Hindi tunes rock China

The nine-tonal Cantonese language, which is spoken in Hong Kong, is a linguistic challenge for most non-Chinese people. Although at least two Indians in Hong Kong have become local show-biz celebrities for their mastery of the language, they are still something of a rarity. Even Indians who have been around for generations here can typically manage no more than a smattering of phrases.

The inverse is also true. Many Cantonese speakers hold firmly to the view that “Indian language” is rather too difficult to speak. Some don’t make the faintest effort,
even when encouraged. Last fortnight, however, a band of performers from India accomplished a near-impossible feat by coaxing a predominantly Chinese
audience to sing the refrain of a Hindi film hit. And it went down rather well. 
The musicians who made this linguistic crossing were the Raghu Dixit Project, who categorise their music as “Indo World Folk Rock” (whatever that means!) Invited to perform at the invitation of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, they had Hong Kong rocking, literally. At an event got up by RTHK, the local broadcaster, they charmed their Chinese audience enough to get them to (uncharacteristically) shake a leg and even to sing the refrain “Har saans mein, har dhadkan mein ho tum!” (You are there in every breath, every heartbeat of mine) from one of their hit singles. 

For Hong Kong people who may be familiar with Indian classical traditions but know nothing about such new sounds, the Raghu Dixit Project, which was on its first overseas tour, was a revelation. If the effort was to project Indian soft power beyond just Bollywood or classical music, it was hugely successful. 

At the troubled Hong Kong subsidiary of the insurance giant AIG (which had to be bailed out by the US government), the management has initiated several initiatives to calm the frayed nerves of its employees, who faced a harrowing time at the height of the crisis. Among these feel-good measures are communal exercises sessions, at which employees are urged to participate, and an afternoon “walkabout” break. Limitless supplies of tea and soup are being plied to the staff, and the management is even offering free psychological counselling sessions for their employees who peered into the abyss of likely job-losses and returned safe but shaken!