My music is out of place: Bertie

On WorldMusic Day, Bertie da Silva, the Dean of Arts of St Xavier’s College, willbe part of a programme that You and I is hosting in the city. Yet on being askedabout his involvement in the project, Bertie said, “I’ve no clue.You must ask Sourendro Mullick about the programme. In fact, I had also told himthat the kind of music I do, might be out of place. But he is convincedotherwise.” Sourendro, on his part, said, “On June 21, we want toshowcase every form of music that’s practised in Kolkata. That’s whywe have Srabani Sen performing on the concept of Tagore’s globalinspiration, Lopamudra Mitra on folk tales of India, Kartick Das Baul on songsof the soil, Neepabithi Ghosh on shades of various genres in Bollywood, MohuaDas on opera and Bertie da Silva’s contribution as a singer/songwriter.” Excerpts from an interview with Bertie daSilva.You can count me among one of those musicians too. WorldMusic seems to be a little bit of this and a little bit of that. It’s aconvenient and a pretty big box that has space for different kinds of music.Three-and-a-half years before I decided tostage a musical comeback, I started teaching myself classical guitar. That wassometime in 2002. Though I didn’t have any teacher, I picked up quicklywhen I heard something. The more I listened, the more I found new avenuesopening up in my head. That’s when I started writing songsagain.No. I realized that I was stagnating. My friends, with whomI used to do music, grew older and wiser and shifted to making money. I realizedthat I was just fooling around. Three years ago, an old college friend of minehappened to come down from Canada. It was he who suggested that we do a gig.Thankfully, our first show was extremely well-received. Today, I am at thecollege from 9 am to 4.30 pm. That completely eats up my brain. From 5 pm to 9pm, I’m rehearsing. That’s when my brain comesalive.My band is an eclectic mix. Apart from me,there’s jazz bassist Willie Walters. There’s Soonam (guitarist) andSuraj (drummer). That apart, there is Anindyo Paul. He is a trained Indianclassical vocalist. Though we don’t have a name for our band, sometimes wedo go with the name of Dark Hand. What sets us apart is that we have adistinctive style and our ownsound.It isn’t difficult. We have mutual respect for eachother as musicians.Classes are stimulating but then,there comes a time in life when one has to stand up and be counted. I could havesaid that I don’t want to do this. But the college was going through atransition just before we were given an autonomy status and I was asked to takesome responsibility in the capacity of a Dean.Six days of theweek, I’m completely busy with my college work. Music revitalizes me.Somewhere, I think I’m a bit mad too (laughs)!Things have changed. We get students in literature who’vegrown up only reading Sidney Sheldon or nothing at all in school. Their brainswork very differently. Literature doesn’t have any relevance for them. Onehas to go about very slowly with such students. I tell my students that nothingcan be taught in literature. The benefit that one reaps from literature is thatone learns how to think for oneself. If you’ve learnt the business ofthinking, you can stand out anywhere you go inlife.(Laughs) I don’t know. I guess,it’s all about being honest. I’ve spent hours in the library andconsumed over thousands and thousands of books. That opened up my head. Oneneeds to have professional integrity. You can earn the respect of your studentsif they know that you are well-versed in what you are doing. You need to sharewhat you know with your students. Dishonest teachers (those who don’tstudy enough) might have disciplineproblems.True. A teacher mustnever antagonize the child. I, too, can be very ruthless with my students.There’s no bias at work. By ruthless, I mean, I can cut a person intosmall pieces in a sentence. But they don’t stay cut. They figure out whyit’s being done to them.It’s extremely futile and sad. There are too manyunanswered questions. Where have all the Christian students gone in missionaryschools? There seems to be some politics at work. There could be some bigplayers who have an agenda here. Otherwise, how did this issue escalate toDelhi? The stakes are high. There has to be a victim. Obviously, the kid is avictim. The teacher (I wouldn’t know if he is dishonest or not) could be avictim too. Just before the news of this incident broke out, two Board memberswere thrown out and one of them spoke out against the school at a public forum.I find all this a littledistasteful.Caning is not an insult. A kid can recover from it. Butthen, nobody can support violence. A good administrator will not need the rod toteach discipline. The rod can be there, but hardly used. I believe there has tobe a certain modicum of fear. When I was in school, I would get whackedregularly. But I didn’t die because ofthat.Of course,not.We do have some such students incollege too. Poor kids in schools too can be very aggressive and tough. Oneneeds to handle children carefully. It’s easy to blame a teacher. But howmany wonder how tough a school teacher’s job is? In one class, there are60 students. Each teacher has to go on taking class after class and, inaddition, do all kinds of extra work. They are often very poorly paid. Is theadministration or the parents wondering about the problems of schoolteachers?Follow us on Twitter for more stories