06 October 2019

Blog Marathon - Post 6 - The power of music

It was a rainy day today. It was dark, gray, and the clouds were sprinting from one end to the other. I had to go to the city center twice at different times in the day. I couldn't cycle due to the rain. I avoid cycling when it is raining. I had to take the bus and the tram to reach the destination. Being a Sunday today, the city center was not abuzz with people. Fewer trams and trains and people gave it a very deserted look. It suddenly has begun to feel as if the winter has arrived. It has got colder compared to the last few days. I was waiting for the bus. The bus would have come only in another 20 minutes, and I had no other option but to wait for the bus there. Suddenly, something pleasant fell on my ears. Something that made me feel warm on that cold and rainy afternoon. I looked around.

An old man in probably his 60's was playing an instrument. He was sitting on a chair on the footpath. He had placed the instrument on another bench-like thing in front of him so that he could play it easily. He had two hammer-like things in both his hands, and his hands were weaving magic in the form of musical notes. The notes were soft and warm, and they came straight to me and hit my heart. A smile came to my face automatically. There was no one around him. A few people were walking on the street, but no one was really paying attention to him. He was lost in his own world. He was smiling to himself and playing his art skillfully. The bus came at that moment, and I could just listen to him for only about 10 minutes.

I had to come to the city center again at 5 pm, and I saw that old man again! He had changed his position and shifted a bit further where the trams stopped, and there were people around. It was drizzling. And he was playing. He was playing as if no one was watching, and he was the only one sitting there. He was playing for his own joy. He was there to spend some time may be away from the loneliness at home, or maybe he wanted to cheer people up in this dark and dull weather. No one really took notice of that man, but he wasn't perturbed. He kept on playing the instrument. I was moved by his skill and his attempt to lighten the otherwise serious and dull atmosphere. I got into the tram and went to a friend's home for a function.

I came back home at about 8 pm from the function. Those musical notes hadn't really left me, they were still haunting me. They were lingering in my head somewhere. I had never seen that instrument, and I wanted to know more about it, so I searched for it on Google and found it!

The instrument is called a Dulcimer. The sound and appearance of the Dulcimer couldn't stop me from thinking about our very own Indian santoor. They both sounded very similar to me!

Read more about it here: https://www.britannica.com/art/dulcimer.

Also, listen to the warm notes of the Dulcimer here from YouTube: Dulcimer.

The discovery of this instrument made my day. It brought a smile to my face and warmth in my heart. Whoever that man was, God bless him!




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