Chapter 9 - A Brief Debrief
-
Gladson M E
Later
in the day, the setting sun sowed golden brown upon the canopy. The gentle flow
of the beautiful stream running beside the house attracted Matthew and Nikhil.
As
they rested, both the friends had flashes of memories from the past few days.
Nikhil remembered one of their mutual friends, Amal Shetty who rode to North
India on his bike. Amal had mentioned how during such trips, he and his friends
used to have debrief sessions (which they called ‘Avalokanam’) each day. Nikhil
and Matthew thought they could try doing avalokanam and swiftly started their
conversation. Steffi joined a little while later.
Warli painting on music and dance |
They
talked and talked, at one point they felt they had clearly gone way off the
track from what they had intended and now they were talking about some massage
therapy in Auroville which was cheaper in the month of May, when it was off
season. By this time, they realized their avalokanam was not working and they
may need Amal’s help. They took a pause that very moment!
Matthew,
a very energetic self-learned percussionist and an expert in snare drums, had a
flare for spontaneous music. If whistling was a competition item, Nikhil would
have got an Olympic medal in it. Matthew knew what to do, he quickly gathered
some bamboo logs of different lengths and arranged them in front of him, he assumed
a small bamboo stick as his percussion mallet and started playing rhythm looking
at Nikhil if he had understood what song it was [this look is common among all
self-learned enthusiasts like Matthew] ‘Dhadak Dhadak Dhakada Dhadak’ he
went on. Nikhil clearly did not get the tune. He knew what needed to be done at
such situations – he started whistling a song. Matthew had a blissful moment […that
was close Nikhil!!]. Rudha contributed with timely rhythmic claps and they
created an unusual onetime fusion the world had never heard off.
Little
they knew what their music would invite.
In
the bushes were a pair of beautiful round eyes looking at them. Nikhil saw her
and invited her to the band. She seemed hesitant. She had two pebbles which she
had collected from the stream. Percussionist and the whistler for a moment had
no clue what she was up to. The next moment the sweet little damsel raised one pebble
and hit it to the other, she was making a rhythm. Her wooden bangles too moved
when she hit the stones together, the ‘Bamboo-Whistle-Clap-Stone-Bangles’ band took
off once again. Some other tribal girls and boys also joined them with various ‘instruments’.
The jam session went on till the sun had gone down and full moon had slipped in.
Suddenly,
the boys and girls actioned everyone to stop, everything went on standstill and
a deafening silence followed.
The
kids were trying to listen to something, something from very far. Nikhil, Matthew
and Steffi too tuned their ears to listen hard. They saw Rudha getting ready to
do something and walking towards the tribal kids.
The
voice from far away heard like a pack of fox howling. Rudha and the kids stood in
a circle with hands on each other’s shoulders, facing the ground. The kids
waved gesturing Nikhil and others to join too. What happened next was a strange
ritual that nobody could have witnessed: the youngest girl in the group made a soft
sound, others one by one with increasing age order began to imitate. Steffi and
the others too joined when it was their turn. After everyone’s turn was over, all
of them looked face to face and took a deep breath and blew to the sky, ‘Foooooooohhhhhh’.
Matthew and the others could hear similar multiple ‘foooohhhhhh’s’ from
different part of the jungle.
Soon
all the kids went away. Rudha asked, “How was it? This is a tribal ritual done
when they hear foxes howling. Foxes set the time for the ritual and the youngest
member of any group decides what to do. Wherever they are, they stop doing
whatever they are doing and stand a moment in silence, to be thankful of how
each of them took care of each other. The ‘fooooh’ is a message to the sky and
the jungle that they care for them too”.
Steffi
felt very bad to have plotted to attack and injure a tribal guy, earlier. “We
think we live an independent, I-manage-my-life-alone attitude, how ironic,”
said Steffi to Matthew.
Rudha
went inside, Nikhil and the others were very hungry. They just sat outside with
only ‘hope’ and no ‘work’ for food. Crickets, owls, and all sorts of jungle
creatures were busy with their version of the orchestra. Soon, Rudha came out
with a bowl in her hand. It was filled with a semi-solid, mouthwatering,
seemingly eatable stuff. Each of them got a coconut shell to be used as a cup
to eat. A spoon was made by stitching together a sweet-smelling leaf. The
porridge was ready for consumption, Nikhil could not wait any longer. He right
away gobbled his first serving. Everyone took their part of the communion. With
tasty food to savour there was a sudden silence. With their mouths busy with
tasty food, nobody made any comments.
Rudha
had finished half of what she had taken while all others were just stuck with
what they had in their mouth. Nikhil managed to swallow and moved closer to the
others and whispered something. Rudha asked “what happened guys, tell me” Matthew
said, “Nikhil badly misses his mother’s food”. All of them burst into laughter.
They slept hoping for a new morning loaded with more adventure.
- To be continued -
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About the writer - With passion and dedication, Gladson believes that bringing about a change in any ordinary lives isnt impossible. He is fond of music and finds peace with it.
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