| Told by | Vidushi Subhra Guha |
| Obtained by | Suranjita Paul |
| Date | 5th December 2016 |
| Place | Aasha Co-Operative Housing Society Ltd .93, Deshapran Sashmal Road Flat-III / D-10. Kolkata -700033 |
| About the speaker | Vidushi Subhra Guha is a leading female vocalist of Agra gharana. She was a scholar of ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata and later she was nominated as a Guru in the Sangeet Research Academy. |
| Tags | Guru-Sishya parampara, K. G Ginde, Srikrishna Narayan Ratanjankar, Bandish, Bhatkhande Music college, Faiyaz khan, Lucknow, Raag Viyog-Barari, Sunil Basu, Sangeet Research Academy, Raga Chayanat, 1994 |
| Language | Bengali |
Vidushi Subhra Guha speaks:
Verbatim:
I believe in ‘guru-sishyaparampara’. Pt.K.G.Ginde was the disciple of Sri krishna Narayan Ratanjankar, S.N.Ratanjankar. He was an ocean of learning, how can I describe him, he could see the bandishes differently. When I sing a bandish I can feel it clearly. Gindeji started his learning at the age of ten, his father had left him with Ratanjankarji and told him to raise him up as he sees fit. So, he passed class ten from Lucknow and for twenty-eight years he lived with Ratanjankarji, never leaving his side. I saw Gindeji very closely; he had few demands in life, bare minimum things without luxury. He had a simple cot to sleep on, a wooden table-chair for his studies, no fancy things. He had a very poor income as the principal of Vatkhande college, I think now it would be a large sum compared to then. Anyway, I want to depict two incidents here to remember him.
Gindeji knew every bandishes of Ratanjankarji and he wanted to publish it. It would be a great help for everyone, but when he asked the publishers they demanded a large sum which he didn’t have, so he started to write them down. I want to show you the book; it was unbelievable that it was handwritten. He used a simple scale and pencil to write down the bandishes. He spent days in a table with a pen, pencil and rubber and produced six of this. We can imagine how much reverence and dedication to his guruji can made him do this. You have to see it to believe the different swar were written using scales and eraser. His entire being was dedicated to this job, to immortalize the work of his guruji. Sunil Basu also learnt from Ratanjankarji and whenever they met they used to discuss their guruji. Every time my guru Gindeji came over to my place they used to remember his guruji and Ustad Faiyaz Khan and they would cry with all the emotions. We were quite novice then and my fellow disciples would laugh behind his back and asked me whether I got bored with the same topic every day. I too, was quite young then but now I can understand that the love behind this. They didn’t discuss the same incident every day, but the same topics would come up after some time. The gandhar his guruji sang in some programme, or some other songs and they used to cry over these. I was so overwhelmed to see them crying that I joined, I never heard any of the discussed persons and I never knew them personally but still emotions were high and I flowed through it. I now understand that to achieve proper leaning from a perfect guru is a boon and the devotion would come automatically.
After twenty-eight years Ratanjankarji asked Gindeji to live on his own, to start a life and career. The day he left his guru’s house in Lucknow he went to return all bank passbooks and other documents of Ratanjankarji which he always kept and maintained. Ratanjankarji was furious, you want me to keep a tab on you? And he tore them up, he was so upset himself. He then gave Gindeji a new composition, a new raga named Viyog Barari. He never sang this raga, he would get so emotional. I heard from Sunil uncle that Ratanjankarji was a very strict man. He was almost devoid of emotions. It’s rare to see him smile and they never seen him crying. But that day as Gindeji was leaving he was singing this raga and crying. All the people present there were crying helplessly. This is the ideal relation between guru-shishya which I am talking about.
The story I was talking about, the hand-in written notations of the bandishes of Ratanjankarji. Gindeji wrote them himself with such meticulous perfection and then he came here in Sangeet Research Academy and presented the six volumes to them.
Hand-written Notation of Pt. K.G. Ginde.
He then said that I would be ever indebted to my guruji. If I reborn ten times and he wear his chappals made by my skin, I would still be indebted to him. But I have tried to give back a little bit and this is my humble offering. These six parts of the compilation of his bandishes are all here and I am quite content to leave this world. I think my job is done here.
Within seven days, he had a little anomaly in his heart. Then suddenly within a month of his submission of his life’s work he passed away suddenly. He was eating and humming raga chhayanat, suddenly the spoon slipped and he fell too. No chance for a doctor to do anything. I think a proper sadhak (monk) could only achieve such level.
Translated by: Arundhati Banerjee
Picture Courtesy: Vidushi Subhra Guha, Google
Edited & Designed: Ms. Rajeswary Ganguly Banerjee
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.