~ MaNan: A Melody Forever ~
credit: Mais
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter;
Therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone.
~John Keats
The reasons for me to quote these lines from the famous poem of John Keats are flute' and melody'... which I will elaborate a little later.
First to the annotations of the poem as per my limited knowledge..
The melodies that we tend to hear with our physical senses are sweet but the ones that are unheard and only imagined and that go beyond the realm of physical senses are of a higher strata. Thus the poet asks the flute to play the melody that is appealing to the soul or imagination than just to the ears.
With due respect to Sir John Keats, I would like to interpret these lines in context to our babies...MaNan.
There were those melodies of lives of Manik and Nandini that we had heard... the truths that we knew at the onset... the ones which were evident.
Then there were those melodies of their lives which were unheard... The ones we imagined... the truths those were guarded by them dearly... until the thing called love came by and the truths unveiled.
Both the melodies... the heard and unheard are a part of the music, and yet the latter tends to tug at the heart. More so because, it has to do with the soul searching... It leaves so much to our imagination and fantasy to create a melody that befits them in the most beautiful manner.
~~~
And now coming to the Flute and Melody...
MaNan means a deep or profound reflection... What better reflection than their names entwined just as their hands and their pinkies together?
For me MaNan has been a melody, one of the most soulful ones to cast its spell on us... For what we have is the Gem' and the Bringer of Joy' ... her Manik and his Nandini.
If MaNan is a musical instrument then I picture it as a flute. The Indian flute to be more specific as it's the simplest of its kind... Made up of bamboo with a few holes...I could keep listening to it endlessly..
Why flute you may wonder... for there are other musical instruments that entice us equally. Just that I feel a flute does poetic justice to the characters we have come to love... Manik and Nandini.
So here's a story my dear friends... or we all like the "Once upon a times" don't we?
~ The Flute and the Flautist ~
(credit to the maker)
The characters:
The flute' - Manik;
The carver' - Nyonika;
The pedestal' - FAB 5;
The flautist' - Nandini
There was this bamboo stock, so soft so young that it caught the carver's eye. It would do well for the carver to carve a flute out of it and bid it. Then there were those holes that were carved out there. Changing it's identity and life forever.
But the one who gave them to it didn't stay back long enough to see what it had turned into. The carver was more fascinated by something else and dropped the flute midway. It lay there day and nights...untouched.
Someone did pick it up one day and put it on a pedestal. The motive of the gesture was unknown yet the flute felt indebted to the one who did so. At least someone thought it didn't belong down there in the dust. Now it had a new place to call its own... It's own pedestal. It stayed there on the pedestal grabbing eyeballs. The pedestal gave it what the carver didn't. The pedestal was its home. It stood out there and people looked at it with awe.
Each night as the lights turned off and the flute was polished, it thought of the times it spent bearing the scorching summer, the daunting rain and the chilling winter... as it lay there some time ago... untouched. A twist of fate and now it stood in the pedestal and was showered with all needed care for the flute was now the prized possession on the pedestal.
In those nightly hours the flute would then break into a silent whimper unheard by the ignorant...
"When I was a bamboo mere, not a soul did glance me
A few holes down my heart is all, the carver did give me.
The one who gave me those scars, then left me in despair
I lay there untouched bearing all, no soul had time to spare
That was a tale of yesteryear's, and now I stand tall
My pedestal holds me high, and I rise to never fall."
~~~
Then one day came a flautist who knew the true worth of what the whole wide world called a mere bamboo stock with a few holes'. The flautist knew the pain the bamboo stock went through when the holes were carved out. And the flautist knew what would bring the flute to life... the very existence of life to a human... One's own breath.
The flautist gently picked the flute as it was so much like her. So many voids at places. She held it ever so tenderly as if it was living and placed her tender yet trained fingers on the voids of the flute. Raising the flute to her soft lips she kissed it with her breath. And lo behold!!!! ..It came to life.
She smiled for now she could show what the flute could do. As she first tried a melody, all she got was an untoward outcry from the flute. She though miffed at not being able to churn a melody couldn't blame the flute, for she understood it had never been given its due. It never knew its worth. But she knew and she would make everyone see it beyond being just a prized bamboo stock on the pedestal. The flute needed familiarity and so she played it often from then on. Gradually as it got to know her, and one night as her breath meandered along its length and escaped through the voids that her fingers allowed; it sung its heart song. It played the heart wrenching notes so perfectly that she had tears in her eyes after rendering. It touched the flute that someone felt for it, for its pain and it then gave her the token of playing her melody which it found to be on similar notes. She was just like it and yet so different. Once done with the sad renderings she made it a point to breathe in a happy note making her smile reach her eyes. The flute felt honoured that it could make someone happy. It's heart song now carried happy notes every night.
The flute and the flautist were now an inseparable pair. They could only render melody when together. The flute needed her lips on it to breathe life into it and the flautist needed the voids of the flute for that's where her fingers belonged... for now and forever.
Yet again in the nightly hours the flute would break into its heart song... not a silent whimper anymore... rather a heartfelt melody...
"She held me with care, and filled me with breath;
She pulled me to life, right from the death
She played me with love, a melody at time;
She cared not for the riches, not even a dime
She breathed into me, with her chaste lips;
She played my song, on her finger tips
While at the onset, I cried out my plight;
She played every note, with a striking might
In doing so, her eyes shed tears;
For even she was, battling her fears
The happy notes then, she played into me;
And I realized this is how, it was meant to be
She smiles with her lips, and then with her eyes;
And then the stars up above, light up the skies
We play a new melody, in the dark of the night;
For the glowing fireflies, are a beholding sight
The melody we make, is a sheer bliss;
Blessed with voids, and true love's kiss
So long my friends, we'll meet again;
In springtime, in summer or even in rain
For now I have, to cease my words;
The night beckons, and nestles the birds
Under the starlight, beneath the hope tree;
I hear my flautist, waiting for me
As I meet her, in the splendor and all;
I know what they mean by, 'in love you fall'."
~~~
As every post I have made here, this has been equally endearing. More so because it was for the Babies... MaNan.
And if the previous tortures of my infamous couplets weren't enough here's one more to fit the bill. Brace yourselves. And yes I will keep you all in my prayers... for that the least I can do for you.
Will it make sense? I really don't know;
All I did was, I went with the flow.
As we rock from the "Wills" to the "Maybes"
I write this out for the dear Babies
Twinkie for all here... My very Winnie the pooh
This is your Minion's gift for you
What are you looking at? I'm not done yet...well not until I give you an antidote after the deadly couplet bites ... So here's a heavy dose of the antidote I love... Hugs all the way.
Leave in your impressions... For that's what I shall take along with me.
Itti Si Khushi Sab TV
