Thank You!

Thank you! These are two very powerful words, the value of which we miss out on receiving and giving, more often.
I have heard people who are friends with each other say..."No Thank you, no sorry in friendship"... and I have also seen people reflect bliss on their faces when a genuine "Thank You" is expressed. The world is a mixed bag of people and their theories vary from one another about everything including gratitude. Gratitude, I feel is one of the very crucial things that helps in the well-being of the society. Gratitude encourages people to work more...help more, it motivates individuals to look forward to life, gratitude creates a belief in minds, that things are not as bad as they seem to be!

A week from now "Thanksgiving Day" will be celebrated in the USA. A festival(harvest season) to offer gratitude to the almighty for giving us the food that helps us live healthy. Festivals of similar kind are observed throughout the world, the core concept of which is to offer gratitude to the almighty. Onam, Baisakhi, Akshay Tritiya, Gidi Padwa, Bhogi, Bihu festivals in India, Chuseok in Korea, Tsukimi in Japan, Ikore, Incwala in Africa reflect the same sentiment.

Having shared all this information, I would like to bring you back to the thought that a "Thank you" matters not just to the gods, but to the people and all the beings you co-exist with on this earth.

With this... I want to keep you informed that for the next few weeks I will be sending gratitude to all the people and things that my memory has been able to capture by writing events that make me respect people more,mentioning their names and reflecting my happiness and gratitude towards them. This is a small step towards creating a peaceful world around me. I hope you appreciate this and also emulate this if you like.

Love.Peace.Happiness.Gratitude!

Niru

Papa...The finest man I have ever known!

It hasn't been more than a year ago, that I went to get my scooty serviced at a shop that is located near my old house. The owner of the store(who seemingly loved his shop & job) was in greasy clothes for evident reasons...a 50-something man, it seemed like I knew him(but didn't want to strike any such conversation), as a humble gesture I smiled and told him about what needs to be repaired in the vehicle and asked him, how much would that cost...and to my surprise he said, "When it was your dad's vehicle, I would finish the work first, let him take a test ride and then tell him what it costs...it would be the same with you too little one!" And then like a flash in the memory lane, I could get to see those past moments where I came to the same shop along with Papa to get his vehicle serviced. The man said, "its been so many years that I had last seen you, but that gentle reflection of your father's face in yours reminds me of my most beloved friend, who would have been a little younger than I today... he was the finest man I ever knew". 
That one statement added something new to my perspective of life and living beings. I truly realized that the deeds we do, the thoughts we think and the words we say are the actual things that make us an achiever; such achievement can not be gauged by any numerical system or number crunching! 

It is a decade today, that I have learnt to live without my first ever hero. He set the benchmark for a human being, for a man... too high!

Infinite Love.
Niru

माँ

Mothers have always been the reason why the world even moved ahead. She is the reason for evolution! 

We all know too many things about mothers in general. But today, I would like to tell you something about my mom...

My mom became a mom at an age as young as 17-something. 

Eldest daughter-in-law of a 20-membered joint family, she took care of her 3 children while taking care of everyone else in the family. She loved everyone as much as she could, adjusted herself to all the oddities in her new family. Complained less. Learnt as much as she could. 

Then life turned her into a woman of steel, she lost her most beloved, her best friend, her husband in her 30s(an age when most women these days, start a new life). 

Few lessons that I learnt from her life(which she never preached), I would like to share them with you:

*Women are steel, not plain Iron so they don't rust.

*When you're worried and in pain, put yourself to work; the work that you like...it heals.

*Keeping your personal self aside, when the children are in pain.(The whole world needs this lesson).

*Making sure that all of us clean our living spaces, because that is what makes us a part of a "civilization".

*Admiring one's own children in front of others, especially when they are around.

*Expecting love in all sincerity!

The list of learnings is endless. 

