I had a harmonium , a sitar and vocal chords too. Yet there was pin drop silence.
Though my music student fire was off, there were still sparks here and there.During friends' weddings, I would selflessly make an effort to understand their music favourites, make a playlist, personally sit at the music system and play it. Listening to classical music hadn't stopped. I used to practice singing unknowingly while travelling . Going to music classes had reduced but had not stopped completely.
Unlike in the movies, there was no turning point as such in life where I decided to make a come back to music.The comeback also happened gradually and unknowingly just like the travel to silence .
While I was living with my grandmother in Bangalore, she constantly complained of not having a musical environment at home. This led to buying my second sitar (rest of my instruments were still in Dharwad) and also a new voilin for my grandmother. My cousin Sahana was kind enough to gift me her Guitar. An electronic Tabla and Tanpura also followed.
More punctuality started coming in with respect to practicing, attending music classes, conducting singing classes. Sitar playing got faster, Singing pitch went much higher. Able to sing in the original scale of a song gave the biggest confidence in life. Able to decode any tune and play on sitar reassured me that my basics are good .
Performances opportunities restarted. Biggest encouragement( hoots and Wistles and claps for the first time in life) came by during my Himalayan trek where I sung "Mere Dholna Sun" from Bhol Bhulaiya which has a long breathless Sargam at the end. This song became my signature song and I started singing it on every trek. Just as a tribute to the encouragement I got from the mountains (specifically for the classical portion) , even today I try to add a classical aalap in everything I sing.
Trekking taught me that, no matter what, there are people ahead of us and people behind us. The same is true with music too. Not thinking too high of myself, not feeling too inferior either and most importantly not comparing myself with anyone and trying to retain my originality, I decided to continue my musical journey ( and may be life journey also except sports where i feel I need to be the best and I need to win always)....
Wish you all the best, child, in your journey of music and life!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much sir 🙏
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