Do "Times Change" .... or is it that "Time Changes" ... or is both

The Times they are A-Changin'

 The byline to the title of this post is of course, borrowed from one of the greatest hits of 1964, belted out by Bob Dylan, the winner of the Nobel prize for Literature in 2016. The panoply of the 'lit prize' victors boasts such luminaries as Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling, Bernard Shaw, our own guruji, Rabindranath Tagore, and more recently, high-brow giants like Gunter Grass, Orhan Pamuk, et al.

Traditionally, the PRIZE has been the sole preserve of writings like novels, short stories, poetry, drama, etc., that represented literary expression characterised by lyrical beauty, poetic intensity, and artistic power; hence the big names in the Valhalla. The fact that the selection committee had the temerity to step out of its comfort zone, and award the lit prize to a plebeian 'song writer' signifies that both the selectors, and the prize have come of age.

For sheer talent with language, Bob Dylan has no equal; but for a folk-musician to rub shoulders and join the roster of the winners till date - it was assumed that the snobbery of the Nobel would never let that occur. That, it has indeed happened, is an acknowledgment of the fact that art forms can be varied, expansive and modern. Further, it is an endorsement that "times indeed are a changin'." The quintessential proof of the pudding, ... in this day and age, to access a literature Nobel laureate's work , you rush to Amazon; to access Bob Dylan's work, you hit YouTube or iTunes!

Whatever be the compulsions of the times, the award being conferred on Bob Dylan, whose prolific versatility spreads across blues, folk, and rock-n-roll, would definitely be music to the ears of all his fans - yours truly included.