my contributions to music

i confess, though i am not aware of the fundamentals of music, i have a good ear for music. i like music (from any part of this planet) which reaches the heart , to me rest all are like the sound of a train coming and going out of railway platform of BOMBAY.

this love for music makes us (me and ABHI minus SOMU) attend all music festivals held in bombay. we eagerly wait for the whole year to watch the BANGANGA festival and KALAGHODA art festival. we have together heard LIVE many ustads and to be ustads of music. ustad ZAKIR HUSSAIN, ustad AMJAD ALI KHAN, pandit HARIPRASAD CHAURASIA, SHIVMANI, ADNAN SAMI, ASHA BHOSALE, BEGUM PARVEEN SULTANA to name few. and again this love for music makes us (me and SOMU minus ABHI) attend all the rock festivals held in bombay. we have together heard LIVE bands like BRYAN ADAMS, PARIKRAMA, MOKSH, PENTAGRAM, ZERO, (i missed INDUS CREED and DIRE STRAITS) to name few.

one way to quench my thirst was to learn a musical instrument, i thought. i decided to try my hand on music.

contribution 1
my plan materialized when i was in POONA, i bought a TABLA from a shop in ALANDI, near poona. at last! i thought. with not much fuss, ustad zakir hussain became my ideal overnight. before i could go ahead of “GHI NA NA, TI NA NA”, i saw the practical of the idiom “it’s the silent cat that breaks the pot”, which i had long forgotten after the school english lessons. my nephew made a hole in one drum of the set. his curiosity of knowing what was inside that was making it sound won over my curiosity of making that sound!!

contribution 2
myself and SATYA where roaming in CHATUCHAK market in BANGKOK, when I saw a shop selling this beautiful BAMBOO FLUTES. i was very sure i had taken care of my nephew’s curiosity this time, because, this flute already had more holes than the bamboo!! i bought one FLUTE. we were on our way back from bangkok to KUALA LUMPUR, and the air hostess served a non vegetarian dinner for me. i told her it might be a mistake it would be a vegetarian dinner mentioned on my ticket, her answer was flat “NO”. even SHERLOCK HOLMES’S assistant DOCTOR WATSON could solve this case, culprit was the one who booked my ticket. i asked her to arrange for a vegetarian dinner if possible. she politely broke the news that there were no extra vegetarian dinner packs on board. the only option i told her was to skip the dinner, and survive on a fruit juice. she smiled took the plate and vanished. to my surprise she came back after sometime with a vegetarian dinner for me. after enquiring with her, it came to light that she had exchanged her vegetarian dinner with me. i appreciated and admired her service. i gifted that lovely FLUTE to her as a token of thanks.

contribution 3
i came back from SOUTH AFRICA to BOMBAY on a weeks leave. the best part about the south african project was that we were always left with ample time in the evenings after work. i decided to once again pursue my dream of learning a musical instrument. this time i bought a VIOLIN from a shop near TALAO PALI in THANE. i took it with me to south africa. i downloaded and printed violin lessons from the internet. i worked for a couple of months on the violin. our project was soon over, and it was time to pack my bags and return to bombay. after lot of traveling i have come up with a theory “the number of bags when going on a tour is indirectly proportional to the number of bags when coming back”. i was left with a question mark. my baggage was definitely in excess. i knew some things were to be jettisoned. i ended up gifting (sorry it should be ”donating”) my readers digest world atlas book, weighing approx 4-5 kg’s, and my violin case (with the violin inside!!) to EDDIE, our chauffeur for airport drops.

i just can’t stop smiling when i imagine the airhostess has become a famous flautist in THAILAND and the chauffeur has become a famous violinist in SOUTH AFRICA. i am just hoping someday SARASWATI, the goddess of learning and arts bestows her gift on me too!!