I went to this Jazz performance organized by the India
Habitat Center as part of the Delhi International Arts Festival. That was last
evening. A Czech quartet performed with the chelo and violin. An hour or so. I
was late for the performance. Generally I am one who respects performances and
always makes it a point to be seated well before the beginning of the
performance. But an unforeseen traffic condition was responsible for my late
arrival. Fortunately I had friends reserving a seat for me. They had even
denied it to a pretty girl who had asked if it was available. It was a very
hearty gesture on the part of testosterone charged young males fuelled by
flamboyant “pick up” acts by suave Hollywood actors on screen.
But back to the point. The Jazz. The quartet. The amazing
symphony in the air. From the moment I sat down, I was captivated. The music
was enchanting. Alluring. Beyond description even with the difficult words that
my English school teacher had taught me. I was transported to a different
timezone and space altogether. With my eyes closed I suddenly found myself on
the streets of Florence. The sinewy cobbled streets, the ancient stone
buildings, the rustic iron gates, the narrow charming streets, dimly lit by the
golden glow of the street lamps hunching over from the stony pavements or
crooning from the tall houses. And I was walking in these streets. Like a
hundred other beautifully dressed people. With smiles on their faces and arms
around each other. And some of them even did a little jig with the music! And the
pretty women had bouquets in their arms. The men all wore crisp shirts and had
their arms through their partners’. And they leaned against each other. Some shared
a cone of gelato. Some ate queer Paninis. And they all smiled.
And suddenly the rhythm changed. And I was teleported again.
To a scene from very many years ago. I was inside a cartoon. A cat chased a
mouse…to the rhythms of the quartet. A mischievous grey cat with a white
dipstick tail and a diminutive brown mouse with pink ears! And a burly bulldog
who was convinced that the cat was the cause for all his troubles. And they ran
hither and thither, chasing each other, hitting posts, stepping on rakes,
running into frying pans! It was a chaotic comedy. From years of the past. When
tears were rare and jokes were simple. When comedy was not bounded by age. When
father and sons sat together and shared a laugh over the same television show.
Parental guidance was a term which we hadn’t heard of yet.
And then again the tunes changed. I was now in a ball room. The
ones they had in those old Hollywood movies…set in Austria. And there were
beautifully dressed women around me. They wore long satin dresses. That seemed
to float as they moved. And they had blue eyes and they always seemed to sigh
as they spoke. The men had very carefully set hair. And black coats. With shiny
boots. And they danced with the women. Holding them at the waists and swirling
them around in sync with the music. And the women sighed. That’s all they
seemed to do. And smile. The music peaked and troughed and they danced to the tempo…floating
gracefully around or bobbing with the beats. And there were was champagne being
served…in quaintly shaped glasses on silver oval trays by men with white
gloves.
The music stopped. There was clapping all around. Even a few
hoots. It was a standing ovation. For the quartet who now stood side by side
bowing to the audience. I got up too. Clapped. The show was over. People started
to leave. As I left the auditorium with my friends I felt very light. The music
was still playing in my head. All I had known about jazz was only a name that I
had heard. John Coltrane. That’s just it. But now I felt very different. I felt
like an enlightened soul. I did a jig up the stairs. A little tap of the feet
too…
