Music has no barriers.

Hindustani classical music has its own charm. But I grew up mostly tuned to Carnatic music. It is not an easy transition into Hindustani. Luckily, Pune is culturally a very vibrant city. There are musical events almost every other day. A lot of folks that I interact with are personally into music and that gives some additional exposure. So, I had the opportunity to listen to notable exponents of Hindustani classical, albeit in electronic form. However, I did not attend a real concert in a long long while. After a kid in the family that has become a more distant possibility as it is difficult to keep the kid quiet for two hours at a go. So, I no more know if I can successfully sit through an entire concert undistracted.

One of our friends had invited us to a concert organized at their terrace garden. Concerts like this, small gatherings, are more challenging as the size of the group being small the tolerance level to distractions is typically very low. And, my 4-year old kid is the most boisterous of the lot – never to sit at one place for any decent length of time. I do not know how he would react to the idea of sitting at one place watching an artist sing classical music. Watching movies sitting at one place is different from this. There you see more action and story building up to catch the kids’ attention. But musical concert is surely a different ball game. My hesitation in accepting the invite is natural.

Much against my own wishes, I accepted the invite and started mentally preparing an outline on how to keep the kid occupied so he does not distract others. It was Saturday morning and the October heat is yet to turn on. The showers the previous day had kept the climate pleasant. The concert was to start at 9:30AM. The selected theme for the concert is ‘Morning Ragas’ by Shri Vikas Parikh, disciple of Pandit Jasraj. We all gathered on the terrace on time and settled for the concert to begin. Everything seemed to be perfectly set.

I chose a seat far from the dais so the noises made by the kid are not heard easily. We had a bunch of Calvin and Hobbes’ comic books & coloring material to keep the kid busy. It seemed to be working and I was looking forward to a great morning.

As it has to be, things got delayed on the concert front. The support artist on harmonium instrument did not arrive and there was a last minute scramble. Eventually, things got sorted out and we started at 10:00AM, a good half hour late. Meanwhile, my kid was skimming through the comics at a great pace! The melodious ragas offset any disappointment at the late start. We were all heartily enjoying the ragas when my kid suddenly reported that he is through with all the books and wanted to do something else. That was like a lightning bolt! We were hardly 40 minutes into the show. I struggled to keep him tied at one place; but very soon it was getting difficult. I asked him to go out quietly and play. He would not listen. He caught sight of the music instruments and wanted to move close to dais. Lo & behold! There he is. Pleasantly sitting in front of the dais, watching the artists play the instruments, listening to the ragas with rapt attention. At the end of the concert, he even clapped heartily!

True, music has no barriers. The kid seems to have connected well.

We all had thoroughly enjoyed the concert and I was really happy that I did accept the invite. Folks around were asking me why I was distracting the kid when he has such good interest in music. Hmm! Now, that's a new discovery for me too.