I appreciate Sri TM Krishna coming out on Twitter like this, with all guns blazing, to champion the cause of private Carnatic music tutors who he has discovered (from his unnamed sources?) are all being remunerated unfairly. This to his mind is “sweatshop exploitation” . So outraged is Sri TMK that he has with, true righteous indignation, even gravely pronounced that music learned by the wards and children of families guilty of underpaying the tutors cannot be regarded as “divine”.
But my question to Sri TMK is : can he himself do anything about it?
Talk is fine …in fact, talk on Twitter makes him look so good on social media, it greatly promotes and enhances his very own image as a social activist more than it probably does his stature as a commercially successful Carnatic music Vidwan… There’s no doubt about that 👍👏🙏 TMK is a very articulate activist. But where does his talk end and his walk begin ?
Sri TMK is the darling poster-boy from the world of Carnatic music for all the leftwing, liberal , anti-Brahmin Dravidian forces that are now the powerful ruling dispensation in Tamil Nadu. His well-known socialist and anti-Brahmin leanings and ideological stance vis-a-vis the Carnatic music world actually synch so well with that of the ruling establishment. They’d be only too happy to oblige him with favours if only he went and asked them for one.
I’m sure if TM Krishna puts in a good word with the Government of TamilNadu on behalf of all private Carnatic music private tutors in the State to grant them, on grounds of social justice, a subsidy to supplement their own low remuneration as fees for rendering service through private music tuitions, and if TMK succeeds in that effort , then he’d become the real activist-hero indeed which he portrays himself to be through this suo moto tweet of his !
I think Sri. TMK will definitely succeed too if only he tries hard enough to press his case with the present TN Govt. After all, it is only recently that the DMK Government announced a social subsidy to all Barbers in the temples of Tamil Nadu after duly recognising that, as a professional class on the whole, the tonsure-artists were not being remunerated fairly at all for their valuable services rendered to temple pilgrims . Read this link below:
The Indian Express 6 Oct, 2021
Why not Sri TMK make out a similar strong case for the Government to come forward and grant a social subsidy to supplement the remuneration for poorly paid Carnatic music private tutors too in Tamil Nadu ?
Go for it Sri TM Krishna ! You’ll really win back the hearts of all in the Carnatic Music world— tutors, artists, afficianados and rasikas …
I for one as an erstwhile ardent Rasika of your erstwhile music, I promise, will stand up and applaud you for your social activism …if you do succeed. Wishing you God Speed!
Sudarshan Madabushi