I
have forgotten Western Classical Music (WCM). Once it was so dear to me. I used
to love, be happy to collect and be happier to learn the nuances….and now! It
seems as if it beckons me from my past life…..as if a mist has separated the
boat from the shore……Oh! Calcutta……that
city gave me so much……For a long time I lost touch. May be for past 7
years….till I left Calcutta for Haldia, then Aurangabad, then Bombay, then
Hyderabad. I
might have heard occasionally some Dinu Lipatti or Maria Callas or some best of
Mozart, Beethoven CD (presented by my friends staying in US)…and some in Youtube
(getting irritated when it takes long to buffer while I wait for my Perlman or Horowitz
or Oistrakh or Richter……)………and……..and…..that’s all in last 7 years. Nothing
more…….
But
who but I remember once I used to live and breathe Western Classical Music(WCM),
visit concerts in Calcutta School of Music(CSM) and scour the music stores (my favorite
was Rhythm in Lindsay street, a friendly avuncular Sardarji owner used to copy
CDs into cassette for me those days….God!) in search of cassettes (those days I
did not have CD player though I had some CD presented by my friend and
presented to my father by his friend……) and Max Mueller Bhavan library…the
heaven for Western Classical Music lovers in Cal….so many cassettes I borrowed
and copied…so many talks I attended in the music appreciation classes by my guru Kishore Chatterji ( one on
comparison of WCM and Tagore songs on the theme of death….ah ! girls from Santiniketan
sung those songs and Mr.Chatterji played his choicest collection…lachrymosa from
Mozart, Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice…..) and unforgettable talks by Adi Gazdar
(he was a doctor, friend of Ray, and played wonderful piano, he played in the
class. Helped Jennifer Kapoor in playing piano in Ghare Baire duly acknowledged
by Bijoya Ray in ‘Amader Kotha’), Bulbul Sirkar (of Calcutta radio, took
memorable interview of Ray on WCM which I have recorded from radio), Proshanto Dutt
(conductor of Calcutta School of Music), and then in CSM……pony tailed Neil Mukherji
playing Segovia classical guitar (I never knew he played for Mohiner Ghoraguli, a Bangla band !), my first
concert attendance with Mr.Chatterji, then listening to Robert Vijay Gupta, a 8 year old
kid from Julliard, New York playing Vivaldi’s four seasons…I gate crashed into Gyan
Manch that day in 1999 ……….I can still hear his pizzicato from Winter……Ah what
delight! What a time I had…..and I used to record FM radio talks by Yehudi Menuhin
or Gerald Moyer….I left no stones unturned to collect WCM….shops, library, radio…any
reference of WCM in movies caught my attention, be it Gregorian chant from
Ray’s Shakha Proshakha or Pachelbel Canon from Hollywood movies……and I used to
remember WCM tunes from ad jingles and compile cassette out of them from our
collection and present it to friends….we had more than 200
cassettes….collection started by my father in 1992……now with dismay I note how
time and fungus damage and ruin my beloved collection….my father still lives on
the remnant of those…..and I don’t have enough time to collect CDs…..What more
disappointment could be that staying in Bombay I missed concerts by Zubin Mehta
and Sir Colin Davis and I could only see a single performance by 4 years old
National Symphony Orchestra of India ! So much work tied me up.
After
so many years of non practice I tend to forget the tunes which I could once
recollect instantly…..and which used to give me so much pleasure…I simply wait
to regain that exquisite touch of WCM…I simply want to immerse myself into the
sea of music which used to make me unbelievably happy….
My
association with Kishore Chatterji who single-handedly had been popularizing
WCM through his newspaper articles (The Statesman is an institution of Calcutta and only
newspaper in the country to carry a weekly authoritative article on WCM by
Mr.Chatterji) and his books needs another article. It was because of his book
that I started listening to WCM while I was bedridden and recovering from a
bike accident …It all started in 1993. My doctors told me I recovered sooner
because I was in good mood despite lying on bed for 7 long months…..and what
but WCM made me happier those gloomy days! But readers, that’s a different
story…..I will write that in a different time. Oh! Calcutta!
