…

Invited and Jaishankar over, one with his mandolin, the other with his mridangam, and tried to have a "session" of music together. It was a tentative first attempt. Certainly the mandolin sounded so sweet; Sunson can whistle beautifully, too! But we are all rusty, and it is going to take some determination, given the fact that Sunson and I live at opposite ends of town, to get to a place where we can truly jam together...

Jai used to play a variety of percussion instruments for a band which he, my daughter, and a few others formed in St Louis, to play at gigs and raise money for Asha for Education.

But it was still very enjoyable…having others playing is SO good to hear! It was nice of Sunson to bring along all the paraphernalia– amplifier, effects gizmo (he gave it a name but I forgot what it is) and even the right kind of adapter for his plug. Jaishankar, too, brought his mridangam, and the stuff necessary to play it–it’s a two-sided wooden drum with hide stretched on both sides, and one side needs a little rawa ,(semolina) kneaded with water, to be applied to it for the right vibration and resonance. It has the most variety of sounds of any percussion instruments in the world, according to what I have read (22, as compared to 17 on the tabla)….played well (as my brother used to do) it can actually invite more and more singing, and make one go on and on… I wish my brother, who I think was EXCELLENT on the mridangam, had not given up playing.

Oh, well! Off to practice again…swimming is out as it is simply pouring with rain!