Black and White Magic

In Robert Louis Stevenson's words:

"EARLY in the morning I hear on your piano 

You (at least, I guess it's you) proceed to learn to play. 

Mostly little minds should take and tackle their piano 

While the birds are singing in the morning of the day."

Looks like  R.L Stevenson had told this to make me play and practice the music. I wonder who is at the back of birds that sing in the morning of the day. I don't see any improvement graph in birds's singing. They sing so perfectly at the very scratch. I am at times envious. I suggest you to spend some quality time listening to their songs.   

              

When I sat down after finishing all my house hold work, and went online, I saw a beautiful google doodle opening up in my home page showing a lovely young lady with her jubilant kids trying to play the piano. Clara Schumenn must be definitely experiencing happiness on a high note today from above, seeing her picture on the doodle that celebrates her 193rd birthday. Schumenn was a German musician considered "one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era". That s nice to know about a woman pianist because I remember only Beethovan, Mozart when it comes to piano. 

My eagerness to play the instrument doubled by seeing such a doodle. I have always been passionate about playing the piano right from my school days. I thank my beloved husband for encouraging me to share my enjoyments with the instrument. I, a beginner and on the learning curve, am amazed at every aspect of this music. Its structure, tones, scales, chords all line up to tickle my senses. 

I remember since when I was 6, I started differentiating instruments in movie songs. I wasn't sure of which sound refered to which musical instrument but I was told by my parents that I never forgot to wave my hands for violin, drums, tabla and piano medleys by doing some funny stunts with all giggles and grins. I guess my parents would have definitely made me do all that for them to get some laughter and entertainment. I forgive them as everything is fair in parental affection :-) My hugs to them.

It was in my teens that I developed a keen observation of baseline music that kept running throughout  the song or upto certain extent to add extra grace to the main melodies. Now technically speaking the chords part (the broken form, or arpeggios) -  be it played in guitar or keyboard/ piano, or violin, enchanted my ears. I used to wonder at the composition.
 

I would like to give some examples. Starting with MGR - mejastically playing the piano in the song - Kanpona pokile... The piano intro would be mindblowing. The lyrics too are electrifying.
 

Shivaji comes next with his one of the blockbusters- Uyartha manithan- the heroine Sowcar janaki 's song- Athanin muthangal.. she played the piano. Please listen to the piano intro to get lost in the maze of admiration.

 

Violin is magical in one of the 80s hits of Ilayaraja-  Edhu oru Pon malai pozhudhu

And the notes of the guitar in this ever green song - Ilaya Nila... - just give me the goosebumps.

I am linking here an extra ordinary video which is a new and refreshing version of the song from the Kamal hasan starrer Punnagai mannan. It is a theme music. It is a piano duet where four hands are required to play. http://youtu.be/XZZLcGc1vEs

There's music in the sighing of a reed; 

There's music in the gushing of a rill; 

There's music in all things, if men had ears:

Their earth is but an echo of the spheres. 

Did you hear the poet "Lord Byron"- humming?

I cherish this for ever and now leave  you a question - How does music inspire you?

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Ticktock

   

We live in a society where every thing is on a schedule. Whether the job requires a time card or not,  many of us are forced to be ever -conscious of the clock and this may not be the best way to work. We carry forward the habit of being time conscious for an occasion that does not need. 

Recently we planned for a movie to which my parents in law accompanied. Their home is two kilo meters away from ours. It was planned in such a way that they would come in the car and we would go in a bike. 

It was at the peak of sunshine when we started from home and my mom in law told me that we too could have joined them in the car and avoided the hot sun.

I felt she was right as it was a genuine concern. My husband was too time conscious that he wanted to be there half an hour before. Tickets were already booked online though. 

I was thinking from my mom in law's perspective.  She could have been happier on us accompanying her in the car .  For her the fun is not hanging out to a movie, it is about being with us. Any mother would naturally like to have her son around , that too when being a  week end or he was on a planned leave. 

I shared my thoughts to my  husband about it . Prioritizing is important here. I felt he should not have prioritized time at the cost of being togetherness. Losing first few scenes of the movie is really not a great loss , hence not worthy for a '' worry''. 

I would definitely not have an iota of guilt in case I was late for an outing like movie. 

