~ The Unlearned Musician ~

His Sound of flute was mesmerizing to the ears, the tone was much captivating and pulled one towards its source. As I was brisk walking, with each passing step, the sound was getting loud and more rhythmic …may be he was a professional player, the flute was just acting as a guinea pig to the player but the aura he was spreading unknowingly was godly!

Suddenly, the man came to my sight and I could locate him just cross the road standing in with hordes of flutes – some hanging along with a bag he was carrying. The flute was of different sizes and colors. Another observation I could record was that he was carrying loads of Peacock feathers which added to his kitty of sell – maybe he was a roaming market in himself – whatever he could carry with ease was there in his kitty! 

Out of curiosity and the versatility of the sounds he was making through that little log of wood with caricatured holes which made sounds of different pitch. I could never think of such a simple wooden piece can make such a melody, but here was a man standing in front of me making it happen! 

I went as a buyer to him and started to converse, though I wanted him to play endlessly but he suddenly stopped and asked me what I wanted – I just wanted to ask him if he could be a teacher or a guru to me to teach me this art but that was just an imagination. I thus asked him what was the cost of the “Bansuri” which he was so melodiously playing. He started to show me a range of flutes in his own marketing style, but I was just interested with the same flute he was playing himself , as if he had that magical wand which anyone could just have played without any practice.

 He told me the cost of flutes of different shapes and sizes and started to gesture the art of playing the humble instrument to one’s satisfaction. I enquired if he had learnt it from some guru or teacher, to which he replied that “I learnt all by myself. As a child, I would love to just play with this instrument as that was what my father could afford, he gave me the flute and I started to practice it daily. Initially, it was a disaster but later with time I learnt the art of making out different sounds at different pitches to everyone’s surprise, though I never knew that a time pass would one day become my source of income!”

His short parable was interesting and I could learn that, with no formal training of music , here was a man who was such a perfection incarnate to play the flute as if it was coming out of something divine!

No wonder we struck a deal, and I bought the merchandise without any much haggle – the honor of having it from a street hawker so versatile was all mine! Now also, sometimes I see him quite often playing the flute with all his character – the music is still divine and makes me know that the unlearned musician has come and make us all sink in his divinity of music…