Fiction & Nonfiction

Nature or nurture? It’s both

I haven’t realized what I was born with until I was in late teens. In retrospect, the two things that interested me most and kept me glued to them for long hours were, literature and music. They went hand in hand.

I am grateful for my parents and the environment I grew up in, for nurturing the above twin passions.


Along with education, my sisters and I used to have music lessons. Though it started as a traditional practice, it soon developed into something I couldn’t give up even after marriage and children.


On the one hand, I was studying masters of English prose, poetry and drama for a degree in language and literature and on the other, I was learning Classical Carnatic vocal music with a goal to get a diploma in it. My love of music is not limited to the Indian kind but also to that of the west. My husband used to get me music albums from various parts of the world on his voyages as a chief engineer on merchant navy ships. I realized that the world of music has no dividing lines and that its power takes us to divine heights whether it is western or Indian.


I was also interested in the literature of my mother tongue, i.e. Telugu, a language spoken in the south of India that is Bharat. I read anything I could lay my hands on, both in English and Telugu. My father used to check my instinct to burn midnight oil daily. Every book was an inseparable friend, be it a novel, a treatise, a biography or philosophy. A book a day, was my habit. Today, due to the constraints on time, a similar tempo is no longer possible.


Reading of Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth and Keats and the later modern and post modern poets instilled in me a deep love for nature and the ability to understand human nature to a great extent. Translations of Russian and French authors into English and Telugu helped me to glean the differences in human thinking and attitude.


The habit of reading must have inspired me to put pen to paper and thus I was lucky to have found an outlet for creative expression as well.


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I was born into a Hindu family and grew up listening to the mythological stories of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. All the characters therein are representations of human virtues and vices. My siblings and I would listen to these readings with rapt attention. The fact that these epics are a combination of poetry and divine music further nurtured a deeper interest in them.


I am thankful to my music gurus, who unveiled the intricacies of classical music to me. In the south Indian classical tradition of music we need to practice different ragas. In brief, a raga is based on a scale with a given set of notes, a typical order in which they appear in melodies, and characteristic musical motifs. It makes it easy for recognition of notes and their placement in different improvised renditions.


Each raga has to be developed like a pyramid starting from its basic notes.  It takes a long time to develop it completely. I was bent on practice and rendition of some of favourite ragas of mine. After my university classes were over, I would go to my music teacher’s house and take music tuition and this helped in gaining a Music Diploma. I didn’t work for it for material benefits. I just wanted to experience the pleasure of singing and enjoying its beneficial effect on life in general.


Love of nature is of capital importance in building my character. The trees, the hills and the elements have always attracted me. Some of our festivals during which we worship the aspects of nature, encourage us to feel one with the spirit of nature and understand its importance in leading a happy life. To me nature is like mother and like a mother, she has a way of soothing an injured spirit, bringing peace to an agitated soul and restoring calm to a restless person.


Obviously, it is a foregone conclusion that my pursuit of literature and music and attachment to nature, continue to help me travel smoothly despite innumerable bumps on the road of life. Unawares, my character, my way of thinking and interacting with people continue to mellow, and this, I believe is what makes life a precious gift.


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Word Count:741

Prompt: Nature or nurture?  for January 2024

What were you born with? How much has your environment shaped you? What about you is uniquely you?

Written for Share Your Faith

Host:NaNoKit

The article found "Honorable Mention" in the contest.

Thank you so much Kitty, for the placement and the reward gps 5,000.