Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Prativaad Soochna

Sabhi ko soochit kiya jaata hai ki Vrahaspativaar, dinaank Atthaees Pharvary San Do Hazaar Aath ko pratah kaleen thik Saade Gyarah baje Shriman Shashank Chauhan apni Snatkottar Pariksha se sambandhit Maukhik Prastooti pesh karenge jiske safal samapan par unhe Yantriki Abhiyantriki mein Vidhyavachaspati ki upaadhi se samaanit kiya jaayega.

Yeh karyakram Paanso Ek Rhodes kaksh mein aayojit kiya gaya hai, kripya apni suvidha ke anusaar padhaarkar humein krataghya karein.

Aapke darshan ka abhilashi

Shashank Chauhan

PS. Hindi mein trutiyon ke liye Kshama chahta hoon :)


Saturday, February 23, 2008

A Love I'll Never Loose (To The Divine Gift of Music)

Love, obsession, liking; it must have all started long back, perhaps in those days when music and Vividh Bharti were synonymous. My journey with music has been long, from those nights of ‘Pryajoit Karyakram’ on Vividh Bharti to this vast ocean of musical riches Internet. I progressed through the times of a single speaker tape recorder as a kid to a those of a two-in-one in my early teens. The Videocon walkman that I possessed as a college teenager consolidated this association and though I didn’t have that sort of a personal relationship with the big Kenwood music system back home, I share fond memories of preparing for GATE while listening to it. Those were the building blocks of my musical journey that blossomed with me finally getting a comp. And here I am now, sitting in States, far from the sounds of my country.

I don’t have any great liking for America, nor do I have any dislikes. I think for most times, my times in America have passed though the motions. However, immersed between studies and a up-and-down personal life, one aspect of me that progressed was my likeness for music. I say likeness and not understanding, because honestly I cant claim to know music. But I do know how to like it, how to feel it. It was not a conscious effort to widen my musical sensibilities, but it did happen. Faster internet connection, access to a vast resource of music at the public library, interaction with music enthusiasts sharing similar tastes; in those aspects America did more for me than I expected.

Often, my friends have dismissed certain music on grounds that it is from a certain region, in a certain language or created/sung by a certain individual; and often I have wondered, is music of a country, for a particular set of people or classified as so-and-so.

On many of my experiences with music, I have realized that I am crying, tears running down my cheeks, and I wonder why is that. In Sufism, the great masters talk about the heightened divine experience achieved on the magical powers of the music. Divine is a subjective term, loosely defined. I wonder what is divine, but isn’t it divine that while listening to ‘My Sweet Lord’ by George Harrison, I feel elevated, I feel connected to the ones I love and I feel happy about the fact that I have experienced the feeling of love. Isn’t it magic that I listen to Tinariwen or Boubacar Traore and my tears start to roll even though I have no clue what meaning the words carry. A certain Korean song, I don’t even know what it is called, makes me excited and nostalgic about the childhood that’s now left only in the old photographs. I listen to Celtic folks and I feel the Violin strings cutting my heart like a knife, a pain that only music is able to create. I see Goddess Saraswati blessing Abida Parveen as she sings of eternal love of god and I visualize Mirabai singing to Lord Krishna as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan sings “Sanson ki mala mein simaroon main pee ka naam”. It doesn’t matter to me if it’s the Swedish band Opeth singing melodic death metal or Moody Blues crooning one of their poetry soaked silken ballad, for they all stir my soul by the sheer brilliance of their music.

In times such as these, I realize that music transcends all boundaries, all limits; no religion, no language can lay claim to it, its for all and its omnipresent just like god is. Music is a blessing for the humanity to cherish and its marvels are for all to reap and its sin to dismiss based on these attributes the divine blessing that’s music.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Nostalgia (Revisited)



Thought this time I should try my hand on video blogging. Don't really know if this qualifies as one, but here it is anyway. The aim was to give the words a voice, color them with music and finally forge an amateur video. The tools needed for this task: an audio mixing software like Mixpad, which was available as a free download, windows movie maker and a voice recorder. Dont really know how good the final attempt is, so comments and feedback are more than welcome :)

Here's the poem ......

