Standing on that balcony at three in the morning staring at the horizon,the boundaries of which were unclear owing to the uncertainty that the pandemic had spread, I wondered what could possibly get me back the sleep that this lockdown had taken away from me.
The Outer ring road nearby was silent devoid of commutes.The neighbourhood was asleep. The Crickets had been banned to make noises by the BCCI. The bats had disappeared being afraid of the racist slurs, the mankind might bestow up on, giving them their due credit. The whole night was speechless as I tried to shut the noises in my head.
The distractions I sought to distract the distractions weren’t working. Yuval Noah Harari or Sanjeev Sanyal couldn’t help. ARR and Raja stood there in vain.Tajdar Junaid and his dastaan which usually comes for rescue was in denial that night. And as I scrolled back through my social media feeds to quench the boredom and channel the noises within, away, I found the link to this Nagaswaram piece a friend had recommended. The moment I read Nagaswaram, all those discussions, whether the instrument should be called ‘Nagaswaram’ or ‘Nadaswaram’ and whether the maestros of Nadaswaram like TN Rajaratnam pillai or Sheik Chinna Moulana gets enough importance in the music circle like the maestros of any other instrument, popped up my head and added to the already troublesome noise.
But as the fingers touched the play button and the speakers started emulating the music track, all those noises stopped at once. I remembered the cliche comparison of those naughty kids seeing a headmaster.
As a listener of Carnatic Music with little knowledge on the same, I couldn’t recognize the raga which was clearly mentioned on the title of the track. I didn’t know the artist. I didn’t know the piece being played. I didn’t know where it was being played, nor the occasion. But as I sailed through the sounds, all of that didn’t matter. All that mattered were the waves this magical sound created in my head.
The track went on loop as many times as it found appropriate and I stood their on the very same balcony staring at the exactly same horizon, in awe, lost to the sounds of the track and silences it had created in my head. I had gone lost in the paradise and found myself in that balcony.
Do listen to the track
Follow the White Rabbit 