Dance

This thought struck me while I was travelling in an auto rickshaw, juggling a strong irritation response to the heat and the noise, with the uncomfortable sensation of my innards being shaken by a vehicle that probably missed the invention of shock-absorbers.

An automatic defense mechanism that my mind employs when I try to keep my calm, while travelling in public transport , is to bring up a tune or memory of some musical item (inevitably drawn from Classical Music) that I have heard in the past, and play it repeatedly! It usually works wonders for me as I soon become blissfully unaware of most of the unpleasant sounds, sights and (oh my god!) smells that inevitably impinge upon one's senses in a local train, bus or auto rickshaw.

The thought that came to me today (while I played Pandit Kishan Maharaj's tabla wizardry in my mental tape recorder), was about melody and rhythm, the two broad spheres into which I divide any music. All of a sudden received the mental picture of a man performing a wonderfully measured and intricate series of movements...(almost like Tai Chi raised to the power 5!) and while he moved, a golden energy swirled all around him. It moved to create a dynamic and yet harmonious pattern, but did not move exactly with him. At key points the movements of the man and the energy touched each other, but often the golden light made many pirouettes, spirals etc, that almost threatened to diverge from the movement of the man. Still, these were so beautifully made that they always returned to add grace and beauty to the dance that the man wove ceaselessly.

To me, the man symbolised taala, the rhythmic cycles or beat-patterns that a classical musician sings or plays to. The golden energy was swara or melody. Taala moves in intricate ways to try and provide structure and form to music, while Swara weaves intricate and almost divergent patterns within the laws of Taala. Together they create Naada (cosmic sound) which is what enervates Indian Classical Music with its spiritual force. Both Swara and Taala can exist in isolation, but they make more sense and enrich one another when the come together. This is the dance of Shiva, the Eternal Musician...he who rolls out the infinite taalas on his damaru and in response to whose song the universe unfolds all creation...