On Sunday, I attended a classical music programme at Phoenix, which was open and free for all. I was a part of the audience that consisted largely of the younger generation showing academic, if not a deep, innate inclination towards this form of music. The evening witnessed Harini Rao, an exponent of ghazals, and her school students performing with unmatched passion. Only last month I had suggested Harini to get together with a group of professional singers and musicians to revive the art of ghazal singing with narrations at intervals to make Hyderabadis aware of the intricate vocal art of presenting deep poetry. I assured her that the costs weren’t going to be a hitch, following which she indicated a ballpark amount for staging such an event at ITC Kakatiya.
At one point in the following days, I called her up and tried to bargain with her, forcing her to work on the bottlenecks and any other issues, until I noticed that she had already texted me the musicians’ inability to perform on the given dates (in the first place), even at the costs she had quoted. And here I was bargaining incessantly… so embarrassing!
Another recent musical event paid tribute to Ustad Vilayat Khan, where famous sitar maestro Ustad Irshad Khan performed. Mr Mohan Hemmadi was formally conferred a lifetime award at the do by a Canadian music society head, Mr Salim Moinuddin. The late Ustad Vilayat Khan’s daughter, a very dear friend Ms Yaman, died from a serious illness last year. Her mom, Ustad Vilayat Khan’s first wife, Manisha, is a friend of mine. She came to Hyderabad with her son Shujat and daughter, whose name has slipped my mind.
Salim Moinuddin and Mohan Hemmadi
Switching from the art of music to the rush of sports, I went for a cricket match on Sunday that’s part of a series among eight clubs. These are: New Club, Press Club, Fateh Maidan Club, Zoroastrian Club, Deccan Club, Secunderabad Club, Jubilee hills Club and Nizam Club. Among those present were C.V. Anand, Commissioner for Civil Supplies from Secund-erabad Club and Vivek Jaisimha, Vice-President of Secunderabad Club, both of whom were my schoolmates.
Raunaq Yar Khan
