Reblogged from Here, there and everywhere...:

Butterflies aren’t a common sight very late in the evening. As it is, I was a little surprised to notice one. Like they always do, this one too was fluttering about carelessly pausing momentarily at places where it wished to. A couple of minutes later it did this wonderful flitting in a zig zag pattern and in an instant stopped and fell. Before I could notice and go near it, it was dead, its dance put to an end.

At that moment it struck me, why not live our lives like this, like this butterfly? Keep the dance going till the very end instead of turning sour and grumpy? By the dance, I do not mean or say it in the literal sense, but the dance inside us, the energy inside us, that can last till we breathe our very last. At certain moments we feel this sudden burst of energy, the spirit that keeps us on and up for a few moments; we need to make “this” last and that will make life worth while, not for ourselves alone, but for people around us too.

Once our part is played, nothing remains except a few memories of us with our cherished ones. And when that is all that remains, we need to be definitely sure that its worth its weight in gold, that they are beautiful memories. They will remain as souvenirs, which will be reminisced by the ones whom we love.

The last flight of the butterfly has been the first beginnings for me to understand life differently!

Image Courtesy: Chandan Karkera

Economic recession? Wallet’s tight? Putting in those extra hours for that extra “bling”? Higher interest rates? Boss putting an insane amount of pressure on your head? Feel like you have nothing left? You’re done?

Well if you’re reading this, then none of the above are actually an existential crisis for you. You reading this means – you have a computer/ laptop/ phone, a working Internet connection, electricity, you’ve had a meal already and positively a roof over your head. Also like me you have a lovely family, some great buddies and people who support you.

For numerous folk these are fairy tale scene. Getting a glass of fresh water to drink is a blessing for people in drought stricken regions, a morsel of clean food, a gift for a populace in the famine ravaged regions of the world. For others in war ravaged regions, home is but two stilts acting as a support for a sheet of plastic. This just puts our position in a diametrically opposite perspective where our lives are secure, warm and all fuzzy. Now, it would only seem apt to be overly satisfied with what we have and how much we have. Privilege is what we have in the face of the adversity the world is facing everyday.

In the ever growing age of desire, marketing, advertising and peer pressure, we give in to it! Everyone is after the next “IT” thing! And this we reflect sometimes on our children.

There are a couple of things I’m currently working on, one of them would be to simplify life; take out all the unnecessary, don’t let in this stuff in my life again. Appreciate all that I have material and otherwise, with latter being the more important of the two! A deeply caring and loving family I can always fall back on.

Another, to pass this on to my daughter.I’m having a growing daughter at home, making things difficult by wasting water, food etc. These are the moments forbearing on a parent. It sometimes cannot be ignored simply because the child starts throwing tantrums; it is then with utmost restraint we need to teach them, explain it to them how fortunate enough we are to have things which a vast section of mankind doesn’t know if such a thing were to exist.

There are simple things I try to appreciate; a sunrise, the early morning sounds of birds, my daughter’s calling. Simplify.

Newton said “Nature is pleased with simplicity.” But then Da Vinci comes a close second to mind, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

The same is with life too. Irrespective of genealogy, principles and multitudes of baggage that individualizes us, our voyage of life is bound by a common purpose, death. Death doesn’t seem to be the end of it all; rather it serves as a reference point in this journey, as does life.

In this voyage we experience joys, experience sorrow, we fall, dust ourselves off and get up – make new beginnings, make new ends. More often than not we learn what really makes us, who we really are. This journey would be the Godfather of every other one that we’ve taken.

This journey has an exception though, one that none other will posses. Every part of the journey will be travelled only once and when such be the journey, not an instant of it be ignored.

Microsoft Mango: They look good and smell good; eat a lot and your insides will hang.

Android OS: Are like treats they’re named after; less is good too much bores you.

“Black”berry: They were good, very good; but now are in the dark about almost everything; they’re training Mysore police now!

Apple iOS: Just like what an Apple does; once in it constipates and stays there preventing you from looking at everything else!

