What gives us happiness?
What gives us a sense of joy?
What gives us bliss?
I know this is subjective as
each one has his/her own list of things, but not many things can equal this.
What is this ‘this’?
It is the sense of gratitude;
the sense of being thankful to others and things; the sense of being grateful.
There may be hundred reasons
for us to complain. But there are thousand reasons for us to be grateful. When
we are thankful for what we have, what we do not have, disappear and become
what we have.
Here is an example. The poet
says he never had the sense to even worship. His heart was as hard as steel.
Yet, he says his heart melted the moment he saw the One which is as sweet as
the sugar cane, the One who resides in the place which is surrounded by the
bee-humming groves, the place which goes by the name Thiru Arangam. He
goes on to say that his eyes rejoice seeing Him and that the bliss can not be
described.
விரும்பி நின்று ஏத்த மாட்டேன், விதி இலேன்
மதி ஒன்று இல்லை
இரும்பு போல் வலிய நெஞ்சம் இறை- இறை உருகும்
வண்ணம்
சுரும்பு அமர் சோலை சூழ்ந்த அரங்கமா கோயில்
கொண்ட,
கரும்பினைக் கண்டு கொண்டு, என் கண்ணினைக்
களிக்குமாறே!
If this ThoNdaradippodiyaazhwar
finds it difficult to control his extreme amazement, the child prodigy who goes
by the name Thirugnasambandhar, goes a step further and says that that ‘gentleman’
whose matted hair has both the river and the crescent moon and who lives in
this eternal place called Brahmmapuram, simply stole my heart and I
realised it when the beautiful bangles became loose and fell down.
நீர் பரந்த நிமிர் புன்சடை மேல் ஓர் நிலா
வெண்மதி சூடி
ஏர் பரந்த இன வெள் வரை சோர, என் உள்ளம் கவர்
கள்வன்
ஊர் பரந்த “உலகின் முதல் ஆகிய ஓர் ஊர் இது”
என்னப்
பேர் பரந்த பிரமாபுரம் மேவிய பெம்மான் இவன்
அன்றே.
The Lords the two poets
address may be different; the wordings may be different; the expression may be
different; the mood may be different. But what are common between the two
verses are amazement and gratitude.
Amazement gives Gratitude.
Gratitude leads to Amazement. And this is a continuous process.
It is an undeniable and
ineluctable fact that great music gives us amazement and this in turn leads to
gratitude.
Let us take the special song
of this special day. When one listens to the composition, one is amazed by the
way it sounds. But this is just at the surface level. When one goes deeper, one
finds layers after layers and the simple amazement leads to great amazement
which leads to the sense of gratitude which in turn gives that bliss.
What is special about ‘NandRi
solla veNdum nalla naaLile’ from the movie ‘Chittiraiyil Nila Choru’?
It is based on a raga
called Hamsadhwani. Can this fact alone make it special? It is used in
its pure and pristine form. So what? Can this make it special?
Rather than answering these
directly, let me choose to peel the layers and showcase each layer. Pudding,
Eating and Proof. Do I need to say more?
Bubbling with energy and
buoyant with joy, two flutes play together. Do they play the same notes?
No. Do they play in a similar way? No. Notes from one flute goes in a
spiral while the ones from the other flute moves horizontally. If the
first mentioned is like a bumble bee, the second mentioned is like a sparrow.
If the first one is a trill in western classical music parlance,
the second one plays a sustained melody. Even as this is on, the synth
guitar sounds the notes of Hamsadhwani with poise and the strings
follow with finesse. All these combine together towards the end, to make us
visualise a rainbow.
Well, this is just the
beginning; that is, surface level.
What then is the next layer?
With the backing of the synth
guitar, the female voice renders the Pallavi in Hamsadhwani, a raga
with just five swaras- sa ri ga pa ni. We see the different
permutations and combinations of this pentatonic raga in the Pallavi
itself, which finally ends with the avarohaNa swaras- Sa ni pa/ Sa ni
pa.
What is the next layer?
