Marwa
- Bhaswati Ghosh (India)
At the end of a long, ceaseless day
Marwa comes and tells me time isn't
a robot Nero to slave for but a punctured
vessel to flow out of. It's the artery
through
which the day's blood courses unto infinity.
Nikhil Banerjee takes his time to play the
gat;
his fingers softly make the clock disappear.
The notes of the indulgent sitar don't chase
time
but scatter themselves on its bed, releasing
it of its weight and postal stigma. Marwa, with its
big heart, lets go of Pancham and the sun.
The
slipping light isn't an escape. It's a conflux
of
splintered seconds that meld into hours
benevolently robbed of their cloaks of day and
night.
Marwa meets and makes meetings possible.
Marwa, an Indian raga in which the fifth note
Pancham (or Pa) is omitted, is characterised as quiet and contemplative,
representing gentle love.
Nikhil
Banerjee was an eminent Indian classical sitarist.