This entire sequence of events I have been closing my eyes and playing everyday since that wonderful day; just so that I don’t forget the amazing feeling of becoming a father…such powerful, strong emotions…even now as I blog about it…every father will know and connect to this…if I could freeze time that one moment when the doctor said – “The father”, and I see Amritha!!! These are the moments, events that make up life…give meaning to everything that you’ve put into life, a purpose to everything that you’ve put into life…

Amritha will be two years old in a short time from now; time puts forth its very fundamental lesson – “I don’t wait for anyone or anything”

I try to keep reminding myself of the times when the nappies were changed at night, of the cries, of the first times she experienced everything – of her first winter, of her first summer, of her first fall, of her first syllables, her first laughs, of her first smiles, her first steps…her first attempts at calling me “Appa” and Sowmya, “Amma”…every moment has been a magical one…Babies, children always manage to do that…with all their innocence and unconditional love, they make you feel blessed…

Now she speaks fluently, conveys things, has her perspective of things, leaves me surprised at times with the things she does and sometimes doesn’t…she’ll suddenly come running hold both my legs, hug me tight…asks me to carry her and hugs me tight and says Appa, pats me on the cheeks and smiles…sometimes there’s a wave of emotions gushing down…” so much love?”, i ask myself…there just needs to be a fraction of this love in all of us, the world will be a much better place…

There are over a thousand photos of her, a sizeable amount of video footage and a few audio clips…what is missing is an emotion recorded…where I can record mine and show them to Amritha…how lucky me and Sowmya are to have we…God bless Amritha, God bless all…

Quintessential thoughts run up my mind:

• why “sleep”?
• is “sleep” the real sleep, or is being awake the real “sleep”?
• does “sleep” as in dictionary terms merely refer to a physical state? what about the state of the mind? while we awake, we still are asleep to the million unforgiving things happening around us…

Some primal questions we have failed to understand; then another though streams by – channel surfing and watching the “2012″ movie for a few minutes; cannot help but wonder when there are such primal things which we have not been able to unravel, we try to fathom the end of world, the universe. Civilizations that have predicted this to be so have not been able to foresee the downfall of their own civilizations…yet we try to reason why things will happen as we think them to be…

Yet another thought channels by, why struggle to create order around us? Why fight to bring things under control? We humans are, but an arrogant subset of species trying to bring about an order to everything we put our minds to, while within ourselves we wage a war against the many myriad of emotions – of wants, of desires, of love and of hate; yet we ignorantly go about trying to bring entropy outside of us…how long will this last? just like the Zen master’s tea-cup story - how long can you keep pouring tea into a cup without drinking from it and still expect the table to be clean? all this over a cup of tea…

The track as mentioned by Vishal, clearly draws inspiration from Rabindrada’s “Where The Mind Is Without Fear“. The poem in a particular verse references to a desert – “Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit”. This scores a bulls eye for the track being recorded in the same. No place better than our own backyard – The Thar. Wave upon wave of endless sand, the elegiac Samode Palace bearing witness to a conjuring by some of the best musical talent there is. The eclectic mix is a testament to the age-old aphorism “Music knows no boundaries”.

Clearly from the word go, the track begins with the plucking of a stringed instrument and takes us to wonderland when “Naseeba” plays out. The multi layered percussion Dhin Dhin Tak sequence has been created using traditional music instruments and who would guess the Ghungroo which is like icing on the cake. All this keeping western instruments at bay. Such is the enthralling power of folk music; we need to give back to it every single dime!

Imogen’s voice gives it an other-worldly dimension and with the mix of Hindi thrown in the track is alluring. There is a pause coming in at 2:37 and that is probably the highlight of the track; keeping the hair at the back of your neck standing, not knowing what to expect and then again you are taken out of this world and given a taste of the divine. The hypnotic Jhi Jhi Re, Jhi Jhi Re chant does only but better the track.

The passion that has gone into creating this euphonious piece is evident in all aspects ranging from getting the sounds of instruments to Imogen belting out tunes in Hindi to the technical aspects like production, mixing and delivering the final art form. More than a track this heady mix of Imogen, Vishal, Shekar and Papular Band can be an event that will stand witness to the strong cultural roots of music that has prevailed in our folk art form.

For a long time to come Minds Without Fear, you will be on repeat mode in my playlist! (-:

Here it is…