Remembrance

Here's a great high definition video from the day long retreat in Montague (click the four little arrows to make it full screen with wonderful resolution).

I'm just starting to teach myself the Chalisa in 10-15 line increments — it's kind of slow going, but I find there's a simple pleasure in singing in another language (in this case Awadhi, an root variety of Hindi spoken in Northern India). The first time I sat down with both the words and my iPod I could kind of bleat along to maybe one or two syllables per line. So it sounded something like, "ra-ja! (long pause) bi-masu! (long pause) mo-hin! (long pause) namaa!" J came down from his studio to see if I was crying, if that's any indication of my success. "I'm singing" I think I responded with a huff. Now the first 10 lines are almost second nature, and it's back to the bleating for the next 10 and the 10 after that...I imagine it will take all summer to memorize it. The Chalisa is the poet Tulsida's beautiful hymn expounding the rewards of pure devotion, in this case the devotion of the deity Hanuman to the god Ram. Though it dates back to the 16th century, many modern-day Hindus recite it every Tuesday and Saturday.

According to Wikipedia, specialised forms of rote learning (a learning technique which focuses not on understanding but on memorization by means of repetition) have been used in Vedic chant since as long as three thousand years ago, to preserve the intonation and lexical accuracy of very long texts, some with tens of thousands of verses. I don't know if this is typical of memorization in general, but I find the harder I try to grasp the next line, the more likely it is to slip away (imagine trying to grab at a fish underwater). By simply keeping my mind open and relatively thought-free, the words flow in naturally. Thus, the memorization process becomes a type of meditation practice.

This isn't the first memorization project I've taken on. Growing up Catholic I was certainly required to memorize all parts of the mass as well as many songs and prayers. Since I started that practice as a child it came naturally over the course of time and I didn't have to struggle or think twice about it. But prayers and the Chalisa are worlds away from some of my other memorization endeavors, which include the entire second act of Sweeney Todd - The Musical, the short poem Invictus, and the words to both Eminem's The Real Slim Shady and Biggie's Gimme the Loot. In case you've just choked on your afternoon latte, yes, it's beyond ridiculous, the sound of sweet, soft-spoken me rapping these violent, sexist, obscenity-laden lyrics. If I took a video of myself doing so it would probably become an overnight internet sensation for its sheer ironic stupidity, and all I can say is that apparently the taboos against swearing that I grew up with are going to make it oddly titillating for the rest of my life. No, I have no future in rap, though in writing this I realize that the ability to free-style rap is another exercise in keeping one's mind focused but open to the flow of words. I would think.

On a kinder, gentler note I also memorized the lyrics to Joni Mitchell's long, poetic Song for Sharon...

I went to Staten Island
To buy myself a mandolin
And I saw the long white dress of love
On a storefront mannequin
Big boat chuggin' back with a belly full of cars...
All for something lacy
Some girl's going to see that dress
And crave that day like crazy...

Yet all of these are small feats compared to the story I heard on NPR this morning - retired teacher John Basinger has taught himself to recite all 12 books of Paradise Lost— by heart.

Yikes!

Outside of school, what have you chosen (or been required) to memorize in your life?