Moment Of Melody

I sat near the bank of a river watching the birds flying away back to their nests. All of them flying together with one slightly smaller one trying to catch up with the rest. There wasn’t too much of a breeze but the day was becoming cooler. And then looking at the sun’s reflection in the serene water I started humming slowly.

First softly and then a little louder. There wasn’t any company to make me feel conscious, but I doubt whether it would have. The notes and the melody blended with the sunset. Indian classical music is very unique in that way. Musician weaves a melody limited to specific set of notes called Raga. It is interesting to note that every raga is associated with a specific time of the day. The time when it evokes the relevant emotions.

The songs for each Raga have been passed from generation to generation. Based on the raga, the songs based on that raga describe the period of the day or the emotions that accompany that hour of the day. The song that I started humming belonged to the raga that is sung during dusk. The words depicted the anxiety that one feels as the darkness approaches, fears and apprehensions that accompany the nightfall and longing to reach back home.

Songs and the emotions comforted me and I didn’t realize how much time had passed, until it became dark enough to return back home.

But this was then; almost year and a half back, on a short visit to a countryside farm. This memory revisited as I caught a few egrets flying back home. I could barely see the sun from behind the buildings, but looking at the colour of the sky, I knew it was dusk again. Unknowingly I started humming the same tunes. Cooped up inside the home for months now, this memory brought a smile to my face. For a moment, I felt transported to the same river bank. Music has that power, doesn’t it?