Zara halke gadi haako mere Ram Gadi Wale / Zara dheere gadi hakiye mere Ram Gadi wale / haakan wali chhail chhabili bathan wala Ram.
These lines by the poet saint of the Bhakti movement, Kabir, now have a new meaning. “Ram is a tatva that Kabir uses to symbolise the life inside us. In our interpretation, it is a reminder that what we are driving is not just our bodies but the life inside us that is very fragile. We must be aware of the fact that we are living and, therefore, be aware of the fact that we are going to die. So, celebrate life that is present inside you and in every one. Build a connection with the living world,” says singer Priyadarshan Sahasrabuddhe.
Over the last month, the song has reverberated with sub-texts of climate change and environmental degradation as the city’s newest music group, Pralay—a word that means apocalypse—carry a message to the people. It was during the torrential rains of last year when a few members of the Ecological Society, Pune, were meeting up when they noticed the water level rising. “We were saying, ‘Ye pralay aa gaya kya?’ At the same time, we couldn’t help noticing what a beautiful soundscape the rain created, with taal and laye,’” says Jaideep Bafna of the Ecological Society, Pune.
Trying to ward off climate anxiety, the group, which is active in protecting the environment, began to bounce off ideas on other ways of creating awareness on climate change. “We thought that, maybe, nature was telling us that music was a way. Music happened to be a different pathway. It was with this feeling that we set up Pralay,” says Bafna.
When Vaayu, who had been singing Kabir bhajans since childhood and had recently attended a workshop by the eminent Prahlad Tipanya, who performs Kabir bhajans according to the Malwi folk form of Madhya Pradesh, met Pralay, an idea was born.
After a soft launch at The Box, Pralay has played to audiences of hundreds at locations, such as the Ram-Mula confluence, where the riverfront development project is underway and many trees marked for cutting. A show starts with a dawn chorus of different types of birds singing, a section curated by Pune-based naturalist Siddharth Biniwale.
“In nature, we see that there are different birds, from the canopy to the forest floor. As the sun rises, the first call comes from the canopy, because that’s where the sun rays reach early. As the sun goes up, the entire place fills with bird calls. It is important for us to understand that, even when all the birds are singing and chirping, because of their different frequencies, they don’t cancel one another. That’s the beauty of the dawn chorus,” says Biniwale, who has written a Marathi poem, where each line is about a different call of a bird. At least on one occasion, a flock of birds flying to roost joined in as the band performed their chorus of bird calls.
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Though the group is “blown away” by the response and the power of music to reach demographics that might be left out by traditional activism, they are aware that the planet is fighting for survival against powerful forces, such as fossil fuel lobbies. Sahasrabuddhe, who has founded Vaayu Biogas, an enterprise that converts waste into biogas and can be used by common people in their house or by canteens, among others, says that fossil energy is neither democratic nor sustainable, unlike alternative fuel. Wherever there is waste, for instance, one can set up biogas plants and plug into an energy system.
“This thought needs to go to common people that, now, the power from an economic resource perspective is going to come into the hands of common people. Fossil fuels are going to finish. With initiatives such as Pralay, we are at the beginning of this journey. We have to start spreading this message to people so that we feel a part of the solution,” says Sahasrabuddhe.
On March 9, Pralay will play to a group of Swachh workers. As Sahasrabuddhe, Biniwale and other members strike up the music, Bafna will play the crucial role of engaging with the audience, encouraging them to dance or play a beat as a tribute to nature.