Maan gaya Ustad...

It's the fag end of the semester, almost obvious from the dull look that the campus bore. We, in raag, actually got some time to breathe free from the numerous concerts that we performed for until now. Sometime back, we had lots of discussions on whether to have a 'trinity' day, the usual event at this time of the year. However , padma mam had informed us that she would not be able to teach songs to us because of the supposedly busy schedule. Well, that would be a totally different story.Now, there comes this big question - whether we go ahead with the event, learning the songs ourselves or scrap the event for good. At times, it's often better to be pragmatic than to listen to your heart. We decided to call it off. We had already done way too much, whether for ourselves or for the insti - it does'nt matter.

The next thing would be the psenti concert, or so we thought. One fine afternoon, pratik came to me and told me that they would like to have a totally hindustani concert in a few weeks time. We had actually planned for something like this at the beginning of this semester, but that quite got out of our minds with the many many other things that we had to do. Now that the fire has been lighted, we started the usual round of practice sessions. Anil Rai sir trained them - pratik and aakash (second yearite - fresher to the club) on the vocals, Hardik, Ritesh and Aditya on the tabla. Well, it was a totally dedicated effort with extended practice sessions, which had started way back in October. Kudos to the Hindustani guyz.

It was again one of Raag's 5.30pm's in E.T. A familiar scene awaited all of us. The performers were ready to take on the stage, with confidence writ large on their faces. After the compering, done for the first time by a male (atleast until the point I can remember), pratik started with an alap in raag brindavanishrana. It was a brilliant exposition for a solid 25 minutes that concluded with the song 'Na Bolo Shyam Hami Sang' set to teen taal. Commendable effort at that. :) With 45 minutes of uninterrupted music, the first piece came to an end. Next to take on stage was Aakash - a second year entrant into the club. He started with raag Bahar. Starting at a slow pace, he elaborately brought into his rendition the grandeur of the raga, infusing it with brisk swarams towards the end. The concluding piece of the concert was a bhajan "prabhuji mere avagun chit na dharo..." rendered by pratik. A very famous bhajan, it made the audiences sway, ending the evening on a lighter and happier note.

Apart from the brilliant run up to this event and an even more cherishable concert, there was something else to note durin this concert. Audiences - never before seen faces in a Raag's concert came to sit in the front benches and happily revelling in the music. And quite a few professors too. :P

Well, that concludes the first Hindustani concert of Raag. Times change and we evolve too. And this time, beautifully. We have opened to doors to a whole new set of possibilities. This is just a start. A new dawn. A new feather to our cap. To take this tradition forward, we would only strive. The long road stretches far in front of us. It's for us to do the walking. The journey of a thousand miles. And it has just started here...