Calcutta’s Relationship With The Sitar Maestro

Team Chronicle

Pandit Ravi Shankar wasn’t born in Calcutta. Brought up amidst the serene setting of Varanasi, he had no reason to relate to the din of a metropolis. His formative years were spent touring Europe, imbibing the best of the West, quite far from any association with the City of Joy. Yet it seemed that an inexplicable symphony of souls bound them together. Calcutta, for Panditji, was his refuge, the bosom of a mother where you lay your head to find solace. To him, the city was a friend who awaits your return, ever ready to welcome you with a warm and tight embrace. In this edition of Calcutta Chronicle, we reminisce about those moments the City of Joy spent with Panditji – moments moist with the memories of a melody that made two kindred spirits glow like undying embers of friendship.

Born Robindra Shankar Chaudhury, Panditji was the quintessential Bangalee; marked by his fondness for good cuisine and literature along with an appetite for adda. The down to earth, witty man found camaraderie with a city that would resonate with his temperament.

With friends and relatives staying here, Calcutta had been a sort of retreat for Panditji over and over again. Whenever he visited Calcutta, he would put up at friend Lala Sreedhar’s three-storey-mansion, Anuraag at 20, Ballygunge Park Road. Panditji would frequent this place with his family when daughter, Anushka was still a kid. The musician meditated upon music while the little one romped around; this was a common sight at the perfectly maintained garden that surrounds the building. His favourite room was the one on left in the ground floor itself. He would nestle in it with his family, while the next room would be occupied by his associates. His last visit to this house was in 2000.

But for Shivkumar Jha, who was his chauffeur during that trip, it seems like yesterday. “He never had the air of a celebrity. Despite being a genius, he would never ever snub any of us” recalled a nostalgic Jha during an earlier conversation. His sister-in-law, the danseuse, Amala Shankar would also come visiting when Panditji would be here. She would bring along all his favourite non-vegetarian food and the family would generously share it with everyone in the household. Panditji believed in sharing his joy, after all what else is music about? An affectionate friend and an adda aficionado, he would also go to Milan Sen’s Ship House at Elgin Road, where after long hours of friendly chit-chat, the musician would feel refreshed and inspired enough to work on his latest compositions. His earliest association with the city can be traced back to his stay at the rented apartment at 34/1 (now 35/B) Elgin Road, where his elder brother Uday Shankar would put up with his entire troupe in the 30s.

Some relationships are effortless, such is the compatibility that even silences become eloquent, distance becomes an aphrodisiac; such was the one shared by Panditji and Calcutta. Despite staying far, the bond never grew weak and when in 2009, he performed for the last time in the city at Netaji Indoor Stadium he had to confess “This feels like a return to home”.