At The “Bhavan”

The morning after I found myself staring at the last water hole left in the Sahara and much like moths to a flame, all the beasts were jockeying for position and the last remaining drops of the life giving liquid. I am talking metaphorically of course. What I am describing here was the sight at the make shift internet cafe they referred to as “The Lobby”. Dozens of Europeans, all tapping away diligently at their wi fi enabled laptops painted the perfect picture of a net obsessed people thirsting for their daily fix. I wonder how they spent their time before the internet . Hmm let’s see, two world wars, gormet food and modern art . Come to think of it, we’re better off now. None the less the sight of all those open inboxes got me itching for a laptop of my own.

But like all good things, my time for procrastination was up. It was 10 in the morning and Pete our driver was at the hotel gate all set to drop us off at the “Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan” in central London. As you can see, the word “big” just doesn’t cut it for Pete. He is six and a half feet of pure rib tickling wise cracks and more.I remember pulling up in front of the Bhavan spot on time and one of us chimed,” Oh Pete ! you are magic !”. Not to miss a beat, Pete came back with, “Oh , I noticed” with a naughty smirk plastered all over that face.

Photo : Pete with Dad and Me

Returning to the Bhavan brought back fond memories from the year before. The inside of the hall (which has been converted from a church) gave off an aura of caring and nurturing, a reflection of the spirit of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan itself. The Stained glass windows gave away a peek into the hall’s ecclesiastical past.

I was just getting comfortable when a lovely surprise was sprung on me. One of our closest friends from Italy showed up. Anysha Aunty as I call her affectionately , came all the way from the Isle of Wight where she now lives runs a beautiful sea side restaurant. It was a treat for us both and we squeesed a lot of catching up into the little time that was spared to us . For the briefest of moments, all my little worries seemed to fade, like castles made of sand,
that fall into the sea,
eventually.

Photo : The ever radiant Anysha Aunty and me!

Before I could realize, it was already time for the sound check. I found myself dragging my feet but business had to be taken care of. So it was off to the stage for a quick and fruitful set up session thanks to our sound engineer. Showtime was creeping closer by the minute so we changed in a hurry and got ready for our second concert of our UK tour.

Photo : “Testing! 1…2…3.”

As the curtain rose, people were greeted by my father, Pt. Budhaditya Mukherjee, Pt. Rajkumar Misra who was at the helm of our accompaniment on the Tabla and finally yours truly.We opened with Raga Hameer, a lilting evening melody which is as beautiful as it is hard to navigate. Dad commenced the alap and I joined in whenever I was given the que. Rajkumar Ji’s caring accompaniment made sure we traversed this diceptively tough raga effortlessly.The vilambit gat was followed by a faster paced drut gat which lead of to the firey Jhala to bring to an end the proceedings.

Back stage was a hectic place after the curtain fell.There were people from all over who wanted to congratulate us. Some were old friends and some we met for the first time. You could notice how music had transcended all boundaries of young and old, black and white, rich and poor etc and all that we were left with was love and gratitude.It was simply perfect.

Photo : “Chaaaaaarge!!!”

To top it off, we all treated ourselves to dinner at this hip Chinese joint just around the corner. We gorged like, well, Somalian refugees! and were proud of it. I think I scared off 2 of the waitresses single handedly which was a kind of scary and yet strangely empowering.

Photo : Hey! Relax! its only water!

See ya next time,

with more about New Castle.

Best Wishes,

Adi.