Staying Back overnight at Shahabad Part II
Some days which were holidays we stayed back during the day too. The day was mostly spent in visiting friends, playing around with them, having lunch with them and reading. We had simple pursuits and the backyards of the SSQs were particularly interesting places. The guava trees in many houses like those in Ramarao’s house were ripe picking for us. Having stayed in TRTs all our lives, it was awesome visiting the interiors of the spacious SSQs and running around in their backyards.
We once were in Prasanna’s house. Prasanna’s dad Ramakrishnan was a lively person and very much into music. He sang with melody and enthusiasm. It was around this time that the Malayalam movie classic, Swathi Tirunal based of the poet-composer king was released. Prasanna’s dad sand for us some of the krithis of which “Kripaya Palaya Shourey” still lingers in memory. I learned to sing it and curiously fell into a superstition which persists to this day.
When there were power failures in Wadi those days – which was a rare event – I once happened to sing Kripaya Palaya and the lights came on. I did it once again and then several times and the lights came back on. Knowing fully well that it was silly, I decided that singing Kripaya Palaya is an antidote to power failures. Even today I do this when power fails. For quite some time it was a great wonder to me, when I landed up in Calcutta in 1991. Those were the days when 15 hour power failures - proudly baptized Load Shedding - , was the norm there. We used to stay at the hostel and I sang and sang – and lo and behold the power came on! It was only later that I realized that I had been singing for several hours. It was then that I realized the secret of Kripaya Palaya. Singing long enough brought back power not because you sang it, but because you sang till the power came back! In fact any action does this. This was a vivid way to realize the power of superstitions. You believe something happens when you do something, build a mindset around it and then make it happen by your actions.
Whatever that may be, Prasanna’s dad and his Swathi Tirunal kritis induced in me a lifelong love for carnatic classical music. The gentleman is no more but the seeds he sowed germinated and grew. It led me into more forays often erratic and in spurts, in the future and persists to this day.
We once were in Prasanna’s house. Prasanna’s dad Ramakrishnan was a lively person and very much into music. He sang with melody and enthusiasm. It was around this time that the Malayalam movie classic, Swathi Tirunal based of the poet-composer king was released. Prasanna’s dad sand for us some of the krithis of which “Kripaya Palaya Shourey” still lingers in memory. I learned to sing it and curiously fell into a superstition which persists to this day.
When there were power failures in Wadi those days – which was a rare event – I once happened to sing Kripaya Palaya and the lights came on. I did it once again and then several times and the lights came back on. Knowing fully well that it was silly, I decided that singing Kripaya Palaya is an antidote to power failures. Even today I do this when power fails. For quite some time it was a great wonder to me, when I landed up in Calcutta in 1991. Those were the days when 15 hour power failures - proudly baptized Load Shedding - , was the norm there. We used to stay at the hostel and I sang and sang – and lo and behold the power came on! It was only later that I realized that I had been singing for several hours. It was then that I realized the secret of Kripaya Palaya. Singing long enough brought back power not because you sang it, but because you sang till the power came back! In fact any action does this. This was a vivid way to realize the power of superstitions. You believe something happens when you do something, build a mindset around it and then make it happen by your actions.
Whatever that may be, Prasanna’s dad and his Swathi Tirunal kritis induced in me a lifelong love for carnatic classical music. The gentleman is no more but the seeds he sowed germinated and grew. It led me into more forays often erratic and in spurts, in the future and persists to this day.
posted by Ramdas Iyer at 8:50 PM
2 Comments:
thanks Ram again u r back, as you told there are some superstitions u believe in like the one i would like to narrate when i get into trouble / tension and would like to be lonely i browse through your blog and invariably there will be a new post by Ram after that i decided to browse ur blog only when i am tense and feel boring. By God u keep me alive and charged up. Dont forget the fruit which we got from Prasanna's house it resembles the lengthier version of Star Fish and Rajat mohans lunch.
JC
If you have such a faithful friend as JC that alone is motivation enough to go on with the blog however difficult the situatiosn may be. Thanx JC
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