A three-day celebration of #Kabir to ignite minds

Gurgaon: The favourite time of year is here, and among those who will be performing at the Gurgaon Utsav is Shubha Mudgal, one of the few artistes in India who is able to appeal to both the purist and the everyman, yet not compromise on her art.An initiative of the Arts and Literature Foundation, the Gurgaon Utsav is organised by the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon and the department of cultural affairs (Haryana), in association with The Times of India. It is supported by the Meera Foundation and Sohan Lal Charitable Trust.Now into its fifth season, the three-day celebration of song and music returns with ‘Kabir Vani’. Kabir, the 15th century mystic bard, who doggedly eschewed dogma and orthodoxy, might throw his hands up in despair were he to find himself amid the partisanship and tyrannies of today.

“When Kabir says, ‘Saadho, dekho jag baurana!’ (‘Oh seekers, see the world’s gone mad!’), the violence and insanity he refers to is mirrored in the times we live in,” said Mudgal in an interview with TOI.The verses of Kabir, for her, embody a voice of conviction that is both fearless and powerful. “Rendered in varied forms like couplets or dohas and short verses, his writing is profound at all times in its essence, but can at the same time be playful, erotic, irreverent and brutally forthright.”For these reasons and many more, the voice of Kabir remains relevant at all times, but more so amidst the inequalities and dissonance we experience today.” That is the wonder of Kabir, that the spirit of humanism he attempted to communicate can still illuminate the darkest recesses of our souls.The singer has never been one to shy away from challenges. “Khayal and thumri are my favourites, but that does not mean I should not experiment with other forms.