Last week I went to the Delhi Book Fair. And yes! my book was there in the NBT stall. It felt good.
I purchased three books of which I am reviewing the book by Sheila Dhar because I devoured it that day itself.
Sheila Dhar was a musician and a fantastic storyteller. She would have been a good actress too, if she had wanted to be. But she wanted to be a musician and this book, an autobiography, is her journey to becoming a musician.
Her family was the khandaani, Old Delhi Mathura Kayastha family interested in music. She learnt music from a musician hired by the family to teach all the girls (boys were exempt but girls had to know music for their marriage prospects). However, Mohan Babu known only limited repertoire and cannot turn her into a musician. The quest continues after marriage and leads her finally to Ustad Fayyed Khan who moulds her into a musician.
The journey is fascinating. Through her family connections, she knows Ustad Bundu Khan, Begum Akhtar, and Kesar Bai Kerkar. She also gets to know Siddheswari Devi and of course, in the end performs at Harballabh festival.
She also worked in Publication division and one of the stories that amused me was one where the Business Manager discovers that many of the publications had been eaten by rats. So he writes a letter requesting for mouse trap. The letter goes back and forth. Finally in frustration, he gets a cat. Then starts another set of letters where he tries to reimbursed for the amount spent on cat food. The finance head is a South India Brahmin, pedantic and stubborn. Unfortunately, Sheila Dhar quit her job to concentrate on her music career so we do not know how the story of the cat ended. She does try to get those files but apparently they had been weeded out in the ritual known as "weeding out" conducted by the government every five years.
The gem of the story, however, was the one set in British Guinea. Her husband, P.N. Dhar, had been posted there and they were invited to attend Janamashtami at the Hindu Church. The punditji at the temple gives a discourse on Gita. He says (and I am quoting from the book):
"Wat Krishna tellin Arjuna on de battlefield?.....Is Krishna sayin to Arjuna "Doan be drinkin, doan be dancing, doan be makin love, doan be enjoying?.....No, no, no! He not tellin Arjuna dat....He sayin"enjoy all- food drink, dancin, makin love!..
"Yea, be eatin, drinkin, makin love! he thundered. "Only remember, this all belongin to Krishna and he gonna take baack when time kom!"
As she concludes that is the most original interpretation of the Gita.
I laughed and laughed because last week was the Valentine's day. The Right Wing! The moral upholder without whom we will all perish. Well, I thought they should listen to this punditji to learn about Hinduism and Gita.
I purchased three books of which I am reviewing the book by Sheila Dhar because I devoured it that day itself.
Sheila Dhar was a musician and a fantastic storyteller. She would have been a good actress too, if she had wanted to be. But she wanted to be a musician and this book, an autobiography, is her journey to becoming a musician.
Her family was the khandaani, Old Delhi Mathura Kayastha family interested in music. She learnt music from a musician hired by the family to teach all the girls (boys were exempt but girls had to know music for their marriage prospects). However, Mohan Babu known only limited repertoire and cannot turn her into a musician. The quest continues after marriage and leads her finally to Ustad Fayyed Khan who moulds her into a musician.
The journey is fascinating. Through her family connections, she knows Ustad Bundu Khan, Begum Akhtar, and Kesar Bai Kerkar. She also gets to know Siddheswari Devi and of course, in the end performs at Harballabh festival.
She also worked in Publication division and one of the stories that amused me was one where the Business Manager discovers that many of the publications had been eaten by rats. So he writes a letter requesting for mouse trap. The letter goes back and forth. Finally in frustration, he gets a cat. Then starts another set of letters where he tries to reimbursed for the amount spent on cat food. The finance head is a South India Brahmin, pedantic and stubborn. Unfortunately, Sheila Dhar quit her job to concentrate on her music career so we do not know how the story of the cat ended. She does try to get those files but apparently they had been weeded out in the ritual known as "weeding out" conducted by the government every five years.
The gem of the story, however, was the one set in British Guinea. Her husband, P.N. Dhar, had been posted there and they were invited to attend Janamashtami at the Hindu Church. The punditji at the temple gives a discourse on Gita. He says (and I am quoting from the book):
"Wat Krishna tellin Arjuna on de battlefield?.....Is Krishna sayin to Arjuna "Doan be drinkin, doan be dancing, doan be makin love, doan be enjoying?.....No, no, no! He not tellin Arjuna dat....He sayin"enjoy all- food drink, dancin, makin love!..
"Yea, be eatin, drinkin, makin love! he thundered. "Only remember, this all belongin to Krishna and he gonna take baack when time kom!"
As she concludes that is the most original interpretation of the Gita.
I laughed and laughed because last week was the Valentine's day. The Right Wing! The moral upholder without whom we will all perish. Well, I thought they should listen to this punditji to learn about Hinduism and Gita.
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