A message for today...as generations grow, we learn new things, only because we were able to learn things that were taught to us by our parents, never put-them-down on a note of having more 'intelligence', knowing better 'English' or earning more 'money'... Respect parents... respect every mother(that includes avoiding abuses that involve the word 'mother')...Respect leads to love. Love brings peace. Peace begets happiness.

Love.Peace.

Niru

Simply Tabla!

Tabla

/ˈtablə,ˈtʌblə/

noun

noun: tabla; plural noun: tablas

a pair of small hand drums used in Indian music, one of which is slightly larger than the other and is played using pressure from the heel of the hand to vary the pitch.

Just like a lonely soul attains contentedness once it finds its perfect partner, a singing voice finds complete gratification when it finds its true accompanist. Talking of one such person, I remember a very suave tabla player I have personally known called Saawan Kakeri. He can't be searched on Google or Facebook; such is his level of ignorance (read bliss). I had come across this man of art during a voluntary work with a non-profit organization that tries to promote Indian classical music amongst the youth. Saawan ji aged 30-something is very simple person in his ways. Happy with what he does, he seemed happier when children responded to his "Tin Taal". There’s a certain magic that those beats create!!!

I haven’t learnt music all that well to be able to decode the mysteries in the sound of tabla, but I sure found out that a tabla when well-accompanied with the singing voice in a certain performance only makes the listening experience complete(exceptions may sure be considered). Before going on this tour of music in the villages of Andhra Pradesh, I always thought that a tabla player, a Tanpura player and a Harmonium player along with the lead vocalist are a fixed team and they all perform together at all times, I guess then I was ignorant of the logic that music is the universal language and any vocalist can co-ordinate with any Tabla player and other accompanying artists with practice put well in place.

A Tabla player is addressed to as an accompanist during any vocal performances. But when they go solo on the stage, they are the lead performers. Another philosophy of life thus stands justified here, every living person in this world has his own role to play, none is less and none is more… just like the performers on a dais.

Happy Birthday Alla Rakha Ji! 

Learn a music instrument. Add to world peace!

Love.Peace!

Nirupama

Deserve?

A language of feelings

There's a word "deserve"...heard of it?

Ah! Yes, the same thing that we use several times a day for ourselves and quite often for others too!

So, what is it all about?

*Does "deserve" mean validating our capacities against fortune?
*Does "deserve" reflect our personalities or does it have to?
*Who is a well-deserving and who is non-deserving? And most importantly who decides that?

-Does an 81-year old professor, an Economist, a leader of the world's largest democracy, who has chosen to stay quite most of the times not because he didn't have something to say, but simply for reasons he knows best, DESERVE such foul social disrespect?

-Does Yo-Yo Honey Singh, who more often than not, sings songs which downgrade women DESERVE so much fanfare?

-Does a 45 year-old intellectual, who gave up a plum career for his desire to bring about a massive social change DESERVE so much of judgmental wrath from people who don't even know how to run their own households?

Think more…

-Did Shiva deserve such a painful parting with his most beloved Sati?
-Did Nirbhaya or any girl like her deserve that which they got? 

-Does a 32 year old Major Varadharajan deserve death whilst fighting militants and does his wife and little child deserve his loss?

Life is absolute hapless in its behaviour, what you see is not what it always is. I therefore have a humble request to make... please don't decide the "Deserve" for anyone.

If you really think you want to do something just be humble and kind to people around. And the next time when you have this urge of telling or asking someone what they deserve, just look back into your own lives...do a little self-check if you really 'deserve' all the good you have and also ask your heart, do you 'deserve' all the pain you go through, from time to time?
The world is in pain and it sure does not deserve so much of it! I am sure you will agree with this!

Love.Peace!
Nirupama

Celebrating Music Extraordinarily with SPICMACAY and Ruchira Kedar

World Music Day!!!

Not long ago was I introduced to music, it was just the same day as I was born!

There is enough and more music in our surroundings, if only we make less noise and spread calm!

