Part 1 : Alap (The Introduction)
Pune city... The Oxford of the east or the Queen of the Deccan as it is lovingly known throughout India. A pleasant city overall, devoid of extremes in climate yet full of different temperatures in humans. A place where wit shines bright with regular showers of sarcasm and frosty tolerance. Candid is the word, I would use to describe the city as a whole. A cultural cauldron in which spontaneity will take you farther than planning. "Baghu re" (Let's see) a phrase you will get to hear more often than not...
This is literally how the city functions. I guess it's something in the calm and careless air of Pune which imbibes the people with the confidence that things will eventually take care of themselves. There is no point in stressing about something you do not know! As anything and everything else in life, once has to find the balance. The point where there is no tipping point or as they say in spiritual terms, being centered.
This is the city I was born in. The place where my 'Alap' takes place. My parents being the guiding note of tanpura playing in the background while I found notes to create a melody of my own, like we all try and do... Be something uncommon and unique! Never a silent child, always fidgeting and making my presence felt without actually trying to do so. (Yes, I am boasting) Pune made me one of its own just like it does with everyone else. It gave me my family, my school, the annual fiery shower on each of my birthday, the indifferent yet warm service in Roopali, (Roopali > Vaishali, for all Punekars out there, I said it) it gave me the Irani chai of Good Luck, where everytime you ask for it the server makes sure that you are aware that it's a black tea that you are ordering! Pune gives you confidence that even if you leave five minutes prior to the stipulated time, you do still reach on time (which is 5-10 minutes late but still considered as 'being on time') Roads with trees on both sides as canopies, bright blue skies that dim to a pinkish hue in the evenings and carry on to becoming starry nights... It's the city for every one and any one!
This one was my personal favourite. The overall script is majestic... Now that I think about it, why would a dog eat flowers from a garden? Secondly, how would we know whose dog it is? Thirdly, how on earth were we going to get the telephone number of the owner to inform him that the dog is eating our flowers? It's really impressive how people actually fell for this.
Anyway, the point is that people in Pune have a lot of free time on their hands, or at least did 10-15 years back. Young adults who have the 'Pune nature' imbibed in them still do, actually. If 'Baghu Re' is our most used phrase, 'Nivaant' is our most used word.
"Pariksha kasha chaalu ahe? (How are your exams going?)
"Hi match jinknaar ka apan? (Will we win this match?)
"Pudhe ayusshat kay plan?" (What have you thought for the future?)
"Baghu re..." (Let's see...)
"Udyacha kay plan ahe?" (What's the plan for tomorrow?)
"Baghu re..." (Let's see)
"Mag? Aaj sandhyakaali kay karaaychay?" (So?What are we doing in the evening?)
"Baghu re... Tevhacha tevha" (Let's see... when the time comes)
This is literally how the city functions. I guess it's something in the calm and careless air of Pune which imbibes the people with the confidence that things will eventually take care of themselves. There is no point in stressing about something you do not know! As anything and everything else in life, once has to find the balance. The point where there is no tipping point or as they say in spiritual terms, being centered.
This is the city I was born in. The place where my 'Alap' takes place. My parents being the guiding note of tanpura playing in the background while I found notes to create a melody of my own, like we all try and do... Be something uncommon and unique! Never a silent child, always fidgeting and making my presence felt without actually trying to do so. (Yes, I am boasting) Pune made me one of its own just like it does with everyone else. It gave me my family, my school, the annual fiery shower on each of my birthday, the indifferent yet warm service in Roopali, (Roopali > Vaishali, for all Punekars out there, I said it) it gave me the Irani chai of Good Luck, where everytime you ask for it the server makes sure that you are aware that it's a black tea that you are ordering! Pune gives you confidence that even if you leave five minutes prior to the stipulated time, you do still reach on time (which is 5-10 minutes late but still considered as 'being on time') Roads with trees on both sides as canopies, bright blue skies that dim to a pinkish hue in the evenings and carry on to becoming starry nights... It's the city for every one and any one!
School went by in a flash or rather it seems so now. Journals full of remarks calling out to my parents to 'check' the behavior of their ward, empty notebooks calling out to teachers to fill my journal with the aforementioned remarks, heavy bags consisting of all the books a teenage back could carry especially to reduce the aforementioned remarks and always a light and carefree mind which gave rise to... well, the aforementioned remarks. Cricket with friends in the evening after watching Pokémon from 5 to 5:30, then coming back home bruised and dirty since we as kids back then actually played on mud grounds since we didn't have the luxury of a turf. In winters, as the light dimmed earlier than usual, cricket was followed by an intense game of hide and seek where we found the most ridiculous of places to hide in. There was no worry of getting soiled or even getting a bashing from the mother when we reached home. (I flocked together with friends who were used to getting bashings) 1900 hours was the deadline to reach home, so we reached around 1930 hours. There were times where the people hiding from the seeker went home while the poor guy innocently searched for us within the stipulated boundary. Sometimes, if we managed to get our hands on 15-20 rupees, this game of hide and seek was replaced by bouts of Counter Strike and Age of Empires in dingy cyber cafes. As a child, I was allowed to use the PC only on weekends, well... so much for that restriction. I am so glad I grew up in an era without YouTube and Netflix simply because it taught me to take efforts to gain what I so desperately craved to see. There was a channel on the television called iTV on which you could call the number and request for the song you wanted to listen/watch. The thrill of watching the menus on the channel change as we were pressing the digits on the telephone is still unmatched! We always knew what song we wanted to request for... it used to be a choice between three songs : Escape by Enrique (For the intense kissing scenes which we raged on back then), Meri Pyaari Bindu (The animated version specifically because that has a kissing scene too) and Tu, Tu Hai Wahi (The new version because it has three ladies in hot pink dresses) for 8 and 9 year old kids, it was worth the effort.
