Dear J,
I attended Ajithan’s music classes recently. I have known about these classes for quite some time, but I had always hesitated to spend so much time there. I am, by nature, an introvert, and I am often reluctant to enter unfamiliar spaces or remain in gatherings for a long time.
But this time, something was different. Music drew me in.
What I experienced there was, for me, quite overwhelming. I found myself completely engrossed in the music. For those moments, I was no longer conscious of the surroundings or of myself. I was simply listening, and allowing the music to take me somewhere else.
It made me realise something that I had perhaps known intellectually but had never experienced so directly: the extraordinary worth of this real life that we have been given. Music seemed to open up a dimension of life that is easily lost in our ordinary routines and concerns. It reminded me that life is not merely what we accomplish, possess or think about; there are experiences that can simply overwhelm us with their presence.
Ajithan has a rare ability to make one feel the grandeur of music. Through him, I came to experience Wagner in particular in a new way. Wagner was no longer merely a name in the history of Western music or a composer whose works one ought to know. I began to feel the immense scale, power and emotional world of his music.
I am grateful to Ajithan for creating that experience. More than teaching music, he seemed to be opening a door into another dimension of life.
I came away from the class with a deep sense of wonder. It made me feel that there is so much richness in existence that we pass by without noticing. Perhaps that is what great music ultimately does—it makes us more intensely aware of being alive.
With affection,
Jeyamohan
