When I wrote my piece “CheckMate”, the revolution in Egypt yet to kick-start but bit ripple was started by the time I posted it on January 27 and finally by 12thFebruary it was all over for Mubarak. I am little concern about Egypt because I had a few friends over there and once visited and stayed with them as one of them. The transition is not
an easy task because none other neighbouring states of Egypt enjoy a democratic rule, this revolution may backfire after a short period. Of-course full praise for Tunisian and Egyptian, they proved that the revolution never needs a so-called leader. The peoples from all walks of life need to stand up to change the wind, presence of a leader will always there for aftermath exploitations and to grab the opportunities. These revolutions are now spreading like forest fire to other Middle East countries likes of Iran, Bahrain, Libya and Yemen.
Back home, my country is all set to host the cricket world cup and looking forward to it. Last month we lost Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, a rare gem from our rich Indian classical music arena. This is a huge embarrassment for me because this piece should have been posted before. Therefore, this is my little tribute to the great man.
A little ear for good music, apart from this my music knowledge is zero and I am writing about a man with golden voice that ruled the musical scenario over seven decades. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi died on January 24, 2011 in Pune.
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was born on February 4, 1922 into a Kannadiga family. He was born in town known as Ron in Karnataka. His father Gururaj Joshi was a teacher by profession. He was the eldest one among 16. He lost his mother at a very early age and raised by his stepmother.
When he was only eleven years, he left home to find a master to learn music. Later he moved to Gwalior and enrolled himself to a Music School that was run by Maharajas of Gwalior. In 1936, he was taken under the wings of Rambhau Kundgolkar (Savai Gandharva) of Kirana Gharana. During his learning period, Pandit Joshi stayed at the house of the guru, in the traditional guru-shishya (teacher-student) tradition. In old Hindu tradition disciple used to stay in the house of the teachers while getting knowledge in their respective field and at the same time helping their Gurus in some odd household jobs. There were another famous starlet Gangubai Hangal also was a student of Savai Gandharva and learning at the same time along with Panditji.
At the age of 19, in 1941, Pandit Joshi gave his first live performance and that was the beginning of the golden era. One of his most memorable performances that is remembered till date is of course the national integration song "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara". He also did a few playback singing for films that includes 'Basant Bahar' along with Manna Dey.
Apart from music, his other passions were driving, swimming and football. Among many awards and laurels, he received Bharat Ratna in 2008 and obviously, it was a non-controversial one.
His Bhajans are awesome, some of my favourites are “Krishna Krishna Kahiye Uthi Bhor”, “Ram Kahiye Ram Japiye” and “Suno Suno Sadhoji”.
!!!Great souls never dies, leaving behind unaccounted treasure, they only walked to the path of immortality.!!!
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