Accidental Musician In Making

My first memory of music was my father playing the bulbul tarang which is a traditional version of the current day keyboard. He used to play 70s Bollywood songs like “Suhana safar aur a mousam hassen” which was very soothing to hear as a child. This was a curious instrument which I tried to play at the beginning of my musical journey as a connoisseur.

My grandmother (mother’s mother) too would sing short arathi songs and shlokas for festivals in India like Krishna Janmashtami, Dasara and other festivals where I used to help her out as a child. This made me enjoy the festivals along with eating tasty sweets and savouries.

In school, we had prayers and national anthem which made me start and end the day with songs as a routine. Here I understood that music can be used to invoke the blessings of Gods and show your respect to the nation.

Being born and brought up in Bangalore, there was music all around me. A few examples like below:

1) When you switched on the All India Radio to listen to classical music and latest Bollywood songs and Kannada songs.

2) The Doordarshan which used to have very lovely classical jingles during the start of programs or the Desh Bhakti songs we got to hear on Independence and Republic Days and not to miss the Chitrahaar songs,

3) The loud music played during community festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi where the idol of Lord Ganesha was kept in almost all the streets of my locality and classical and film songs on the Lord was played with the lot of fervour from morning to evening.

All these experiences made me to explore music myself where I tried to learn Carnatic Vocals along with a few neighbour kids. This did not carry on for long as I used to have a bad throat with constant cold and cough. Then I heard that my father’s mother (my other granny who I had not seen) used to play the violin and that it was a tough instrument to play. This intrigued me to look for a violin teacher and I found one at my school as a part of the Lalitha Kala Academy — a local music academy. Learnt it for a few years but the constant pressure to get good marks and excel in academics made me give up my training in music.

This was unfortunate as proper guidance at that time would have helped me to continue music along with my studies. It is very heartening to know that music is given importance as part of today’s curriculum in many of the major Indian school boards.

I have continued to be a connoisseur of music all through my under-graduate, graduate and working professional career with an urge to learn Carnatic violin. I did try to learn it a few times from different Gurus which made learn, re-learn all the times. The quote from Nelson Mandela seems apt at my experience of being a violinist “Don’t judge me by my success. Judge me by how many times I feel down and got up again”.

Again, I am making an effort to learn music and Carnatic violin by joining a Bachelors of Art course in music after my career in the IT industry for more than 20 years. It does sound like a crazy idea but I felt it is the best way to learn music from the very beginning and with a structured syllabus once again.

Not sure how many times I will fall and get up again this time around. Time will tell. Happy to say that I am still surviving the course by successfully completing my 1st semester as of Nov 2019. Still 5 more semesters to go.

The responsibilities now as a under-grad student is many fold as I have a family to take care, so time-management for practice, spending time with my loved ones and of course to write down my thoughts is very crucial. I would say that I am able to do this with solid support from my husband and co-operation of my son and mother-in-law.

My passion for music has kept me going.