Couple of decades ago, a novel TV Program by 'Musician' Pt. Pravin Godkhindi on classical music called "Raaga Ranjini" set a new benchmark in terms of imparting classical music knowledge in an interesting way.
With similar expectations, this time from 'Author' Pt. Pravin Godkhindi, I started reading the novel PRAHARA.
Prahara is a time slice of 3 hours. Musically, different Raagaas are associated with different Praharas (best time in the day to practice/perform). A day has 8 Praharas, so does this book.
The book starts with a lucid imaginative description of a singing clock. The imagination is a blend of science and musical knowledge and is interesting too. The very concept of the singing clock is an opening sixer for this book.
The book has musical details systematically printed at the bottom of the page. For non-musicians, this is useful to understand technical terms and raagas. For musicians, I am sure this section will transport them down the memory lane to the time when they first learnt/ heard the raagaa/concept mentioned in the section.
Interesting narration about artists, their way of life, dressing style, stage behaviour, mutual interactions. Importance of TIME - RAAGA relationship is subtly explained. Fun filled conversations between characters seem very natural. Keeping students away from film music looks very relatable ( reminded me of getting warned by my guru for asking which raagaa ashiqui 2 songs belonged to!). Reference to real locations and names from Dharwad brought in lot of nostalgia.
It's very nice to see a beautiful concept of music therapy and healing being a major theme of the book. The book sails you through various raagaas, shades, emotions and finally leaves you in a state of tranquility.
Looking forward to see this on audio visual medium (OTT series / movie) as mentioned by the author in the preface. Also looking forward to seeing the author change his signature from "accidental writer" to "accidental writer turned professional"
