Ahmedabad: Inerasable Saptak memory from Chaurasia

Ahmedabad: The temptation of fiddling with a cellphone during a flute concert seduced only two middle-aged gents in an audience of about 800. Flautist Rakesh Chaurasia staged that miracle: he ensured that classical connectivity did not snap amid our age's social media storms.Chaurasia presented Jhinjhoti on Thursday, Day 8 of Saptak. The raga's aalaap had the seriousness of unrequited love accepting its fate. But the sherwani-dressed notes avoided the drama of lamentation. The study on compulsive cellphone checkers was carried out during the aalaap. The study focused on the chairless sitting area in front of the Saptak stage. As Chaurasia's exposition progressed, his Jhinjhoti ascended from the sighs of desire and luxuriated in the trills of anticipation. The raga's expansive sentiments moved even the two gents — they looked up from their phones. The emotional fertility of Jhinjhoti has made it the muse for many Bollywood hits. The chief example is the Kishore Kumar masterpiece "Koi humdum na raha" from the 1961 film "Jhumroo". The title of the song means "I am left without a companion". But Kishore Kumar's majesty and Jhinjhoti's elegance render the song not as a dirge but as a magnificent acknowledgement of the world as it is. Chaurasia began the recital with a dig at his own fraternity's tendency to ride on rasikas' rapture and perform well beyond the stipulated time. "I have been called to perform on Day 8 and the programme is beginning on Day 8!" he said in mock wonder. The audience was delighted by the agreeable inside joke. It is clear that Chaurasia has inherited the humour of his uncle, the peerless flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia. In a 2011 Saptak concert, before opening a recital, Pandit Chaurasia said, "Humay raga maloom nahin, aap se baad mein puchcheingey." ("I don't know the raga, I will ask you about it later!") The laughter and applause of the audience orchestrated an indelible Saptak memory. The younger Chaurasia added another, but the raga had proudly said its name.