Breath of Gold by Sathya Saran

Author:Sathya Saran [Saran, Sathya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789353057237
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2019-12-07T00:00:00+00:00

The reasons for Hariprasad seeking a guru are manifold. For one, ‘I was doing very well, but I was missing my classical music. There was no time for it. And I felt I was losing my touch, getting mechanical in my playing. More often than not, my interventions in the music were for ten to thirty seconds, except in rare cases. How could I grow as an artiste with that! I realized the only way to progress to where I wanted my music to go was to find a guru and immerse myself in learning.’

In the NCPA face-to-face interview, he cites another reason. ‘Sanjeev Kumar, the actor, once told me, “I see you as Hariprasad Chaurasia, the flautist, not as a music director sitting with a harmonium.” The comment shocked me at first, but also touched my heart. I thought I should leave films. Why was I slogging for banks to enjoy my money?’

At home, too, he was often gently steered towards his first love, classical music. ‘Learn classical music, find a teacher!’ Anuradha would coax, seeing her husband running day and night between studios. She felt he was losing touch with his classical roots. ‘I could not exploit my talent now, but I wanted him to move ahead,’ she says, explaining why she repeatedly urged him to change his way of life in music.

‘When my voice thickened, I decided not to perform in public any more. In Orissa, people would say, “Begum Akhtar sings with a heavy voice, Reshma has a heavy voice, why don’t you sing too?” But I was not able to come to terms with the changes in my voice and control.’

Anuradha also found herself comparing her changed voice with that of her new neighbour, at Anand building on Kalakar Dhurandhar Marg in Khar, Bombay, where they moved after a few years of living in Shiv Darshan. ‘I would hear Suman Kalyanpur singing, and her voice was a deterrent to my singing,’ she says.

The Chaurasias moved out from Anand building after four years there, to a roomier space in Costa Belle, where they would come across an earlier neighbour from their Hotel Evergreen days—Anand Bakshi, the lyricist. But though there was no deterrent voice to compare to her own, Anuradha found she was singing only for herself. Instead, she concentrated on her husband’s playing, setting herself up as commentator and critic.

Anuradha admits, ‘I would often criticize him, his work. I am his sternest, severest critic. Others would scold me, but it changed nothing. I would attend all his programmes in town at least, and listen and give him feedback. I would sit while he played ragas, watch, listen, comment.’

The combined result of all the prodding from different sources leads Hariprasad to seriously consider finding a guru and immersing himself in classical music again. Recollecting the advice given to him by Baba Allauddin Khan in his childhood, he decides to seek out his daughter, Annapurna Devi. ‘I learnt she lived in Pavlova, near the Hanging Gardens in south Bombay, so I took myself there to meet her,’ he recalls.

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