I wish I could speak

I wish I could speak

(Story submitted to seismo)

In her pink skirt, frivolously blushing cheeks, her brown curls pinned up not to scare the blue eyed innocence Neethu looked as if she was just dropped from the beaming paradise. Her graceful frame, virile beauty, the purity of her heart, her perfect life, her compassion, sweetness in her speech, her serenity and unblemished smile would often get her hear “Some fella s gonna be lucky in few years”.

Neethu was one of the best green fingered members of her age anybody could think of. She could get anything to grow with gentle wheedling and lot of love.
“For my daughter's 18th birthday, I got her a diamond necklace” - exclaimed Renuka, the irksome neighbor of Neethu. Unlike most of us, the little darling did not expect an extravagant gift; for her, a Birthday gift was to be a source of joy and not a pain in the pocket. To her pleasant astonishment, she received a packet of Hibiscus seeds from her mother as a Birthday gift. Neethu jumped in delight. She ran towards the garden in the backyard which was her first home and planted the seeds with an immaculate smile . Neethu had always treated foliage her good friends, now her ardor demanded to see her best friend, the new Hibiscus, grow up soon and gorgeous to make her finest match.

Neethu got habitual to walking down to the garden everyday to see if the hibiscus sapling showed up her face.

 
Day five, nearing her favorite spot in the garden, a friend of her stops by and thanks Neethu for her timely help for the examination without which she would have failed miserably. After a relaxed chat with the friend, Neethu heads to the place where she planted the seeds; She gets a bolt from the blue as she sees a little green seedling screening her face bleakly. Neethu dances in pleasure, hugs her mother and thankfully cries for giving her her-best-friend (hereafter called Hibhy). While Neethu forgets herself in glee, the little hibiscus which would have over-heard Neethu’s conversation with her friend by the garden-side overwhelms in joy on its first exposure to speech; Hibhy remarks at this beautiful communiqué; “I wish I could tell Neethu a million thanks for giving me this life; I wish I could speak”!(~Hibby)

One night following the roar of thunder and lightning cutting through the sky, full of concern, Neethu runs to the garden to shade her little friend. With each flash of lightning, she would get closer to the plantlet covering it with all her might. Moved by her generosity and selflessness, Hibhy craves to tell her friend how much she means to her. She wishes she could hug Neethu and tell her what she is to her life? Hibhy murmurs (to herself) I wish I could speak!

Hibhy becomes Neethu’s best friend. Neethu would talk to her every day on her friends, family and interests and spare a greater share of her time with Hibhy.

She looks like a full moon on earth-whispers (to herself) Hibhy on getting a glimpse of Neethu the next morning. Neethu gets her the manure, gives her hope to grow, a lot of love and all that is required for Hibhy to sprout profusely and stand firm. Neethu smells of a caring mother more than a friend now; as she turns and heads back home from the garden Hibhy notices a thorn on her path. She wishes she could shout her throat out and stop Neethu from hurting her foot. Sad but Neethu runs over the thorn and bloods her soft foot. Hibhy cries in pain~I wish I could speak!

Days pass by, years fly; much to everybody’s wishes, the little princess gets her dream guy; leaves her home and the friend-of-life Hibhy carrying with her memories treasured over years. With Neethu waving at her, Hibhy whispers (to herself) –
I wish I could speak; I wish I could tell my friend that she is the most beautiful woman on earth - a sun among stars; I wish I could embrace her firmly and reflect the warmth she has given me; I wish I could send her million thanks for all that she has done to me; I wish I could speak!

It was about a week after Neethu’s departure from her mother’s house, Hibhy was seen less perky than ever. How little did anybody in the house know that no sooner would they have to accept a strange phenomenon causing them to wither out? Hibhy shriveled out. And when the news reached Neethu, she rushes to the garden and cries aloud “Hibhy, why did you have to speak so tough”

 
Hibhy finally spoke – but it was too late. She had to take all pains to get her words across to her best friend.

Dear friends, do not let life hold you back from speaking about something or clearing the air if need be. Speak to people who matter to you and to whom you matter. When we are gifted with a wonderful tool “speech” unlike Hibhy why shy away and not use it to its worth? Speak before it gets too late for taking life granted costs yet another life.

~Revathi

Lay your sleeping head!!!

