Today I was sitting under a huge Ashoka Tree, basking in the sun and savouring it as winter is slowly spreading a chill here. Ragesri came wafting from inside. I could ask for no more. I shut my eyes and was listening to the music. Life could not get any better. All of a sudden I remembered my plane of existence and my immediate reality was secure, however Mumbai is just trying to find its way out of a catastrophe. Over the years what has grown in me is only numbness. I feel blank and emotionless when such news on terrorism, violence and gory death reach me. In general after years of shedding tears and an anger raging from within at seeing how the world is, I told myself like a realist that things happen, people live, people die. Society is so twisted that there can't be any other way things can head. Although vouching this opinion, I have decided to not be any of those. There is violence, there is greed in everybody to own everything. Even today I tried and tried to kindle some reaction to all of this. But being comfortably far and untouched, I could not stretch my imagination far enough to bring tears to my eyes.
Voices raise against atrocities, but then do they stop? Will they ever stop? The system all over the world in each country is so contrived that these things occur but naturally. This is no justification, yet a fact. Utopia is a myth and will remain so.
I am not numb by choice, I am numb helplessly.
My peace is not my own anymore. I feel angry that I should not be able to enjoy my quiet life without feeling guilty that I am not crying over 100s that get killed in violence of small and large scale man-made calamities.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
raags and when they are to be sung
This is one of the sessions I had with Baba when I clarified my doubts on raags.
Me - Baba, I hear that in this system, raags are seasonal and also have a specified time in a day when they should ideally be sung. Why is it so?
Baba ponders over it. Trying to see how best this could be explained.
Baba- Do you like it when you are woken up from your deep sleep in the middle of the night?
Me- Not at all.
Baba- Raags are also like us. They have life in them. They also have their own specific nature. They do not like to be disturbed outside their routine. They are at their best when sung at the right time.
He then went on to explain how the raags get divided around the the time of the day in a very simple manner.
The day gets divided into 8 parts.
at dawn Re1 and Ma1 work best.
then pre noon Re2 and Ma1
afternoon till dusk Re2 and Ma2 combination
after sunset - Re1 and Ma2
Early night Re2 and Ma2
Late night slowly Komal gandhar starts coming into the picture with Re2 and Ma2
Then Komal gandhar with Re2 and Ma1
As it starts coming close to dawn again the Re will change from 2 to 1 with Komal Gandhar.
Its amazing how he could just tackle this question so simply while I kept searching books and net to understand how to differentiate and know when a particular raag is to be sung.
the is a generic classification Apart from this there are many other factors that influence the nature of a raag and exceptions are always there.
Me - Baba, I hear that in this system, raags are seasonal and also have a specified time in a day when they should ideally be sung. Why is it so?
Baba ponders over it. Trying to see how best this could be explained.
Baba- Do you like it when you are woken up from your deep sleep in the middle of the night?
Me- Not at all.
Baba- Raags are also like us. They have life in them. They also have their own specific nature. They do not like to be disturbed outside their routine. They are at their best when sung at the right time.
He then went on to explain how the raags get divided around the the time of the day in a very simple manner.
The day gets divided into 8 parts.
at dawn Re1 and Ma1 work best.
then pre noon Re2 and Ma1
afternoon till dusk Re2 and Ma2 combination
after sunset - Re1 and Ma2
Early night Re2 and Ma2
Late night slowly Komal gandhar starts coming into the picture with Re2 and Ma2
Then Komal gandhar with Re2 and Ma1
As it starts coming close to dawn again the Re will change from 2 to 1 with Komal Gandhar.
Its amazing how he could just tackle this question so simply while I kept searching books and net to understand how to differentiate and know when a particular raag is to be sung.
the is a generic classification Apart from this there are many other factors that influence the nature of a raag and exceptions are always there.
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