Last Saturday I went to the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields to hear the Belmont Ensemble performing Mozart’s Requiem Mass in D Minor.
It is difficult, in any setting, not to be moved by the austere beauty of the Requiem. As the voices of the choir swelled and filled the church – the trembling supplication of Requiem aeternam, the liquid run of Kyrie eleison, the towering majesty of Rex tremendae majestatus – I would like to tell you that I was moved to the very depths of my soul, swept away by lofty and powerful emotions. But to be honest, my thoughts were on food, and a summer afternoon in Calcutta five years ago.
The day after our third semester ended, seven of us had hit the streets with a camcorder – the plan being to eat at our ten favourite places in the city, all within the span of one day and a budget of 250 rupees, and to make a film while we were at it.
Golbari – one of our favourite haunts – was closed at the time because their workers had gone on strike, but we could not imagine leaving it out. So the film had a shot of a red traffic light at the Shyambazar crossing, and then a shot of us walking solemnly past the entrance of Golbari, heads bowed. The background music was Dies Irae from Mozart’s Requiem.
Day of wrath! O day of mourning!
See fulfilled the prophets' warning,
Heaven and earth in ashes burning!
(and so on in that vein)
I am known to have a penchant for melodrama, but this was over-the-top even by my standards.
12 comments:
My endearing memory of the incident is that of the Quakar crossing the street with a usually flabbergasted expression on his face, and for some mysterious reason, clutching his crotch for dear life.
Sonofabitch killed the shot.
@Lahiri: *enduring, *Quaker. :)
Ah a sroyon-esqe post at last! Liked it. Being busy at office has not been agreeing with your blogging lately.
@IP: Do you refer to the slightly reduced frequency, or do you not like work-related posts?
Is the video on the public domain? One is very intrigued!
@sroyon: Nothing against your work related posts in particular. Just felt that when you are busy and pre-occupied, it shows in your posts. :)
@Anjana: Unfortunately it isn't. I hope one isn't too disappointed.
two is disappointed too
not very funny, but how could i resist?
Upload the video!
Keep the work-unrelated posts coming!
@Vikrant: That is truly appalling.
@Raktima: The blameless public is better off without it. :)
Indeed one is two disappointed :(
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