The twin-flute now
plays in tandem, defining the two words- soft and supple. The tabla
follows. The flutes appear again, but this time playing a different set
of notes, that is, different from the previous melody, though both play
together. After the sound of the tabla again, the flutes give way
to two sets of strings, with one set playing a dominant role and the
other set playing second fiddle, literally. With relentless assiduity and
incontrovertible melodic power, the guitar continues the interlude
backed by synth instruments. The strings and the flute combine
again and take us to the CharaNam, not before playing that signature ‘Sa
ni pa’.
As if to indicate for the nth
time that listening between the lines is always preferable to reading between
the lines, the flute appears between the lines rendered by Karthik
and Priydarshini in the first segment of the CharaNams. And as if
to show that apart from listening between the lines, listening along the lines
is good as well, the strings play along the lines in the next segment.
The signature ‘Sa ni pa’ appears at the end again even as the percussion
takes a break.
Can a pure Carnatic raga
have western flavours as well? This indeed is the next layer. The flutes
play Hamsadhwani in western classical style with bewitching charm
with the cello moving with an unearthly elegance. The strings follow
and allure us with their grace and elegance. The guitar plays with
sobriety. The strings enter again, but this time blending the East
and the West, moving like a clear stream. The notes descend towards the
end like the water falls.
Are these the only layers?
Well, we saw only the melodic
layers so far. Isn’t it time to see the rhythmic layers?
Before I get into these
layers, let me briefly explain the basic rhythmic structures.
Ta ki ta – Three – Tisram.
Ta ka dhi mi – Four – Chatushram.
Ta ka/ ta ki ta – Five – Khandam.
Ta ki ta/ ta ka
dhi mi – Seven- Mishram.
Ta ka dhi mi/ Ta
ka ta ki ta – Nine – SankeerNam.
The beats in a song are
further sub-divided into micro-beats. For example, a composition set in 4-beats
or 8-beats can be subdivided into 16 or 32 or even 64
micro-beats.
This song is set in the simple
8-beat aadi taaLam. Generally, composers divide this as just 4
and 4. But not this Master. He has used different combinations in
various songs. But what he has done in this composition is something uncommon,
something unique and something extraordinary.
He has divided 16 as – 4/3/5/4.
Now, the first half can be
called Mishram but it is the reverse of Mishram and is called vilomam-
Ta ka dhi mi/ta ki ta instead of ta ki ta/ta ka dhi mi. The
second half is SankeerNam but this is again in the reverse pattern.
Though there is vilomam in Mishram, there is no vilomam in
SankeerNam as far as I know.
This is not the only layer,
though.
The prelude has no
percussion absolutely. Nor does the Pallavi when the first line is
rendered. The magic starts after this.
The pattern – ta ka dhi mi/
ta ki ta/ ta ka ta ki ta/ ta ka dhi mi- is sounded by the percussion.
But there is magic here as well. Only the first, third, fifth, eighth, tenth,
thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth and the sixteenth are sounded leaving other
beats blank. The blanks are called ‘ kaaravais’ in Carnatic music
parlance.
In the first interlude,
there is no percussion when the first melody is played. It is only the percussion
then and this time it sounds ‘ta ki ta/ ta ka ta ki ta/ ta ka dhi mi/ta ka
dhi mi’, and not the pattern played in the Pallavi. This happens
twice after which the melodic instruments and the percussion join
together.
However, when the guitar
plays, the percussion sounds ta ka dhi mi four times, another
variation.
The CharaNams follow
the unique pattern again.
But again, the first part of
the second interlude which sees the western contours, has no percussion.
The second segment has the percussion but it is again plain ‘ta ka
dhi mi’. For a change, it is played by the western percussion and not the Tabla.
The variation in the pattern
is not in percussion alone. It is seen in the lines in the CharaNams as
well. One sees – Ta ki ta/Ta ki ta/ Ta ki ta/Ta ka dhi mi- in the middle
part of the CharaNams.
How many layers did you count?
Well, even I have lost count.
Amazement and Gratitude- Are
these Countable or Uncountable?
Ask ThoNdaradippodiyaazhwar..
Ask Gnanasambandhar.. Ask Gnanadesikan..
If none of this is possible,
just listen to the song!
PS: This post and the previous one in Tamizh were written exclusively for Geetanjali - 2025 and were read out to an invited audience in Chennai on the 31st of August, 2025.
