The silver lining

Last week when things were not going very well at one end, I started to learn the Veena. Yes, the divine instrument played by Godess Saraswati. 

I was contemplating on learning it from a very long time due to following reasons - 

1. I had read somewhere that a person even belonging to the lowest of castes; if he has a veena in his hand, he will reach heaven.

2. My friend Akhilesh plays the veena. I heard him play it one day and I was so awed by it that i wanted to learn it right away. You can listen to him playing Narayana Hari Om here.

3. The music of the vibrating strings does some magic which I am not able to explain.

But even now I am not sure why I wanted to learn. Just wanted to learn, thats it!! Playing it gives me a feeling that I have known the instrument for a very long time. I am not sure whether I had learnt it in my previous birth :-) . 

Maybe last week was the right time when things came together. So off to the shop which sells Veena. Akhilesh had a big hand in choosing the right one for me. It was also reviewed by four more people including my guru. Finally it was decided and I bought it. A pretty old one maybe about 25-30 years old or maybe more. Thats what the experts say. In the case of Veena, the saying - "Old is Gold" fits perfectly since the instrument would have good or better Nada after being played for decades together. Lucky enough to get one so quickly.

Now looking forward to learn it and play well.

Well, wishing you all a very happy and prosperous new year 2009!