ಮನಕ್ಕೆ ನೆನಹಾಗಿ...

... and nothing on earth is as sensual and intoxicating as a Khyal (or Khayal) rendition.

As Bhimsen Joshi flows along with Raag Durga, meandering, expounding and at times diligently calm and deliberately undramatic, the words of the great Harmonium exponent, Pandit Rambhau Vijapure at a live concert in Belagavi, flash across memory. Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee an exact recollection. It was something like this - "ee pettigi nirjeeva vastu. intha nirjeeva vastuvininda sajeeva sangeetha hondasabekandara kalaavidana mehanattu enthaddu irabeku vichaara maadri ...!!". I don't know how to translate it. Let me just put it this way - "This box (harmonium) being an inanimate object, just imagine the kind of effort an artist has to put to derive something as lively as music out of it ...!!". I was sitting in the first row (on a carpet) right in front of him (just about a few feets away), and I felt vivacious. As a matter of fact, I was one of the organisers of that concert.

I miss those live concerts that we (my father and friends, me also) used to organise every month.