Techies are a dime a dozen in Technopark. So too, it seems, are instrumentalists. There are many techies who are also guitarists, tabla artistes, vainikas, flautists, mridangists, ghatam artistes, keyboard players, violinists...You name it, we’ll bet you there is at least one techie on campus who plays that particular musical instrument. And we don’t mean playing just fiddling around with them; almost all the techies are passionate about music and pursue their craft with dedication.
Several of them such as Karthika, a quality and analysis engineer at an MNC and a vainika (veena artiste), are keen performers and often give concerts. Karthika frequently plays solo or as an accompanist for music concerts in temples and on campus. “Music is more than a hobby for me. I’m attracted to the veena because it’s perhaps the only instrument where the swara and tala are produced together in harmony. Besides, the music itself is soothing and serene. Not a day goes by where I don’t play the veena for at least half an hour,” says Karthika.
Newbie techie Rohith Krishnan, who is just a month old in Technopark, plays the piano/keyboard. He is part of several local ensembles, including blues band Eastwind (which was, incidentally, launched last week on World Music Day) and classical fusion band Pragati. “I was inspired to play the piano by the likes of A.R. Rahman, Stephen Devassy and Yanni. I play the guitar too and am quite comfortable on stage and plan to involve myself in the Technopark music scene as soon as I get my bearings,” he says.
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Jisson Dennis, a Tech Lead with an MNC, meanwhile, is also a violinist, whose strings often sing for a prominent choir in the city. “I started learning the violin only around four years ago and I enjoy playing Western classical music,” he says.
It appears that most of the techies have really taken to the instruments only after coming to Technopark, though several of them have nurtured an interest in them from childhood onwards.
Project manager Harinarayanan R. learnt the mridangam for a couple of years while in school and then five years ago, when he was five or so years into his job in Technopark, he says he got “a calling” to take up the instrument once again. He’s never stopped and gives concerts regularly on campus. Harinarayanan and his colleague and ghatam artiste Vinod Potty – who has been playing the ghatam since he was five years old – are part of an intra-company music ensemble Carnatic Cafe.
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Arnold Freddy, a senior software engineer, meanwhile, took up the guitar some three years ago as a stress-buster.
“It was a friend, Bhushan George, who got me interested in the guitar. I’m more or less a self-taught artiste, having learnt much of the craft on YouTube, which, surprisingly, has detailed tutorials. I learnt to play basic chords such as C, A-, G and F and immediately started playing songs; songs such as ‘Papa Kehte Hain’, ‘Maa’ from Taare Zameen Par , can all be played with just these basic chords. The very moment the strings started to sing beneath my fingers, it triggered my quest to learn more about the guitar and that satisfaction and joy still keeps driving me.
“Today, playing the guitar is such a part of my life that it’s just something I have to do on a daily basis, like making chappatis and grinding coconut!” says Arnold.
Another reason why there are so many instrumentalists on campus could be because the music scene itself is big in Technopark. All the musicians say that they get plenty of opportunity to perform, either within their own companies or for some event or the other on campus.
There are regular music concerts and lecture demonstrations on campus to pique their interest and several of the big companies (at least) have very active music clubs that often hold concerts. There are plenty of listeners too.
Says Vinod: “We often stage Carnatic concerts in a pantry in our building and we always get a good number of listeners, which is encouraging. The best thing about these opportunities is that we can share our knowledge with others and for them and for us too it’s a new experience every time.”