Music as therapy

Autism did not become a hurdle in Pooja Ramesh’s journey in music

August 30, 2018 02:18 pm | Updated 02:18 pm IST - Thrissur

 Pooja Ramesh

Pooja Ramesh

Pooja Ramesh communicates with the world more through her music than through words. Pooja was a lively and outgoing toddler until life began to take on a different hue when she about 18 months old. Noticing that her developmental milestones were delayed, her parents consulted various doctors. The doctors told them that their Pooja was autistic.

While coming to terms with the news, the parents noticed that Pooja seemed to respond to music. “She would pick up jingles and bits of songs she had heard,” says Ramesan, Pooja’s father. They taught her small songs at first, a difficult task as there was no expression from her while being taught the song. But once a song got into her head, she never got a note wrong. Lyrics, however, are still a challenge.

Ramesan says that he and his wife worked hard to give Pooja a holistic development programme. They sought the help of doctors, yoga teachers and therapists. In the meantime, Pooja’s tryst with music continued.

Enrolled for Carnatic music lessons, Pooja did not enjoy the classes and would often throw tantrums. Her second Carnatic music teacher was more successful in dealing with her and they explored the realms of Carnatic music together.

Says Father Paul Poovathingal, principal, Chetana Music College: “I gave Pooja admission to B.A. Music [Madras University] at our college right away when she approached us. She took the veena as her subsidiary subject.” Father Poovathingal adds that he felt confident Pooja would do well at the college as the institute had another differently-abled student who was faring well. Her teacher and mentor at Chetana, Narayanan Desamangalam gave Pooja a sound base in theory and taught her little-known kritis.

She passed the theory exams with the help of her mother acting as a scribe. In fact, her mother, Sujatha Ramesan, also signed up for the music course at Chetana. Sujatha recorded the songs the professor taught and would play them back to her daughter. Thus Pooja internalised the songs.

As per tradition at the Chetana Music College, every student passing out from the college has to conduct a full kutcheri. Ramesan and Narayanan were insistent that Pooja stuck to the tradition too.

Narayanan chose all the compositions she was going to sing and Pooja attended classes five days a week at the college; the weekends devoted to one-on-one teaching at her Guru’s house. As Pooja cannot read and sing simultaneously, her mother would record the swaras sung by Narayanan, transcribe it and check if Pooja was singing it correctly.

The concert was slated to take place at the college auditorium.

Was she going to perform or refuse at the last moment as she had done countless times in her childhood? Pooja and her mother took their positions on stage. Pooja began Shahana varnam and from that moment on it was as if she was singing to herself or to her personal God. Nagalingam bhaje hum in Shankarabharanam was adorned with swaraprastharas that delineated the nature of the raga. The closing thillana in Vrindavan Sarang confirmed that Pooja was capable of conducting a full-fledged concert. For a girl who cannot sit still for a minute, this was no mean achievement. “She has transcended her physical and psychological barriers,” Ramesan says. The most remarkable quality of Pooja’s music is her innate sense of rhythm. She may seem distracted while singing and look around her with an expression of utter detachment but her right hand seems to have a mind of its own, it keeps the rhythm uninterrupted, faultless.

Ramesan hopes Pooja’s story will inspire other parents with autistic children.

According to Ramesan, each child, autistic or not, has some innate talent. It takes effort and patience to identify and build it up. “In Pooja’s case it was music that gave her a new lease of life.”

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