Gurupoornima is about Gurus and disciples. As a teenager, my mother pushed me into learning Hindustani Classical music. I had been learning the form for some time now. I had not developed a liking for it. I was very apprehensive to approach Prof Malshe. For, I knew that he would have high expectations from his students.Nevertheless, I did meet him one day. Surprisingly, he agreed to teach me. I remember Sir started off with Raga Yaman . After making me sing a few notes, he noted that my voice had that tonal quality required to take up Hindustani Classical music. Thus, began a musical journey that I would cherish for the rest of my life.
Every year, Prof Malshe's students (read:shishyas) would organize a Gurupoornima event on the IITB campus. Sir would allot Ragas to each student. It was a common practice, for freshers to start the morning session with "Ishastavana" (an invocation to God) the others would follow as per their respective seniority. In the evening Malshe Sir would perform and so would Tilak Sir,a close friend and Gurubandhu of Prof Malshe. We would often have a well known performer for the evening session. Finally, we would have Late Pandit Ratnakar Pai ji (Prof Malshe's Guru) who would take stage and mesmerize the audience. The campus would look forward to the Gurupoornima celebration. We would have ample support in the form of Pt Patnaik ji, Late Shri Rajaram Mistry ji, Mr.Vivek Govilkar and a team of accompanying artists on the tabla and the harmonium.
The day would be packed and eventful. Equally eventful would be the pre-event meetings.These meetings would be endless discussions about logistics,hospitality, invitation cards and flyers, fund collection and allocation, transport, gifts, bouquets so on and so forth. A major task was escorting the guests and particularly Pt Pai to the venue. Also,transport was required for the musical instruments. Despite meticulous planning we would forget something or the other.I still remember the maddening rush for a dagga! To
add to all this we had to take care of our health (read:throat) and also practice our respective ragas for the event. After all the sweat and toil, we would get a congratulatory call from Malshe Sir, the next day.
It's been a few years now I stopped taking music lessons from Prof Malshe. I really do miss those. I miss not being a student again. It's thanks to Prof Malshe, that I can at least appreciate music and maybe sing once in while. It's thanks to Prof Malshe that I have learnt to appreciate life as I find it around me in all its beauty and dynamism.
Thank you, Sir
Shamini
Lovely post, Shamini. Very apt for the occasion too. And your post puts into words what you have expressed to me more than once -- how much you cherish music as well as your guru in spite of all the years over which you could not return to your classes. :)
ReplyDeleteYes indeed , Saroja. I miss him a lot. I am glad I could finally talk to him today:) i miss music lessons and riyaz. ..
Deletethanks for the comment..
Beautifully expressed! Goes well with the occasion and it's so nice to have expressed your love and gratitude for such a revered figure in Hindustani music. It is very true that a presence of a Guru can truly uplift you both physically and spiritually. How I wish I could sing especially after reading this post!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Akshay ! Prof Malshe has been an inspiration for many of us. :)
DeleteHi Shamini,
ReplyDeleteI remember Prof. Malshe too. He thought us communication skills. Anyway, I did not know that Shamini can sing.
well, she can :)
ReplyDeleteWell written, Shamini. Malshe sir, we all have been very luck to find a guru like Malshe sir. Although, maybe he wasn't so lucky... finding useless students like us. haha! Nice to relive those fun times through your writing though. Thanks!
ReplyDeletethanks for the comment Sourabh. hope you read the other posts too ! lol.
Deleteyes Malshe sir is sure unlucky to find students like me..not you so much..you would make it for the thursday concert :)