Traffic is very light, and with the light rain coming down, the windshield wipers are going. I get a few waves and smiles, but not much other responses from the morning commuters. The rain intensifies, but never to a really intense point. I hold my blue umbrella over my sign, and stay reasonably dry. I'm a little tired, but feeling relaxed and comfortable.

2/

Today's practice is not rigorous. I start the tabla at an easy 160 bpm and sing bol-bant in quarter-note triplets for a while, occasionally moving into taans or sargam at other tempo levels. I also stop periodically and look around me at the world, thinking, speculating, wondering, then jumping back into song (it's important to include empty space in this music!).

3/

As the hour unfolds I continue improvising, trying out different approaches to the material, but without any particular goal — it just feels good to be singing a rainy-season raga, in the rain, welcoming the start of the day and the end of the week. I notch the tempo up to 165, then to 170, where it stays for the rest of the hour.

4/

Quarter-note triplets offer an interesting challenge in bol-bant when they're applied to syllable groups that don't add up to a multiple of three. One approach is to repeat such groups thrice, creating a polyrhythmic phase-shift with its own peculiar character. Another avenue is to interpolate an extra subdivision or two, typically on an otherwise unremarked long vowel.

5/