Conflux

 

‘How does a lady plait her hair? She takes three strands of hair, weaves the strands with the strands criss-crossing one another and at the end of it, what do we see- Three or two? This is how we should consider the river Saraswati too’.

This explanation was given by a speaker in Tamizh, during a religious discourse in Secunderabad during my formative years. Honestly, I don’t remember the name of the gentleman who said this, though I know he was a very popular figure as far as religious discourses are concerned. But his words remain firmly etched in my memory simply because of his ability to compare two similar and yet dissimilar things and connect the two so that the concept is easily understood by the audience. In a way, it was also a lesson for all aspiring teachers and most importantly trainers, a fact which I realise now after many years.

When I had to plait my little daughter’s hair for at least a month-when my wife travelled abroad- I was reminded of that speech again. Of course, it is a different issue that my wife wrote down each step on a piece of paper and that I kept referring it at least for a week before I managed to do that act successfully(how successful I was, only my daughter knows!).

No, this is not a post on plaiting hair and if at all you got the impression that I am going to talk about a song which describes the beauty of a woman’s hair, I would request you to not to jump to any conclusions and show patience.

The reason for my writing about that explanation has more to do with the river Saraswati and the place where it is supposed to be flowing and less with hair.

There are a lot of stories about the mythical river with major references in the Rig veda and in the Mahabharata. The origin of the river is supposedly in a place in the present day Afghanistan. But the place where the river Saraswati acquires significance is Allahabad, a city in U.P. Ganga and Yamuna meet at this place and it is believed that Saraswati is flowing underground and the place being called ‘Triveni Sangam’, meaning the meeting of three rivers. This in fact is the pride of Allahabad and leaving aside the mythology, the place where the rivers meet is a connoisseur’s delight and it is but natural for nature lovers to fall in love at first sight.

It is also natural for me to write about a song which describes that great city called Allahabad.

The beauty of ‘Shehar Hai Khoob Kya Hai’ from ‘Chal Chalein’(2009) lies in the way the city has been sketched poetically(lyrics:Piyush Mishra) and musically.

‘What a beautiful city!’ exclaims a group of students and then go on a trip across the city.

But before that the Master prepares them for the trip. And how?

The piano keys flutter and fly like butterflies, with the echo effect typifying the beautiful creatures going in different directions. The humming of Shreya backed by the various synth instruments show us the view of the ‘Sangam’ from the top.

‘What a Beautiful City!A place where the great Harivanshrai (Bachchan) lived. Feel the Ganga, Yamuna and the Swaying Saraswati’, sing the butterflies in the voices of Shreya Ghoshal, Shaan and Krishna Beaura.

The first CharaNam talks about the Big B, the Chaat, Intellectuals and Alfred Park where Chandrasekhar Azad laid down his life for the cause of Freedom while the second CharaNam talks about the home where our first PM was born, about the second PM who spent his childhood in the city, about the Hindi poet Mahadevi Varma who taught in the University there.

The pure whistle in the beginning of the first interlude followed by the synth instruments take us through the main roads, gullies, book shops, and to the Triveni again.

The percussion in the first segment of the second interlude reminds one of a boat journey on the river while the shifting of the scale from the major to minor and the S.E.Asian music towards the end symbolise change, at the same time indicating that certain things remain the same irrespective of the change and life flows..

..like the mythical river Saraswati!