It's all maya..

Illusion is the first pleasure -Voltaire

It is said that illusion is neither true nor false. Illusion is falser than the truth but truer than false. It is no further away from ignorance than it is from knowledge. It is like an illegitimate child of an honorable man. Nobody can deny the truth of its being and they would much would rather condemn it to be false and question it rather than accept it .

The brain is in its most unadulterated forms when we are born , as we grow up our brain is trained and certain sights and sounds become so common, a habit of sorts that brain decides to take it for granted .Depth perception is something that we get trained in our infancy. It is the ability to perceive 3D surroundings. Our brain is so convinced that it gets tricked into thinking a 2D image is a 3D one. There are several artists clever enough to take advantage of it .(We all have seen loads of footpath paintings of 3D portraits.)This was an example of just one of sensory organ tricks employed by our brain. We are caught in this world with a combination of sensory organs that distorts reality most often than not but we have no qualms in proclaiming our superiority.

Most of the path breaking theories and inventions were by people who were not bound by these perceptions in the normal sense. Most of them had a medical condition that did not let them be bound by these chains. They changed the world and they are really great because they achieved it both because of this ability and also in spite of it. It is one thing to be able to perceive and understand universe in a different way. It is courageous and also rare to be able to change the perception of others and to some extent get them out their illusion to help them see it too.

The tricks played by our own organs on self are so many that to find the truth one should actually be able to lose and not trust any of the organs, which just sounds outrageous .The last sentence is so bizarre and to extent inhuman .How does one not trust one’s own organs? How does one challenge and try to change the preconceived notions? The real question is it really worth it all?

The quote really triggered some illusions in the writer about some insight into this world of illusion which has disappeared by this paragraph, all the writer is left with is some new illusions in its place more daunting than the previous ones .So writer has decided to leave the readers with this quote from a movie ,a master piece-

THE PRESTIGE-
Now you're looking for the secret. But you won't find it because of
course, you're not really looking. You don't really want to work it
out. You want to be fooled.

Sweet Miseries

Shooting pain because of the all dancing night before
Sore throats after screaming the favorite songs
Confusion and feeling disoriented after a long nap
Salty smell in the sandy shorts after walking on seashore
Tingling feeling on the tooth having cavity while eating ice cream
Brain freezes during the competition of gulping the slush
Hogging hot appetizers and the tongue burns lasting days
Stomach aches and upset tummies after the junk foods
Getting wet in the first rain and the cold and cough later
The itching and scratching after hiking in odd places
Sweaty palms while holding hands of a loved one
The really hard hi fives leading to slight discomfort
Straining of eyes while chatting all through the night
Jaw hurting and throbbing pain after laughing hard
Or just the tears during a wonderful movie moment
Sweet miseries like cramps and strains
These are the memories that never wane....

A Choice

On a dark road, an adventurer walks, his path lit by a brilliant light.
By this golden shine does this explorer find treasures on a moonless night.
The path is clear, the lamp is bright, but a question comes in sight,
Who would you rather be, who would you rather be,
the walker, or the light?

A cloak of flowers in a nurturing field a pleasant sight does yield.
By the care of the earth do these buds grow, their beauty, by earth, revealed.
Now between nourishing earth and splendid bloom,
Consider, given a choice - Who would you rather be, who would you rather be,
The flower or the field?

And in an unknown place everyday, a person lends a hand
to another and offers them a step to higher stands.
The seated may so stand, the walking may so soar,
with a steady hold on a steady arm, to help open the doors.
From all of this a choice springs, the question is around the bend,
Who would you rather be, who would you rather be,
the holder or the held?

A Day in the Life

Julia slowly woke up to the sweet song of a Blackbird, thinking "Here comes the sun!". She went to the kitchen and her mom greeted her. “Good morning, Good morning, your majesty! Do you want honey pie for breakfast?.By the way I want to tell you, I have to go to the mall, so you have to stay at home and take care of my baby, Michelle! I’l be back soon”. Michelle, Julia's baby sister was running around saying,"Today I am the walrus! And this walrus will sing for you here there, everywhere!”

Julia laughed and remembered the joyful day this little child came into her life. It was Christmas time and after a hard day's night,Dr Robert finally came out of the OT and told Julia, “Hello little girl, you have a baby sister”. She remembered her mom telling her, “Do you Want to know a secret? I am going to call her Michelle!". A beginning to this wonderful sisterhood! Looking at her sister she thought,”Ain’t she sweet!”

