Is longing for something bad?
If we long for something or
yearn for somebody, we become obsessed with that thought and we set aside
everything in life focussing only on one thing, which seriously impacts our
life itself.
So, is it good or bad?
Before we sit on the Judge’s
seat, let us look at something.
Here is a girl who pines for a
man and in the process goes to an extreme. Who that man is and what that
extreme is, will be known in a bit. First, the verse:
மச்சு அணி மாட மதிள் அரங்கர் வாமனனார்,
பச்சைப் பசுந்தேவர் தாம் பண்டு நீர் ஏற்ற
பிச்சைக் குறையா ஆகி, என்னுடைய பெய்வளை மேல்
இச்சை உடையரேல் இத்தெருவே போதாரே?
The one who lives in the place called
Srirangam- which is full of decorated walls- once took the form of a dwarf ,
went to an Emperor and asked for alms. Even after getting the entire Universe
as a ‘gift’, He was probably not happy. But wouldn’t his longing be fulfilled
if he looks at my bangles and therefore wouldn’t He just pass through this
street(where I am standing right now)?
If by now you haven’t guessed
who that ‘she’ is, let me tell you that her name is AandaaL and that
this is from her immortal work called ‘Naacchiyaar Thirumozhi’.
At the surface, the verse may
not convey much except for the rhyming words. But scratch the surface and
meanings- esoteric, poetic and philosophical- will gush out just like water let
out from a dam.
First- the contrasts.
He is rich as the place where
He lives is surrounded by huge and beautiful walls. At the same time, He went
for ‘begging’ as a dwarf. Here too there is a contrast- High walls/Dwarf/
Second- psychology.
It is she who longs for Him
and yet she imagines and believes that it is He who longs for her.
Third- Poetic imagination.
This requires no explanation.
Nor do other elements because of reasons that are obvious.
So, is longing good or bad?
A true artiste (by ‘artiste’,
I mean one who looks at the world with an artistic eye) longs for beauty.
Beauty in whatever he or she does; beauty in the world; beauty in thoughts.
Example : AandaaL
Example : AandaaL’s
Ranganatha
Example : ILaiyaraaja.
While I have already given
explanation for the first two, I would refrain from doing it for the third
because I have done it innumerable times here. Therefore, let me straightaway
go to explaining yet another composition of his.
What strikes one the moment
one listens to ‘KaNNa Varuvaaya’ (Manadhil Urudhi
VeNdum – 1987) is the hidden silence. If silence itself is beautiful, imagine
how beautiful hidden silence could be. There is that sense of poignancy too
which in a way is intrinsic in the raga called Gowrimanohari.
This raga is sandwiched
between Kharaharapriya and KiravaNi-two ragas with
contrasting emotions- but is unique and has a charm of its own. By the way,
some classify ‘KaNNa Varuvaaya’ under Patdeep- supposedly
the Hindustani counterpart of Gowrimanohari- but I feel it is
wrong because the former has only 5 swaras in the aroh while the
latter has all the seven both in the aroh and avaroh and the fact
that this composition too has the ‘ri’ and ‘dha’ in the aroh(and
yes, in the avaroh), rules out the Hindustani raag.
I was talking about the
‘silence’ and ‘poignancy’. The composition starts with the humming of the
chorus which can be called tenebrous. One gets to see the lambent light when
the keys enter and play ‘ta ka dhi mi/ ta ka’. But the mystic feeling is
accentuated by the single- stringed instrument which follows and the
subtle flute which ‘sings’ along with the chorus. The tabla trots
up and down in tisram playing ‘ta ki ta’ eight times and the Pallavi
begins.
The Pallavi in the
voice of Chitra is marked by the mid-octave swaras to start with,
but suddenly there is a surge. In the second line, the higher-octave ‘Ri’
and the upper ‘Sa’( twice ) appear in the second phrase- mannan-
showing the creative genius of the composer. But even this is nothing when
compared to the last line in which the lower ‘ni’ follows the mid-octave
‘ri’ (maalai malarcholai) and when the upper ‘Ri’ appears
immediately after the mid-octave ‘ri’(nadhiyoram)
which is followed by the upper ‘Ma’ and a slide-Ga Ri Sa ni dha
pa ma- and this in my view, is simply magical.
What is also magical is the first
interlude. If the bell sound being followed by the strings-which
give the contours of WCM- shows one kind of contrast, the veena and the
strings beguile us with a different kind of contrast. The strings play
in higher-octave with flourish with two different sets playing ‘second
fiddle’ in different octaves. Layers?
The percussion stops
now letting the flute vivify the atmosphere with the strings providing
the contrast yet again.
The voice of Yesudas
starts the first CharaNam which yet again has different permutations and
combinations of the swaras in Gowrimanohari, with the higher-octave
swaras being juxtaposed with that of the mid-octave swaras and
finally ending with the signature ‘Ga Ri Sa ni dha pa’. But this is just
theory and is of academic interest. The entire CharaNam conveys love,
separation, longing, and yearning.
As I keep saying, raga
and swaras are just tools to convey and invoke the emotions. A
composition goes much beyond these, a fact proved yet again here.
The solo-violin pines.
The group of strings responds. The solo-violin pines again. The
group of strings responds again. This interplay of emotions happens in
the beginning of the second interlude and this segment goes sans percussion,
adding to the feelings.
The chorus continues and is
backed only by the single-stringed instrument making it tantalisingly
beautiful. The percussion says ‘I can wait no longer’ and backs the veena
and the metallic western instrument which alternate between each other
even as the chorus continues its journey. There is brief silence yet again with
the veena scything through the silence in its inimitable style and the
strings responding in kind.
The second CharaNam is
different from that of the first CharaNam in terms of the gait and in
terms of the combination of swaras. It goes in the next speed and each
line is divided into three 4s-ta ka dhi mi/ta ka dhi mi/ta ka dhi mi.
The first two lines go ascending while the next two lines go descending. If one
sees the contrast again here between the first two lines and the next two
lines, one can see yet another contrast in the structure of the second
set(third and fourth lines) with the first half sliding from the upper Sa
and the second half sliding from the upper Ga. It reaches a crescendo in
the end.
Is longing full of contrasts?
Then, is it good or bad?
AaNdaaL,
ILaiyaraaja and Ranganatha
might give an answer.
Maybe, they may not…