As I moved forward in the journey of my life, one blessed day I was introduced to SPICMACAY, a mobile temple of faith, grace, music, dance, art and some mystic aspects of life that each of us our born with, but slowly forget to practice them due to known and unknown reasons!

Today on the occasion of World Music Day, a lot of people in the world will do the talking about legends (living or dead) and their legacies. And I will follow the cue, but with a person who has the knack of creating mesmeric waves and legacy in way that is too close to her listeners' heart.  And before I introduce you to her, I whole-heartedly thank SPICMACAY, the temple to have introduced me to a divine like this.

Ruchira Kedar, a singer, a musician(her hums are the instrument she plays), a sincere human, a guru that one can never find easily... That's what she is to me (no exaggerations made… no questions to answer)!

It was during the Rural Workshops for Hindustani Classical Music, that I as a part of SPICMACAY was introduced to Ruchira Ji. My first encounter with her was in the train, where we both, with a few accompanists and another friend travelled to the villages of Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh!

She was plain, nothing of what one feels after seeing a renowned artist(no jitters), probably because she is more than that!

Unfolding the "many" of my celebrity!

During the 7 days stay with her, I closely got to know what it takes to be a classical singer (how it is not all that easy and glamorous as it looks and sounds to most people of another profession). It takes 'saadhna'(meditative learning), determination, time keeping, proper food, and keeping oneself entertained (in good measures) that makes a performer. Now what about a performer along with being a guru, a team player, a social worker (she's all that!)

Some true "guru" moments that I had with her

The sessions in the Rural School Intensives (RSI) were programmed as a mix of a performance followed by a workshop or vice versa. Ruchira ji would first take the children to a musical journey with her divine voice to a world of Bhajans, where she would ask all the children to close their eyes(all the ways and means of instructing the children subtly flowed in) and listen, after that she would teach the children the basics of SaReGaMa, Alankaar, Aaroh, Avroh! And while she did all this teaching there never appeared a single trace of a Hindi-Telugu linguistic conflict! Music is THE language of hearts!

End of every workshop, the most beautiful lines that she would say: "Mazaa aaya na?" And the children would nod in acceptance, then continuing the dialogue she'd say: "This is what music does to you, it brings you happiness". One simple line, but not understood my so many of us in this world!!

Then in the closure of the entire program with the school, she would give the children a homework (knowing that we would not comeback to check if they did the homework). And guess what the home work could have been; it was singing SaReGaMa for five minutes every day while they walked or cycled their way to the school(one of the most beautiful ways of teaching, tell the student what to do and have faith...instead of not telling them at all)

I can go on writing about this beautiful lady who turned from a celebrity Ruchira Ji to a sisterly figure Ruchira Di to me in just days! She is synonymous to music to me and the number of teary-eyed moments (due to the ecstasy of reaching another world) that I have had while she sang some immortal bhajans during those 7days, make her my most sort after celebrity in the field of music for the rest of my life!

While she practises music. I practised alchemy through her and everything around turned into gold!

Love.Peace.Happiness

इस इन्तज़ार का तो कोइ दाम नही होता

कुछ लोग ज़िंदगी में यूं ही आ जाते हैं,
कोई वजह नहीं होती,कोई काम नहीं होता
फिर धीरे-धीरे वो यादों के रस्ते से दिल में आ जाते हैं,
कोई जगह नही होती, कोई नाम नही होता
इस बीच जो होता है, पागलपन कहते हैं
दीवानों का कोई अँजाम नहीं होता
इक साल गुज़र जाए, सौ साल भी हो चाहे,
इस इन्तज़ार का तो कोइ दाम नही होता
अकसर इस चक्कर में एक पागल होता है, एक घायल होता है,
दोनो ही के दिल को आराम नही होता
फिर भी करते हैं इश्क़ लोग
फिर भी होता है प्रेम रोग
इज़्हार-ए-दवा होती तो इल्ज़ाम नहीं होता
                                                               निरुपमा