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About Namita Devidayal
"Music - soul of life 'An hour with Namita Devidayal
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Namita Devidayal is a journalist and a trained classical singer. She wrote the award-winning memoir, 'The Music Room', a journey into Indian classical music, which was a favourite read of Ravi Shankar, Mick Jagger, Sonia Gandhi, ShyamBenegal and many more. It won the Crossword popular book award. Her second book, 'Aftertaste', is a bestseller and was recently longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Namita is currently working on a book which is also going to be a musical journey. She is a graduate of Princeton University, in the US, has spent many years in the US and now lives in Mumbai.
Music - Soul of Life
Music is one of the most underrated elements in our lives, something which has tremendous power, only if you tune in - not all music, that is, but certain kinds of music that have stood the test of time, emanating from the most ancient spiritual practices, drawing elements along the way, and still striking chords with people.
Indian classical music, in particular, has the ability to heal, to bring solace, to de-stress and to take one inward, all the more important given the constant cacophony and stress of the outside world. It's not as if you have to understand it's technical aspects, but just allow it to flow around you, into you. For, it is a shortcut to god, in a sense, creating that same space that you enter when meditating. In fact, there is a reason that, over the years, all spiritual practices have used music as a medium to bring people closer to a higher power or an inner self. Indian classical music is tremendously potent and it is unfortunate that we are moving further and further away from it. As the saint-poet Kabir had said, "Music without words means leaving behind the mind. And leaving behind the mind is meditation. Meditation returns you to the source. And the source of all is sound." Music is also the only language that is universal, that everyone can understand, that is devoid of hatred and sarcasm.
Namita will explore these ideas by discussing the ways in which music can heal, reading out certain passages from her award-winning book 'The Music Room', as well as playing short select pieces.
"Namita will end the session with a short Kabir bhajan"
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