Govind Tekale
World Human Voice Day is being celebrated on 16 April 2024. We communicate through our voice, so voice is an important medium of our communication channel. As soon as a child is born, it cries. That is the sign of life. In the good old days, the gramophone records showed a dog listening to his master’s voice. HMV, or His Master’s Voice, was, naturally, the name of that gramophone company.
India, the largest democracy, is holding general elections at present. Daily, we hear speeches of leaders. Most of them promise to fulfill not only our basic needs like Roti, Kapada, and Makan—that is, food, clothing, and shelter—but also voice their concern for our cultural and mental satisfaction. Loudspeakers are used to amplify the voice of the speakers. Musicians like Lata Mangeshkar, Bhimsen Joshi, Pankaj Udhas, MS Subbulakshmi, and others are immortalized by preserving their voices in albums and recordings.
My experience with recording was with AIR (All India Radio) when I got an opportunity to broadcast my talks in English, Hindi, and Sanskrit from the Thiruvananthapuram (then Trivandrum) station of AIR. There was a thrill when your voice could be heard across the country. The words of Pandit Nehru like “Freedom at Midnight” and “Light has gone out of our life” still reverberate, thanks to AIR and Doordarshan. The clarion call for the freedom struggle given by Lokmanya BG Tilak, Nelson Mandela, and Eamon de Valera still inspires us.
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The words: “Arise, Awake and stop not till the goal is reached” of Swami Vivekananda have become immortal. The song ‘We Shall Overcome’ has become the anthem of the world. The vocal cords produce the Nada-Brahma or Om. The UN has given its patronage to this human voice as it symbolizes liberty, equality, and fraternity.
The human voice is unique. It is capable of expressing all the Navrasas or sentiments. It can be represented by the Seven Suras—Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni. AI will further help in perpetuating the immortality of the human voice. Speech is represented by the Goddess Saraswati.
The great poet Kalidasa says the meaning and the speech cannot be separated, so the God and Goddess are to be worshipped together in the form of Parvati and Parameshwar. The voice of the weak, downtrodden, and backward people is not only to be heard but it is also to be given due consideration. The voice of the people is the voice of God. Democracy is supposed to be the voice of the people.
