Whither Brand Hyderabad?

The ongoing political crisis in Andhra Pradesh has many wondering what will happen to Brand Hyderabad and all the glitter it has gathered over the last decade. There is concern that if AP is partitioned, then investments will move away. Unrest is already affecting the business mood and the fear is that in future, Maoist violence may increase and weaken the city, or that a partitioned state that still controls it will divert resources to other lesser developed parts.

Telangana has had genuine problems about resource allocation, an exploitative political leadership and self-respect. The jury is out on whether this warrants a partition of India's first state formed on linguistic basis - read this Hindu editorial for one view. As far as Brand Hyderabad goes, I believe the damage is not irreparable. Urbanization is a mega trend and location wise, Hyderabad taps a massive hinterland. The divisive Telugus may go and serve other metros Madras and Bangalore, like they always did (it was more so before Unification in 1956). But this is clearly not a zero sum game.

If a new state capital for Andhra-Rayalseema is created, other metros may benefit, but this will also mean more construction on the new capital, more work leading to an economic boom. The Andhra-Seema folks may work with a vengeance and leverage the huge seacoast they have for the first time. And if the Telangana issue is sorted out without partition, then the Brand will only bounce back stronger. Brand Mumbai has been resilient despite several major terrorist attacks. Brand Delhi remains strong despite turmoil in nearby Af-Pak. Didn't Japan witness a huge ascendance right after the World War II mayhem? So fellas, stay optimistic and hope that the uncertainity soon subsides, giving people like us work to do. The sun shines brighter, once the clouds clear up.

Part of a Guinness Record!

Last month, i was fortunate to be part of a an extra ordinary event organized by Silicon Andhra, an event that pulled in a hundred sixty thousand people to sing the popular songs of a sixteenth century poet-saint Annamayya, on his 601st birthday. Annamayya occupies a unique place in Telugu history and literature - he had composed 32,000 songs devoted to Lord Venkateswara (Balaji). Each of these songs is a gem, and i had the good fortune of growing up listening to the LP records of MS Subbu Lakshmi singing them in her mesmerising voice. One of the most unforgettable experiences of my life was her live concert in 1994 (just the night before i had a big exam).

Now the artist/singing fraternity is fairly politicized (which fraternity is not?) and fragmented. However it was impressive to see many of them come together onto one platform and pull off this event. There was a grassroots movement too, by people in many villages, towns, schools and corporates to learn the songs. Since some Good Samaritans at my work place (Rambabu Kaipa - a CSR champion, Srinivas Prabhala - an accomplished artist) took the lead, it was easy for me to venture slightly beyond bathroom singing. On the big day, my eighty year old grand mother and I made it to the venue, amongst the milling crowds and savoured the occasion. There was a spring in my grandma's step despite a nagging knee injury, and she handled the crowds like a charm! The only thing amiss was the real sound of 160k voices which was drowned out by the blaring loudspeakers relaying the artists on stage (G Balakrishna Prasad and his son).

The event clearly brought out, the deep hunger people have to learn and enjoy Telugu classical music. Hope music in the state get a big boost with this Guinness record making event!

Wonderful Dance Performances At Hyderabad

As I am beginning to explore the cultural and non-IT face of Hyderabad, I came across two cultural programs that were real gems performed at the Ravindra Bharathi .

One was a Dance Ballet (Nrutya Rupakam) on the life of Bhakta Ramadas, a revered 17th century poet-saint. This was performed by Ananda Shankar Jayant (pictured), who drew upon many of Ramadas's immensely popular and moving compositions (kritis) in Telugu. Titled "Sree Rama Nee Namam Emi Ruchira" the ballet was based on the Bharata Natyam style of dance. One of the most impressive pieces was "Takkuvemi Manaku" in which all the ten avatars of Vishnu are alluded to.

The second was an amalgam of the three South Indian dance forms: Mohini Attam (slow tempo), Bharata Natyam (slow/medium) and Kuchipudi (medium/fast), based on the theme of Shanmatham propounded by Adi Shankaracharya worshipping the six divine forms of Ganesha, Karthikeya, Shiva, Ambika, Vishnu and Surya. The exponents were Gopika Nair for Mohini Attam, Revathi Ramachandran for Bharta Natyam and Deepika Reddy (pictured here) for Kuchipudi. Each is an amazing danseuse in her own right - erudite, widely travelled and perfectionist. When they came togther as they did for three of the six dances, it was an amazing scene. The Ganesha Pancharatnam was the most impressive piece, based on Adi Shankaracharya's composition. The last piece, a Thillana worshipping the Sun God, was also a magnificent confluence of South Indian dance.

Both were part of the ten-day long 47th Annual Festival organised by the South Indian Cultural Association (I got to see only these two). Unlike most programmes at Ravindra Bharathi these were paid programs, but the price was well worth it. It was interesting to see some young people in the audience too (though the majority were gray haired).

Telangana (T-Factor) resurfaces in AP, Is Separate Statehood only Solution?

Last week's Parliament By election in Karimanagar resulted in the expected win of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief (KC Rao), albeit by a larger margin. Financial Express examines the impact of the win on the Real Estate scene in Hyderabad and rest of AP. The widely held belief is that prices in Hyderabad would fall/stabilise while in Andhra they would rise.

Why this trend? Will a separate Telangana not be attractive to investors and hence the decline in prices? The humongous investments that several MNCs and Indian IT companies have made in Hyderabad will not disappear, but will future investments be forthcoming with as much vigour? What will happen to Hyderabad if Andhra Pradesh splits?

Small states has been a favourite election past time of Indian politicians. Though they mean more overhead costs for the state machinery, the local populace tends to self-express themselves better. The logic goes that if Hindi speaking folks can have more than one state (in fact they have almost a dozen), why not Telugu speaking people have two states? I believe the logic is flawed because AP cannot be simply split into two states. Rayalaseema comprising of four districts (Cuddapah, Anantapur, Kurnool, Chittor) forms a region too and soon there will be demands for a separate state there too. Even within the Coastal Andhra region, from Srikakulam to Nellore comprising of nine districts, there is considerable variance in dialect, food, attire, customs and so on. What I hear people speak in a Nellore bazaar is very different from what I hear on say, a train to Bacheli from Visakhapatnam. There is this considerable diversity within India in general and in Andhra Pradesh too that needs to be celebrated rather than manipulated and exploited for political reasons.

So here you have the prospect of one reasonably stable and upcoming state like AP split and Balkanise into three states, with some possible repercussions on neighbouring states. Imagine the diversion of public attention and energy into this major fission reaction! All this while competing neighbour states like Tamilnadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka are racing towards industrial strength and greater bargaining power with the center. One doesn't hear similar separatist dialogues as much in these states inspite of significant divides existing there, take the North Karnataka (aka Hyderabad Karnataka) divide with South Karnataka for example or the Vidarbha cause in Maharashtra.

There is significant common history: the famous Vijayanagara Kingdom used to have Telugu as its court language. Most of the Carnatic music sung in any concert in South India even today constitutes of songs composed in Telugu by the famous Trinity. The need of the hour is greater unity and sincere attempts by the government and politicians to address the core needs of the population and ensure equity across regions. Creating a new state is a mere legislative procedure, what is needed is a vision that is able to harness the true potential of the people.

---

Update on 17 Aug 2013: The recent developments have indeed hastened the process of 'division'. This in itself is not a bad idea as I blogged earlier - this could unleash energies to build afresh. One hopes there is no acrimony in the division and that contentious issues are resolved amicably upfront.