The flutist in me

Just yesterday, Srikant, one of my buddies, had come home. He played some amazing flute. Mind blowing!

Actually, we used to learn flute together under the guidance of the same guruji a few years ago. The difference  being, he pursued it for a longer time than I did.

Flashback.. 2004

3 idiots join a flute class. Needless to say, I happen to be one of them.

I happened to listen to Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia's performances. Deeply impressed, I decided to give it a try. After all, it is not so difficult, I thought. A veena has a number of strings, and we are required to tune it, use all the 10 fingers, and most of all looks bulky. A mrudangam uses leather membran and my conscience wouldn't allow me to use one. (FYI - I neither use a leather belt, nor a valet, nothing that contains leather)

After all, a flute having 6-7 holes and seemed very easy to play. Most of all, I loved the bass tone of a bansuri.  Also, having seen many hawkers play and sell it on the streets, I thought it to be a rather simple instrument.

I was in search for a guruji, and found one at Kuvempunagar in Mysore. To my surprise, two of my buddies decide to join me. The music institute founders appreciated our interest to learn classical music. They lauded our respect for Indian values, art, culture, etc.. And after a while, our first class commenced.

On the second class (there used to be only two classes a week), we were given our flutes. The music teacher started guiding us. Unlike laymen think, bringing out a flute-like voice(noise?) from a flute is not all that easy, more so if your flute is screwed up. We were taught to get some noise out of it. In total contrast to the melodious soothing flute played by my inspiration, it turned out to be rather irritating.

The disappointment took its first toll on the very first week. One of my friends decided to drop out. My only other flute-mate dropped out after 3 weeks. I remained undettered & committed. However, my practice was interrupted by complaints from my neighbours and my own family members. People complained that they were having headaches after listening to my music. All my close acquaintances expected a jukebox out of me. They thought I could play any tune just like our  kannada movie hero who mesmarises his heroine in a typical setting through his music. They did not realize that I was just 2 months into my learning and was just mastering the art of playing the very first pitch - "sa" out of my flute.

Quite expectedly, I too dropped out. My friends and neighbours were relieved. I guess, even my guruji was!

Who knows, in the process, India might have lost another Chaurasia in the making! :)

Many Idiots ?

This Sunday, I got to meet many people, with diverse interests, most of who had one thing in common. All had left their software jobs after graduating in engineering to persue what they had always dreamt of. One was interested in tourism, another guy wanted to do his masters in Sound engineering, the third was working on biomass gassifiers, and so on. 

Watching 3 idiots as well as meeting these folks came as a big relief to me, given that I am aspiring to take up a career which has nothing to do with my graduating degree. After all, bureaucracy & computer science don't have much in common.  And there are a number of "Mr.Kapoors" around asking all kinds of questions. One question that most of us have been asked by the local junta is "why did you waste your time studying engineering if at all you had to do what you are doing now?". Well, the answer to this is not hard to find.

Most of us have no idea what we are interested in while making our choices. Even if we have one, it is difficult to resist the pressure from parents, relatives, neighbors, and a host of other acquaintances. It is difficult for someone from  a middle class family to decide not to choose engineering(software engineering to be more precise), unless one does not deserve it. Very few people decide to take up careers like  journalism, literature, archeology, forestery, commerce etc.

However, one has to agree that, there is nothing as safe and as paying as software engineering in India in the present times. No wonder, engineering is such a sought after career. It is a different thing that we end up doing what at best can be termed third grade patch work.

There is a basic mismatch between the demand and supply in the HR market. There are a number graduates in journalism, and yet, there are a number of unfilled openings. Similar is the case with a number of other professions. Take the case of teachers. None other than the  prime minister has rung the warning bells. recently. The country is going to face a major crisis in the field of primary education as there are very few quality teachers. No one is opting to become a primary school teacher by choice. It is definitely one of the most critical professions whose importance is often overlooked. There are hundred other professions where the candidates are "unemployable".

So, what is the way out? One has to choose a job that one dreams of. Even if that means a little compromise on the financial terms. "We may have to settle for a smaller car, a smaller house, but definitely greater joy".  After all, when passion becomes your profession, it is heaven!