Rain Of Renunciation

I’m penning down a beautiful experience I had today morning. For some days, we are having thunderstorms in the afternoon. It has become a usual scene every day, to see the sky wearing a dark blue cloud and after some time, showering all the rain upon the earth. On the eve of summer, what can be more soothing than a summer rain in the afternoon!!

But, the night sky was preparing something else for me. Yesterday, it collected all the tunes from the music goddess, and then poured them down on the earth to drench me in such beautiful musical dawn!!

In Indian classical music, ‘Malhar’ and its friends like ‘Megh’, ‘Megh Malhar’, ‘Miyan Malhar’ and some other ragas are considered as the core of the rain ragas. Their notes are woven in a way that the tune of this ragas can evoke rain! And it really happens, if you listen to these ragas, you’ll feel the shower upon you, for sure..

On the other hand, Raga ‘Jog’ is considered as a serious raga with its mood corresponding to utmost devotion as well as a strong feeling of renunciation..While listening to this raga, you’ll feel disconnected from every earthy bonding..

But, today morning, I was gifted with a wonderful ‘Malhar’ morning wrapped in the tune of ‘Jog’..

Hearing the sound of the thunderstorms in my half sleepy state, I felt reluctant to open my eyes and wished to spend a few hours more crawling on the bed. But, my mom woke me up, and I’m thankful to her because if she had not pushed me out of the bed, I’d never witness such a serene morning..

When I opened my eyes, it was already started raining with a heavy downpour. I was sitting lazily beside the window, staring at the street where the raindrops were dancing with a wild rhythm. The sound of the rain was humming in my mind. I was enjoying the summer rain and its smell, too.

Suddenly, I heard a female voice singing raga ‘Jog’, accompanied by flute, sarod and tabla. I knew the name of that singer..she was an age old eminent hindusthani classical singer. However, the voice dragged me towards the westside window, as the sound was coming from this side. I started searching for the source and soon, I found that it was our neighbor uncle who was playing the record of a bandish on raga ‘Jog’. Ahhhhhhh, what a heavenly combination the morning made for me..Rain with Renunciation!!

The time paused for a while..as if the tune was washing all the dirt off my soul drenched in the rain..somewhere it was ‘Malhar’, the tune of rain, and somewhere, it was ‘Jog’, the tune of renunciation. How eye-soothing it was to watch it raining outside the window listening to such beautiful music. Ohh, I just can’t express in words. Only to say, I was bathed in the rain and my soul was soaked by the morning beauty. For few weeks, I was thinking about the idea of how to start my series ‘Bandish’ like with which raga I should start my journey, which story I can portray based on this raga and the moods associated with it. At that right moment, I had a perfect daybreak with the summer rain that bestowed the shower of deep devotion on me, gifting me such a serene ‘Malhar’ morning wrapped in a divine glory of ‘Jog’, where the rain was waiting for long to meet this moment that came with the Rain Of Renunciation..

I was watching the rain, enjoying the chill breeze and the song. Suddenly, it seemed to me, someone whispered into my ears,

“Yes, this is…this is the moment you have been searching for a long…this moment is to be celebrated, this moment is to be lived, this moment is to be breathed…embrace it,forgetting the world, leaving the worldly life behind..”

I got shivered, and replied,

“TO PRAISE THIS ‘HEAVEN-ON-EARTH’ MOMENT, I AM READY TO BORN ON EARTH FOR HUNDRED TIMES MORE .”