Science for Art8217;s Sake

8216;I am motivated by the beauty of music8217;AT 78, his faculties are as sharp as they ever were, but nominated Rajya Sabha MP Raja Rama...

8216;I am motivated by the beauty of music8217;

AT 78, his faculties are as sharp as they ever were, but nominated Rajya Sabha MP Raja Ramanna is obviously looking forward to stepping down from Parliament. His term ends in six months, but Ramanna has already made plans to ensure time doesn8217;t hang heavy on his hands. 8216;8216;I have a concert lined up in September,8217;8217; he announces. 8216;8216;I will be accompanying a young violinist, he8217;s just 20, but diligent about coming over and practising with me.8217;8217;

Ramanna makes no effort to keep his passion for the piano a secret but it8217;s obvious, even when he8217;s playing for an audience, that this is a deeply personal pursuit. As his fingers fly over the ebony and ivory of the keyboard, head bent in concentration, his immediate surroundings cease to matter, even the barking of his three frisky dogs fades away, as if in deference to the notes of Liszt emerging from the 8216;8216;practice piano8217;8217; in a corner of his New Delhi residence.

Interesting, but true: Music, specifically western classical music, is the first love of the man who made Buddha smile the first time, way back in 1974. And Ramanna, for one, sees no contradiction between his two interests. 8216;8216;Music is made up of vibrations, a physical, scientific phenomenon. It is said music and mathematics stimulate the same area of the brain. There are many who are devoted to one discipline or the other, but if the two go together, all the better.8217;8217;

For Ramanna, they have gone together virtually all his life. A physics degree from Madras Christian College led to a doctorate from London University. A stint at the TIFR later, he joined Dr Homi J Bhabha in working on the nuclear programme in 1954. In between, Ramanna managed to acquire a Diploma of the Licentiate of the Royal School of Music.

And no, contrary to popular perception, Ramanna 8212; best known for his contribution to the design of India8217;s first nuclear reactor, Apsara, and the fast reactor, Purnima, besides, of course, Pokhran I 8212; does not turn to music as a destresser from his day job. 8216;8216;There is hard work in music. If I don8217;t play for a couple of days, I feel I am missing something. And when I do get back to my piano, it takes a couple of sessions before the music comes upto par,8217;8217; says the silver-haired scientist. 8216;8216;For some, music might be associated with release, but I am motivated by the beauty of the moment.8217;8217;

Somehow, the confession is curiously touching. Perhaps it was this ephemeral quality, appreciated but not fully comprehended, that drew a six-year-old to western classical music under the tutelage of an Irish nun in a Mysore convent. In 1939, at the age of 14, Ramanna even won a scholarship to study music in England, but the opportunity coincided with the outbreak of World War II 8216;8216;when everyone was running away from England, not going there!8217;8217; Any regrets? 8216;8216;Well, there are always some bad feelings, but then something else comes up,8217;8217; Ramanna shrugs off the question. 8216;8216;Besides, England may not have been the best place to study music8230; Germany or Austria, maybe.8217;8217;

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Many years later, Ramanna would visit Austria with then president K R Narayanan. At the request of the local authorities in Salzburg, he would even try his hand at the instrument preserved as Mozart8217;s piano, playing Beethoven. That must have been a special moment? 8216;8216;These old instruments are quite unlike any we are used to. The pedals are worked by the knee, not the feet,8217;8217; Ramanna is quick to dismiss any romantic notions. It8217;s no less than you expect.