#be patient my little Kalyani!

[painterofhorizons]

(post Akuze rehab banter)

The first acute pain flare up James witnessed in Reda completely shifted his perception of where in her recovery process she was, and what side effects clouded the way for her. For him, it was pretty straight forward: wrack ACL, get surgery, let the shit heal, build back mobility and strength, be done. He had let himself be fooled at first to assume the same was true for Reda – having met her during a relatively good episode. But he was quickly brought back down to earth witnessing her state over the past few days.

Now, on the end of day four since the flare up, he finally began to see some light at the end of the tunnel. While Reda was still bed bound, at least she was sitting, she didn’t need sensory depriving aids anymore, and pain management seemed to be working. She was even up for some light conversation, or at least endured him talking bullshit to keep her entertained. She’d even signed a few words.

All the things he’d taken for granted with her just days ago – sitting, walking, talking, excercising. Until that house of cards had collapsed, because things just weren’t that simple.

James insisted on keeping her company during his time off, spending the free time in between treatment by her bed, even though she’d told him he didn’t need to waste his time like this. He’d swallowed the impulse to argue with her about that and just reassured her it was fine for him. Because it was, and it felt like the most valuable thing he could do with his free time at this very moment.

And he didn’t intend to leave just now.

When the door swooshed open and nurse Kalyani entered the room carrying a small tray of jelly, James sat up a little more upright, trying to get himself into a posture that was slightly more impressive, a little more manly, and put up his best flirty face. He’d seen the disgusted microexpression on Reda’s face knowing what was to come, and he was eager to brighten the mood by hook or by crook.

He gestured towards the tray.

“Hey, any chance I can get one of those?”

Reda frowned at his words, but her eyes were rivet to the object of her hatred sitting on the table board in front of her. Jelly time was a nightmare. Eating, in general, was. But this tasteless, gunky, undefined substance of nauseating consistence was a particular joy four times a day for her, when she was taken out by pain or other complications.

Kalyani side-eyed the bulky marine in the chair beside her patient’s bed. She’d seen him around here a number of times by now, and while she was no fan of his attitude, as long as he kept a low profile towards Reda she tolerated his presence, knowing having a friendly face around was beneficial for her.

“Pretty please?”, James added with a smirk on his lips.

Kalyani handed him one of the spare cups of clear jelly from the tray.

The smirk on James’ face grew into a grin. “Any chance I could get a bigger one, you know, proper for my size?” He gestured with both hands forming a circle around the tiny cup that was about eight times the diameter.

“Don’t stretch your luck, Mr. Vega.”

Reda slid her own tiny cup of jelly down the table towards James, and earned a warning glance from the nurse.

“And you don’t stretch my patience, Reda”, Kalyani dunned her.

“Worth a try”, Reda muttered, making James snicker.

“No worries, nurse Kalyani, I’ll make sure to not touch hers. Even if you hurt my feelings with this tiny portion of a deliciously tasteless treat.”

Kalyani snorted and shook her head. Then, looking at Reda, she said “I’ll be back at half past with your meds.”

[orange-is-the-happiest-colour]

Last Line Tag

Thank you muchly @the-orangeauthor 🧡

This is from the zero draft of acrobats & butterflies:

This was the dull part of acrobatics, Kalyani had long since decided. The hours of mindless repetition. This was faux sparring. This wasn’t entertainment! But boring came first, Kalix always told them. Get the simple fight choreographed; then the trimmings can be added.

This exploratory draft is a lot of fun :)

Tagging no one in particular, but if you want to share your last line I’d love to see it!!

[anandamayenu]

I'm so new to carnatic music so what do you suggest to improve myself? Thanks :*

hi!!!! :’) sorry, this is such a late reply I haven’t been on here in forever, but I’m so glad you reached out to me! I’ll just tell you some stuff that have really helped me because I’ve only been learning for 5 years so I’m not all that advanced either. 

For theory: 

   Raaga Rasika: It’s a really defined series of podcasts meant for beginners who want to understand the theory behind Karnatic music. It’s somewhat complex but it’s so helpful, I can’t tell you how much it’s helped me grow as a singer. If you want to be respected as a karnatic singer, you should know some theory so like, this helps a lot. Also, it introduces you to compositions and ragas that are popular and not as popular as well. Just use this to the extent you can tbh. 

    Lecture Demonstrations: I love T.M Krishna, I own his book, and I watch an interview of his everyday– his views are extremely revolutionary and he’s so genius. But, I think watching his demonstrations and also, a demonstration that helped me a lot was this one especially in the beginning because I struggled with a lot of voice culture problems that hindered me. Watch interviews; try to get to know the artists out there on a personal level because then you can try and dissect their views which in turn will allow you to enjoy music more. 

   Music: The best thing you can do is listen. Listen, listen, listen, listen. Watch concerts, listen to music, figure out what kinds of ragas you like and what you don’t like and why. Try to dissect the kind of moods that music gives off, because that’ll segway you into raga recognition. I wish I listened to Karnatic music earlier in my music learning because I would have been far off. If you don’t have time to write, read. (It’s a popular quote, so:) If you don’t have time to practice, listen. 

     Personal fave, pro-tip: Coke Studio (India or Pakistan) helps you a lot too, I personally find that it lets me kind of stay in touch with Karnatic music while being not as hardcore because listening to Karnatic music all the time is exhausting sometimes. It’s a very analytical art form, especially once you start recognizing raagas because then you have to actively listen. 

  Then, Practice:

 These are just pro-tips at this point that have helped me. Secrets, per se, that my teacher has told me. 

  Hold a note with the tanpura on, and just sustain it as long as you can. Turn on your stopwatch as well, and then just time yourself. See if you can beat 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds. But if your note starts to waiver, stop. 

Aakaram- same thing, do the notes with yourself saying “aa” vowel instead of the note’s name. So instead of Sa, you say Aa. 

Make little patterns in a raga. So if you have Kaanada Scale: Ar: S R P G M D N S, Ava: S N P M P G M R S. Then try singing little phrases: S, R, P; M D M R; S N (low) D (low) N (low) S, you get the point, I’m sure. This helps you with active pattern recognition. 

If you need help with reaching notes or clarity of notes, go up and down the scale, so for example: Kalyani:  S R2 G3 M2 P D2 N3 S avarōhaṇa: S N3 D2 P M2 G3 R2 S. So you want to follow this scale up until the highest note you can reach in the higher octave and lower note in lower octave. It helps a lot with clarity and range. If you want a challenge, try it in a shruti lower or higher than your regular. 

And, again, just be patient and confident. If there’s one thing I wish I had it’s confidence when it comes to me as a singer. 

I congratulate you on starting your career as a Karnatic student and if you have any doubts or need any recs, I’m always here to help.