Told by	Arup Chattopadhyay
Obtained by	Sukanya Sarkar
Date	23rd  February 2015
Place	70 7&8 Nirala Apartment, Boral. Kolkata -700154 at the residence of Arup Chattopadhyay
About the speaker	Arup Chattopadhyay is a renowned Tabla Player and a globetrotting musician. He is a prime disciple of the tabla legend Pt. Shankar Ghosh.
Tags	1983, Ravi Shankar, Dipak Chowdhury, Ballygunge, Channagar, Pratyush, Buddhadev Das Gupta, Debasish Bhattacharya, Siddharta, Tanmoy Bose, Kumar Bose, Jnan Prakash Ghosh, Indranil Bhattacharya, Anindo Chattarjee
Language	Bengali

Arup Chattopadhyay speaks:

Verbatim:

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 Verbatim by: Dr. Suranjita Paul

Translation:

This was perhaps in the beginning of 1983. One day, Dipakda said, ‘come when Guruji, Ravi Shankar, is here, and I will introduce you to him’. I had always nurtured this dream of seeing him from a distance, never thought I would have the good fortune of offering my Pranaam to him. Anyway, one day Dipakda took me to Sridharji’s house in Ballygunge where Ravi Shankar ji was practising. When we got some time, Dipakda said, Guruji, ‘this boy is playing well, please listen to him some day’. Ravi Shankarji took a look at me and said, ‘it would not be possible this time, come next time’.

He came to Kolkata again about 6 months later. At that time, I used to come to Kolkata from Chandannagareveryday, took lessons from Guruji, did Riwaz , gave some tuitions here and there and went back home at night. I got news that Panditji had come to Kolkata. At that time we did not have the advantage of mobile phones. So I could not call up Dipakda to ask if I should come since he was here. I decided to go there directly. At that time I used to play with Protyush in his home classes, where Buddhakaku used to teach.

On that particular day, Buddhakaku had not come, but his senior student Debashis Bhattacharya, a very good friend of mine, was there. I played in the class, we did Riyaz  andpractised together after the class. I was in two minds over whether to go back home, but decided in the end to go to Shridharji’s place. When I reached there, the gatekeepers initially prevented me from entering, due to the disheveled state I was in .So I asked them who else had come, and if a bearded man had come. As they answered in the affirmative, I understood that Dipakda was there. I decided to wait. After waiting for half an hour, I suddenly saw Dipakda coming out. He saw me and said, ‘Oh, Arup, you are here! Have you brought your Tabla?

I was astonished. How could I have brought a Tabla along?

So he asked me, “Can you arrange for a Tabla from anywhere?”

I said, “Tanmay( renownedTabla player tanmoy Bose ) stays nearby, but I don’t know if he would be at home now, it would be a waste of time.”

Dipakda said, “It’s your bad luck then, Guruji would be sitting with me today, if you had your Tabla with you, you could have made him listen to how you played.”

I went in with Dipakda, to find Ravi Shankarji alone, tuning his Sitar.

Dipakda said to him, “Guruji, he has come but he did not know you would be practising , so he did not bring his Tabla.”

Ravi Shankar ji was in the middle of his tuning, he opened his eyes to look at me, then closed them again. Some moments later, he asked me. “ Do your hands sweat? Do they sweat when you play?”

I said, No they don’t.

Then he said, “ Alright, bring me the Tabla case from the corner.” I did so.

He asked me, “ Do you know whose Tabla this is?”

There was no name on the case, so I said no.

“Kumar, Pandit Kumar Bose had come to play in the morning, he will come again tomorrow, he has left his Tabla here.”

Just imagine my good fortune.

Ravi Shankarji told me, “Alright, you play on that Tabla, but be alert that your hands do not sweat.”

So this was the first day I played before him. Playing with him was like a dream come true for me. Then he said, “Come here tomorrow at ten.”

I went home at about 1:30 in the morning. When I came back the next day, everyone was there, Jog saheb, our Bade Guru Jnanprakashji, Anindoda, Kumarda, Indranil Bhattacharya everyone. And he introduced me to everybody like this, “This boy has played well, all of you please give your blessings so that he turns out well in life…”

It was a great achievement for me to have received his blessings. Later, I had the opportunity of playing with him at many places.

Translated by :Arundhati Banerjee

Picture Courtesy: Google

https://allevents.in/brea/the-living-legend-pandit-kumar-bose-live-in-concert/214096049145610

http://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/music/master-of-strings/article22472528.ece

Edited & Designed: Dr. Suranjita Paul

 

Metadata generated by Dr. Suranjita Paul

Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.