Memories on a platter

Everyone’s not born with a silver spoon but you can definitely give your children memories on a platter. In a conversation with a friend she mentioned how she narrated her childhood stories to her daughter, and her daughter seemed to relish with great enthusiasm. She believes ‘memories on a platter’ concept.

I quite like the idea. In today’s world children are not creating as much memories with parents due to the invasion of technology in their lives. Pillow talks and bed time stores have become the thing of the past. You can give materials and comfort to children but the best thing to give them is memories.

We all have stories. In fact our life is made up of little stories. Sharing these stories with our children can inspire them to do the same with the next generation. Grandpa’s tell tales are never going to go out of fashion.

Ear you go!

A boy walked up to me, handed his guitar and told me that it’s out of tune and requested me to tune it. He also said he doesn’t have a tuner. I asked him how come he knew that it’s out of tune and he said, by listening.

We ‘can only tune’ using the digital tuner but can know that it’s off tune just by listening. I told the boy you should use your ear to tune the guitar just as you use it to know it’s off tune. Music is an aural art and our ears must be tuned to know.

Our dependency on digital products are making us weak and lazy. We are not willing to even calculate 4+4 in our head. I have been playing the guitar for over 30 years now and in the first 15 years of playing I never saw a tuner. But we still made music back then, we still tuned our guitars, we still relied on our intrinsic hearing ability. Even if we tuned using a piano or keyboard, it was by listening and not by matching colours.

Friends, musicians and countrymen, lend me your ear!

Everyone wants to show up if not show off

I was amongst a group of colleagues this morning and our dangling conversation lead to people posting on Facebook. “I am at the airport”, “just landed,” “Hello from New York,” – these are some common status on social media. One colleague even said how can people post selfie after selfie as if trying to remember how he/she looks.

I think everyone wants to show up even if there are some who want to show off. The business of posting on social media sites has become so complusive these days. People want to be heard, seen, wanted and loved. The social media opened up the opportunity for everyone to be ‘seen’. I don’t know what motivates people to post now and then and share every detail of their whereabouts.

I think as humans we still need to connect through handshakes and not a web browser. The real connect is lost because we are so much involved in virtual connections. People need to be heard, seen and loved in the real world.

Still Under Cover

Until two weeks ago we were still under cover. Now many people know that we are Still Under Cover. This is a school band formed two weeks ago on a need basis. The prestigious annual children’s literature festival was underway at the Habitat Centre. The programme incharge asked our principal if the school band could perform at the festival. She asked us if we had a school band. The answer was a clear No, but we could form one.

Amidst preparation for the school Annual Day, 10 children signed up to form the band and decided to work during the Diwali holidays to make it happen, including my little girl drummer. We called the kids to school for two hour practice for four days, with no practice days in between due to the festival. After two run-throughs on the final we set out for the concert.

10 November 2018 at 7.45 pm, the band went on stage. The lights were on and the show began. The applause started after the sound check and went on till the end. The band played like pros sans any attitude. The crowd loved them. The band’s debut performance became a big hit and they are Still Under Cover.

Keep Believing Fiercely

I almost succumbed to the noise from the crowd that said “it’s not gonna work.” Sometimes dreams are just believing in what you know is going to work, and not giving up.

In the last few days the ‘battle’ was intense in the inter-house theatre and music competition. I was working with one of the choirs and we were doing the iconic song Imagine by John Lennon. The choir children were not great singers but we’re disciplined. Most of them were new, including the little drummer girl. We worked hard together. I believed that they would pull it off in the end. Everyone said that the choir is not up to the mark, they are not singing well, blah, blah. I was even asked for the opinion to drop the song and play the original song. I almost gave in to the pressure. I made the choir sing again and again to find the fault but there was none. I held on and made my argument logical. I said I will not make a judgement untill I hear them in the sound system. During the final rehearsal with proper sound the choir sounded great and they went on to win the first prize.

Sometimes people around us try to say we aren’t good enough. The noise can be deafening and makes you give in. But when you have the strong belief in what you do and put that required effort, it really pays off. I am glad that I held on to my horses.

Christmas in November

I just celebrated Christmas. The little drummer I spotted three years ago played at her first gig today and nailed it. Started learning in mid July this year and moved at high speed and played at the big event – the school annual day.

I had this little dream in my head to make this girl play drums at the Christmas assembly in December but it happened even before that. I am so glad that she worked hard at it although I had apprehension. I have now realised that if we focus and visualise our dreams do come true. All the events that led to this was how I had visualised. That’s so amazing.

What I had thought and visualised would happen in Christmas took place in November. When the desire is so strong and if you can visualise thoroughly, things do happen. And it can happen even before the deadline you set. My ‘Christmas’ happened in November.