To be honest I was never punctual during my college days. I request you not to be like me too. Let me not pat you on your wrong back. What I did was a mistake. 

I now have learnt to value time yet I suggest you to prioritize it in a right way. When it is an important occasion that demands our presence well in advance, we have to be on time. 

Job seekers and office goers need to be on time because that is how the society is structured. Here comes an opinion from a free lance writer living in the Pacific north west. '' Kori  Roadley Irons''  . She starts with a question.,''  Is there a way to let go of some of that time -consciousness to free up creativity and efficiency ?''  

She believes much time is spent and wasted checking with the clock and hence we may have to held back in terms of productivity , problem- solving capability and especially quality. 

I now stick on to a popular belief ,'' Over -doing of anything is always counter- productive.  

Try to relax being less time sensitive and to enjoy being conscious of others feelings and emotions. This is really a great man's work loved by God. 

Be as a snug as a bug in a rug!

                                                                                                                

I have been contemplating on a conversation I had with my husband today morning. The topic is '' Being comfortable'' . Well we did not definitely talk on material comforts. Its about being at ease when you meet  the other person, how and on what grounds two persons become peaceful  each other with their presence and not.

This is quite commonly analyzed nowadays. I heard my friends say,'' We are pleased to work under that manager , we are not comfortable with that guy's attitude.. etc.''  I would like to give an other example. 

When I was working at HCL, my friend and I were put together in a nesting team as we were new comers. 

The team head was racketed by many for being rude, cold and authoritative, always trying to boss around , quite frequently belittling the other person to show off his greatness. The higher superiors too were accepting the fact that this guy was attitudinal and never holds smooth relationship in the office, hence he was graded low for a log time though his professionalism and expertise deserve a  promotion. 

My friend was happy to work under him said ,'' she did not come in touch with his impelling shouts with protruding eyes so far. I told her that I was waiting to move into another team at the earliest  and I hate to work with him.. God blessed me to run as faster as possible to another good production team. My work went smooth thereon. 

A few months later I chanced my soft skill trainer to whom I shared my experiences. She knew my old team head and was in the same opinion that everyone had towards him. She also gave me a billion dollar advise.

" When you and I say we are not comfortable with this person, actually we are not fine with certain aspects in our lives .. be it any. When we find these in some body we tend to keep away and that is not wrong also to run.''. 

To confirm my understanding I said,'' Suppose that I am not comfortable climbing  up a tree and hanging upside down for a long time but my friend forces me to do all the time she meets me, I will definitely tend to keep her away or I shall hide myself  when ever she comes though being my friend..right..??!!!'' ..

After some laughter renting the air, she said ,'' You are right actually, how could you suddenly imagine an example like that..? ''  The conversation went for a while , we had a cuppa tea and departed . 

I still carry this advise  in my heart and apply it when ever I come across ordeal days.  This is not just an advise but a great truth too which I heard it once again from a revered institution 'Oneness university'.

I later on  learned another interesting behavioural pattern from  my observation.  

Sometimes , we tend to change our talking manners depending upon the perceptions we carry about people we know ,and importantly when we find people of common interest we shall spend more time with them sharing ideas and if we find them moving a little bit out of the common interest , we rate them down leading to harsh clash.  

I would like to illustrate this. Mr X and Mr. Y are close relatives. They both love cycling , own separate cycles and go for a ride together praising the mode of transportation to be the best, cheapest and least affordable . Mr.X likes Mr.Y and starts to appreciate him to have found an interest in cycling and his simplicity.

After few weeks, Mr.Y chances a bullet ride , feeling it  beautiful , comfortable and equally interesting too.

He buys a bullet , starts to bike it. Occasionally accompanies Mr.X for  cycle rides. Mr.X throws a different behaviour, letting out some unkind words from a deep routed values he has upon cycling.  

He shouts at Mr.Y not for having bought a new bullet, but for not enjoying what Mr.X likes.

Here Mr.Y is shocked to receive such a heart breaking response, feeling uncomfortable totally ,decides to keep away from Mr.X . Thus turning a cold attitude towards each other and building perceptions on each other based on the new attitude formed in their minds now. 

