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Photo by Zulmaury Saavedra  on Unsplash This piece in Scroll explores how ideas of freedom travel through poetry and music—an approach I often bring into my thematic presentations. Rabindranath Tagore’s Where the Mind is Without Fear demonstrates how deeply the concept of freedom is woven into the fabric of Indian poetry. While our discourse on independence often gravitates towards the historic struggle against colonial rule, Indian poets have long explored freedom’s multifac

. Both the Carnatic and Hindustani classical traditions are filled with the songs of birds. Birds soar through compositions, appearing not just as literal references but as rich metaphorical devices that deepen the artistic expression of the pieces. This isn’t really surprising. Both Hindustani and Carnatic music are based on the sapta swaras or seven musical notes – sa, ri, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni. Among them, the note “ma” (madhyama) is said to have evolved from the cry of the