It was a serious road accident that led me – accidentally, as it were – to the musical riches of YouTube. I had broken an ankle and disloca...
It was a serious road accident that led me – accidentally, as it were – to the musical riches of YouTube. I had broken an ankle and dislocated a shoulder, and was laid up in bed for weeks on end. I couldn’t read a book, but I could open my laptop and check my emails (and, if required, answer them briefly, typing with the fingers of one hand).
The accident occurred in the spring of 2012. For some years previously, I had been one of the several hundred lucky beneficiaries of regular postings from the music scholar and Malayalam writer, S Gopalakrishnan. Two or three times a week, Gopal would send us all a piece of classical music, with a few sentences about its meaning or significance. The recommendation would arrive at the crack of dawn; and we were free to listen to it at any time at all.
Before the accident, my mornings were hectic, so I rarely listened to Gopal’s postings as they came. Sometimes, a pile would accumulate, and then I would listen to them all at once. I found my friend’s suggestions particularly handy when transcribing research notes into my computer, our shastriya sangeet playing soothingly in the background.
The endless day
Now, with my ankle...
