Sa...Re...Ga...Ma...

The world can whirl around in its crazy orbit. People can rush and race much like that view on fast forward mode, like little pigeons taking tiny steps at a blurry speed. And I might just be a part of it, for a better part of time. But for at least one hour every Monday and Thursday evening and 2 more days of the week thrown in for practice, if we're lucky, I soak in the treat of completely stopping time in its tracks, dropping anchor at just that spot, letting down my sails and just mooring. And along with the sound of the waves gently lapping at the boat, at an hour when the stars are getting ready to come out for the night....you will also hear the earnest but shy voice of a little boy, as he diligently follows the voice of his Guru, as she takes him through the beginning nuances of the Sarali Varisai.

Rewind back in time a little bit...and there is an an old house located in a quiet lane of suburban Abhiramipuram, just minutes from bustling Mylapore. And while all other older homes in the area have given in and gotten that typical facelift into modern style apartment buildings, this one still remains intact, weathered and sorely needing a lick of paint among many other repairs, thanks to an ongoing dispute among all the members of the family who own it. And in a manner that directly negates all the energy of conflict that surrounds it, it has become the home of music, and a school to the few 100 odd children that have enrolled in its curriculum faithfully. I speak of my father-in-law's music school, the one he began when he moved back to desh after a long NRI life, the one where I enrolled in too, to take up my love and learning of the veena.

Every afternoon at 4:30 PM, I would accompany him to the school, the strains of a chorus of young kids belting out the basic lessons, often greeting us from the front room. I would take off my slippers, depositing them in a small, dusty courtyard, before walking inside past 2 rooms filled with the various notes, at different stages of progress, smiling broadly at the teachers who acknowledge my presence with a certain warmth, before turning sideways into a narrow stairway and ascending it to the terrace above. There, adjoining it was a room, long in length, a perfect size for housing all the veenas that the school owned, some 5-6 of them. Violins and keyboards were the more popular instruments, and there were fewer takers for the veena, and that suited me just fine, for it meant leisurely leisurely chats and long sessions with my veena teacher whom I adored! And there, for the next 1 hour, she took me through the nuances of a music I had never known before in such an exquisite intimacy, my fingers striving to keep up with her more fluid ones, befriending the raagas that she deemed were within my reach. I have never known a more happier time or a better escape from the less musical realities of a more real world.

Winkie does not have the benefit of this same exact learning atmosphere yet, but it should be of no surprise that I chose to enroll him into carnatic music the minute I was back on my feet. A few days just shy of the official Vijayadasami, he joined his new Guru as her first student after her Indian vacation. She prefers a one on one teaching setup, and he thus, has the benefit of her undivided attention. Which I think is just what he needs to emerge from that slightly reticent public exterior he displays in situations like these. And once he is home, he has me. I am more than capable of teaching him the basics myself, but I guess someone with more experience at actual teaching is a better teacher for him and I am a good practice and substitute Guru. Its not always been easy to get him to practice sincerely, because singing is hard work and applied work. And we've had our good days and our bad days. Yesterday however, was a wonderful breakthrough where he mastered some of the more challenging notes in the Sarali Varisai, the ones you sing towards the end, and he was hopping about delightedly singing it to whoever would lend him an obliging ear. And we had a small recording session of it too, and he enjoyed hearing his voice in playback mode.

And in addition to all the many obvious benefits that this has brought into our lives....the best of them all has to be our shared time together. I sit in with him on his classes. We sing on the way to it. We sing on the way back, if we're in the mood. We sing at home when we formally sit down to practice, and both our voices strengthen and open up. And two voices unified in song, locked in on the same notes and swaras, enraptured in the same mood....well that has to be the most companionable thing of all!