A believer in the prayer of life

``I am going to play all night. Those who want to stay with me can stay,'' the veteran announced as he saw people beginning to leave, thinking that it was the end of the concert. It was around 9 p.m. already. ``I know all of you want to go and watch `Crorepati'. But I am going to play,'' he continued. ``Alright, I will not stop till I finish all your requests. And then we can all go. Because I know that all of you must be hungry,'' he said.

So it was music to the ears for the next one hour, as Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia blew magic into the air at what formed the finale to Hamsadhwani's special series of concerts by maestros on Thursday. At the end of a non-stop concert of three hours, he said ``I'll stop now. Because I know all of you want to go home and see `Movers and Shakers'. Panditji was still full of energy. ''Come over to the hotel and we can talk,`` he told Sudhish Kamath.

HARI PRASAD CHAURASIA

HALF PAST ten that night, Panditji was still sporting his white kurta and pyjama, as he sat for dinner at Dakshin, at the Park Sheraton. First question: ``Did he really mean to continue playing on and on throughout the night?''.

``Yes, I wanted to play throughout the night,'' he says in a matter-of-fact tone. ``I could see the excitement with the audience. Inspiration. But then I had not taken permission from my accompanists. They would have been tired,`` he says.

``It does not matter if you are South Indian or Bengali or Gujarati. Music is for each and every human being. Children don't know music, but they enjoy,`` Panditji notes.

When Panditji is on stage, music becomes his prayer. ''I pray with my swaras. I pray for the evening, if the powers are satisfied, then everybody is happy. It is not with applause that you measure appreciation. I can see the happiness. People will applaud even when they see monkeys dancing,`` he says.

Not that he does not like popular film music. Very few people know that he and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma are the music-director duo Shiv- Hari who gave us unforgettable hits like `Silsila', `Faasle', `Chandni', `Lamhe' and `Darr'.

Will we see them together again? ''Yes, you will,`` Panditji promises. ''But today, everybody is following the West``.

''We are following them and they are following us-vegetarianism, yoga, bhajans and music. Since childhood, I have been simple. I am only fortunate to eat in a five star hotel. I like to eat simple food. I feel very sorry when I see people following the West,`` he observes. ''Is `Crorepati' an Indian show? It's a waste of time and energy. You waste one out of 24 hours watching a TV programme, you don't get anything``.

But hasn't globalisation given music the boon of technology? ''All these are toys. You can't teach music through Internet. It has to happen through the Guru-Shishya parampara. Right now we are all copying. We used to wear kurta pyjama, what happened to that? After a few years, the younger generation will be misguided. They have already lost their identity``.

It is around midnight already and Panditji had a flight to catch the next morning. ''If you have to learn music, you have to surrender yourself to music, you have to go to the Gurukul. The Internet can teach you history, geography...Not music,`` the legend born in a family of wrestlers, concludes. Now you know where his energy comes from.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Entertainment
Previous : Seamless continuity