The Music Maker - Part 2

I was on the terrace of my mamabari (maternal uncle's home) when Deedun (my grandmother ) called me from downstairs, "Mamoni, come down quickly, your mother is waiting for you on the phone". The year was 1996, mobile phones had not yet revolutionized our communication process in India, we had the good old land line phones, which did not have the silent mode, when they rang, your neighbors till next three doors knew that somebody was calling you. I ran down the stairs, two at a time to take the call, "Mamon, Baba has got your GUITAR from the store today, when are you coming home? " I heard my mother say from the other end.

That same evening I was back in my home ( my mamabari is also in Jamshedpur) and for the first time when I laid my eyes on my HOBBNER ( a guitar brand ) I fell in love, there it was brand new, sleek  and shiny. It was as if for that moment I had completely forgotten the PIANO of my dreams, as if the Piano never existed. The guitar had completely shut the Piano out of my mind, like when you saw this really cute boy in school and you completely forgot about your crush on a movie star. And when I gently took it into my arms and strum the strings for the first time, our affair had already begun. The Guitar was now the center of my universe.

My cousin came down to meet me the next day, " Heard that you are on your way to become a guitarist ", he mocked me as always and I offcourse paid no attention. "Are you sure you will be able to hold it because you are only a few inches taller than the guitar ", he mocked again. I smiled sarcastically at him because he didnt know that true love can overcome any physical incompatibility and I had truly fallen in love with my Hobbner.

My guitar classes began very soon, every wednesday and saturday of the week , all my time at home was spent practicing. Now when I think of it, I realize how much of a pain I have been to my family and neighbors  when I started playing initially. I soon began playing pretty good and impressed my music teacher, since I learned classical music, the first raag that I learnt was Wilawal and the first raag that I played for an exam was Kafi and so many raags from then on but the one that I liked to play best was raag Desh ( to be played in the morning ), simply mesmerizing, from the first time I played it till today Desh has been my favorite raag.

Time really flies, before I knew I had played my guitar for three years, I was no longer a torture to my family, even my cousins started liking to hear me play. In the meantime I had performed in many functions, won some prizes also ( they are still there in my home ). I was slowly becoming more and more involved in my music, I was playing with students who were much older to me, some had even got their degree in music. I was really happy.

They say that love and marriage are not always the same thing, you may love someone with all your heart, with everything you have and yet you may not be able to marry them , maybe they are rite , maybe they are not, who knows.It was the year 2000 ( yes I know the year of Y2K, that scared the hell out of people ), but it was not Y2K that scared the hell out of me, it was my 10th board exam which I was to give in 2001 and for that I was expected to study diligently throughout the year.

The do or die question stood in front of me, studies or music? A good score in the board exam has its own importance and advantages, specially when it comes to getting admitted to University. I was in the worst dilemma of my teenage life...what to do? The music lessons were also becoming more intense, they demanded undivided attention, lot of effort and dedication, it was no longer playing just for fun, it was much more serious business now. My teenage head won over my teenage heart and my beutiful guitar, the first love of my life was packed into its box to be kept temporarily on top of the Godrej almirah in my study room.

Just as lovers console each other that their separation is short- lived, I promised my guitar that our separation was only momentary, we would be together again very soon, making beautiful music which we had always done.    (..... to be continued in final concluding part )

The Music Maker - Part 1

The hall burst out into applause as I finished hitting the last notes on my piano, the echo of the applause kept reverberating inside for some time. It had been an awesome performance and the reaction of the audience was giving proof to that. This was a dream come true for me , an auditorium full of audience applauding after my piano recital, what a day, one that I had waited for a long time". Mamon wake up quickly or you will miss your school bus and you will then have to run after it till the next stop." My mother's voice doubled up as an alarm clock for me,my dream was broken and I was back into reality, Where was my piano? Where was the auditorium? And where was the audience?

I started getting out of bed slowly, all the time thinking to myself why did I always have the same dream, the same grand piano, the same auditorium and the same loud echo of the audience applauding. Was it a mechanism my sub-conscious had employed to make me aware that I now wanted to be the owner of a Grand Piano. I had to tell this to my mother, but wait what would I tell? That I wanted to play a piano? The one that I saw in my dreams was so big, it would never fit into our living room...hmmm...wait a second....maybe if I could convince my mother to move all the furniture out of the living room, then we could fit a big piano. The problem now was how to approach my mother to buy me a piano....yes I knew what I would do....I would ask it as a birthday gift....smart isnt it.

I started dragging my feet towards the kitchen, my mother was standing with her back towards me, busy packing our lunch boxes. "Maa, I was thinking.....", I started, "there is no time to think now, hurry up and take the shower and get into your school dress, never seen a lazy bone like you ", replied my mother before I could complete. "Maa, listen please, I have been thinking and I wanted to tell you, I want a GUITAR for my birthday " ( WHAT?? I had blurted out a GUITAR instead of a PIANO, what was my sub-conscious doing? replacing a PIANO with a GUITAR).

"Get ready for school quickly and we will discuss more about this in the evening " was my mother's reply, the whole day at school I could not concentrate on anything , my mind kept jumping between PIANO and GUITAR, I could not decide. Well a guitar seemed more practical,I could carry it easily, I knew there was a music school teaching guitar near my home, and it would not need any furniture to be moved. But what about my dream ? Only time will tell :)

My mother was waiting for me at the door of our home when I came back from school in the evening. "Mamon, your Baba and I have decided that you can have a guitar for your birthday but you will have to promise that you will learn to play it till the end, you will not discontinue your guitar classes like you discontinued your classical dance class ".  I was thrilled,I am going to have my own musical instrument, I could not believe. "Maa, thank you so much, I promise I will learn till the end, I will play it beautifully you will see, I promise I will ". I had made the promise to my mother that day....but did I keep my promise....did I finish all my music classes?     (...... to be continued )