Page 38 - Seniors Today Dec 2019

People

The Czar of Sitar

One of the early Indian names on the international music stage, Pandit Ravi Shankar
left everyone mesmerised with his consummate skill. Narendra Kusnur sketches his
encounters with the maestro

PART 1 - ALAAP sweating and shaking. Shankar suddenly
On a January afternoon in 1997, I was suddenly walked in, folded his hands to indicate namaste,
assigned to interview sitar maestro Pandit Ravi flashed a smile and sat down next to me. He
Shankar, and rush to his guest house at Napean had a buoyancy that disguised his 77 years. I
Sea Road, Mumbai, in two hours. He was to do a addressed him as Panditji and he said, “Call
concert in Mumbai the next morning, and I had me Ravi”. Of course I settled for ‘Raviji’ but
to head back to file my article. suddenly remembered I forgot to touch his feet.
I was nervous and scared. Though I had The musician introduced the two ladies who
met classical musicians before, I had never joined him. “This is my wife Sukanya and
interviewed someone of his stature. The closest this is my daughter Anoushka,” he said, as
had been to ask vocalist Pandit Bhimsen Joshi
one question at a crowded press conference. I
had heard Shankar’s records, loved his music
in ‘Anuradha’ and ‘Gandhi’, known of his
association with the Beatles and Woodstock,
and even attended one concert in New Delhi, but
I didn’t have any in-depth information on him.
The word ‘Google’ didn’t exist then. Plus there
was the deadline.
My colleague, photographer Prashant
Nakwe, and I reached the venue on time. We
waited in the drawing room, and despite the
air-conditioning and agarbatti aroma, I was Collaborating with composer Philip Glass
38