Nirvana

I still remember that day....sometime in 1984....my final year BE exams approaching....and I, along with my parents and grandparents, worried about what would be my fate......their worries being whether I would live up to the hoary family tradition, hopefully would not besmirch the scholastic excellence that they were all used to...while my worries were more down to earth...would I pass ? Or no....oh, perish the thought...

I don't exactly know why I was in Madras, when I ought to have been in college in Bangalore, slogging it out....I faintly remember a friend ( 1 yr junior in both school and college, AND an Aquarian to boot) remarking that there was this band of musicians who were scheduled to perform at the Music Academy in Madras, and he had also loaned me a cassette tape of theirs called "Natural Elements", which I listened to on my way to Madras, and I was literally blown!!! To come back to the res, I was idly scanning the papers, while sipping coffee ( I fondly remember "Amma", as I used to call my grandmother)....and then I received a jolt....there was the ad....SHAKTI by John McLaughlin, with L Shankar, Ustad Zakir Hussain, and "Vikku" Vinayakaram, on in the evening @ the Music Academy. My mind was made up...I had to attend this...but how to get out...I'd told the folks that I was busily studying...concerts would not be taken kindly to...then I remembered my good friend Kalyanaraman (then in IIT Madras). Kalyan was held in high esteem at home, so he was the fait accompli I used to get to the concert....and the rest, as they say, is history.

Since then, I have made it to almost all their concerts in India, save a couple, have seen the transition from SHAKTI to REMEMBER SHAKTI, witnessed the "Shakti" guitar of John McLaughlin and the strange yet mesmering music that emanated out of it, the double violin of L Shankar (remember the late Chowdaiah), the magic of the "one and only" ustad, and the man who created a new meaning for the word "pot", "Vikku" Vinayakaram.

That these musicians perform impromtu, feed on the adrenalin, and produce mystic, wonderful music is universally acclaimed. The next generation has broadened the horizons - witness the virtuosity and inventiveness of "Mandolin" Srinivasa, and the rythmic perfection of the "kanchira" exponent, Selvaganesh. Boy, I can go on and on....