Mellifluous and Melodious Strains... (That take your breath away...!!!)

The very term ‘lyrical’ implies a form of musical utterance in words governed by overmastering emotion and set free by a powerfully concordant rhythm, says Ernest Rhys in his Lyric Poetry.

Well, the challenge here is: to what extent can the pleasures of sound and sense be fused with the recitation of poetry to such an extent that it takes your breath away and carries you far far away into the Keatsian sublime?

The master pianist who swayed our hearts

How can an eloquent thought be rendered simply to the ear?

Or how best can the grandeur behind an Arnoldianism or the tenor that propels a Wordsworthian 'Immortality Ode', or the sweetness of a Sarojini Naidu’s lyrical 'Palanquin Bearers', or the nobility of a Miltonian epithet be rendered to the accompaniment of a melodious strain?

And that’s exactly what Vijai Vardhan, IAS, Chief Secretary to Govt of Haryana, did, when he recited some memorable lyrical verses to the accompaniment of a melodious strain from the pianist’s grand notes!

For once, the audience was dazed… and like the famous Goldsmithian phrase goes, the more they (g)dazed the more their wonder grew!!!

Just giving a tail piece from his wonderful pianisms! (Video attached)

It’s not quite rare for IAS officers to take to pen and paper and jot down their thoughts! Mr. Vardhan is one such IAS officer who has authored five books till date! And what a felicity of expression! Kudos Sir!

He recited from many of his poems, and from a few of his favourite poets too! Although he had a strain from Leonard Cohen, one of my personal favourites, I would have been a happier person only if he had taken a leaf or two from my all –time favy Cliffy (Cliff Richards!). 

When he recited from Pablo Neruda’s captivating lines, you indeed find a personal touch and a warmth that is indescribable! (Friends, if you haven’t still tried Neruda, it’s high time nay the right time to try him out over a cuppa stronggg chaaai!)

What you see is what you get... ;-)

The man of the moment was obviously Keki Daruwalla. Nowhere in the world would you ever find an august and sublime mix of lovable literary hearts pulsating all the time to the literary impulse that pulsated the length and breadth of snow-crossed Haryana on a snowy  morning in the last week of January! Yes, the temperature was well below 3 degrees, and as you can see in this video, in every nook and corner of all the major roads, one could find people gathered together to make a mound or a heap to raise a hearth to warm themselves! (video attached)

Coming back to Keki Daruwalla (I remember having read his poems for my graduate programme in Indian Writing in English), the writer in him was fully geared up in two nay three woolen garments to give him the much-needed warmth from the beating snow – the crazy snow that had permeated even into the audy mightily! Some oldies where even heard groaning/writhing/shivering to the core at this unexpected snow wave that was literally knocking down people from their normal vibes! I, as usual, stationed myself near the cafeteria for the most part, having either a hotttt cuppa tea or coffee or milk to beat the crazy snow that swore never to leave the vicinity at least for the next one week!

Keki read out excerpts from his new novel Ancestral Affairs and even gave signed copies of the same to his fans. One thing I like about Keki is his courage to invent! courage to dare! courage to keep going! even at this age into unchartered territories! Indeed as an IPS Officer with well over 38 years of meritorious service to the call of duty, he must have been well-read on the main thriving issues of the day! But to have all material at hand, including all the newspapers, magazines, journals and other archives of the 1947 partition upheaval at hand, and making using of them suavely in his historiographic fiction, the way he locates the lofty lore that surrounds the partition is something that finds resonance in the remarkable use of the Indian dialects with ease and gusto throughout the novel!

To be contd…