Wednesday, 17 December 2014

Mesmerising Zakir Hussain

The phone rang at 5:30p.m. IST. It was Dad. He told us to scurry to Nazrul mancha within an hour as he had managed to get hold of tickets to the Zakir Hussain solo performance to be held there that evening.
Zakir Hussain Program, Nazrul Mancha
A surge of adrenaline ran through my blood. My mother, sister and me were ready in 15 minutes and we hit the road. We reached just in time. The gates opened and we were in Nazrul Mancha.The view perfect. As Ustad Zakir Hussain walked upon stage the audience gave a standing ovation to the maestro. He was awarded the Ustad Karamatulla Khan Music Award 2014.

After the speeches of the dignitaries Ustad ji dawned the stage. To accompany him was present Sabir Khan from the Sikar Gharana School of Music playing the Sarangi. What followed cannot be expressed by words..
It was mesmerising to hear the Tabla played by the best Tabla player in the world. The magic he created with the tabla was nothing short of miracles.

While playing certain 'Boles' the way he painted the stories were amazing. While playing a certain 'Bol' he compared the slower beats and the faster beats with our solar system. The slower beats signified the outer planets which move slower around the sun while the inner planets move faster around the Sun signifying the faster beat. It seemed Ustad Ji is from another galaxy altogether.
The audience was captivated and spell bound by music at its purest and best form.


The program ended five hours back but as I write about it I still hear the deep bass and mind blowing tabla playing in my ear.

Zakir Hussain ji thank you for enthralling us and make us believe with your humility and genius the beauty of Indian Classical Music.

Wednesday, 1 January 2014

Happy Beginning

Time does fly. I remember the start of 2013 vividly as if it were 5-6 months back. But time is moving in 4th gear. Another year has passed.

It was a good beginning to 2014. My cousins Muchku and Chotku had come over. We had a musical start to the new year with Chotku playing a Bach prelude on his guitar. Muchku was drowsy but lightened up seeing a Jonathan Stroud book(Heroes of the Valley). After the musical session with my sister, Mithi,  on the keyboard and Chotku on the Guitar we decided to watch a horror movie. El Orfanato. The fun and challenging part was convincing Mithi to watch the movie. Muchku and me succeeded on our endeavour and it was a good watch with Mithi getting scared at times.
Moving on, played cricket in the afternoon followed by lunch and an evening siesta. The hilarious honest trailers were great #Muchku suggested it.
The day is coming to a close as the new year kick starts I hope it turns out to be a good one.

Lets remember the lessons the past year taught us and lets strive to be better human beings and make the world a better place in our own ways.
Cheers everyone have a great 2K14!
The cousin gang..
Chotku, Muchku, Mithi, Me(from left)

Thursday, 17 October 2013

WhyThoth

Out of the many Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, Thoth is an unusual Egyptian God who is a patron of knowledge, secrets, writing and scribes. Though some stories place him as a son of Ra, others say that Thoth created himself from language. According to Egyptian Mythology he is said to be the creator of magic, the inventor of writing, the messenger of gods and synonymous with the Greek god Hermes. 



 Thoth has a head of an Ibis and Ibis' beak resembles a crescent moon.
Thoth the scribe, wrote the story of our reality then put it into grids for us to experience and learn through the alchemy of time and experience.

Thoth's role as a mediator is well documented. It is fascinating to know that it is he who questions the souls of the dead about their deeds in life and then judges them.

I am interested in Egyptology and Egyptian hieroglyphs and who better to depict that than Thoth. Add to that, we are both nocturnal-it is a lunar deity and goes to sleep only after greeting the new day.



How it all Started!


                                Thursday afternoon with nothing to do and irritated by my fluctuating internet service I call up the 'internet-man' to fix my connection. Luckily he turns up and fixes the problem by twitching some wires on my building's rooftop. Happily I open my Facebook account and start surfing and chatting. While visiting a post written by one of my friend, in her blog, I decided to comment. There it starts...

The comment was posted alright, but I had opened a blog of my own without any intentions of creating any. Whatever, I now sit in front of the laptop typing my first blog.
So Hello Bloggers!

Suggestions are welcome as to what you do in a blog.

Have a great evening!