Ras ki Utpati

The rain lashes down,
relentless.
My house
is wrapped in darkness.
Before the melancholy
can settle inside me,
I step out
as the rain loosens its grip,
to a neighbourhood mehfil
in someone’s home.

Miyan Malhar unfurls
through the hall.
Dinner
is noisily being made
in the kitchen.

The warm fragrance
of rotis swelling on the flame
wanders into the music,
as naturally
as the lady of the house
skips the mehfil.

The rasikjan
are displeased.
One asks me
to close the sliding door.
I like
this ras ki utpati.

Then the singer begins
Gaud Malhar—
a raga carrying
the rains of Malhar
and the fading memory
of an extinct Gaud;
a monsoon raga,
a raga of viraha.

Jhuki aayi badariya saawan ki ...
Tell my beloved
to awaken from deep sleep.
The monsoon clouds
have bent low
to the earth.

At that very moment,
from the kitchen—
the sputter
of the phodni.

Hing.
Mustard seeds.
Meeting hot oil.
Their fierce aroma
rushes through the house.

The audience erupts
into coughing.

The body,
it seems,
cannot hide
what the heart conceals.

The hing and mustard
permit no restraint.
They enter
every chest,
every throat,
making longing
impossible to hide.

Perhaps
this is how rasa is born—
not in the raga,
not in the kitchen,
but where
the ache of separation
meets
the scent of hot rotis;
where
Gaud Malhar
collides
with hing
and mustard phodni,
and then every breath
must carry
both longing
and love.

Indu Harikumar

I also found a version of this song used in a old film

How flavour is created according to Bharat muni Rasa=Vibhava+Anubhava+Vyabhichari Bhava
Flavour = Stimulus + Physical Manifestations+ Fleeting, temporary emotions

That’s it.

<3
Indu