Life with Vilayat Khansaheb
It was way back in the early 1940s, that young Arvind had a conscious realisation of his deep interest in music, especially instrumental music. After initially trying out various other instruments and settling finally on the sitar, his hunger to learn music on the sitar became increasingly intense and he found his refuge in listening to programmes on All India Radio, aided by a published guide, the ‘Indian Listener’.
It was during this period that he heard many great sitar players on the radio. When he heard the young and upcoming Ustad Vilayat Khansaheb, he was deeply moved and knew that he had found his real Guru. He moved to Mumbai, and his maternal uncle facilitated his stay in their family flat so that he could join Elphinstone college for his B.A. Economics Honours degree, and pursue learning music hopefully under Khansaheb’s tutelage.
It was a chance meeting that Arvind had with Khansaheb during one of his visits to Mumbai. It is at this time, on his anxious requests and persuasion, Khansaheb finally accepted him as his shagird. Thus started his talim from the great Ustad in 1944 in Mumbai, which lasted for 60 years upto 2004 when Khansaheb left our world.
Over these 60 years, Arvind’s relationship with his Ustad became closer. As his ardent student–shishya, he also looked after his secretarial work relating to concerts and professional matters. Over a period, this relationship also developed into a close friendship as they were both almost of the same age. There was a fine balance maintained between all these roles – the talim, the administrative role and the friendship tinged with affection.
Additionally, Arvind had also the privilege of accompanying Khansaheb on the tanpura during his concerts. Occasionally, Arvind was permitted to sit behind him with the sitar during his concerts, which was not only a great honour but also an excellent medium for talim.
Apart from the music, Arvind was extremely fortunate to learn regal etiquette, concert demeanour and especially his advice on not imitating others. He was advised to listen to other leading musicians and imbibe the best from all, and where he liked any part of someone’s music, he should assimilate it, but ‘apne rang me rang do’ – namely, to create his own style even while remaining within the character of the gharana.
In later years, a great indicator of the confidence that Arvindbhai enjoyed with Khansaheb was when he could convince Khansaheb to make recordings of the music of the greats of the Gharana, and do interviews to explain his deep understanding and performance of the physics and artistry of our classical music. These interviews were conducted by Arvindbhai under the auspices of and recorded by the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in 13 sessions. These remain some of the most precious jewels of our music. [Personal listening sessions at the NCPA are available on request – see the “Music” page on this site].
Arvindbhai’s relations with Khansaheb’s family members were quite close while the latter stayed in Mumbai from 1944 to 1964. Khansaheb and his family would usually stay at the Parikh home when visiting Mumbai. There were many special and exclusive sessions of talim, riyaz, and serious debates on technical aspects of music, along with many lighter moments.
Arvindbhai reminisces with a sigh that Khansaheb is no longer with us. He is deeply missed by all. Arvindbhai firmly believes that God had specially deputed Ustad Vilayat Khansaheb to this world as the greatest sitar player and creative mind ever, to enrich our lives with his divine music.