Bangla dhol, or the dhaak played during Durga Puja, which is loud enough for an entire neighbourhood to hear.

Pt Subhen Chatterjee, 59, tabla player

Keys to a problem

There are better things that the government should focus on, and if implemented, this idea is going to cause cognitive dissonance, or rather an aural dissonance. That’s because in a country where there is so much traffic, where people are honking all the time, can you imagine the sort of cacophony that Indian classical instruments being honked out of tune will create? You might never want to listen to them again because they would remind you of that honking. It will be out of whack sonically. Indian classical instruments are anyway soft in nature, even a flute, and the harmonium is the only instrument I can think of that might work in a context like this. I am not sure why the government is thinking of this. Have they spoken to musicologists and to scientists? There is a reason that car horns have a certain sound. It’s because they serve the purpose designed for them.

Isheeta Chakrvarty, 33, Hindustani classical vocalist

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