We, at IIMA, had the privilege of listening to the sweetest sound that man has produced from wood. On a mild winter evening of 29th January 2009, the great Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia enthralled the audience in Chaos 2009 with his flute magic.
I am a novice in classical music and generally depend on what my parents or colleagues recommend to me. I seriously need to change this and start proactively listening to more of this. Yesterday’s performance certainly took me in a mood that was soothing and calming. So soothing that I felt lighter and so calming that I completely forgot about my pending assignments ;-)
I reached there with a time limit, mindful of the assignments. But then I soon lost all consciousness in the magical ragas coming from Panditji and his colleagues. I tried to remember the names they told, but I think I need more education in this field.
What is interesting is the practice these maestros put in to achieve these heights. The 4 human beings on the stage never looked at each other or told each other. They just knew what each other wanted, expected and it was delivered that way. On tabla, was Pt. Ghate who would spice up the rhythm every once in a while. As that happened, it was amazing to see the expression of joy and fun in the other artists up there. They just knew where the music was taking the audience.
As I walked back to the dining hall, a few questions lingered in my mind....
In this running around behind goals and targets, can we take a pause and practice a game so much that we become masters like Pt. Chaurasia and Pt. Ghate? Can we, unconsciously, independently and reflexively, perform our tasks so well that together comes an output that is as harmonious and sweet as Shri Krishna’s music? Is it worthwhile to skip experimenting and work on mastering an art so well that world gets awed by the final output?
I don’t have the answers but I would like to think on these lines more.
- Siddharth
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