Ashok, my tabla teacher, with his wife and 2 daughters. Yossi (another tabla student) and I went to his house for dinner. They live in a rented house in Chennganur (12 kms from Aranmula) and he comes to Aranmula ervy day by bus. Their house is very simple. It's interesting that Ashok, a Keralan, chose to be a scholar of tabla, which is a North Indian instrument and part of the Hindustani music tradition. Keral, being in the south, is a part of the Carnatic music tradition and so the tabla is not used in classical music - the mridangam is. We have see "fusion" music here where tabla players are includeed with Carnatic music, but to play real Hindustani classical music Ashok would need to live in the north. He likes Carnatic music but his love is Hindustani. He started playing when he was 10 and at something like 14 he left home to go to the north and live with a tabla guru to learn.
I also went to my mridangam teacher's house for a meal the other day. Subhash also lives in Chengannur but he comes to Aranmula on his scooter. Subhash's wife is a singing teacher at VKV. They both also teach local Chengannur students in their home, so when we arrived at their place Manju was teaching singing to a group of little kids in one room and Subhash was teaching mridangam to little kids in another room. We met a 10 year old boy who has been learning mridangam from Subhash since he was 6, and he will have his arangetram (debut concert) next month.
New Years Eve was an enjoyable time with VKV students and staff. Some of us went to Khozencherry (the closest town) to have a drink first (no alcohol allowed on VKV premises) and then we had a party in one of the centre's houses. I led African singing and taught an African dance, and (as I did last time I was here) played plastic bucket drumming which was fun. This turned into a drumming circle with staff and students playing plastic buckets in a mix of African and Indian rhythms as well as the universal sound of people banging on plastic buckets. We also had various dances and songs and some bopping. Just before midnight we all sat in a circle (Indian, French, English, American, Dutch, Brazilian, Israeli, Australian) and took turns saying words which conveyed some kind of hope for the coming year. At midnight Swami (the yoga teacher) suggested that we do some "Om" chants, and he led us in that. It was a good wholsome event. Some of the students said it was their first New Years Eve without alcohol and NY day was their first time of starting a new year without a hangover. Indians don't celebrate new year (except young groovy people in Mumbai or Delhi who want to be like westerners) so there were no other parties going on in the village. Walking home at 2am through the village with my two closest friends and housemates here: Leonore (from France) and Yossi (from Israel) was a warm and heartfelt moment in a silent village under a beautiful starlit and moonlit sky. Beginnings of new beginnings at the beginning of a new year.
