Sunday Musings - What is your take on the "Ulta Syahi" trend - Classy OR Creepy?

 There is this trend in the tabla world - making the pudi the playing surface) of the tabla and dagga with “ulta syahi” which basically means reversing the “syahi” OR putting that big round black spot on the underside of the skin so that it is not exposed.

Here's a sample taken from a random google image search:

Note: This image is taken from google search for representational purposes only and will be immediately removed if there is any obejction. 

I have seen a couple of videos of this in action and in fact my own guru ji's son plays a dagga similar to the one shown here. The sound produced is as good as the old design because the syahii is still there, just not visible. So, there really is no argument as to the sound quality of such a design.

Although it has been around for a while yet it doesn’t seem to have too many takers. It mostly seems to be a novelty attempting to be a disruption in the tabla scene. While researching about the ‘reverse syahi’ tabla, the reasoning for this design thought seems to be that tabla player’s sweaty hands lead to the black spot coming off and reversing the pudi would prevent it. 

I really don’t think the general population of tabla players sweat so profusely that the syaahi comes off. Firstly, if the sweating is that bad, then it may be an underlying medical condition that the artist must get checked out at the earliest. Secondly, if average perspiration is causing the syaahi to come off, then that unfortunately is just “poor quality workmanship”. I say this because I am a tabla player myself and my own hands tend to sweat a bit after continuously playing anywhere upwards of 35-40 minutes and the tabla/dagga have not shown any signs of damage to the syaahi because of this. Whenever I do feel my hands getting sweaty, I dab a little talcum powder and carry on (It’s one of those things that I’ve learned by observing the great maestros on stage). Talking about talcum powders, the inside joke in the tabla community is that Johnson & Johnson should consider removing the picture of a baby on their talcum powder and replace it with a tabla player 😁. I digress. This is by far the most effective solution for sweaty hands apart from, of course, keeping a small hand towel nearby as well.

My personal opinion on this design is that I find it flawed for several reasons. 

1. Visual reference point. From millennia the black spot OR the syahi has had a very specific purpose on the tabla pudi (or head). It is a ‘visual reference point’ on the pudi where the player would stroke his fingers to play a very specific set of “bols”. 

2. It disturbs the aesthetics of the instrument. Apart from a very technical reason for creating variations in the sound, it also adds to the visual aesthetics of the instrument. A tabla set with a well laid black spot (Syaahi) in the centre is comparable to a pair of beautiful eyes. Now Imaging looking at someone’s eyes that don’t have pupils! It’s just visually disturbing.

That said, it is also true that aesthetics is a matter of personal choice but looking at the rather minuscule adoption of this style of instrument, it seems quite obvious that there is not much mainstream acceptance of this disruption. Perhaps this is just another attempt to be disruptive just for the sake of doing something new. Do share your own thoughts about this particular innovation to the tabla design, in the comments section. Do you find it classy, or creepy? I am eager to know.

I would like to conclude with a very apt couplet (sher) written by the poet Khamosh Ghazipuri Sahab:

“Aariz’o lab sada rehne do,

Taj Mahal pe rang na dalo!”

(From the Ghazal Dairo-Haram me Basne walon)