The Various Moods of a Drum and Introduction to an Old Oil Lamp

Living in Nepal as a child, I was very conscious of weather and the phases of the Moon as without electricity on many roads and in many villages, the ability to see at night depended very much on a clear sky and moonlight.

In those homes without electricity, people generally used kerosene lamps.  The Sukunda lamp is a ritual item, a lamp used to make pujas and offerings to the gods more than a practical primary source of light.  I wanted to find a small oil lamp like those I remembered in my childhood.

There are many sellers who refer to items they sell as 'antiques' and inflate the prices enormously but I found a seller who had a small brass oil lamp for a fraction of the price quoted by the Western dealers in such items.  I wrote to ask if the lamp had any cracks or if it were in good working order.  He responded that, if it had any cracks or problems, it would be 'very easy to have it fixed'.  Well... that may be true if one lives in India, but I cannot image that it would be easy to find some one here to fix a crack or leak in an old brass oil lamp and, should I be fortunate enough to find some one with the skill, the price would be exorbitant.  i therefore crossed my fingers, praying the lamp would work...

In fact, it is a lovely little item that is perfectly sound.  It was tarnished and had some stubborn black spots on it but with a little polish and care, became a thing of beauty.  I only have the thin cotton 'wicks' that are used for butter lamps but after filling the lamp with oil and soaking one of those wicks in the oil, I threaded it through the little hole in the upper section of the lamp, screwed both parts together tightly and proceeded to light it.

Two hours later, it was burning bright without having devoured any part of the cotton wick.  I was thrilled.   A similar lamp was being sold by a Malaysian dealer for a small fortune but this lamp cost very litlte and the shipping was free, amazingly.  I definitely will keep in touch with this seller!  It is not that old brass lamps are particularly valuable or even popular.  I did want one, however, because it was part of my childhood landscape in Nepal.

We have had a few days of very humid, hot weather, with storms that included tornadoes and were extremely violent and destructive.  I have tried to practice the madal every day for a few minutes but the tone was off recently and it almost disgusted me to play the drum, especially when nothing I did improved the tone to any degree.

This morning, however, the beautiful deep crisp tone of the drum has returned.  The humidity has lessened and the drier weather has invigorated the madal.  Such an extraordinary transformation.  I felt I could play it happily forever... but of course, one has to go back to life's chores.

If I were not playing this drum, the shifts in the weather would not be as dramatic.  I detest humid heat and it always affects me negatively but its effect on the drum was so much more dramatic, reminding me of how distant Nature is to our lives for the most part.   In a home with central air, people are less affected by the shifts in heat and humidity.  Having this drum gives me a very close connection with Nature and her moods.