Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Knowledge, Wisdom and Intuition
First comes knowledge, from study.
Then comes wisdom, from applying knowledge and learning from mistakes.
And then comes intuition, from true oneness with the subject.
This is the ultimate accomplishment!
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Puneri
Puneri
[Poo-nay-ree, पुणेरी ]
-noun
- To make puns, word play.
- To employ cutting humor devices like (but not limited to) oxymoron, irony, satire, sarcasm.
-verb
- To taunt with maximal effect and minimal effort.
- adjective
- Having or displaying idiosyncrasies of a person from Pune (also known as Punya-Nagari), the most glorious city in the universe. (Stereotypical characteristics involve extravagant hubris for unimportant details, having an acute sense for spotting differences and then dramatizing these differences using a special brand of disdainful sarcasm).
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Ruminations on Riyaaz
Riyaaz is the "art of practice" and "practice of art".
Riyaaz is getting into the habit of voluntarily breaking involuntary habits.
Riyaaz is the discipline of creating complexity from simplicity and simplicity from complexity.
Riyaaz is getting into the habit of voluntarily breaking involuntary habits.
Riyaaz is the discipline of creating complexity from simplicity and simplicity from complexity.
Vedic vs.Trumpet Scales
Vedic music had 3 notes, Komal Nishad (Ni), Shadja (Sa) and Komal Rishabh (Re). Shlokas composed in the Vedic scale make the mind calm and introspective, but never sleepy.
On the other hand, a typical Trumpet "alert" call has 3 notes too - Shadja (Sa), Shuddha Gandhar (Ga) and Pancham (Pa). This has the effect of waking the mind up, drawing attention, creating a sense of urgency.
The question is, why this difference?
I will put forth a conjecture:
Human speech undergoes inflections according to emotions. Perhaps, the reverse is true also.
When we are calm and talking with stable emotions, upward and downward inflections are relatively small. As an example,
- When we say"Uh-huh". "Uh" is at Komal Ni and "huh" is at Sa.
- When we ask "So?", The inflection starts at Sa and ends in a Komal Re.
Thus, the Vedic scale represents normal human tonic structures, codified as relative upward and downward changes in notes. (Svarita - baseline, Uddatta - higher, Anudatta - lower)
When we want to call out to someone, or call someone to us, our inflections are relatively bigger. As an example:
- "Anybody home?" - can be approximated to a Sa-Pa transition.
- "Come here" - can be approximated to a Pa-Ga transition
On the other hand, a typical Trumpet "alert" call has 3 notes too - Shadja (Sa), Shuddha Gandhar (Ga) and Pancham (Pa). This has the effect of waking the mind up, drawing attention, creating a sense of urgency.
The question is, why this difference?
I will put forth a conjecture:
Human speech undergoes inflections according to emotions. Perhaps, the reverse is true also.
When we are calm and talking with stable emotions, upward and downward inflections are relatively small. As an example,
- When we say"Uh-huh". "Uh" is at Komal Ni and "huh" is at Sa.
- When we ask "So?", The inflection starts at Sa and ends in a Komal Re.
Thus, the Vedic scale represents normal human tonic structures, codified as relative upward and downward changes in notes. (Svarita - baseline, Uddatta - higher, Anudatta - lower)
When we want to call out to someone, or call someone to us, our inflections are relatively bigger. As an example:
- "Anybody home?" - can be approximated to a Sa-Pa transition.
- "Come here" - can be approximated to a Pa-Ga transition
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Choosing a pen-name for my compositions
I have more than thirty compositions to my name till date (May 2011), except there is no name! My good friend and advisor Vivek Datar pointed this out a few months ago. Since then, I have been trying to come up with a neat pseudonym for me to sign my compositions...
Historically, there are a lot of "Ranga"s (colors) - Sadarang (Niyamat Khan), Adarang(Firoz Khan), Ramrang (Ramashreya Jha), Sabrang (Ustaad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan), Manrang, Hararang, Dilrang, Sur-rang, Shyamrang, Navrang, Rasarang, Premrang, Gyanrang, Dinrang, etc...
There are a lot of "Piyas" (meaning, lover) - AkhtarPiya, PremPiya, Sugharpiya (Bhaiyya Ganpatrao), DarasPiya, PraanPiya, etc.
There are a lot of "Das" (meaning, servant) - Ramdas, Gunidas, Premdas, etc.
And then some clever ones like Darpan (means mirror, Yunus Hussain Khan), Chatur Sujaan.
And then deep, disturbing ones like Shoka (means mourning, Pt. Kumar Gandharwa).
The ideal pen-name will reflect my personality, my personal ideology, but also have other shades of meanings that can be woven into different semantic contexts while creating the poetry.
Historically, there are a lot of "Ranga"s (colors) - Sadarang (Niyamat Khan), Adarang(Firoz Khan), Ramrang (Ramashreya Jha), Sabrang (Ustaad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan), Manrang, Hararang, Dilrang, Sur-rang, Shyamrang, Navrang, Rasarang, Premrang, Gyanrang, Dinrang, etc...
There are a lot of "Piyas" (meaning, lover) - AkhtarPiya, PremPiya, Sugharpiya (Bhaiyya Ganpatrao), DarasPiya, PraanPiya, etc.
There are a lot of "Das" (meaning, servant) - Ramdas, Gunidas, Premdas, etc.
And then some clever ones like Darpan (means mirror, Yunus Hussain Khan), Chatur Sujaan.
And then deep, disturbing ones like Shoka (means mourning, Pt. Kumar Gandharwa).
The ideal pen-name will reflect my personality, my personal ideology, but also have other shades of meanings that can be woven into different semantic contexts while creating the poetry.
Early morning today, I had a flash of inspiration: Naad (नाद) means [the cosmic] sound, music. Rang (रंग) means color. 'Naadrang' (नादरंग) thus means "The color of music", a multi-sensory experience! Another variant, Naadrangeele (नादरंगीले) means "one engrossed in music".
I hereby declare Naadrang' (नादरंग) as my nom de plume.
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