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| Friday, 01 November 2002 |
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The flute player Oh, the plaintive, bewitching, mesmerising strains that flow so sweetly and seductively from the simple bamboo flute. It was just the other day that i watched fascinated as a flute player enthralled a deadly cobra with his swaying music. I watched those deadly eyes, lulled into some deep trance, oscillating to the enchanting melody...!Years ago I taught myself to play this simple instrument, not only because it was cheap on my purse but also that one day I had seen Pan, and his sweethearts sitting together engrossed in the captivating tune that Pan's nimble fingers spun on the bamboo shoot. Pan turned out to be sonny, a friend of mine, who always seemed to be surrounded by beautiful women waiting to hear him play. I bought a flute that evening and focus my thoughts not on melodious tune but on nymphs and nymphets I imagined would soon sit around me, once melody flowed out of now stubborn bamboo. It wasn't that easy for stiff fingers to curl softly down on waiting holes and for appropriate sounds to venture out, but finally they did. Not it one evening, nor in ten, but weeks and months of practice. And the women came. What is it about a pied piper that attracts? The pipe of course! I have heard many debates and arguments about the flute and the snake. There are many who told me that the snake cannot hear and that it sways not because of the sound of the pipe, but because of the fluctuating motions of the player. All I know is that one day as I sat in my living room playing, alone this time and not with maidens sitting around, I looked down and nearly shouted with terror. The only reason, I didn't shout was that flute was still stuck in my mouth and I was struck dumb with horror. There coming towards me was a treacherous looking snake. Right there in my living room, crawling towards me on a slippery floor. I was lucky the floor was slippery, because the reptile could not make much progress. There was a brick nearby which held an indoor plant. I tried to get the brick, could not, so picked up the whole pot and trembling with fear, dropped it on the slimy head. That was the first and last snake I killed in my life...! No, that didn't stop me from playing the flute, i just became a bit more careful and started shutting the door, and also the windows for the additional safety, and continued making music with the musical bamboo, with occasional furtive glances at the ground. But I haven't played a flute lately, not just because I do not need maidens round me anymore, there's plenty of them now, with two daughters, a wife and a dog that turned out to be a bitch, but the dog that turned out to be a bitch, feels that she too has the makings of a musician, and has started competing with the official pied piper for official recogination...!Jealous creature that she is, she waits for me to put pipe to mouth and just when I burst forth with soulful sound, sits on haunches, look up at some imaginary moon, and starts to howl, that in terms of breath control, beats the longest note I've ever tried to hold..!I've stopped playing the flute, because this is one competition I cannot beat. She's a natural flutist, with no need of bamboo, to bring out tune..!
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