The power of music
transcends all boundaries....
I have heard and read this line some million times….but
understood the real meaning of on Saturday, 26th May, 2012. The day
started off crazily. We got tickets to the AR Rahman concert. It was my first
live concert of the maestro…..and I was visibly excited! We left around 11:30 AM
from Pune, picked up our friends and headed towards D.Y Patil Stadium in Navi
Mumbai. The drive was not really a pleasant one, all thanks to the gruelling
heat. But our excitement and anxiety (of reaching there on time to collect the
tickets) made us forget the scorching sun.
We reached there much before time, all thanks to my hubby’s
aspiration to participate in F1 someday! We collected our tickets around 3.30
PM and then the wait began. Finally around 6:00 PM we entered the stadium. Once
inside we were awestruck seeing the entire set up. The stage was grand with
four platforms for the supporting singers and musicians to sit. It had 2 huge
ramps and an extensive LED Wall covering the entire background of the stage. The
lights were amazing with special laser effects. We were simply mesmerised.
Just while we were soaking
in the grandeur of the place I saw something that brought me back to reality. Two
rows in front of us a middle-aged man was holding the hand of his friend (that’s
what he looked like) and carefully maneuvering his way through the crowd
towards his seat. The man was wearing thick black glasses and had a walking
stick on this other hand. He very clearly was not blessed with the gift of
vision. Yet he was here in a concert to ‘see’ AR Rahman performing live. For a
moment I forgot all about the extravaganza of the stage and light and tried
thinking why we are all here. Why have 30,000 people come together at this
stadium today? They have come here to ‘see’ music…but in reality music cannot
be seen, it can only be ‘felt’. While 29,999 people have come to see the
concert…ONE man has come to experience music. I looked all around me. Everyone around
was busy buying soft-drinks, popcorns, samosas and clicking picture of the
stadium. While this man was sitting still…getting ready to experience the ‘Magic’.
Looking at him reminded me of my childhood memories. My mother
is an amazing singer. She studied Rabindra-sangeet
(Tagore’s song) from Shantiniketan. In my eyes, she is one of the best singers
that I have ever come across. Since her priority in life was to take care of
her family and her daughter, she had never pursued singing as her career ever. Singing
for her was more like an escape into her Eutopia. I still remember, whenever
she used to sing, she always had her eyes closed. In so many years I had never
seen her sing with her eys open. I always wondered why she would do that. Today
I realised…while singing she always experienced music and felt it from her
soul. It took her to a different world where the existing world ceased to be.
Once the concert started and the maestro took over the stage…it
was a fantastic experience. He sang most of his famous songs and kept the
audience singing, swaying and humming to his tune. Throughout these 3 hours
every time I looked at this man at the corner seat he reminded me of the ‘tranquil
tree shade in a grueling hot day’. Slowly nodding his head he was soaking in all
the rhythm and music.
The day will always be one of the most memorable day in my
life not because I had for the first time seen the legendary music-director
performing on stage, but also because the way I realised a very simple truth of
life, that Music is always to be felt…and not to be seen!
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