‘Appa, I am
not able to sleep’, said the young boy.
‘Dont’t worry.
I will sleep only after you sleep’, replied the father.
‘How will you
know if I have fallen asleep or not’, asked the nervous boy.
Pat came the reply-‘I know. That is why I am your father’.
Do fathers
know everything?
Not really. However, when it comes to conversing
with his child and when it comes to comforting his child, a father does seem to
know everything. At least, in my case, it is true.
Needless to say the conversation mentioned in the
beginning happened between me and my father
when I was just around 6 or 7. I was timid, shy and was scared of
darkness then.
Somehow in India, the relationship between a father
and a son is not as widely written or discussed as the one between a mother and
a son or the one between a mother and a daughter or even the one between a
father and a daughter.
My relationship with my father was somewhat special,
intriguing and even weird. Being the only son, I was ‘protected’ by my mother
who would not even let me go out and play without her monitoring and
supervision. My father would be away at his workplace but whenever he was at
home, he would ‘protect’ me too, and this continued even when I went to school.
Probably, this explains the reason for my timidity when I was young.
However, once I started growing up and once I was in
my formative years, I started developing independent thinking and was slowly
shedding the conservative outlook , much to the chagrin of my mother. But my
father encouraged my independent thinking.
There are many things a son can pick up from his
father. I essentially picked up two things-
Reading habit and appreciation of
music. When I was a child, I would wonder what he was up to when he would
literally burn the midnight oil to be engrossed in a book. After watching him
do this for many years (‘many’ here would be about 8 years), one fine day I
went to the cup- board where some old books were stocked, picked up the one
with a glossy cover, dusted it and started reading it. On top of the front
cover there were these wordings- ‘The
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’.
Thus
began my tryst with books and it still continues.
He would also tune in to ‘Madras A’ radio station at 8.20
am everyday even as he was getting ready for work. Carnatic music would fill the air. Honestly, this was not music to
the ears of Yours Truly then, a fact which would surprise many now. I found it
to be boring and even irritating. How my
perspective changed after the entry of one gentleman in 1976 and how it
transformed me, are all known to people who have been following my posts here.
However, in hindsight, I feel if I was able to appreciate the music of that
gentleman right from the beginning and was also quick to identify and
appreciate the intricacies, it was because of the musical environment I grew up
in and the influence it had on my subconscious.
It is not that I have not had difference of opinion
with my father. In fact, there were many. However, he respected my views and
opinions. During the later years, he even went to the extent of saying, ‘the
amount of knowledge my son has, is hard to fathom’.
Cut now to Circa
2019.
The gentleman who pacified and put his little son to
comfort long ago, was lying down on the hospital bed struggling to breathe and
this time he was calling out his son’s name repeatedly. Is it a case of role
reversal? However, the son could not do much as he was already briefed on his
father’s medical condition. Unable to see his father suffer like this, the son
also started praying for his suffering to end. This is another case of
‘reversal’, for obvious reasons, reasons which are better left undisclosed.
Finally, on the 21st
of June- which is celebrated as World
Music Day, a connoisseur of music, a gentleman who believed in and who
practised giving unconditional love, a father who guided his son to the right
path, left this mortal world peacefully with his son by his side.
The only song which came to my mind instantly that
time was a song which without a doubt, is part of my Top 25, and the reason is not far to seek.
In life, simple things are always beautiful and the
most beautiful things are simple. If someone were to ask me an example, I would
cite ‘Kaattuvazhi Kaalnadiyaa Pora Thambi’ from ‘Adhu Oru Kanaakkaalam’(2005), without batting an eyelid.
Now, see this.
The third and fourth lines of the Pallavi are a replica of the first two
lines. The CharaNams are almost
mirror images of the Pallavi. Both
the interludes are the same. Coming
as it does from a composer who is known for his dislike for ‘repetitions’ and
who is known for his proclivity for ‘variety’, this is a huge surprise.
And yet, even repeated hearing of this song is
unlikely to tire anybody. On the other hand, it can only soothe the pain,
soothe the senses and soothe the soul. This is made possible not just by the tune but also by the lyrics and most importantly by the singing style and quality. What is more special is the fact that all these three are
done by the same gentleman.
Based on the major scale (ShankarabharaNam), the composition has the flavour of an Irish folk song. The two sets of strings(one in lower octave and the other in middle-
octave) playing simultaneously, depicts life itself, in my opinion.
The parallel drawn between river and life conveys
layers and layers of meanings albeit in very simple terms.
Life
is neither a dream nor a reality. It is Truth itself,
says the last term.
For a person who was scared of darkness when he was
a child, for a person whose father was an inspiration, for a person who turned
more philosophical after the recent episode, can anything be truer than this?
After all, doesn't Truth drive away darkness?
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