If we dig deep the origin of diverse genres of music, we will observe that each of it stalked out from a certain situation. Game music which is the talk of the day is based on this situational music. From the times of Super Mario to the now trend Counterstrike –all use music in interactive settings. Music played in the health spas, poojas, marriages have specific variants to suit the situation and ambience. Daniel J Levitin, the musicologist and author of “This is your brain on Music” quotes that the foremost origin of music dates back to Darwin himself who believed that Music had been the situational mode of communiqué in all human and paleohuman mating rituals.
Situational music makes use of the context of space or event to define characteristics of music and how people relate to it. Some musical works are created to allow contemplation and long periods of sustained listening. A classic exemplar to this simple criterion of situational music is Lullaby. It was originally designed as a composition intended to respite a child. A typical mind’s eye portrayal of the nativity of lullaby genre would be a person holding and swaying a baby, cajoling it in a sweet gentle tone; more of a monotone and mechanical than attention gathering.

Be it the telugu laali paatalu, tamizh thaalatu, kannada jojo haadu, hindi loriyan, the English versions of “Brahms’ Lullaby” all dole out the same rationale.
Ever wondered why lullabies quiet infants to sleep? Their constitution holds the key.
These musical pieces are constructed repetitive in nature. Since they form recurring rhyming patters, the brain will not have to exert much to recognize the sound and assimilate the pattern. The brain tunes to the lullaby track. The brain is convinced on its part that it is aware of what is being played at the milieu and this could probably induce nap since the brain is at rest. It is best proven by playing a song repeatedly, neednt be essentially of lullaby-nature to a child (preferably at bed time). The familiarity to the song affirms the above said logic and puts the baby to sleep.
“lu lu” “la la” “laa li” “jo jo” form the rich text of the lullaby vocabulary, the two syllable sounds which infacts can easily relate to. The use of this kind of music is so demanding that almost every mother across the prefectures would have composed/ learnt at least one lullaby for her child. The intention behind lullabies to lull child to slumber demands soothing gentle ragas, softly paced and are usual sung with many melismas.
Indian lullabies in ragas like Nelambari ,senchuruti have been scientifically proven to have received conditioned response .The swaras in these ragas are structured beautifully with melismatic techniques to induce a hypnotic trance in the listener. So the above said concept of repetitive nature alone doesn’t suffice, but a soothing tune/tone in lullaby is preferred to promote sleep over hard rock and tough beats.
Lullaby has many other benefits to offer too .At the age of infancy the innocent minds cannot capture and appreciate the libretto of the lullaby. But as familiarity breeds, the little minds would seek to get deep into the niceties of the music they are acquainted with. This is where lullaby works as a civilizing interface between the veteran parents and the naive children. One can instill their cultural values, narrate the child traditional stories through lullabies. Also through this simple music genre, sound recognition in children develops well.

At the end of the day, the question still remains unanswered .Though we have happily coined out the term “situational music”-It still remains an unsolved mystery “Did situation define music, or did music transform the situation?

If you do not agree,question!!!!

Hinduism is not a faith or religion but a way of life.Our practices have their foundation based on scientific spirituality. We can see a mention in the ancient Hindu literature(Eesaavaasya Upanishad) that our idea of spirituality and science are very closely integrated.
Why do we light a lamp? Why do we do Namaste? Why do we chant Aum kara? Why do we draw Rangoli?
All these obvious questions should not be dubbed aside as practices being superstitious or baseless; instead be scientifically reasoned out.

Rangoli - the artistic form of sand painting is drawn to appease Gods and Goddesses. Specially at the time of the festival of Diwali, Rangoli is drawn to conciliate Goddess Lakshmi, who is considered to be the Goddess of Wealth by the Hindus. Those of us who seek scientific rationale for this spiritual practice shall delve a little more to comprehend.

The original and ancient form of painting a Rangoli was by means of pure rice flour. It was not just a reason to abide by Dharma where the insects like ants and the rest living in the soil were fed but also prevented those insects from entering the home. Not just this, but the physical movements that this type of arts demanded helped the ladies to maintain fitness and prevented the growing pot belly! The beautiful pictures hidden behind these Rangolis provided a gate-way to present the talent and creative imaginations of the house ladies who had very limited exposure in those days.

The above reckoning made sense in those days where we had sand entrances to homes; ladies were given very little or no avenues to showcase their talent .But why do we have to paint Rangoli in these cemented days?

In this busy mechanical world when we cannot take time for physical fitness, Rangoli can help a great deal to force us make time to exercise our body; Marking of these artistic patterns would desist thieves from entering homes since Rangoli would ensure the presence of people at homes. This artistic form has attracted a host of Foreigners too. A lot of concentration and practice is necessary to develop this art. Drawing Rangolis helps to improve mental discipline and concentration;
On the lighter side, Rangolis form a fine decorative number for homes.