Migraine, Music and Memories

Waking up with a migraine is not the best way to start a day, especially when you have six hundred pages to be studied. Just as I was getting out of my bed swearing at my luck, I thought of brewing myself a hot cup of chai. I sat down sipping my masala chai and looked out at the 'I-am-going-to-rain' sky. I was reminded of my childhood/college days, when amma would make me take a break from studying to drink her awesome tea. I would combine the tea session with maharajapuram santhanam's renditions and when I got back after the break, I would feel so rejuvenated. I tried this today and behold, it worked and how!

Bho sambho was, is and will be my all-time favourite of maharajapuram's renditions. It could be the Revathy connection perhaps (Revathy ragam - my birthstar is revathy). I started with this safe bet and by the end of it, I was settling into a great mood. Revathy is a beautiful ragam which sounds good no matter who is singing it, a professional singer or an amateur. It is amazing to see how the change of a single note makes it so heavy and soul-stirring, when compared to madhyamavathi which is so light and happy (Revathi - R1, Madhyamavathi - R2).

Once into the mood, I couldn't stop myself. On went the series of favourite choices - Narayana (Sudhdha Dhanyasi), Balakanakamaya (Atana), Chakkani Raja (Karaharapriya), Nagumomu (Aaberi) and my favourite thillana in Dhanasri. It was a mesmerising journey which brought back memories of my music-learning days. I remember how it took almost twelve weeks for us to perfect Chakkani Raja, which is probably why I could sing along the innumerable sangathis! It reminded me of how we used to fight amongst each other to decide who would play the sruthi box (we only had a wooden/manual sruthi box in our music classes in our early days, the electronic sruthi box was a later introduction). It reminded me of how each one of us would dread the day when we had to sing a Krithi alone, for our guru to judge how we have learnt it.

It also brought back a very important memory - the day when we were taught to understand more than the sruthi, laya and bhaava, the day when we learned to appreciate the sahithyam (the lyrics of a song) itself. Our guru always taught us every song not just with the swara notes but also with the meaning of every word in the song. This was very important as most of the songs we were learning were in telugu (for instance, Tyagaraja swami's krithis), kannada and even sanskrit (Dhikshithar's krithis for instance). However, we were always focussed on "netruing"(it was pronounced like that - it meant to learn the swarasthanas and the sahithyam by heart), for at that stage all we wanted was to sing the song perfectly. At the end of our group rendition, our guru told us the swarasthanams and sangathis were perfect, except that we didn't understand the sahithyam which made it sound very blunt. He explained the meaning of Chakkani Raja's sahithyam and after that, we understood what change it brought to our singing! If you imbibe the meaning of the sahithyam and do your saathagam (practice), the ragam is bound to flow in the right way! I wanted to share the wondeful message that Tyagaraja Swami has conveyed through Chakkani Raja:

Pallavi
Chakkani Raja margamulundaka
Santhula doora neelee O Manasa

(When there is a spacious royal path to salvation, O Mind, why do you want to take to the by-lanes?)

Anupallavi
Chikkani Paalu Mee Gada yundaga
Cheeyanu Gangasaagara Mele

(When nutritious milk is available, will anyone think of toddy?)

Charanam

Kantiki Sundara Taramagu Roopame,

Mukkanti Nota Chelage Naamame

Tyagaraajintane Nelakonnaadi Deivamee

Yituvanti Sri Saketa Ramuni Bhaktiya

(When you can feast your eyes on the ravishingly beautiful form of SRI RAMA, when Lord Shiva is eternally chanting the name of SRI RAMA, who has condescended to grace the abode of Tyagaraja, why should you resort to the devious paths instead of the royal path to salvation?)

(Translation courtesy: http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/homepages/shivkuma/music/Chakkaniraja.htm)

Great music, beautiful memories and my migraine is on its way out. :)

Best left in the sea

What is best left in the sea? The law that regulates it!
In as much as I hate the subject, I must confess that I have grown to appreciate its significance. The UN Convention on the law of the sea is one of the most comprehensive international regime ever established. Its two-way approach in handling the subject - in terms of maritime zones and in terms of uses of the sea - has created an umbrella framework under which all existing and future maritime activities shall be regulated. It sought to achieve, and it has achieved, an equitable balance between the interests of developing and developed States. The creation of the EEZ (exclusive economic zone) regime is an exemplification of this regime. The most innovate feature of the regime is the concept of "common heritage of mankind", which although developed in respect of the international sea bed Area is now spreading its roots to other areas such as environmental law. What interests me more than the actual technicalities involved in the subject is the overt recognition of political will in an international convention. The delusion that international law is above international politics has its room in most conventions, but not in UNCLOS. A careful reading of various provisions regarding the jurisdictional regime would prove this. However, rule of law does stand out in the end, especially in the provisions regarding combating illegal uses of the sea. Creating this mammoth document would have been a nightmare for its drafters and it is not suprising that it took over two decades to make it agreeable to all States involved, another feature which is unique to UNCLOS. Every time I read a provision, I marvel at its drafting and how certain words/phrases have been employed or avoided deliberately. However, I prefer to appreciate this from a practitioner's point of view than an academic. The former will actually use the Convention's drafting for or against an issue which will result in the furtherance of its interpretation/implementation in reality, the exact purpose for which it was drafted in the first place. The latter, on the other hand, would deal with this in an imaginary world with hypothetical situations. It must be accepted that this may, in the long run, contribute to the development of the subject. After all, law of the sea was born only after Grotius' Mare Liberum (written for altogether different reasons) and Selden's Mare Clausum created waves in the ocean. No pun intended!

PS: Whatever! The subject sucks, especially if you have to write a closed-book exam!

Metamorphosis

Life has changed so much in the past two years and there is much more clarity in everything I think/do. Two years back, the prospect of being jobless scared the hell out of me. Now, on the other hand, I know that something good will always be out there and I just have to fight it out.
The secret behind the metamorphosis: Love! No matter what I do or where I am, there is a man who loves me and lives for me. Everything else is a bonus.
That does not, however, in any way mean that I do not have any ambitions any more. I am as ambitious as I ever was, it is just that I am now happy as well. :)
This realization has been dawning over the past few days. What triggered this post was my conversation with a number of friends/acquaintances which showed how lucky I am to have found a man like this. I truly am!
Needless to mention, Anand is luckier than me :D

Back!

I had totally forgotten about this blog of mine and it has been two years since anything was posted here. Reading my old posts, especially the ones containing references to my 'boyfriend', lit up my face. A lot has transpired in these two years, both good and bad, and a lot has changed. A quick update - I am now married to Anand and am doing my masters in public international law in the Utrecht University. Great things have happened in my life in these two years - marriage, a great internship, a brilliant summer school, a highly demanding masters and a lot of traveling. One thing that has not changed in these two years is my love for Anand (and his love for me), which only seems to grow by the day. Law of diminishing marginal utility does have exceptions, after all.
I seem to have a writer's block and just cannot think of anything I may want to write on. So, for now, a nice hello from the Dutch land.