Fumes of Fancy

Have you heard of Micronesia?

No, it is not a micro chip manufactured in Asia. Nor is it any measurement of Asia.

It is a country which is a group of 607 islands in the Pacific Ocean. Called as Caroline Islands earlier, it is an archipelago and is located above Australia. The Federated States of Micronesia has 4 states- Pohnpei, Kosrae, Truk and Yap- with each state being a group of islands except the second mentioned. The US controls Defence and provides financial support. Micronesia is in fact a full member of the UN since 1991.

Ok.. now what about this country and what is its relevance here?

As per the statistics released by the Government of India last year on Indians living abroad, one Indian lives in Micronesia. Yes, you read it right. Just one Indian! I was astounded too- like many of you - when I read that. I tried my best to find out more details about this lone Indian but I must admit my defeat as I could not succeed in my mission. Moreover, since I do not have any diplomatic connections-though I always want to be diplomatic- it is next to impossible to cull out such details. Only one option is RTI but at times it takes eons for the applications to be responded to. So, I decided to sit on that horse called ‘imagination’. Without my having to make any real effort, this horse started running wild and asked me some interesting questions in the process:

Is that Indian a man or a woman or even a child?

How old will he/she be?

What is the mother tongue of that person?

Would he/she ever think of his/her country at least once in a while?    

         

There were more questions too from the horse but since I wanted to find these answers from the ‘horse’s mouth’ and since this one seemed impossible, I decided to make some assumptions.

1.It is a lady.

2. Age not known(is it wise to ask this to a lady?)

3.Tamizh .  

  

4. Often thinks of our country though she cannot chant that ‘slogan’(what slogan it is, is left to your imagination!).

Now, this lady is told that an Indian is visiting Micronesia soon and that she was free to leave the island. What would she do?

My horse immediately jumped and said ‘She will sing like how Asha Bhosle sings ‘Pazhiya vilangu udaindhatha’ ‘.

I responded to the horse, ‘You fool. How many people even know this song. I know it is from ‘Meera’, but don’t people always identify this album with a song addressed to a butterfly? And to top it all, you expect a lady in an obscure country to know this song and sing!’

The horse said,  ‘ Precisely for this reason am I quoting this song. Now, look at this. It is an obscure song. But so is Micronesia. It is a lovely song. Micronesia is lovely too. It talks about freedom. The lady there-the lone Indian- would surely be itching to go back to her country and must be seeing the Indian who is visiting there as a saviour. Most importantly, the song is sung with gay abandon with a touch of insouciance and a kind of nonchalance. In a way, it makes me visualise a  chirpy girl .’

I was flummoxed by the last sentence. The horse which itself is imagination personified says it ‘visualises’. Is it like a cinema within a cinema or a dream within a dream? Probably, it is the impact of the song!

The horse then went on describing the song. It said, ‘What I like the most in this song is the jazzy feel. And Ashaji does full justice to this song which by no means is easy to render. See how the first two lines in the Pallavi are in the higher octave and how the next two lines are in the lower octave? Doesn’t this make us all drop the octave?’

Oh..this horse seems to know many things, be it music or even expressions in English, I thought and looked at it with an amazement.

But the horse –which does not have any ego or arrogance unlike we humans- continued unfazed and unaffected by the adulation.

‘The structure of the CharaNams too suggests that jazziness. Look at the second part of the CharaNams and also the last line where the notes climb up so beautifully’.

‘I would fail in my duty if I ignored mentioning about the orchestration in the prelude and in the interludes’, said the horse then in its inimitable style.

‘The very different sound of the keys in the beginning brings me visions of a rocking ship on the Pacific Ocean and the drums reinforce this’, it continued.

Yet again a ‘vision’!, I wondered.

‘And see how the drums sound. There are many layers to the percussion with each set sounding different syllables of tisram and a different sounding percussion - almost mocking a human sound made with the mouth, appearing in the second part of every alternate cycle.’

‘The brass instruments in the first interlude where one set even changes scale after a while and their playful romance with the keys, look like the dolphins and the other beautiful and colourful fish to me’.

I let the horse continue. Why should I interrupt this ‘Shaktiman’?

‘The second interlude is dominated by the percussion which shows us the dimensions of tisram yet again. To start with, there is one percussion instrument which plays only the first syllable of tisram. There is a repartee from another instrument which plays all the three syllables. After 4 cycles of chatushram, two more sets join but this time the first one sounds the first syllable with the second one sounding the third syllable and this goes on for 2 cycles. Then the brass / wind instruments appear and play with each other while the percussion backs their play exquisitely. Towards the end, two more sets of percussion make an entry and play in mel kaalam. Of course, in the midst of all these we see the funny sounds from the keys too. On the whole, the atmosphere is electric. Probably, this is what is called as the ocean current’.

The horse didn’t take a breath now. But I did. In fact, I took some deep breaths.

So many things in this composition and how I wish this song was indeed sung by the Indian in Micronesia! If singing this is difficult (which obviously is), it can at least be played to that person.

The horse nodded its head as if it read what was running in my mind.

But isn’t the horse too part of my mind if it is ‘imagination’..

Is it true or is it not true? Is everything an illusion?

Rather than breaking my head like this, let me listen to the song. .

..That will shut my mind up.

What do you say?

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