Down the memory lane

 If Ayodhya has decked up for the event like a bride, no less beautiful is Pune. If Ayodhya is the bride, Pune is the bridesmaid, I would say. This bridesmaid is special though. She is not just attractive. She is highly cultured, artistic and imaginative. The Sunday evening programme that I watched would be some proof of this assertion.

Pune is unique. It is the cultural capital of Maharashtra. No wonder, just a day before the "great (not merely 'big', please note) day",  the Mitra Foundation hosted a wonderful event celebrating the divinity. My colleague, Dr. Rajeshri Gokhale and her family are the fulcrum of this group.  The Gokhale's are in to art in a big way. Her son, Shantanu, is a highly gifted Santoor player.

No wonder, the Mitra Foundation often hosts quality-rich creative programmes. This evening, no exception, was a unique combo of great poetry, superb music, and lovely dance. It consisted of a dance ballet that accompanied the Geet Ramayana lyrics penned by Ga.Di. Madgulkar, known as the Marathi Valmiki. His simple yet superb poems dedicated to the Ram Katha have been set to music, and mostly sung, by Sudhir Phadke.

The Marathi Geet Ramayana is a lovely confluence of the brilliant talents of these two greats.  However many times you hear the Geet Ramayana, you would not only be mesmerized yet again, but you would also find a special unique something each time.

The lyrics appear simple, but every word is like a precious pearl encased in gold filigree. Phadkeji's tunes are raag-based, and yet so mellifluous and apt for the situation that everyone feels like singing along. This evening the graceful Bharatnatyam performance (well, I did feel there was a dash of the Katthak form, too) added a new visual and kinetic touch to the great Geet Ramayana.

Aai-Papa had once taken us to a Geet Ramayana performance  where both were present, the poet, and the singer who, with his troupe, sang practically all the songs. We were very small, and yet I distinctly  remember the evening. Papa got us the cassettes (and the anthology) of Geet Ramayana which we heard again and again. Aai's troupe used to present a few songs (she used to be both the singer and the narrator) in a nearby Ram Mandir where I would go tomorrow in her memory. 

Any day our small garden would yield lots of flowers, I had to make garlands, and offer them at this temple which Aai visited daily till her early seventies.  Later, as long as she could, she would never miss the Ram Navami and Padwa visits to this temple.

 Both of them hugely respected and believed in the Ram Katha. They both had that sweet simple charm that is born of naive idealism. My suspicion is that it was due to their great faith in the Shri Ram story. They never missed the Ramaraksha recitation. The Ram-Seeta ideal gave them lots of support during their tough times of which they had aplenty, and which they faced in a principled, honest way.

I suppose the Rama story touches our hearts deeply because of such intense associations. In a way, it is the cultural fabric that clothes our very being, nay, weaves in to our very identity. No wonder, every town and each city is decked up for the event!

Pratima@ In the blog tomorrow,  I would try to elucidate "Charitam Raghunathsya" to borrow a phrase from  the Ramraksha Stotra, and try to understand why it is so very appealing.