Woh shikayato ke din yaad aate hain


Har shaam ka roothna manana
Raaton ke sapno mein savere bitana
Routine ka romance, jabardasti ki taareefein
Ajeeb si chuppi aur fizul ki muskarahate
Woh baaton ki baaton mein
Na jaane kitne jahan simat jaate hain
Woh shikayato ke din yaad aate hain

Awara kasmo ke hisaab khaate
aur behisaab aahein
Chakkaro ka silsila
the jo kabhi yunhi
tere ghar ke lagaye
Barbad hui un dopahariyon ki garmiyan
Canteen mein thandi hoti chai ki chuskiyan
Umr ke us daur se
yeh daur gujre jaate hain
Woh shikayato ke din yaad aate hain

Na jaane kitne email
Din bhar mein kai baar
Har ek mein likhi hui
Bas yahi ek baat
Aaj jab padhta hoon
un khato ko kabhi kabhar
to uljalool un khato mein
sanware woh shabd bhikar jaate hain
Woh shikayato ke din yaad aate hain

Zamane the yeh kaun se
Jo bakso mein band maun se
Peele hue un panno par ikhtiyar
Taazuub kabhi un par
Kabhi dastako ke zor par
bina italla diye
woh jab yunhi chale aate hain
Main seenchta hoon aansoon se
un kitaabo ko kabhi jab
un peele panno mein rakhe
Sookhe phool muskarate hain
Woh shikayato ke din yaad aate hain

Woh shikayato ke din yaad aate hain.


Friday, February 15, 2008

Loreena McKennitt

Thought I should share some good music with those who read my blog (if there are any readers). Loreena McKennitt is a Canadian singer, songwriter whose brilliantly interwoven Celtic and Middle Eastern folk songs are a treat to listen to. She takes you to faraway lands in faraway times on a mystic and soulful journey which you'll enjoy thoroughly.

Here's a sampler of the marvellous music she creates, enjoy !

The two songs are Marco Polo and Kecheritomene (with the ever beautiful moon in the background, the pic was taken just before sunrise on the Jacksonville Beach, Florida).

For more information on her check
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loreena_McKennitt




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Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Raaton Ki Baatein


Kabhi socha yahi likh doon
lamhe hathon mein bharkar, abhi likh doon
chunta rehta hoon yunhi beparwah hasrate
soche samjhe daiyaron mein simtakar sabhi likh doon

Raaton ki karwate badal badal kar
kabhi woh din fir uga loonga
filhal ki shamaein jalti thi jinme
dhalti un aankhon se shab ke parde utha loonga

Har shaak ke toote lafzon ki
kehni sun ni baaki hai
raat aur din ke fero se anchoohe
lamho ki kahani baaki hai

Kitne lambe safar hain yeh jo
lagta bhi nahi ki chale kabhi
baaton ki baaton mein kat te rahe
labo ki mazaal ki hile kabhi

Hum aarzoon aur justjuon ki
uljhan mein suljhkar hain nashaad
pal pal mein hairan hota hain
is pal aabaad, is pal barbaad

Kyun chaante gehre dhuhon ko
kate haathon ki banti lakeeron ko
subah ki dhoondh mein khoe jo
kyun dhoondein un tasveeron ko

Yeh baat thi likhne likhane ki
bekaar ki baaton mein jo ulajh gayi
sawaal fir ek aur raat ka tha
jo jawaabon ke daur se gujar gayi

Ab chedenge jikr fir kisi raat mein
kaatenge yeh andhere fir kisi baat mein
waise bi daastan aur afsane bante nahi
ek hi raat ki baat mein.


Picture taken one beautiful evening near the South Beach in Keywest, Florida.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Undone


I waited for you
and I realized
I could wait for years
but you'll never come.
Look what choices
you left me with
to be undone now
or wait for years
to be undone.

Image courtesy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/willrun4beer/2143389775/