Ms. Ranjani Sivakumar’s delightful musical presentation on Friday night inspired me to tap into my avian vocabulary to see if I can possibly write something centered around our feathered friends. I’m afraid of the critique that I might receive if this ever falls into the hands of Mr. Salim Ali. Publishers over at Penguin Random House, this is far from im-peck-able, but I do look forward to your assessment and o-pinions!
To provide a hawk’s eye view of the concert, Ms. Ranjani created this iridescent aura with her enchanting voice that took you from scene to scene, song to song, completely immersed in the moment. Time has an ephemeral quality, it is a wanderer, much like how it is described in The Bird of Time written by our very own, Nightingale of India. John James Audubon would have been scrupulously impressed with the vast variety of felicitous references throughout the concert. I liked how intrepid Ms. Ranjani was to sing in several languages and to engage so beautifully with the audience, switching from language to language with an easy sense of humor. I almost reprimanded the folks who ducked out early, causing a small ruckus with the constant ripping sound of vel-crow on their shoes.
Some questions that Ms. Ranjani posed to the audience flew right over my head and reiterated the fact that while I know some of Bharathiyar’s works, I must brush up my comprehension of his other translated works. Speaking of brushing and general ablutions, I heard that Dove has come up with a bar of cucumber and green tea soap that apparently does wonders to your skin. It seems like a pheasant diversion from its typical Shea Butter bar that swooped the nation upon its genesis many decades ago. Interestingly, the 4th episode of the 1st season of Justice League Unlimited is titled “Hawk and Dove”. I’m just saying how big a fan I am of Batman and well, Robin!
Speaking of being a fan, it was a balmy June morning in 2003 when the voluminous and thickset “The Order of Phoenix” book released in Bangalore. Set the alarm for before the rooster crowed, navigated through winding lines of people breathing down your neck, endured some amount of jostling, owl to find out what happened after the dramatic end of the Triwizard Tournament. That amount of excitement cannot be captured in X (formerly Twitter’s) paltry 280-character limit. Over the course of time, I have become less of a fan of Elon’s proceedings, I suspect there is fowl play involved there. He gave a talk at Hopkins when I was a proud blue jay back in 2014 but I ended up missing it because I was visiting my aunt in St. Louis, go Cardinals!
Speaking of sports teams, I am ever so glad that Royal Challengers Bangalore shifted base from the tight grip of Kingfisher to United Spirits. Toucan play at the game, Mr. Absconding Mallya. Stating the rather obvious one here but he should have known better – a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I have not seen a company’s worth in the stork market plummet so deplorably. Even the lawyers from “The Pelican Brief” could not have saved his catastrophic decline. All it was, was a Flamboyance of Fabulous, very unlike the true flamboyance of flamingoes!
“Cat Among Pigeons” sketches out a fictional kingdom in the Middle East called Ramat where Poirot uses his supremely evolved intelligence to solve crime while the school teachers at the prestigious Meadowbank School in England are much like sitting ducks, waiting to be caught off guard. They pull these night-owl stunts, parrot things that they have heard and refuse to chicken out even when imminent disaster is near. Agatha Christie, however, is a legend in the entire sense of the word and birds do feature frequently as a plot device in her works. Edward Hillingdon in “A Caribbean Mystery” is an ornithologist, Miss Marple uses birdwatching and binoculars as a guise to spy on people.
Speaking of classics, I am the not-so-humble owner of the Entire Works of Hans Christian Anderson (including “The Princess and The Pea, The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina amongst others) courtesy of my father when he visited Odense, Denmark. I believe we have a copy of “The Seagull” at our home in Bangalore, procured somewhere near Taganrog, Russia where Anton Chekhov was from. Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” makes a prominent presence on the list. I’d be remiss to not include “The Kite Runner” here on this ever-precious list of classics that the Niles and Frasier Crane frequently quote, including narration by Chief Bromden in an Oregon psychiatric hospital depicted in “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. The one that I would vehemently keep out of any list is “Mockingjay” (not the bird).
Ms. Ranjani was much like a raven in Edgar Allen Poe’s works and symbolized insight into the intriguing art form that is Carnatic music. The delicateness and exquisiteness that she brought while singing “Ud Jayega Hans Akela” and “Enduke Neekinta Tondara” remains unforgettable. She was indeed the Lady of the Wings, with her goldcrest voice and perfectly controlled kite soaring oh so high!
