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The Person I admire Most...
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON JANUARY 23, 2006 On my other blog http://missflyingfinn.blogspot.com
Well last night I was thinking about some of the blogs that I read and was wondering what more could I keep on writing. After all whatever is happening in my daily life would hardly be of any interest to people reading it. And If I keep writing about the same people day after day, you'd probably get real bored. So I'm thinking of letting an insight into what I like and the famous people that I really admire. Well a step towards that was taken a few days ago where I mentioned about my favourite Chocolates. So today I'm gonna write about the person I really admire.
That Person is USTAD BISMILLAH KHAN, the Shehnai Maestro and one of the most gifted human beings to grace the Indian landmass. I had been watching news, I think it was NDTV, cos that's the news channel I follow for anything and everything and they were just showing preview of Walk the Talk program hosted by Shekhar Gupta.That was two years ago. There in the clips I saw a frail old man, in his dhoti and baniyan, sitting on a chaarpai(I dunno how to spell it, its those cots u find in villages) outside a very modest home. I had remembered reading about him in the news papers just shortly after he had received the Bharat Ratna award, and he'd come to perform at Hyderabad, there were reports about ill treating a Bharat Ratna. Although I still dont remember too much into that incident but it had caused an uproar for sure.
So the first thing I noticed on seeing the clips was how much he reminded of my deceased grandfather. And So I sat to listen to an interview that had really moved me to wonder, how can such a famous personality be so down to earth and tender and so pure of thoughts. I was highly impressed by the interview he gave.
Born on 21 March 1916 in Varanasi, his ancestors were court musicians in the princely state of Dumraon in Bihar and he was trained under his uncle, the late Ali Bux `Vilayatu. , a shehnai player attached to Varanasi' s Vishwanath Temple. It was Khan Sahib who poured his heart out into Raga Kafi from Red Fort on the eve of India' s first Republic Day ceremony. Where many people point out the contradiction between his religion and his music, Khan saab merely sees a divine unity in it. He says his namaaz is seven shuddh and Five komal surs. He is also a devotee of Saraswati, the goddess of Music and he has a honorary doctrate from the Benaras Hindu University.
"Music, sur, namaaz. It is the same thing. We reach Allah in different ways. A musician can learn. He can play beautifully. But unless he can mix his music with religion, unless he strives to meet God, he will only have kalaa (art) but no assar (mystical union). He will always stand at the ocean and never reach the heights of purity."
His house in Varanasi, is an ample but decrepit structure. His living room is sparsely furnished with creaky wooden benches and a large takht on which his children perform namaaz, oblivious of guests and visitors. He travels by train regularly with his troupe, often by second class. He hates to fly. And when travel arrangements are being made, the house buzzes with activity as instruments are laid out, ancient steel trunks and torn British Airways flight-bags are packed with clothes and lunch boxes stuffed with rice and samosas. The shehnai player, whose name is familiar even to the international jet set as that of Ravi Shankar, travels by cycle rickshaw. And as he wheels down the city's streets at the head of a caravan of rickshaws, smiling at well wishers, he looks as happy as a British Lord in a Rolls Royce.
The very same interview had appeared in the Reader's Digest edition of October 2005. If anyone can get the issue, I must say you must read it to understand the greatness and simplicity of the man 'cause I'm not qualified enough to speak about a noble personality such as himself.
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