Almost every time I hit the shut down button on my laptop, I remember that I need to look at some of my scrap in one-note or check that mail for something really important. I have always been wondering if this is just my problem (of absent-mindedness) or if anyone else in the world does face the same too!
Anyways , how nice would it be if I could just stop those shut down scripts with just one click of a button! Something like the hand brake in a car or the stop button in treadmill. I have no idea if its really possible. sounds really silly, isn't it?! Yeah, it takes another absent-minded person to understand someone like him/her! :P
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Guru Vandanam
I might not be doing real justice in writing about this great person who has made a lasting impression in my life. The biography of DKP can be read from many sources but this is about DKP amma as a Guru from a student’s perspective. Words cannot suffice everything that can be told about her. But I will still try to make an attempt to the extent possible!
I was never interested in learning to sing when I was young, though I liked singing! It was little spontaneous but nothing I felt made me really passionate about improving my music skills. I've always had great teachers who really believed I was a good student! I used to hang around their place, eat food & learn music. Music was an indispensable part of my family though no one was a pro @ it. My mom always wanted to make the sisters (me & my sis) pro. Everyday started with the AIR (All India Radio) showcasing a concert of one of the maestros of the carnatic world. Having never taken music seriously, I never realized the fact that it was near impossible for me to be without singing or listening to music. For certain reasons, I could not continue my music lessons with my old music teacher & searching for a new one was not easy. I have no clue how my mom ended up with such an idea. She approached DKP amma to teach music for me & my sis. That was not going to be really easy but my mom was determined about this. Perhaps she realized, I would become more serious about music at least then. After all, she was my mom & would could judge better than her!
After a year, we were invited to sing before her so that she could get an idea about our way of singing. I believe we sang a Dikshitar composition in front of someone who had learnt from Dikshitar's descendant herself! I was little nervous on seeing her but it was a great experience to have just sung before her. We were sure she was gonna say its tough for her to manage more students at her old age or say some reason to evade us. But no! That did not happen..she liked something in our singing & accepted to teach us.
Music lessons became no more a past-time activity. DKP amma would never like her students sing with their books open after learning a composition. The variations were perfectly structured. DKP amma would expect her students to sing the same way she sang her variations for any composition. Any student of hers could sing with any other student & yet they would sing the similar way because the variations would always sync! It was not easy for everyone to sing those complex compositions satisfying her expectations. But she would make life so easy for her students. She would simplify those so that her students could easily grasp them. Not many of those great artists could be great teachers. But DKP amma was a perfectionist & she knew how to bring out that perfection from her students. Music was not just about singing a song. But it was about bringing out the essence of the song. The words were as important as the tune – be it in whatever language. Most people have the opinion that Carnatic music is all about singing a song whose meaning was understood neither by the singer nor the listener. That’s totally wrong. When a musician sings a song, they need to understand the song to bring out the best in it & also make the listener experience the joy of listening to the song. I don’t think my guru would ever tolerate a word mispronounced or like it if the song was not sung the way it was supposed to be.
Music filled every breath of hers & she lived because of it. She was too old when I started learning from her. Yet her enthusiasm for teaching something new every class was never less. Her physical condition was challenging but she broke all those challenges with her passion for music. An ever-lasting source of inspiration, a woman with immense grit, only those who knew her personally knew how humble she was & how kiddish she was at heart. There were days when I used to eat at her home & then learn the songs.
My mom would make sweets & savorites at home for every festival. Ishwaran maama(her husband) would eat the sweets and DKP amma would just eat the savorites. But just because it was hand-made, she would quietly eat a mustard-size of those sweets & say how good it was to eat! After every class we would touch her feet & she would bless us. Those blessings were sincere & she would never stop with saying “nanna iru”(may you be fine), she would bless for staying healthy, without suffering from a disease, for singing well, for studying well & being a good kid to the parents. She would not only teach music but also certain essential moral values & stories of the saints & composers, not to forget the importance to be given for a mother and father. For a person of her caliber & with her frail health at that old age, people would hardly imagine to even sit & even entertain guests. There were many days when we regretted for having started to take the music lessons so late with her. But those days were the most memorable days of my life. All my weekends would just go for the music lessons. Sometimes I have even felt bad that I did not get to spend my weekends like other people going to college. But it was only after coming to U.S, did I realize how much I missed those weekend lessons!
And yeah, she never had the habit of looking at the clock to count the time she had been teaching. All that counts was whether the student learned that part of the song or not! With an ever smiling face, she was humility personified. She was the one who instilled confidence to sing in concerts. At the same time she was there to see that concerts did not pull us away from learning more songs. She knew what was best for every student & also how to bring out the best in every student. Every person who has had an opportunity to learn from her, I am sure, would acknowledge whatever I said.