The issue here is not valuing something so high, but constantly expecting the other person to be consistent in throwing the same high values on what you like  in the same fashion too. This kind of attitude also leads to an emotional clash bringing a break down. 

The greatest gift would be to learn the art of being at ease and making others feel the warmth of your presence.Letting others to make their own choices and  live in their space of freedom.Every body indeed expects concern and care. It may not be possible to cut copy paste the mother's care but sure easy to format it and present. 

You shall see  better results are achieved , be it in schools, colleges or work place. 

Abyss..

I had  to  listen  to a  story  that was narrated in one of  the speeches  during  my final  year of graduation .

That was scintillating !

 Imagine as  you keep  reading  this .

" You are fortunate enough  to  have a beautiful wife  and a  son . You are quite wealthy.

Your consider  your  son  to  be  the source  of  joy. You think  he  is  your  life. Your thickest friend lives opposite  to  your home .You love your friend  so  much that  you won't  hesitate to do  anything for  him.He  too trusts  your friendship in abundance. His kid  and  your son  too  become thick pals. One fine  day you plan a  picnic where  only  you  have  to accompany  as  a sole guard  with  your  son and  your friend's  kid. You take  them to  a beautiful dense forest. You are  busy flicking  your  camera. Suddenly you hear a scream and find  both  the  children being  bitten  by a venomous snake. You cry aloud  for  help, your  heart  beats  faster ,you  sweat in fear and  pray God.

 A  forest  hermit passes  by who says he  has a medicine extracted  from a rare plant  but that can save only  one life!:(  

Question:  Whom do  you save ? 

We were asked  to come  to  the stage  and share our views.

A student  from the department  of  maths answered: " I  shall give  the  medicine  only to  my son  though

I  don't  want really want to let  die  of  my  friend's kid.I will save  my son."

Another student from  the department of Computer science  said:  I shall save  my friend's  son because I  regard  friendship more  than  anything."

Another student from  Commerce interrupted saying: Are you really regarding your friendship  or  acting  in  fear of getting  sued by  your friend for being  responsible  for  his kid's  death?

Soon  the smiling  speaker took over , asking  us  to  leave  the story apart  . If  you  save your friend's kid you  are anyways  unhappy .The inner  dialogue associated with this are:

1. I lost  my  son. I miss  him.   2.I  killed my  own son. 3. I should  have saved  my  son. 

If  you save  your own kid , you  will  again  be  guilty  of  acting partial, and  keep facing your conscience.
Remaining  unhappy  again.

Thoughts that flow are:
1.  I  am a bad  man. 2.  I  did  not  value  his  friendship. 3.  I  killed his  son. 4.  I am  self  centered.
5. My  friend is genuine yet I don't  deserve his  love 6. Will  God  forgive me ? 7.  Am  I  a  sinner?
8.  I hate myself .

In crux, man is not  happy. All happiness  he knows are conditional and  are born  out  of some reasons.
Mind  intervention is  constant because man  is  not enlightened. Enlightenment is like an  air. Very basic
requirement of  man  today  is  enlightenment.

Here  the action is  not  important, Only  "Watching" is important. We have  to  watch our  mind  here to  understand how  beautifully it  conducts its game all over  again. If  we  practice "watching"  without  any
judgement or  condemnation , the mind ceases completely and joy flowers effortlessly. This  "Joy" is beyond human imaginations. It is  not  based on  any conditions. A person  shall be  happy for  no  reason, in  other words great saints and  mystiques called it " Enlightenment" OR  the " Life  of Awareness".

You  are  not  living ,  but only  existing. You  are not fundamentally  aware that  your mind  keeps wandering around all  the  time . There is  always an inner  movie. There  is  always mind  commentary going  on . You  loose  your  self  to the  inner dialogues, knowing  not where  and how  to stop.

Tremendous applauses went  on for  some time . This was heart awakening. I  would  say  it  really moved me .The  truth is "  MIND KEEPS  WANDERING IN  PAST OR  IN FUTURE IRRESPECTIVE  OF  WHAT ACTION  YOU PUT  FORTH" .

