A fruitful weekend that ended with savoring the no- onion or garlic recipes at the Arusuvai Arasu caterers stall just outside the venue of the final music concert of the Ram Seva Mandali organised carnatic and hindustani jugalbandi, we thought of calling it a day. Me and my friend stood just outside the venue where at 9:30 in the night the small yet beautiful crowd of learned men and women slowly dispersed. Flocks after flocks, vehicle after vehicle passed us by as me and my friend stood near our parked vehicle, in the backdrop of the beautiful fort high school. "What is so beautiful about that background?" , you may ask. And yet I would love to give my crazy reasons ... "It reminds me of a bygone era, an era so much loved and cherished by all my elders, especially, if I may take the liberty of saying so, elders of Brahmin households who mostly invariably had an admiration for the order and discipline that then these places housed in the British India's days of yore. So any place, to say in layman's terms, that resembles the Malgudi Days style of life, is a place where I romance with life. So, the background was lovely, and weekend more fruitful.
My friend who continuously has been educating me in classical music, about which though I am really curious to learn but have as yet hardly grasped a tinge, was having a really great time. "you remember the Spic Macay in college days. The Salil bhat who praised your singer girl is Vishwa Mohan Bhat's son. The instrument that he is holding in his hand is called the Mohan Veena. Its an alteration of the Archtop Guitar, and he who is also the inventor of this instrument has successfully proved that guitar can be used in Indian Classical music. The first Indian to receive a Grammy was sitting on the dais, and it was a festival of pristine music.
In the aura of all the musical crowd, mainly consisting of the Ajji's who tapped their fingers and patted their thighs soon as the alap was over and the tala began, and the Ajja's who very much enthusiastic about the right application of swaras, clapped intermittently, for reasons still not clear to me, I soon god dissolved. With my learned friend sitting beside me and explaining the intricacies of all those ragas, I was soon drenched in this downpour of music. "Vilambit, Dhrut, Ektal, Teental, Bandish, Komal 'ni', Shuddh 'sa', the Puriya Kalyan, rag Des, theka, Vrindavani Sarang, Madmadh Sarang, Jaipur Atrauli Gharana, C R Vyas, Pune, Pu La, Bhimsen Joshi, Shehnai, Diwali ....." and a myriad of such musical words were splashed over me. Whatever it was, I felt good. More so because I sometimes feel lonely, a feeling of cultural loneliness, especially because life has brought me to a place and environment where nothing of the culture that my home or community ever praised and valued is of any relevance in this strange place. The American style of work, and the confused Indian culture of today that follows a trend that is rushing towards a place that nobody knows where, all makes me feel lonely at times. So whatever little I understood here in this concert is highly valued, for it reminds me of the one of the greatest happiness of my life, it reminds me of my home. Thanks for the day, thank you once again. If anybody wants teh contact of teh caterer, do drop a comment, I have his visiting card with me :P
and for lack of time, I have still not addressed the main thing I wanted to tell you in this post .... "Girish Karnad's work" and how it was interpreted by me to make my weekend a grand success. Would be continuing this post sometime soon. Thanks for reading .... GN - May 06 2012!!
And all the people who like me are interesting in exploring the cultural landscape of bangalore, there is a note down for you:-
Next year is the 75th year of the Annual Music festival organised by Sri Ram Seva Mandali in Bangalore. ry to be a part of it.
