An incredible musical odyssey

An Incredible Musical Odyssey

 I feel very relaxed when I read a biography as against any fiction. The reason being we can at least identify ourselves with the character which is more real, as it existed, survived, achieved something and marked their existence by accomplishing some wonderful job.

This book "An unheard melody: Annapurna Devi" by Swapan Kumar Bondopadhyay-has left a deep mark in my mind. I couldn't stop myself from brooding on the issue as "What defines Success" and "what people what to achieve excelling in any field or mastering an art"?. Is it to achieve personal glory and fame or to become communion with the art and finally attain the contentment and happiness in life...

 Success is defined by the outcome or result of an endeavour (as per dictionary). But in general the trend has been to judge a person who has attained wealth, position, honour as Successful. If the same issue is looked at an individual's perspective the parameters for success are often set by individuals themselves. So the standard and the literary definition here may not be applicable to all the individuals in the society alike.
 

This book has helped me to understand the most often misunderstood and laxly used term SUCCESS and how it is different from achieving the ultimate mastery or excellence in any field. This book provided an insight into the personality of a brilliant individual Annapurna Devi, daughter of the legend Baba Allaudin Khan, a court musician and founder of the Maihar- Seina Gharana of music, sister of the Sarod player Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and wife of Pandit Ravi Shankar, with single-minded devotion dedicated herself to music and lived a life of  seclusion. She is the sole female Surbahar player in India. Her life is a culmination of total dedication and deep passion for music.
 

She believed that music is divine and she obtained the real happiness by becoming one with music. She is the inheritor of the great repertoire of the Hindustani raagas as she was personally mentored by her illustrious father. Hence, a legendary bearer of the huge traditional knowledge of the Maihar-Seina Gharana. In spite of all odds, a tumultuous personal relationship with Pandit Ravi Shankar and the untimely and tragic death of her only young son Shubendra Shankar, she astutely committed herself to the strict regime of intense talim. She has lived a life of recluse and tried to seek solutions for her problems from within. Such was the discipline and the love towards music that she has shut herself from the rest of the world and hardly moved out of her flat for years together.

Two quite contrasting characters as they are, started creating a niche of their own through music in different ways. Annapurna Devi lived a life of seclusion and shut off from the rest of the world, shunning public performance and vouched to pass on the traditional knowledge to the deserving by teaching them with undaunted resolve. She was instrumental in mentoring renowned musicians of our country - Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia a Flautist, Nikhil Benarjee a Sitar player, Nityanand Haldipur, a Flautist, Basant Kabra a Sarod player, Suresh Vyas a Sarod player. Instead of prying for personal glory and fame, she sought to seek the ultimate happiness, refuge and divinity through music. She found mystic happiness for her communion with music with intense riyaaz through the medium Surbahar.

 Pandit Ravi Shankar on the other hand was an extrovert, went on to spread the flavour of the traditional Hindustani music to the entire world through his brilliance and expertise.

 People would remember and revere the unheard melody for the purity of the music and grit shown to keep up her father's legacy alive. But alas, the dictionary definition of success would fall short of describing the unique qualities of the living-legend —

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