Wondrous AR

Yes, I am talking about Rehman!! I am literally spellbound by the ‘Mayiliragae’ song. It is certainly one of the most beautifully woven spell in the air. It falls under the simple songs genre—simple in terms of usage of the orchestration. It’s an amazing blend of North and South. And, I never imagined Tabla and Thavil would compliment each other so well.

Even the non-apparent but significant cymbals (jinggu cha) are a treat to follow! I am sure each of the performers would have been on cloud nine when they were performing for this song—especially the rise in the tempo of the Thavil and Nadaswaram bit just before the second half of the song. In fact, the Thavil and the Nadaswaram are the inseparables—like the letters ‘Q’ and ‘U’ of English.

Talking about the vocals—none other than Rehman can use Madhushree’s voice in a better way. Be it the song from Aiyudha Ezhuthu or this one in Ah Aah. It is just the perfect example of how good or bad a voice can sound when in the hands of different music directors. And except for a few places, even Naresh Iyer has also mellifluously sung the song.

The pallavi of this song, ‘mayiliragae mayiliragae vardugirai ennai…’, which in the broader sense means that the touch of his or her beloved is similar to the magical and the lovely feel of the caress of a peacock feather. Believe me, the tones in their voices evoke similar emotions on the people who listen to the song!

I shouldn’t be talking about the ‘Maramkothhiyae’ song on this occasion, but I am compelled to as this is an amazing concept per se. Again Rehman excels in the remixed version of his own wondrous slow-tempo song, ‘Mayiliragae’. Each of two songs is unique but still each song is as dependent on each other like the steps of a ladder. Together they act in tandem to elevate the listener to a higher plane and both the songs compliment each other well in its characteristics.

Rehman for sure has craftily created a musical treat—at least for me!!

discourse

Well, this is an aftermath of a discussion (call it chat) that I had with my colleague. Like in all lengthy discussions that meander to multitudinous topics, one invloves in the play of tracing it back to its origin, and I asked myself, "how did we start discussing about cats...?" Ahh... after unsuccessful brainstorming, I went back to him and in 5 seconds he came up, “pets<-the doctor who had a big dog<-blood donation.”

I said, “ahnnn ok! good.”

It all started with a mail harping on blood donation.

Me: Hey!! Have you donated blood, in your life?
Colleague: Yeah, once. It was to a doctor who our family knew.
M: How was it? I mean, did you feel any euphoria that I have always imagined to exist after blood donation? (with a grin)
C: Euphoria? NO. I felt uneasy for a while, in fact for the whole of that day; especially after you see that something of your's is leaving your body. It becomes alright after a day.
M: (a nod and a smile)
C: They took a unit of blood—I have always thought one unit meant a litre, it was 300 ml and they don’t take beyond that, at one go, and they won’t let you donate blood if the time lapsed is less than three months since you last donated.
M: (with a raised eyebrow) Ohh...
C: This is the doctor whose son wrote those Tamil poetries. (questioningly and with a locked eyebrow) I have told you about this guy, right?
M: (with a reminiscent expression) Which guy...? Ahnn... ok. now I remember! (with an enlightened expression)
C: They had a big dog at their place. This big... (with his hand kept in the usual position that one uses to indicate heights—hand parallel to the ground, at a distance of about 3 feet) It was an Alsatian.
M: (with both eyebrows raised and with a bewared glance at the parallel arm)
M: (with a change in expression) You have grown pets?
C: Yeah we had two dogs and many cats.

A smile started blooming when he started saying 'many cats'.

C: In fact, dogs are better than cats, you know? Cats are always arrogant and lazy...

I perceived that he was drawing comparisons to a kind of species that I knew of well, and so pounced back at him, “you seem to be comparing cats with women...”, with an inspecting look on my face.

C: (with a light laugh) Did I say anything like that?
M: Ok Ok.

I thought, ”why to unnecessarily tarnish our sect? let me stop right here!!”

C: In fact, they say ‘If you give food and shelter to a dog, it thinks that you are God. If you give food and shelter to a cat, it thinks that it must be God!’
M: Wow!! That was a nice way to sum up the attitude of a cat! :-)
C: We had a large family of cats growing around our house and it used to frequent our place quite often.
C: If it’s sitting on the sofa, and you go near the sofa and look for a place to sit, it will look at you with such an annoying look—as if to suggest why the hell are you disturbing me?
M: (with a tinge of amusement) Ahh... is it?
C: But cats are generally fun to look at while they play. If the parent cat rests on the floor, it keeps shifting its tail from right to left and vice versa, and the kittens keep chasing them—it would look as if the parent is teaching the kittens to chase its target.
M: In fact, now I remember, the kittens generally cling to the clothes, right, with its fragile paws?
C: Yeah, and you know there are a few things about cats—if you drop them from any height with its body turned in any direction, it always falls on its legs!!
M: Ohh!! (of late, with my spontaneity with analogies, I, closing my eyes for a fraction of a second and opening them as if finding the greatest idea to the most difficult problem on earth) Something like the shuttlecock, na? It always falls on the ground on the cork.
C: Yeah, I guess. (with absolutely no expression or amazement)

I thought, “Ohh God, why always me? Anyway, I guess he is busy with his cat observations that he didn't get deviated by my beautiful analogy.”

C: And one another thing is that as long as it was at our home, it has never gone to the kitchen and foraged for milk—but it promptly went to our neighbor’s house and drank milk!!
M: Ada paavi! (with a tinge—just a tinge—of sarcasm) You seem to have trained your cat very well!!
C: And if it ever ate something that caused itself a stomach upset, it intuitively knows which grass or plants to eat or chew to make itself free from the ailment!
M: That’s news!! (with a smile)

And there comes a mail that reminds me of my work (oh yeah, that’s what I am paid for, right!!)

There ended our digressing discourse!!!

Monday Morning...

5.50 a.m., Monday morning. Ennui. 6.50 a.m., a bang on the shin, wrinkles on the face, clenching of the teeth. Blackout. 7.20 a.m., arriving at the bus stop--early by ten minutes, encore 1984, a lass lunging and falling on her face on the road--out of weakness, lifting her by her arm, settling her. Empathy. My bus arrives and is waiting for me to get in, a feeling of helplessness, getting into the bus, she falls off to the floor again. Remorse. ‘It’s Ok. Just Shut It Out!!’, says my mind. And am off to "doublespeak" and "thoughtcrime".