Prank calls were something we specialized in as well. It was imperative that the call was made from the grandparents' telephone since we did not want to risk getting caught in case the other person had a Caller ID (Truecaller has certainly put an end to prank calls) Also, it wasn't prank calling for the sake of it, it was intense. We changed our voices, spoke in different dialects of Marathi, pre planned and rehearsed! It was theatre for us!
(in a panicked tone)
"Hello! Your dog is eating the flowers in our garden!!"
"What?? But we don't have a dog?!"
"Neither do we have a garden"
This one was my personal favourite. The overall script is majestic... Now that I think about it, why would a dog eat flowers from a garden? Secondly, how would we know whose dog it is? Thirdly, how on earth were we going to get the telephone number of the owner to inform him that the dog is eating our flowers? It's really impressive how people actually fell for this.
Anyway, the point is that people in Pune have a lot of free time on their hands, or at least did 10-15 years back. Young adults who have the 'Pune nature' imbibed in them still do, actually. If 'Baghu Re' is our most used phrase, 'Nivaant' is our most used word.
"Kay mag? Kasa ahes?" (So, how are you?)
"Nivaant" (Relaxed)
"Pariksha kasha chaalu ahe? (How are your exams going?)
"Nivaant" (All good, relaxed)
"Hi match jinknaar ka apan? (Will we win this match?)
No matter how tense the game is, the answer will always be the same... "Nivaant"
This being nivaant is something I learnt being a student of SP College, a college where girls and boys could compete on who has the bigger moustache. That college was by far the strangest educational institute I have "studied"(lol) in. The better way to put it would be 'have been on the roster of.' Our unit tests used to be in classes where all of us sat together with books opened and heartily discussing every single question before coming to a satisfactory answer which the small group agreed upon. The mandatory attendance was three percent! (and people are striving to get into FC, noobs.) SP was a place where people were just chilling, you could see people sat without any further motive other than passing the time away. Nobody really interfered in each others' affairs. A proper Puneri college.
There is one instance from SP that I will never ever forget... My physics teacher called up on the landline number when luckily (this is really extreme luck!) I was the one who answered the call. In a very calm voice she asked me, "My child, you have still not got your physics journal certified. Today was the last day for certification... You will lose 20 marks unnecessarily. When are you planning on getting it done?" I had no idea that the journal certification was on that day. Neither was my journal complete and nor had I performed all the experiments. She called me in the next day and sat with me after her lecture hours, made me do the minimum number of experiments required for the certification and then signed my physics journal. Those 20 marks were the reason why I have passed my 12th standard physics examination.
I do not really remember any of my professors from the college (since I hardly went) but I clearly remember this lady, Mrs. Dashaputre, who like many other people in my life have had brief stints but have made my Alap worth listening to and have created a firm base for the upcoming Jor.
Pune has given me my Alap… The introduction to the melody of my life. One which has made itself without me really having to try. The single soothing note of the tanpura, my parents, letting me take over and compose my raga, my melody. The only one of its kind just like each and every one of us. We are not mere human beings but living melodies. Sharing the same base and rules of life and the universe yet different life experiences creating different introductions, a different alap. Naturally, there will be some melodies which appeal to your genre whilst the others are the stimuli to the reaction of 'Play next'. Nevertheless, we are all creating music day in and day out. Creating notes, tweaking them, bending them to our liking, ensuring that they sound the way we want them to.
If you look back upon the melody you have created so far, is it something you'd listen to on repeat?
I do not really remember any of my professors from the college (since I hardly went) but I clearly remember this lady, Mrs. Dashaputre, who like many other people in my life have had brief stints but have made my Alap worth listening to and have created a firm base for the upcoming Jor.
Pune has given me my Alap… The introduction to the melody of my life. One which has made itself without me really having to try. The single soothing note of the tanpura, my parents, letting me take over and compose my raga, my melody. The only one of its kind just like each and every one of us. We are not mere human beings but living melodies. Sharing the same base and rules of life and the universe yet different life experiences creating different introductions, a different alap. Naturally, there will be some melodies which appeal to your genre whilst the others are the stimuli to the reaction of 'Play next'. Nevertheless, we are all creating music day in and day out. Creating notes, tweaking them, bending them to our liking, ensuring that they sound the way we want them to.
If you look back upon the melody you have created so far, is it something you'd listen to on repeat?
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