OF MUSIC – Once Upon a Time……

This is one of my older creations, which fortunately or unfortunately couldn't be posted on my blog for so many days.


In the days of yore, in a village yonder

A boy lived, who thought “Music – a wonder!”

It was his deepest passion that to learn music.

Music was his love; and he – lovesick.

His search went on and on

He could not find a Master.

But one day, he heard a divine raga

His heart began beating faster.

There stood a hill; on top of it – a cave.

To a mystic magician of music, shelter it gave.

Sat crosslegged, singing, with eyes closed did he

Emanating from his throat,

The raga was as enchanting as it could be.

The boy came to the cave,

Running up the hill.

Listening to this maestro’s music –

It gave him such a thrill!

Falling to your feet, I beg you oh Master!

From you, I want to learn to sing.

I do not come here alone, Master.

With me, immense passion I bring!

Impressed with the boy’s devotion,

The Master took the boy to train.

In his eyes, the Master saw passion,

An ocean of knowledge did the boy gain.

Years passed; The boy learnt to sing.

Under the Master, his imagination grew wing.

In the light of the Master, the boy’s future shone bright.

But fate took an evil turn – as evil as it might!

“My child, I will teach you a raga –

Oh! ‘Tis the favourite of mine.

Sung with passion, as in you,

Oh! It will be divine!

I shall teach you Amrutavarshini –

The raga that will bring rain.

When sung from the heart, as you sing,

It will vanquish all your pain.”

Unfortunately, the Boy who sang ragas from his heart,

Could not render Varshini.

Banished was he from the Master’s sight.

Fate had played it’s part.

By then, both the Master and the disciple had become famous in the villages around. The news of the disciple’s banishing spread like wildfire. They came to the cave to ask the Master to take back his words and said that they would search for him. But the Master remained unmoved.

Years passed; The disciple practiced.

He made Varshini his forte.

A month later, the Master died.

The village was struck with drought.

The people searched for the disciple.

But he was nowhere to be seen.

On one fateful night, he came to the cave –

The cave where his Master had been.

Having known of his Master’s death,

The disciple was overcome with grief.

He mourned for a while, he cried

And then, he began to sing.

People rushed on hearing his voice

Amruthavarshini he rendered.

Long before he completed the aalaap,

The rain-god had thundered!!!!!

With his beautiful singing, the disciple brought rain to the drought-struck village. Unfortunately, his Master, whose favorite was Amruthavarshini, remained only in the heart of his disciple, not in the physical world.

LOST AND FOUND..........

Before writing this post, I made a search on the net as to see if there was any famous book or play with the same title. Not to my surprise, there was one book and a play - both for kids. Let me make it clear that this post has got nothing to do with either of them.

My mind reels back to someday 8 years ago......I was in 2nd std.....That day, I lost my pencil box. I wasn't mature enough then(which means I am mature now) to understand that losing something was a sign of irresponsible behaviour and was a "punishable offence". I coolly went to my mother and asked her to acoompany me to the nearest stationery store(the reason being I was not a grown up then to handle transactions on my own or to cross roads alone).

Mother: Why? What do you want to buy?
Me: I have lost my pencil box. I need to do my homework. So I need to get my pencil box, pencil, eraser, scale, sharpener....everything. Please come with me, mother.

That enraged my mother. My being so cool even after informing her - without a bit of shame and sorry - added fuel to the fire!! I received a good round of blasting. Later in the evening when my father returned home, I was met with a second round. My brother chuckling when I was being scolded hurt my "ego". I decided to walk out of the house. I did go away, crying. But where did I go? I have mentioned that i wasn't grown-up enough to cross roads alone. I ended up standing in front of a provision store 50 metres away from my house, on the same lane, making a public expression of my grief and sorrow.. My father waited for a good ten minutes - he knew I would not dare to go anywhere - and then came to take me back home(this incident circulated like wildfire in the family circle and everybody had a good laugh, to my embarassment).
The mext day, I went to school only to find my box at my desk. I had left it there the previous day, in a hurry to run home. My box was lost and found.

1 year ago.....An inter-school competition......I was to participate in 4 events(never mind which they were - one of them was a drama). I was in high spirits - participating in 4 events I wanted to win atleast one prize for my school. The events were spread over two days. The first day, I lost both the events. I wasn't hoping to win in both of them either. My hopes and energies were foussed on the drama. Complete with costumes and props, we entered the stage. We performed well - exceedingly well. Despite two members coming on stage out of cue, we managed it with presence of mind. Our expectations of winning were high. Even the audience felt the same. We also planned for a party after the results - such was our hope!! The result were declared - all our hopes were in vain - all our dreams came crashing down to earth!! We had lost. I had lost - for I was the one who requested the teachers to let us participate in the drama. And I had also lost the 4th event. For once, I had lost in all the competitions I had participated in. My confidence took a beating and I felt myself  being trampled!! It took me another to wins at different events to regain, to find what I had lost - my confidence and my character.

Just 2 days ago....Somebody hacked my id. I felt my limbs chopped off. I couldn't believe my id was hacked!! Yet that was the reality was that it had been hacked. I had to follow a long procedure of filling a form, sending it to the authorities and receiving a mail from them before regaining my id. To the long list of things I lost and found, I added a valuable thing - my email id!!!!!!!!!!