It’s July. End-July. The earth has been renewed with bursts of rain in Delhi. The scorching summer has receded.
July-September is the period of sawan in Delhi – a season on which numerous ragas have been composed. The season is also known as shravan.
Every morning as I trundle to work in an auto- rickshaw I crane my neck as we drive past the expansive parks of Greater Kailash Part I. The brilliant greens renew my soul and invigorate my senses. Kailash – after all – Mount Kailash – is the abode of Shiva, so there must be something to show for it, I felt. The rampant red of the Gulmohur of May has disappeared to give place to the mellower yellower Laburnum.
Yesterday, as we readied breakfast, we listened to ‘Dover Beach’ by Samuel Barber. Mathew Arnold’s ‘darkling plain’ no doubt came to mind. Imagine my joy when I viewed a UTube version of a slide show with Arnold’s words of the poem set to the musical composition.
I revel in the rejuvenating power of Nature. Sitting in hall 60 drenched with rain atop the hill at St Xavier’s college, Mapusa, Goa, we pored over ’Scholar Gypsy’ and recalled ‘sermons in stones and books in running brooks.’ Well, the love affair continues.
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'Sawan Aayo Ma' - Shobha Gurtu, Raag Des, Saregama Music.
July-September is the period of sawan in Delhi – a season on which numerous ragas have been composed. The season is also known as shravan.
Every morning as I trundle to work in an auto- rickshaw I crane my neck as we drive past the expansive parks of Greater Kailash Part I. The brilliant greens renew my soul and invigorate my senses. Kailash – after all – Mount Kailash – is the abode of Shiva, so there must be something to show for it, I felt. The rampant red of the Gulmohur of May has disappeared to give place to the mellower yellower Laburnum.
Yesterday, as we readied breakfast, we listened to ‘Dover Beach’ by Samuel Barber. Mathew Arnold’s ‘darkling plain’ no doubt came to mind. Imagine my joy when I viewed a UTube version of a slide show with Arnold’s words of the poem set to the musical composition.
I revel in the rejuvenating power of Nature. Sitting in hall 60 drenched with rain atop the hill at St Xavier’s college, Mapusa, Goa, we pored over ’Scholar Gypsy’ and recalled ‘sermons in stones and books in running brooks.’ Well, the love affair continues.
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'Sawan Aayo Ma' - Shobha Gurtu, Raag Des, Saregama Music.
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