Saturday evening live...
Yesterday we went to listen to Vasudha's carnatic concert here in Bombay. And in doing so, got another generous dose of the oft-seen "carnatic music appreciation clique" and their ways.
1. Silk-saree clad maamis with their flowing necklaces and blinding bangles which evoke greater appreciation than the girl singing her throat hoarse on stage. The handbag appreciation society was a Mumbai speciale', and clearly established Mumbai as the pseudest of the carnatic concert destinations!
2. The headbanging maamaas who dutifully accompany their well-draped and well-fed maamis, and lose themselves listening to "O bhagwan.. raksha karo" level songs..
3. The really involved listeners, who sit and make a list of the songs that are being sung, and wait to establish eye contact with the neighbor ladies who would then ask for the notebook, and boost their own egos because they identified the ragams right - this is usually accompanied by knowing smiles and mutual appreciation between the ladies.
4. A poor paatti, who could not sit beyond 2 hours, who walked across to one side of the seating area and repeated the foot exercises she had learnt in school - keep your hands on the hips and raise one leg and rotate the ankle clockwise and then anticlockwise. This again I thought was solely because there was no canteen at this particular hall, which is gross injustice really to the starved peace seekers.
5. The uncle who closed his eyes in a violenty meditative state, and putting thaaLam on his keychain - as inaccurate albeit loud as one can put thaaLam to a simple bhajan.
6. The uncle who had "minnaladikkum vennmai" level hair, who waited till the thani aavarthanam was over, impatiently fidgeting with his car keys, and then flashed a pseud little yellow post-it note from his pocket, wrote "KuRai onRum illai" on it and handed it over looking as obedient as possible, to the Mridangam player, who promptly flashed his "romba sandhosham" smile at the pleased mama (lets call him Ambimama, for cliche's sake).
7. All the uncles who turned and the some who reached out to shake our triumphant and widely grinning Ambimama's hand as a gesture of gratitude when Vasudha obliged. Some evolved aunties did the Thumbs up gesture from the other end of the hall, even as Vasudha could not believe sitting on stage the power of the kuRai onRum illai cult.
I could go on a bit more, but since J on gtalk is telling me to just post it, I shall prematurely truncate the bliss.
PS: Vasudha deserves more than a word of praise for a wonderful concert, smattered with an energetic medley of songs - bhajans, Sruthi bhetham, thillanas and the vritham mischievously sung in raag Vasanthi ;)
1. Silk-saree clad maamis with their flowing necklaces and blinding bangles which evoke greater appreciation than the girl singing her throat hoarse on stage. The handbag appreciation society was a Mumbai speciale', and clearly established Mumbai as the pseudest of the carnatic concert destinations!
2. The headbanging maamaas who dutifully accompany their well-draped and well-fed maamis, and lose themselves listening to "O bhagwan.. raksha karo" level songs..
3. The really involved listeners, who sit and make a list of the songs that are being sung, and wait to establish eye contact with the neighbor ladies who would then ask for the notebook, and boost their own egos because they identified the ragams right - this is usually accompanied by knowing smiles and mutual appreciation between the ladies.
4. A poor paatti, who could not sit beyond 2 hours, who walked across to one side of the seating area and repeated the foot exercises she had learnt in school - keep your hands on the hips and raise one leg and rotate the ankle clockwise and then anticlockwise. This again I thought was solely because there was no canteen at this particular hall, which is gross injustice really to the starved peace seekers.
5. The uncle who closed his eyes in a violenty meditative state, and putting thaaLam on his keychain - as inaccurate albeit loud as one can put thaaLam to a simple bhajan.
6. The uncle who had "minnaladikkum vennmai" level hair, who waited till the thani aavarthanam was over, impatiently fidgeting with his car keys, and then flashed a pseud little yellow post-it note from his pocket, wrote "KuRai onRum illai" on it and handed it over looking as obedient as possible, to the Mridangam player, who promptly flashed his "romba sandhosham" smile at the pleased mama (lets call him Ambimama, for cliche's sake).
7. All the uncles who turned and the some who reached out to shake our triumphant and widely grinning Ambimama's hand as a gesture of gratitude when Vasudha obliged. Some evolved aunties did the Thumbs up gesture from the other end of the hall, even as Vasudha could not believe sitting on stage the power of the kuRai onRum illai cult.
I could go on a bit more, but since J on gtalk is telling me to just post it, I shall prematurely truncate the bliss.
PS: Vasudha deserves more than a word of praise for a wonderful concert, smattered with an energetic medley of songs - bhajans, Sruthi bhetham, thillanas and the vritham mischievously sung in raag Vasanthi ;)
posted by Girish at 10:10 PM
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