Ragamalika - 2021-06-22

« first day (523 days earlier) ← previous day next day → last day (784 days later) »

M. Vinay

04:36

@Malavika Good morning!

@Malavika Checking it out now!

M. Vinay

04:48

@Bahudari Hello, Bahudari! All good, how are you?

@Bahudari The reason I've heard for this is the belief that if you play it at night, it'll attract snakes (or maybe that it'll always attract snakes, and snakes at night are scarier or more dangerous!)

That's of course absurd (given that snakes can't hear, let alone identify ragas), but it does sound quite likely that some people believe this (since they also have no trouble believing that the snake-charmer's music is influencing the snake)

But I don't think I ever heard this from any authoritative source, so don't take my word for this being the reason. I only heard it from some friends, as far as I can remember, and I don't know where they heard it — possibly on TV

M. Vinay

05:09

Well, what I can't remember is if it's mentioned in Dakshinenthyan Sangeetham. @Malavika If you have a copy of that book, you could check and tell us : D

(I borrowed the book from my friend and read it when I first started learning music, but never bought a copy of the first part myself — I had the second part, back home in Kerala, but I think that was lost in the floods v.v)

2 hours later…

M. Vinay

07:10

@Malavika Haha, yes, direct experimentation is the best!

1 hour later…

Bahudari

08:37

@Malavika LOL

@M.Vinay I'm good, too! The summer semester is coming to an end, and I have some invigilation duties this week and next.

@M.Vinay Right, it seems to be such a common belief that one is not even sure how and when it entered one's consciousness.

M. Vinay

@Bahudari Ah, okay! Here exams have been cancelled, so I didn't have that problem : D

Bahudari

Of course, my interest is not in proving or disproving that Punnagavarali has such an effect (else I would have asked on Skeptics instead), but whether any well-known theory texts, say, actually talk about this. I thought there was a good chance perhaps you or @Malavika have already come across this in your readings before :)

@M.Vinay Oh, that's a relief! Here, the show must go on: so I'm starting my invigilation in another hour. Sadly, cheating instances only seem to have increased during the pandemic... :(

M. Vinay

Yes, I understood that too. And when I say I'm unsure about this theory, I mean the theory that this belief is the reason behind it (not the theory that it does attract snakes, which is obviously false)

I might have seen this reason mentioned in a standard Carnatic music theory book in Malayalam, but I don't remember. I wanted @Malavika to confirm it if she had a copy of it

Bahudari

Ah, I see, then I misunderstood what you meant earlier, thanks for clarifying.

M. Vinay

By the way, are any of you on Club House? @Bahudari @Malavika

Ah, sad

Haha

Bahudari

09:03

@M.Vinay What's Club House?

@Malavika XD

M. Vinay

@Bahudari It's an audio discussion platform. Not exactly a social media platform like Facebook etc., because it's not at all about profiles and uploads. Simply put, it's an audio version of this kind of chatroom, with a few differences

Bahudari

I see! Have a quick link to it that I can check out?

M. Vinay

09:16

@Bahudari It's an app, not a website

@Bahudari There's a Windows version called Clubdeck: clubdeck.app

But I don't know if you'll find it worthwhile to install it and check it out

Bahudari

My bad. I'll check it out on my phone after invigilation, then. :) You mentioned a few differences... of what kind?

M. Vinay

Sure

And I'm not completely certain, but I think they still require a nomination/invitation for a new user. If that's the case, just let me know, and I'll "invite" you

(Unfortunately that's done through your phone number, so if you're not comfortable sharing it, I completely understand)

Bahudari

Ohh, I see.

No problem, I'll let you know if the app demands an invitation from me. Thanks!

M. Vinay

@Bahudari The differences are the ones that come from its being an audio rather than text platform. Everything is live, so it's not like here where we can be absent for some two days and come back later and see what happened (and make up some excuse to convince @Malavika : D)

So anyone can start a room at any time, and (if it's not private) anyone who's online at the time can join and listen — and participate if they want to and if the organiser allows it

Bahudari

Oh! That sounds interesting. I wonder, perhaps because I'm so used to the SE chatrooms, whether having everything live means it will turn out to be less useful for someone with no fixed schedule like me.

M. Vinay

09:28

Yeah, there's the problem of missing out some good rooms and discussions because of that, but there's a lot of activity most of the time, so whenever you're online you'll probably find something

What I find interesting there is mostly these music discussion and practice rooms

Bahudari

I think if there's a good community then I might be tempted to stick around :)

M. Vinay

Oh, there surely is

Bahudari

Woops, the first students are entering the "invigilation hall", and that's my cue to leave. Will catch up with you later @M.Vinay, and I'll let you know after checking out the app :)

M. Vinay

And lots of musicians from all levels, meaning learners, young professionals, and more senior ones like Sudha Raghunathan and TMK

@Bahudari Sure! Have fun! (I know how boring this job is xD)

3 hours later…

M. Vinay

12:51

@Malavika Yes

M. Vinay

13:12

@Malavika What about you?

@Malavika I hadn't heard about it, thanks for telling me! Yes, right now direct messaging is not possible on it (which is sometimes a disadvantage, but I think overall a huge advantage, because it prevents the kind of spam that popular users and especially women would otherwise get)

@Malavika Ah, too bad. You could've started a Ragamalika room there as well

M. Vinay

13:50

@Malavika Let me applaud that non-thinking moment then, since it gave us this room : D

6 hours later…