Music journey continues to Gayaki and loving it

My music journey is slowly progressing. I am loving every minute of it. 

Thanks to my guruji Shri. Dhananjay Marathe-ji, Warje, Pune, who's teaching style is perfect. 

First of all, the sessions are online (though offline can be chosen). We get to decide on mutual timings depending on our schedules, so flexibility is there. This was a hurdle for me before I started learning.

But mainly, he has a way of simplifying things so well, and explaining every facet of the raag, that I get to covert the artistic explanation to technical in my mind. This helps me learn. When I know the nature of the raag, what swar should come in what sequence, and how it compares with other raags.

He answers all questions patiently. 

My Achievement. (I'll post a pic of the certificate soon)

I passed the Praveshika Pratham oral exam in First class. I'm proud of myself!  

8 raags, lakshangeet, tarana, dhrupad and other technical theory... all memorized. Kind of nervous reciting what was asked. 

Now I am learning it differently this year. Moved on to Gayaki i.e. slower paced learning where we get to know a raag deeply, to cover vakra taan, raag swaroops, vilambit khayals, chota khayal, tarana, and much more! 

For a person handling corporate life, managing home and family, it is a tough job to learn Indian / Hindustani classical music. But it is possible with a bit of management, lots of patience, technology, and loads of passion to learn it. 

A Day at Tamhini Ghat

Last rains we decided to do a one day trip to Tamhini near Pune.

It was a Sunday. We got up, had early breakfast and left our house at Warje by 7.30 am. We took the road via Pirangut, Paudgaon on our bike and kept driving for about an hour.

The drive was splendid with all hills covered with greenery and lots of farms on the way. We stopped for tea at a tapri (a small shop) at the touch of Mulshi lake. Entry into the lake waters and its perimeter is restricted and is a property of Tata power. There is also Mulshi dam on the way.

When we reached Tamhini, we saw some smaller waterfalls but stopped at a spot where there were few vehicles already parked. Waterfall was at a small walk from the road. We began our small trek towards it amongst the hills. It was amazing with the sparkling water flowing by and us having to walk through it to reach the waterfall. The water was about knee to waist deep at some places. There were other picnic groups too having lots of fun. (Picture 1: Yogesh and a beautiful backdrop of mountains and rain clouds)

When I saw the waterfall, I couldn't help shuddering! The water crashed down heavy amongst a little enclosure in the hill. We were surrounded by the hill and trees. There was a small lake created at the base of the waterfall... it was paradise, a world outside of our world. We stepped into the lake and walked towards the waterfall, not imagining for a second to stand under it! Water falling from such height hurts like rocks on your body. We sat on some boulders by the waterfall to click pics and ate snacks, splashing water all the time. (That's him in maroon conquering the waterfall!)

Then began our trek back to our bike, with us shivering, drenched to our bones. On our way back we stopped at a small resort for snacks and tea, and reached home by 8 pm well in time for dinner!