In crux : Mind's nature is to  wander in past or  in  future thereby  not  letting  us  

experience  anything in full. To control  the  mind  is  to become  " AWARE " of  it as a mark  of  first

postulate.  The  so  called  self journey  is unfathomable. It  is  an " Abyss".A person who becomes aware
will  not  be lost  in  the  maze  of  conflicting thoughts. He  will experience and  act to the command from
heart not bothering much about what others think, not getting keen into doing good or doing bad , but doing the right thing.

 I know sailing the ocean of self awareness may appear to be difficult for starters ( that includes myself too)
Yet I feel more interesting it is going to be when we discover that the journey is abyssal in nature. 

A Knock !

The world is making rapid  strides in  the field of  science and  technology. At the same time, there is large scale confusion and conflict prevailing for  the teeming millions. The most palpable manifestion of the problem is both at the material and  pscycological level. Next come all  the health concerns.

On  whatever ground the issue may  arise,  if a man learns to witness it as a third  person by not attaching to it, he remains happier and at peace with himself.

And that is what I am trying to do nowadays.
My mind constantly keeps  brooding over the past or thinking about the future.
 I seldom experience a "no thought  flow" state. Let me explain this with an instance.
 When I went to my native home couple of  months back I saw the portrait of  my mother that was kept  on  the loft. I stood there by for some time reading the lines written below by  my dad.

"Memories of the ones we have loved
still cast their gentle glow!,
To grace our days and light our paths
 Where ever we  may go !"

I  recalled in a flash the big bundle of past memories that were filled with the turmoils my  father had  to undergo long years back, when she was hospitalised for a dysentery and weakness, injected with a Hepatitis -B out of negligence, to cover up the blunder blood  transfusion was given, with a mismatching RH- Factor!.

The sudden extreme scream combined with fits after few minutes of the transfusion rented  the air at the hopsital !!

My father rushed to the chief doctor to save his wife, knowing not that the borrowed times of  his beloved were almost getting over by the next  day.
The sad day beckoned with all the relatives gathering around  her,  but only I was taken closer. For some minutes the sickly twenty-three year old young lady did not speak, tears alone kept  rubbing  her soft cheeks. She heard an assurance from her sister who was just sixteen and to whom I owe gratitude in  abundance.

"Don't  worry dear, you will be alright, I will take care of the baby."

The doctors were busy  preparing  a  new case history falsely  reporting  the pile pigments to be positive with a  fatal jaundice.  They threatened my father saying the body will not be handed over for rituals in case my father would ever try to sue. My father said ,"I don't need a court anymore, to punish you. Its  too late,"
He demanded the original  reports and got them.

The very next morning when my father went to collect the sacred  ashes,
he  heard from  the guard ,"  what  happend  to  that woman  sir,? Did she drink any poison?" on  finding  the bones blue.

My faher said," She did not drink poison, but the medicines were.!" and walked away broken hearted.
While I was gazing  at the portrait with the tear -filled eyes, the  smothering of my spongy pet brought me to the  present. I shrugged  off all those thoughts and started playing with  the pet.

I do not miss her in my life at all and have never have felt am mother less. I saw her as a living being - whose life was taken away by the deadly doctors.

How much that body would have suffered due to pain, and fever? What all the small  heart would have felt at those tumultuous moments? It was a medical  murder and I am sad even now of what happened then.

The tragedy ended there,  but I still carry forward its impact in my thoughts. I feel I need to work to get over this.I should learn to witness the uneasiness as a third person , like letting the silts float in the water and  not trying to attach myself  to them and capture.

Two things I notice now. No emotion stays with me for twenty -  four  hours. And it is typical nature of the mind to brood over  some past or think about future,without  experincing anything  in  full. Silently chuckling at this monkey nature of my mind, I just chanced upon these lines of an anonymous poet

"A tiny pebble idoly tossed
Into  the placid stream.
With a  gentle splash  it  sinks  from sight
And  never again  is seen - but outward
From  the gentle splash a  spreading impulse tends......
Who knows on  what  distant shore the
Spreading inpulse  ends..."

Nothing is certain except for change and everything is pre-determined. To make me realize the power of  this truth, those memories  knocked at me .

Knowing I shall filter any unwanted mail,  or report as spam if  I don't want it, they cleverly choose to be postmen  always, trying to convey some information.

Unless I lovingly welcome them, they keep knocking. :)

I happily relish this  truth.