Sari raga ma

Raghava Menon was asked to comment on how music may be better woven into the fabric of our existing educational system. He felt that though music has been accorded the status of a subject in schools, the teaching methodology needs to be more process-oriented in this area as well. At the end of their study, students must be able to transcend the mere technicalities of the art form and begin to truly feel it.

"...learning a raga is not only learning its scales. A raga is like a sari. No sari can be owned entirely, because any one can wear it for it is not cut and fitted. This makes it possible for any one to wear it in a way no other dress can be worn. For example, if you put on a bit of weight you have to alert a dress. But the sari is always new and even its owner cannot wear it the same way twice over. Every time a sari is worn, something new enters its fall and flow. It is the same with the raga. When Subhalakshmi sings Behag once and sings it again four hours later, it reveals new colours like a bumblebee in the sun. It is this ability to be reborn each time we utter it, which is the raga’s distinguishing characteristic." The K-10 Quarterly The Spirit of Enquiry