November 20, 2010 – My Favourite Things

Sufism is neither a religion nor a cult. Any person who has knowledge of both inner and outer life is a sufi.

(Hazrat Inayat Khan, Sufi philosopher and practitioner)

It is Thursday evening and I am at the NCPA Mumbai’s Tata Theatre to attend an evening of Sufi music. The above words by Inayat Khan leap out of the beautifully produced and informative programme brochure on “Sama’a The Mystic Ecstasy: Festival of Sufi Music” as I read it to familiarise myself with the programme. Though I have listened to some Sufi music over the years, I have never attended a live performance. I also do not know anything about the history of Sufism or Sufi music, for that matter, except for the fact that music is central to the core experience of Sufism. The programme brochure states that

… music is regarded as a means for the believer to get closer to the Divine. Sufi music therefore is music of the ‘soul’ by the ‘soul’ and for the ‘soul’.

Continue reading “A Sufiana experience for the mind, body and soul” →

I was early for a concert at the NCPA at Nariman Point, Mumbai, and couldn’t go in as my friends who had my ticket had not yet arrived. Besides, I was feeling all sweaty and sticky from the train and taxi journey to Nariman Point from work and didn’t really want to go into the theatre till I had “cooled” down.

I was wondering what to do when, almost on cue, a gentle sea breeze sprung up tugging at my attention towards the sea front. I decided to walk across and was rewarded with the beautiful colours of sunset as well as a view of Cuffe Parade area at night. I regretted not carrying my camera and had to be content taking this picture with my Nokia 5220 XpressMusic.