In Mithila, however, people think that Ram let their native daughter down. The female epitome of virtue was made to endure the hardship of 14 years in the wilderness for no fault of her own. Even when Ram became the king, Sita could remain queen for a very short period. Based on a salacious rumor spread by a washer man, the sovereign had his pregnant consort exiled. Sita then had to raise her two brave sons, Lav and Kush, as a single mother.
Maithils have punished the memory of their errant son-in-law Ram in many ways. Awadh lies to the west of Mithila. Marrying a daughter in any family to the west is avoided lest she face the fate of Sita. The daughter of Mithila married the prince of Ayodhya in the month of Marg. Orthodox families in the region avoids holding any marriage ceremonies during this month. Another practice is the most damning—everybody wishes for a son like Ram but nobody wants a son-in-law in the mould of Maryada Purushottam, the ultimate Hindu man of honor. In comparison, even an ash-smeared and half-naked yogi like Shiva is considered an ideal mate for one’s daughter, and his marriage to Parvati is a popular theme of folksongs.
Marriages in Mithila cannot be imagined without the accompaniment of a song for each ritual and every ceremony. There is a lyric for the bride taking bath, another one for the time when the groom eats, and the wakeup call for the couple is yet another song. However, with tunes increasingly being borrowed from Hindi films, melodies of the past are now a fading memory.
Maithils may desist from marrying in the month of Marg, but for most other Hindus in Nepal, it is the right time of the year to tie the nuptial knot. Some families believe that there is no need to consult an astrologer to fix the marriage on Bibaha Panchami day. Earlier, Pahadi families from surrounding hills would arrive in Janakpur to solemnize marriages at local temples. That practice has gone down considerably. However, the sanctity of marriages held in the capital of Mithila is still held in high esteem.
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For some reason, celebrations are synonymous with sounds of different nature everywhere in the region. The chanting of mantras, musical instruments of various kinds, and songs for every occasion as accompaniment are markers of houses wherever a Satyanarayan Katha is being held, a betrothal is being performed, or a marriage is being solemnized. In the days when priests recited Sanskrit Shlokas at the top of their voice, elders showered blessings upon couples, or women broke out in songs, sounds used to be pleasant. Now there are loudspeakers that magnify the pleasure of participants to the irritation of everyone else.
Megaphones begin to boom from early in the morning even in the countryside. The Muslim call for prayers from minarets of mosques is made through loudspeakers. Hindu Bhajans are blared out from multiple directions with machines of diverse capacities and various qualities. During the day, priests chant into microphones rather than to the attendees at a function. The call of birds is lost in the cacophony produced by those that want to use the technology to announce to the world that they have arrived in life and celebration is on, even though the achievement may be based on the remittance coming from a family member toiling in the heat and dust of West Asia.
In towns, bus and truck drivers love to honk; holding the steering wheel is a form of endless festivity. Horns of some motorcycles appear to be more powerful than their machines. Rickshaws of yore had rubber blowers that looked like a balloon fitted to a tiny megaphone; battery-powered beepers have begun to replace those quaint contraptions. The resulting decibel level is much higher, of course.
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There was a time when the passing of a Band Baja group in their livery and shiny brass was a treat to watch as they played melodies of power. Assisted by portable generator sets or battery-powered megaphones, even musical groups have come to rely more on sounds produced by technology rather than those of drums of different types and varieties of wind instruments. Even children no longer pay any attention to marriage musical bands.
Some theorists believe that people take recourse to familiar sound of higher volume to drown out strange noises. At least, that is the apology sometimes offered. Many students like to turn on their music sets while they are studying. Earphones connected to soothing music are a convenient earplug. Some drivers prefer the loudness of their own music system in the car to those that are produced by minibuses honking in unison. The resulting dissonance, however, is deafening for all others. It seems concern for others—students preparing for their examinations, senior citizens looking for some peace and quiet, and the sick convalescing in a room—while it disappears from the minds of those with any access to noisemaking devices.
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Petty tyrannies of sound are even more common. Cellphone set to caller tunes that urges the pretender to “please pick up the phone” in the middle of a meeting is irritating enough, but when the person actually obliges the caller and begins to discuss the latest rumors about alleged marital issues of Manisha Koirala, the urge to snatch the machine from the person can become hard to resist. Disapproving glances apparently have little or no effect. In fact, it may prompt the person to talk even louder to taunt the silent protesters.
It is said that people living in crowded societies learn to lower their voice, respect the privacy of each other and value silence. That explanation fits the behavior of some East Asian societies, particularly the Japanese. But crowd perhaps also induces attention-seekers to loudness. It is not just verbal, even visual “noise” is becoming a defining feature of newly affluent communities. Jarring colors, shiny tiles and iron grills seem to be announcing to anyone who would care to listen that the owner of the new cement house wants to make a loud statement of his material achievements. A FM radio set to high volume completes the picture. What viewers have begun to miss are sounds of elders chatting, children playing, and blows of conch shells, bells ringing from the neck of cows, or the satisfied grunt of an overfed buffalo in the front yard.
Perhaps there is no relationship between cacophony and violence. But what if constant noise induces aggressive behavior among those who are cursed to endure it? This question needs to be pondered upon in absolute silence.
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