Fort St George and God's Own country

wish life was as simple for me. last two days have been one of the best days of my life.. 2 days with my guru has been exhilarating, inspiring, educative, informative,happy and all that is positive :) This is called 'positive energy' I suppose..

Saturday morning was a lonesome journey to Chennai ,Lalbagh Express AC seater. :)
I sat the whole 5 hours reading an Agatha Christie. To sit without speaking to anyone for 5 hours at a stretch is something I rarely do...

Stepping foot into Chennai, you can feel the heat hitting you at face, but this time around it was a lot pleasant,nevertheless, the arrival at Chennai Central station always floods me with memories of childhood at my mausi's place. How eagerly we used to prance about in the train right from 'Basin Bridge' and look out of the grilled windows, hunting for our cousins on the platform (who would invariably come to pick us up) and upon spotting them, we would just jump from the train on to their arms;how the heat would cause beads of sweat to trickle through my nose. Upon arrival at home, we would just jump crazily onto my aunt's lap and laugh laugh laugh...
These memories always happen to me in Chennai Central and never falls short of bringing tears to my eyes...

Then, went to my guru's daughter's house in Besantnagar situated about 500m from the beach. A hearty lunch and then off to Mylapore and Sripuram to buy a couple of books on Carnatic music. No trip to Chennai can be complete without a foot into Mylapore I suppose. Evening had a peaceful 45 minutes at the beach with S, talked about this and that,about freedom,marriage and how the two must coexist blah blah.....

The ocean has the most humbling effect on me. If I had been alone, I probably would have cried my heart out to seas. The grief inside me would have found an outlet it needs. When you cry in front of the ocean, you dont pretend, you dont care, you are not embarassed and you are not judged/misjudged.. and above all, you are not asked to stop crying. But these tears shall have to wait for the next oceanic opportunity :)

After a dinner cooked by my guru,we set off for God's own country to Kottakal. My guru had a concert there and well it was a 'Chamber concert', a class of its own.In the train, maami and I discussed so many things and I must say that her wit is the best,I have seen in a woman of her age.I'm so happy and the happiness is pure and borne out of "love for her music and her commitment to it."

Kottakal is about 16km from a place called Tirur.Our excellent host met us on time and led us to his house which also was the 'sabha' for the day. The arrangements were par excellent and the generosity of our host was something I shall never forget for life. A quick breakfast of idlis with chutney followed by tea and then the concert began.

The concert in itself is worth mentioning for the simple fact that it was the first chamber concert I attended. There was rapt attention. For an artiste, I think the most satisfying thing about any performance is the quality of your audience .It brings out the best in you. Maami sang 'Nagaswaravali','Bhairavi',an RTP in 'BrindavanaSaranga','Yaman kalyani'. After the concert, was the usual thanks note, the chit chat amongst rasikas. I was so happy to meet my friend from orkut who had come from Calicut.

The lunch was a typical Kerala 'yele saapadu'. I love that cuisine and I must have looked silly eating away all those with gracious second helpings, but who cares ? Music and food go together and sometimes each surpasses the other( Chennai December season is proof enough!) Then I buzzed off to sleep for an hour of so.. the room was a silent one with chirpings of birds heard now and then,I must have dozed so deep that I got some dreams too..

Maami then suggested a music class,right there!! I was so so thrilled and said 'yes' almost involuntarily. I had got the same brilliant idea too but refrained for the fear that she could be tired. She surprises surely!! The "music notebook" not being there, it was a little different from the customary class, but wonderful nevertheless.

We sang the 5 raga javali 'Panchabanudu napai'( I must confess I get this one right:) ) and then she taught me 2 new ragas - Janaranjani and Vasantabhairavi and ofcourse grand old Shankarabharanam. What an experience this was!! The serenity of the place brought out the best concentration in me and I can hum these ragas very well now in such a short span of time..

Evening came and we had to board a train back. Dinner of dosas,light and fluffy, my mouth waters .. :) and then drive back to Tirur. One the way we were held up by some procession,a really big one.Thanks to the 'kind tone' of our driver,who requested in chaste Malayalam(I guessed it was chaste because I could not make out a word and he kept rolling his tongue a lot :) :)) to the processed (is this the word or should I say "the posessed") to give us the way as we had to catch a train,,we reached just in time!!

In the train we had a jolly talk for sometime and off dozed again. When I woke up, it was 6 AM and the familiar sight of high-rise-on-the construction apartments told me we were near Bangalore. Life was to get back to normal in a few hours..

Another day had begun, another couple had passed.. As someone rightly said 'far away in the sands of time, memories of an other day shall haunt me forever' was ringing in my head while I carried those bags from platform 3 to 1...