66. Scenes Change!

 Scene: 1                        Year: 2005   

"Is Ramani at home?" asked Sekar, as he stepped into Ramani's house.

"He has not yet returned from the office" said Ramani's mother.

"There is a music concert at Narada Gana Sabha, tomorrow. I wanted to remind him about it. I called him up at his office, but his office phone was engaged."

"Is it a flute concert or veena* concert?" asked Ramani's mother.

"Flute concert by Sikkil Sisters. How did you guess that it would be a flute or veena concert? We attend vocal concerts too, don't we?" asked Sekar.

"You do. But I have seen that most of the times you go for a flute or veena concert!"

"Yes, aunty. These two instruments have a unique mellifluousness."

"Perhaps. I don't know much about music. Ramani should be back any time now. Please wait. Will you have coffee?"

"No, aunty. Thank you."

"Oh! you music lovers will feed your stomachs only when you are not feeding your ears, won't you!"

"You have floored me aunty, by quoting Thirukkural!**"

Scene: 2                                                                          Year: 2015

"Is Ramani at home?" asked Sekar, as he stepped into Ramani's house.

"He has not yet returned from the office" said Ramani's wife Ranjani.

"I tried to call him, but he is not answering."

"He might be driving."

"There is a flute concert by T.N.Seshagopalan at Arkay Convention Centre, tomorrow. I want to check whether he will be able to accompany me to the concert."

"I know Seshagopalan as a vocalist. I didn't know that he could play veena too!"

"He excels in playing veena as much as he does in singing. Ramani is fond of his veena performance."

"He should be here any time now. Will you have coffee?"

"No. Thank you. I remember the times when Ramani's mother would taunt me saying that music lovers like Ramani and me would think of feeding our stomachs only when our ears are not being fed! Alas, she is no more. By the way, if you don't mind, I want to ask you something." 

"Shoot!"

"You are named Ranjani, after the carnatic music ragha+ Ranjani. But you don't seem to have much interest in music!"

"That's not true. Do you know how many compact discs of music I have in my collection? All of them are compositions of the legendary film music composer M.S.Viswanahan. I find that his compositions have a wide range and variety covering various genres of music like Carnatic music, Hindustani music, Western music, Vedic music, ancient Tamil music# etc. By the way, a clarification about my name. My parents named me after the heroine of the Tamil film Apporva Ragangal, for which music was composed by Mr. M.S. Viswanathan!"

Before Sekar could respond to her, Ranjani exclaimed "Oh, here he is!" seeing Ramani making an entry.

"Hi, Sekar! Have you been waiting for long?" asked Ramani, looking at Sekar.

"No. I came in a few minutes back. I wanted to check whether you could accompany me to Seshagopalan's veena concert tomorrow" said Sekar.

"I would love to listen to Seshagopalan playing the veena. But I can't make it!"

"Why?"

"If I attend that concert, I will be missing another concert I love much more!"

"What is that concert?" asked Sekar, perplexed.

At that time, Ranjani who had just gone into the bedroom, returned to the hall, carrying her one year old baby that had just woken up from sleep.

Seeing Ramani, the child babbled something and tried to jump towards him.

Ramani took the child from Ranjani, turned to Sekar and told him "I was referring to the babbling concert of this great artiste!"

*veena - a chordophone instrument of Indian origin.

**a reference to Thirukkural verse number 412 which says that the stomach has to be fed only when there is no food for the ear (stressing the importance of learning through listening.)

+ragha - a standard tune in Indian music system 
# Carnatic and Hindustani music are Indian music systems, while Vedic and Tamil music systems are ancient systems of music in India.

Thirukkural
Section 1
The Path of Virtue

Chapter 7
The Boon of Having Children

Verse 66 (In Tamil)

kuzhal inidhu yAzh inidhu enba tham makkaL
mazhalaich chol kELAdhavar.

Meaning:

Only those who have not listened to the babble of their children will proclaim that a flute or a lute sounds mellifluous.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'kAtchigaL mARum nAdagam' by the same author)

Verse 67
Verse 65