Heart Beat Concert- A Divine Eve!

2nd Dec,2008

Music – The universal language, a rhythmic composition. You don’t learn it; it’s there everywhere…Omnipresent, all-pervading! From the time immemorial & will be there till the time infinite. Our link with it is established with our birth… rather, even before that…in mother’s womb where the child cannot breathe directly, the mother breaths for the child but their hearts beat together, in harmony. There… the ‘Rhythm’ is set, to sing the song of life…

Blessing in Disguise...

The day showed the signs to be a different one. As such I was very forgetful for past couple of days, and was naturally irritated to miss out on couple of important tasks. But this one started well, we I & Surendra had very good breakfast b4 v reached office and work was, as it is in the month of December, very less.

Last few days I was unable to go to the gym and flex my muscles & was very resolute upon not missing it that day but the charm continues and I realize that the gym-bag is in the room itself and also the coupon required for the subscription of some magazine. So, left with no other option I headed for home. On my way out,Dawood met me in the lift & enquired if I was attending the music concert in the evening. I shook my head indicating that I had no idea about it & went straight to the room assuming it must 1 of those Rock shows...

As the common scenario in our room is, Bhargav is always busy with some

thing and I was, after many days surfing the internet with some Hindi songs being played in the background. When the ‘Rock ON’ started, suddenly Bhargav turned to me & said “Babuuu , you want to go to music concert ?I have two passes” naturally he referred to the same concert as Dawood did. When I read the names on the passes… my jaw literally dropped in amazement. I snatched the passes from him and immediately called Rahul asking him to meet @ the auditorium as we didn’t have much time in hands since it was past 6.30 p.m. and the show timing was 7.30.

With a bit of thrilling (Rash, to be honest!) driving and good luck, I reached the place in less than 20 minutes!!!(I can dedicate a separate blog for that ride).

To be Or Not to be...

After parking the bike I looked around and saw huge crowd… (Actually it was far better than just ‘crowd’).in another 10-15 minutes Rahul joined me and we settled ourselves in a big queue wondering how the arrangements will be? Are these passes really for free? (I started looking for asterisk signs on the pass), can we get a seat or will have to look over other’s shoulders … & so on…

But as we approached the entrance, all my doubts started getting cleared… it was a grand entrance which read ‘University of Madras’ telling a glorious history of 150 years . At the gate a security guard was constantly shouting something of which I could only hear “seats over aaitcha”. I was just about to curse my luck for not being lucky enough...When Rahul said it’s only for the ground floor & rest of the crowd was diverted to the balcony. There was a pleasant scene awaiting us… as, when we entered half the seats were still empty, so rather than struggling for seats ,we carried out a detailed survey of the balcony and chose the right place to sit from where we could clearly watch the artists perform!

The divine evening begins:

With some introductory blabbering, the host (who, though a famous RJ but totally forgotten as the show started) invited the music maestro’s … & people like me, who never saw these greats before, held their breaths. But… even after the announcement nobody turned up on stage & my mind again entered into negative mode wondering if anyone had fallen ill, as it generally happens with celebrities. But… I was not to be let down and one by one, the 5 of them appeared on stage bowed to the audience and took their seats as many of us watched in amazement.

Pt. Srinivas on mandolin, Pt. Selvaganesh with kanjira, Pt. Shankar with mike,Ustad Zakir Hussain on Tabla and none other than Shivamani with his fleet of instruments ranging from staplers to pens to switches to ghungaroos to huge drums. Everybody observed a minute of silence before the show.

Floating in air:

The Show began and in no time they hypnotized the audience with their magic.

I don’t know the purpose behind keeping the name ‘Heart Beat Concert’ but certainly, I felt my heart was beating to tunes and beats coming out of various instruments.

The evening started with the Ganesh-Stuti by Shankar and followed by jugalbandi between Shankar and Pt. Srinivas and slowly the others pitched in, to take it to the peak like a tasty recipe in which the preparation starts with ‘tadka’ and one by one other main ingredients are added.

Just when we thought it’s turning out to be purely classical , they changed the gears and surprised us with a tangy flavor of ‘Blues’.

Followed by the unforgettable combination of melody and percussions, as we watched with our eyes popped out and ears stretched in order not to miss even a single beat. There they were Pt. Srinivas, producing sweetest notes with those delicate strings and Shivamani doing wonders with the numerous instruments, sometimes using household items like spoons, sticks, kitchen vessels, suitcases and god knows what… generally percussion instruments play a supporting role but when shivamani played, it seemed complete.

By this time audience was in groove and totally charged up so it needed some cool down which was provided by a beautiful Raga-based composition ‘Ab Radhe Rani’ by Shankar accompanied by Srinivas.

The next 10-15 minutes completely belonged to Selvaganesh and his kanjira. As his fingers tapped the Kanjira , we saw in amazement how so many sounds can be produced by such a small instrument rightly complimented by ustad Zakir Husain; ” It is very difficult to follow and bring up the rear ,such drummers to play with. I mean I have two,Shivamani has two hundred but Selva has only one and it sounds like 2 million!” He also made a point to remind the audience the seriousness of the event and the cause.

The time after that belonged to the Ustad, one & only Zakir Husain, I always wondered what could be the difference between the other tabla-players… after his performance this question will never come in my mind. What can you say about a man who can make you visualize the ‘Tandav’ of lord Shiva just with the help of table and sheer finesse of his art? It can’t be described in words it has to be witnessed. (though my one wish remained unfulfilled, I wanted to hear “Wah Taj! From Ustad.)

Closing Time :

We realized it’s about to end when the soothing words ‘Ishwar - allah tero naam..’ fell on ears… and Once again, I felt purpose of having hearing power was served (I feel it every time when my mother calls me).

The show ended with that beautiful bhajan and people started moving reluctantly towards exit.

It was a great evening, in the sense that it had not only delighted music lovers and artists but it had also sent out the message that we are the people of a rich and diverse but united nation and no one can deter us from enjoying our freedom. Looking at the response from chennaiites I feel,this purpose was well served.

I learnt one thing from this evening:

Life is a chance, to live your dreams,

But the achievements are measured by,

Number of people you please.

Never expect anything, just let it be,

Coz, Good things come for a price,

Great things are for FREE!