A Teacher’s mail to a to-be student

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Dear Swapan,

I think I remember having communicated with you earlier. I am glad to hear that you have been pursuing your music along with other academic and professional commitments. I gather from your mail that you seem fairly clear with the course that you wish to undertake with your musical pursuit. I would of course hesitate to say with the same degree of confidence, that I would be in a position to ‘spread’ the wealth of Indian music. Indeed, I believe that is something that I cannot for a moment venture to say, only because the tradition has lived through several ages, whether or not people like me choose to be a part of it, let alone contribute to its future prospects! I believe the tradition is far too large for me to consider myself an indispensable part of it, or at any rate make any valuable contribution to its future. I am therefore happy that you have made such an early decision to ‘spread’ this music!

From your email, it is clear that you have had the opportunity to learn from several teachers. I know Suresh Samantji well and am also happy to hear that you are currently being guided by him. I must hasten to add however, that I am not in favour of changing teachers ever so often, as this only leads to a confusion of musical ideas, technique and at times even, repertoire. I will be happy to carry on this discussion on return from the US after a couple of weeks or so. You can contact me on my mobile number xxxxxxxxxx after Sept. 10, and we can decide the best time for you to visit me in Mumbai. We will then discuss the issue threadbare, but for now I can’t assure you that I will be in a position to teach you. There are several reasons for this, and an email will not be sufficient to explain everything to you. It would therefore be best if you made the trip to Mumbai in September.

Regards,

Aneesh

My stint in Goa

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I was in Goa for almost an year and understood ,what a beautiful destination it was to be -not for the beaches ,nor for the culture it encapsulates but for the people it contains.They are so devoted and simple.

One really cannot enjoy Goa in a tour of say 6/7 days by experiencing paragliding,scooba diving ,parachuting and all.Adventure is one thing and divine pleasure is altogether another .

I was staying in Verna- a small town very near to the business capital -Margao.
An ideal town for the freaking out.Going to my workspace by a cycle ,I bought for 1850 bucks.
Nice highway that conncts 3 major cities of the Goa-margao,Panjim and Vasco..

Every alternate evening used to go to Majorda beach ,which happen to be the nearest well known beach from my residence.

Waiting for the weekends ,which are spent mostly out of Verna-sometimes in the Ponda (the religious city for the Hindus)roaming around and having darshan of the Gods/godesses(Shantadurga-Kavalem,Mahalaxmi,Mangeshi,Ramnathi) and sometimes thinking about for the nationl future travelling in a Kadamba bus to longer roads ,alone towards southmost Goa (canacona-my favourite spot) where many days I have spent with myself in the Palolem beach .

tanha rhena apne mein ek kala haidost-
dosti,rishte -nato mein se pare samjhne ka who pal haijo kam hi ata hai
or phirhamien kuch jatla kar chal jata hai
tanhayi ka maatlab samjho ,tanhayi mein rhena sikho
tanhayi se tum milkar dekho
tanhayi koi bhoot nahin hai
tanhayi achoot nahin hai
aksar tumne socha hoga -aksar tumne jana hoga
ki tanha rhene se tumne
apne ap ko phechana hoga

It was this beach where I have captured one of the most beautiful scenary in my Camera..

Then I meet Ameya Wadekar-with whom on ETERNO ,I explored the remotest parts of the Goa ,the towns, the festivals and the ultimate.

We spent our weekend evenings -listening and singing the songs in praise of the lord in various temples around Ponda.At home in Wadi and Talvalim ,we accompanied each other for lifting ourselves in the great depth of knowledge in Indian Classical Music.

Initially we picked the raag Yaman-king of all ragas and then Bhim Palaasi .It went for 7 months under the able guidance of Pt.Kamlakar Naik .We used to learn from him on Sundays -where I was just accompanieng with sundry studen artists coming for the vocal traing under him under the AGRA and Dhrupad style of singing..

The delicious fish curry(and especiaaly Machral-Bagda),was the icing on the cake..

So many simple ,enthusiastic and energetic people with their bindaas philosophy to live -will always be with me to the limitless..

Dance as though no one is watching; Sing as though no one is listening; Love as though you’ve never been hurt; and live as though heaven is here on earth!
– By Satchel Paige or Rumi
[Wrote like no one will read it.]

What a great philosophy to travel through life’s journey with! Tough one to follow – but nonetheless a nice source of inspiration! Learn from the past. Release yourself from the past. Live the present moment. Enjoy..

Me and fusion music

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I have a great passion for the music that works for the massess.

Initially ,I was disinterested in the music of any kind .When I was only years of age ,my parents got me admitted in to learning of the indian classical music -the percussion or the traditional indian drumming instrument called as Tabla -which was said to be developed by the Ustad Amir Khusro in the 16th century.One can say it was like a blessoing in disguise as I gradually started loving the rythems then swaras and then music as a whole.

I started learning from the University pattern ,and slowly I realised that this kind of system is of very less help for the self development of the individual in the domain.It merely gives any sort of freedom and liberty to explore ,as one is bounded with the completion of the syllabus while following the timing constraints.

After doing my Masters in Music , a 9 years course in Tabla-fortunately I started my professional career at Pune and came to meet Pandit Suresh Samant.Believe me after started learning from the legend I understand the language of Tabla,the beauty of music and limitless universe of the artform.

It has always been my inherent habbit to read ,read and explore whatever I could in the varied interests in the various domains -that inculcated my interest in the concept of the east meeting with the west and ultimately open source culture-linux etc..and music initiated this rebellion thoughts in my mind.Became the avid reader of Peyman Nashepour’s ( a great Tombak percusionist from Israel) group on yahoo..

“The more you love music ,the more music you love ..”
Then started the conversation with the Eric Struse(Finland),Yoshi Takatao (Japan) and Emanuel Delago(austria),who are also percussionists like me ,intersted in world music and developing the peace and harmony..If time permits ,I would soon paste those energising conversations between me and those angels of the great and divine art-that is called music -in this bloghouse ..
I have also met many friends from france and germany (Maxim Brune,Lorentz Genzi)-who are learning Tabla and have shown such a great enthusiasm not visible in any one of my sir’s inidan pupils.this is really strange ,and praiseworthy for those foriegners coming from such distant lands ,commited to do their work for what they’ve ome here..I am learning from them and may be one day will also work with them for the betterment of the society ,for the goodness of the humanity..
Amen

Where to Start?

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Why you should get to know me :
Because there is much more to me than meets the eye, and at least half of it is actually good stuff.
Warning:
I write mostly when I am shaken – So you might find that most of the posts were written when I was feeling low.

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Almost everything in my life has been serendipitous. It was like one rope leading to a point, that I thought was a kind of summit, and then another leading to the next and so here I am as of now after some mind boggling experiences.

Did my Bachelor in Engineering from BIT Durg,Chhattishgarh.
Did a Post Graduate Course from Indian Institute of Technology ,Mumbai..
Did Diploma (PG) from Bitmapper,Pune.
Currently working on Research and Development in Embedded & Product Engineering domain-VLSI/Embedded Technology.
A hardcore educationist and philosopher by thought and action.. :0)

A poet ,a sportsman or a musician , a homeopath or an astrologer is what I would have loved to see myself becoming but the divine power has thought/planned something else for me ,and here I am an engineer ,a scientist -thoroughly enjoying my work,passionately living because of Music(all kinds of especially indian classical -instrumental ,Poetry-Sufi (Mevlana Rumi),Mirza Ghalib,Ahmad Faraz,Faiz Ahmad Faiz being the motivators ,sports and psycho astrology.