'Enquiry isn't solution finding, it's about asking sincere questions'

New Delhi, June 3 Karnatic maestro T.M. Krishna has worn many a hat during his 45-year career as a vocalist who has made innumerable innovations in the style and substance of his concerts and as a writer-activist-author.

A Magsaysay Award winner "for his forceful commitment as artist and advocate to art's power to heal India's deep social divisions", he has now curated his writings into an extraordinary collection titled "The Spirit of Enquiry", thematically divided into five key sections - art and artistes, the nation state, the theatre of secularism, savage inequalities and in memoriam.

"To enquire, is to pause and think deeply about matters. It involves meditating with utmost honesty, without allowing our own conditionings to cloud reality. We are not always successful in doing that, but being aware of what enquiry truly is, is in itself a self-checking mechanism.

"Enquiry is not only an internal process; it involves receiving with openness and allowing an interaction between the inner and the outer. Enquiry is not solution finding, it is about asking sincere questions," Krishna told in an interview of the book, which has been published by Penguin.

"The book was brought together to enable conversations on various essential socio-cultural-political issues. We selected pieces and curated them in a manner that allowed the reader a deeper understanding of my reflections, changes in my own thought process and to nudge the reader into further rumination. These essays are categorized under themes that have drawn attention ever so often," added Krishna, who, in 2017 received the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration.

The book reflects his searingly outspokenness about issues affecting the human condition. He is at once philosophical, aesthetic and socio-political and asks important questions about how art is made, performed and disseminated.

Speaking about this aspect, he said: "Without going into the specifics, over the past decade I have changed the way Karnatik music is performed, its content, challenged its overt hegemonic religiosity and inbuilt casteism, looked to create a more welcoming environment, moving the performance of the art beyond its known Brahmanical clusters, providing platforms for artists who are neglected and tried to make the artform respond to larger society and life.

"I have also been privileged to learn from artists from so many other streams of art like