Later that day her best friends Anna, Carol and Lucille were at her place. Out of the blue Anna asked Julia,"Why don't you drive my Car?” Carol replied instantly, “You can’t do that, she doesn’t have a permit and we can't leave Michelle alone!" But Anna really wanted to go driving on a long and winding road .So they decided to go to carnival of life, the annual fair and they also took Michelle with them.

Michelle wanted to ride on the hippy hippy shake ride, she wanted some money for it. Julia told her, “I will buy you a ticket to ride it”. Michelle was upset an said, “You never give me  your money "and started crying. In order to pacify her Julia gave her the ticket money and asked her to get back in the line. 

As they were waiting Anna said “I wish there were eight days a week, then I could be in deep golden slumbers the whole day. Julia, the sarcastic one, said "Dream on. I wish to live in strawberry fields

forever. Not going to happen". Lucille replied, “Oh don't be such a balloon-burster! You know what, I wish I were a star, then I would be Lucy in the sky with diamonds". Carol being the practical one said, “I just wanna be a paperback writer and live on the moonlight bay with three cool cats”.

They went to buy a soda from a weird place called Glass Onion. Thats when there was a loud noise and people started running helter skelter and shouting run for your lives!

Julia yelled,"I got to find my baby!”. Anna said, “I saw her standing there!".In spite of all the danger they started looking for Michelle. Lucy shouted, “I think I’ve just seen a face ,may be it was Michelle". But when they went near that girl, a woman came running and shouted, “Keep your hands off my baby!" Julia started crying, waiting, hoping they find her sister. She suddenly remembered how her mother might hate her and say, “I never want to see you again!". Seeing her distress a woman in polica uniform ran up to them. Officer Maggie Mae listened to their woes and quickly asked her partner Officer Johnny B Goode to look around.

A friend of Carol's came up to her and tried to catch her attention. Carol said "Hey Jude! Don’t bother me, I don’t have any time at all to waste!" But Jude replied "Don’t be bad to me, I came to tell you I heard a voice under the yellow submarine ride! They went near it and heard a voice crying out!
Heavy chains had fallen on the ride! Officer Goode he yelled to his colleagues, “John, Paul, George and Ringo,come and get it!". As Michelle’s voice started going down, Julia yelled, “Honey don’t! Don’t be silent, Cry baby cry!". Hearing her sister's voice Michelle found new energy and yelled back "Help! " Julia replied, “It won’t be long, don’t let me down! Just stay calm!”. They worked quickly and removed all the Junk only to found Michelle unconscious. Julia hugged her close and Michelle

opened her eyes. She smiled and said, “I’m only sleeping because I’m so tired and please hold me tight, it felt like a long long long time". Julia sighed with relief and said,"Oh Darling! I’m a loser should have never left you alone. She thought to herself, “With a little help from my friends a great disaster was averted!”

Home

He dons his hat, and buckles his shoe and sets off briskly down the road.
For he knows the way is long, and not yet is he home.
People he meets and people he greets, with a smile upon his face.
Their faces smile but their eyes are still, and he knows he's not yet home.

Garden gates on both sides of the road, Within there's peace they say,
With a single glance he passes by for inside there are those who lost their way.
Further down, his path is shut: The road a boulder blocks.
To his right he sees a fellow walker, Her eyes too, upon the rock.

With a nod at the other, but without a word, they set about clearing the space,
for those who will follow (their comrades) come the following days.
They push, they roll, they pull and shove to move the rock aside.
Slowly, slowly, the boulder moves, revealing the road it hides.

With a smile in their eyes, they shake their hands
and wipe their sweaty brows,
they're nearer home, but along the way
They have a task, they now know.

The two comrades, they stride along, and now that they are twice,
they clear from the trail for those behind, any hindrances that arise.
Not all can they move, but for those they can't they leave messages to see:
"This way leads home but there are rocks ahead. Clear them, if you please"

The sun is low, dusk now dawns and though heavy is their task,
in cheery voices that show no tire about simple things they talk.
Through the night they toil, Moving rubble and stone.
But as the night grows darker, and they grow tired they are joined by many hands more
Pitch dark it is, and the path grows rough; with their eyes they cannot see.
but while their voices sound clear, and their hands can help, home seems closer to be.

At last, he sees a face in the growing morning light; One... Ten... A hundred, catch his weary sight.
Now he smiles and takes off his hat and looks around the crowd.
Ragged and dusty they all seem, But he sees the twinkle in their eyes.
He stops his march and unbuckles his shoes, for he knows he is now at home.

