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Many
years ago, I had heard him at a musical function
in Netaji Auditorium in IIT, Kharagpur. Again,
at Hind Motor auditorium too I could get a
chance to hear his divine shehnai and talk to
him. I was happy, as he told, ‘I am from Dumraon’.
His simplicity moved me. Dumraon was a small
kingdom once. It is near my mother’s village. He
talked for quite some time. I started tracking
news concerning him. Perhaps he lived like one
fakir, unlike other Bharatratnas. It was evident
from the photographs appearing in media. He kept
on saying, “So long as the shehnai is with me,
what need do I have for anything else?’
‘Telegraph’ called Bismillah the Saraswati
devotee who lived for his Ganga.
On the fifth and eighth day of every Muharram,
Ustad Bismillah Khan would come to the Fat-main
burial ground, sit under a neem tree and play
the shehnai. “Even the average onlooker who did
not understand music would be moved to tears,” a
local resident said. The open space under the
neem tree where Bismillah Khan mourned the
grandsons of the Prophet became his final
resting place on Monday.
Ustad had played the shehnai when Pandit Nehru
unfurled the Indian flag at Red Fort to mark
India’s independence in 1947. The devotee of
Saraswati, and “a true symbol of our composite
culture”, played the shehnai — an instrument
that he took out of marriage pandaals to heights
of global glory — at the temple whenever he
could.
Can’t the government build a suitable memorial
in form a national institute of Indian
traditional music at Dumraon, that still remains
rural? Can’t Nitish Kumar, the CM take a lead?
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Comments: |
Indira Ji, don't expect such
generosity from Government.
Memorials' and institutions' names
are reserved for leaders only even
if they have criminal records. In
India you can have Pappu Yadav
Memorial College, Anand Mohan
Memorial College, Sunil Pandey
Memorial College but not Ustad
Bismillah Khan College of Indian
Music. - Anjum Parwej - Aug. 22,
2006
I think it's too early to be
pessimistic on this issue. I am not
sure if Nitish government will plan
to open any music
institute/university in Dumraon but
there will certainly be an mega
institute on Ustad Bismillah Khan's
name in Bihar. A world class
institute, not just for classical
music but an institute for
everything the legend was dedicated
for.
Looking at the patterns on how
Nitish Govt. approaches such issues
as Bihar Government just announced a
award to be given on Ustad Bismillah
Khan's name, I am sure CM Nitish and
his team must be planning to open up
such institution. In my view, Nitish
is not a CM like others who will do
such announcement in hest and
without making sure a proper plan of
management and procedure is in place
to keep the institution alive for
ever. Let's keep our finger crossed!
A legend like Ustad Bishmillah Khan
never dies!! - Naren Singh,
Hartford (USA) - Aug. 22,
2006
As I see, the Nitish government has
already taken some steps to honor
the Shahanai legend. (See
report)
As for memorials in the name of
politicians (and by that I mean the
likes of Pappu Yadav, Shahabuddin,
Anand Mohan, Sunil Pandey, Sadhu
Yadav etc), that should be made
unconstitutional - at least not on
tax-payers' money. - Anil Kumar - Aug. 22,
2006 |
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