An amazing source of inspiration, a perfect role-model, she has left a great legacy behind & I think it is the responsibility of us - as her students all over the world, to just carry over this treasure to the future. Though I will never get to learn another song from her in person, I think I have those moments of learning from her to treasure & for this I feel really fortunate about myself. It was a great experience to learn from her & blessed am I for knowing her personally. Thanks to my mother who made this possible & my sister without whom I would not have even dared to learn music & my father who was there supporting us.
I was never interested in learning to sing when I was young, though I liked singing! It was little spontaneous but nothing I felt made me really passionate about improving my music skills. I've always had great teachers who really believed I was a good student! I used to hang around their place, eat food & learn music. Music was an indispensable part of my family though no one was a pro @ it. My mom always wanted to make the sisters (me & my sis) pro. Everyday started with the AIR (All India Radio) showcasing a concert of one of the maestros of the carnatic world. Having never taken music seriously, I never realized the fact that it was near impossible for me to be without singing or listening to music. For certain reasons, I could not continue my music lessons with my old music teacher & searching for a new one was not easy. I have no clue how my mom ended up with such an idea. She approached DKP amma to teach music for me & my sis. That was not going to be really easy but my mom was determined about this. Perhaps she realized, I would become more serious about music at least then. After all, she was my mom & would could judge better than her!
After a year, we were invited to sing before her so that she could get an idea about our way of singing. I believe we sang a Dikshitar composition in front of someone who had learnt from Dikshitar's descendant herself! I was little nervous on seeing her but it was a great experience to have just sung before her. We were sure she was gonna say its tough for her to manage more students at her old age or say some reason to evade us. But no! That did not happen..she liked something in our singing & accepted to teach us.
Music lessons became no more a past-time activity. DKP amma would never like her students sing with their books open after learning a composition. The variations were perfectly structured. DKP amma would expect her students to sing the same way she sang her variations for any composition. Any student of hers could sing with any other student & yet they would sing the similar way because the variations would always sync! It was not easy for everyone to sing those complex compositions satisfying her expectations. But she would make life so easy for her students. She would simplify those so that her students could easily grasp them. Not many of those great artists could be great teachers. But DKP amma was a perfectionist & she knew how to bring out that perfection from her students. Music was not just about singing a song. But it was about bringing out the essence of the song. The words were as important as the tune – be it in whatever language. Most people have the opinion that Carnatic music is all about singing a song whose meaning was understood neither by the singer nor the listener. That’s totally wrong. When a musician sings a song, they need to understand the song to bring out the best in it & also make the listener experience the joy of listening to the song. I don’t think my guru would ever tolerate a word mispronounced or like it if the song was not sung the way it was supposed to be.
Music filled every breath of hers & she lived because of it. She was too old when I started learning from her. Yet her enthusiasm for teaching something new every class was never less. Her physical condition was challenging but she broke all those challenges with her passion for music. An ever-lasting source of inspiration, a woman with immense grit, only those who knew her personally knew how humble she was & how kiddish she was at heart. There were days when I used to eat at her home & then learn the songs.
My mom would make sweets & savorites at home for every festival. Ishwaran maama(her husband) would eat the sweets and DKP amma would just eat the savorites. But just because it was hand-made, she would quietly eat a mustard-size of those sweets & say how good it was to eat! After every class we would touch her feet & she would bless us. Those blessings were sincere & she would never stop with saying “nanna iru”(may you be fine), she would bless for staying healthy, without suffering from a disease, for singing well, for studying well & being a good kid to the parents. She would not only teach music but also certain essential moral values & stories of the saints & composers, not to forget the importance to be given for a mother and father. For a person of her caliber & with her frail health at that old age, people would hardly imagine to even sit & even entertain guests. There were many days when we regretted for having started to take the music lessons so late with her. But those days were the most memorable days of my life. All my weekends would just go for the music lessons. Sometimes I have even felt bad that I did not get to spend my weekends like other people going to college. But it was only after coming to U.S, did I realize how much I missed those weekend lessons!
And yeah, she never had the habit of looking at the clock to count the time she had been teaching. All that counts was whether the student learned that part of the song or not! With an ever smiling face, she was humility personified. She was the one who instilled confidence to sing in concerts. At the same time she was there to see that concerts did not pull us away from learning more songs. She knew what was best for every student & also how to bring out the best in every student. Every person who has had an opportunity to learn from her, I am sure, would acknowledge whatever I said.
An amazing source of inspiration, a perfect role-model, she has left a great legacy behind & I think it is the responsibility of us - as her students all over the world, to just carry over this treasure to the future. Though I will never get to learn another song from her in person, I think I have those moments of learning from her to treasure & for this I feel really fortunate about myself. It was a great experience to learn from her & blessed am I for knowing her personally. Thanks to my mother who made this possible & my sister without whom I would not have even dared to learn music & my father who was there supporting us.
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