Desire

Is it a part of life to forever want
even though that's what we did day before
always thinking one more and I'll be happy
is there ever a happily ever after
or just a a mirage of water in hot desert
vanishing the moment we reached the spot
giving us the hope to move forward
yet bringing disappointment all along
is the desire the cause of all distress
or just the very element that makes us human
satisfaction is what we all search for
or just an emotion that will pass us through
eventually making us want it even more
so when does ambition become dangerous
and success a part of next failure
how does one ever find out when
to stop wanting....hoping...asking for more...

Piano and Amplified Teapot

To understand my utter bewilderment, you must listen first, to this: (it’s not long, don’t worry up to the 1:00 mark should be enough to get the point)

If you were wondering when the music starts, get ready to have your world shaken up: what you heard was the music, composed by John Cage, one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. The music, it doesn’t get any different. It’s plant noises for 8 whole minutes. I’m telling you, people applaud at the end and everything.

That utterly confusing piece is a form of “contemporary music”. If you understood or thoroughly enjoyed it, you can stop reading now, because the rest of this might be total nonsense to you.

Still reading? Okay. I’m going to try and convince you why this form of “music” isn’t so random after all. I experienced it for the first time at a concert by the contemporary music band “Sonic Generator”. They began with a most “interesting” piece called “this(continuity)”. To give you a feel of what it was like, here’s a description of it from a pamphlet we were given:

“Writing this again starting/stuttering location: this location and dislocation, disclosing and this closing … somewhere in the something to do, somewhere in the middle/muddle, a vertex/averting, where the fidgeting begins... using repetition to counteract the dominant culture’s obsessively repetitive state of denial, thus hopefully becoming an input for new and different information...”

Now, the music consisted of the artists breathing into flutes/clarinets, at intervals hissing words like “Begin!” or “This!” and stamping their feet. Towards the end, a section of around half a minute is pure radio static. No, seriously.

I was totally befuddled. I had no clue why anyone would pay to listen to a collection of arbitrary sounds, some of which make you want to jab your ears violently with a fork. So I rushed home, and reached for the nearest fork, when a thought struck me: Has this fork been washed properly? And then, another thought struck me: Isn’t music basically about sounds? Why was this any different?

I took deep breaths, eased the fork out of my hands and thought about it. Music, most people would agree, is anything that sounds “good” to the ears. Of course, people have varying definitions of “good” (just ask your grandparents to listen to Metallica for example). But in spite of differences in tastes, there is one thing common to almost all forms of music:a pattern. Almost any music contains intricate patterns and repetitions: a drumbeat in the background, a rhythm you can tap your foot to.

This contemporary music stuff, however, has no easily recognizable pattern. And no, its not just me saying that, many of my musician friends who attended the concert with me were equally ... er... surprised... by the piece.


The composition that followed this(continuity) was more understandable. It was played using two instruments: a Piano and an Amplified teapot. Yes, you read that correctly.Here’s the pamphlet description of it:

“During this work, fragments are played … The performance is recorded on a cassette tape... the tape is rewound  and played back through a small loudspeaker hidden inside a teapot. … the lid of the pot is raised and lowered, changing the resonance characteristics of the pot.”

Essentially, the artist took a part of The Beatles’ Strawberry Fields Forever and modified its sounds in eccentric ways. But there was something about the sounds within that steel teapot that gave the tune a different aura: a hollow, echo, growing and shrivelling through the air, like memories of the past. And that got me thinking: is Music really about patterns, or is it more about the emotions and the images it creates?

Most people associate some emotions and feelings with musical pieces. But emotions can often be triggered by random events, and random noises. The noise of the wind or could fill you with awe, when you remember the first thunderstorm you saw as a child. Birdsong might make you picture a happy sunlit garden. A clang of metal in the dark could fill you with fear, when the last horror movie you watched floats up in your mind.

All of these are random noises, right? What if this piece I’d heard was not meant to sound pleasant, but instead meant to evoke emotion? I thought back and realised I was trying too hard to find patterns. Maybe if I had just listened, I would have understood.

I recalled a phrase from the description: “trying to counteract dominant culture’s obsessively repetitive...”. The description spoke of people constantly trying to conform to standards, trying the same things over and over: patterns. Instead, they wanted you to simply stay in the moment, feel that sense of discomfort as you relish the struggle between wanting to stay here and wanting to move into the future. Now it may not be the standard definition of Music, but it wasn’t as random as I’d thought. It actually made sense.

What if you could go to a concert, not necessarily to listen to something that sounded pleasant, but could bring back memories you never realised you had; evoke in you emotions that you rarely experience; give you something to think about? I think I’d pay for that.

And no, I still didn’t understand the plant noises noises thing :-/

(All of this is just my take on the matter. This is a topic where people’s opinions vary greatly. What do you think? Please post/comment and tell me how ignorant/stupid I am)