Q&A WITH HARIPRASAD CHAURASIA

The life of Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, 82, has demanded three biographies. The third, Breath of Gold, does his personality and music justice, but the master won’t call it the best.

Q. This is your third biography. How do you feel this is different from the first two?

Every biographer employs a different language and has a different emphasis—one wants to know more about my music, another is interested in my personal history, a third in my family. I like that these books have different perspectives, but I look at them as my children, and I can’t play favourites.

Q. You often credit your guru Annapurna Devi for your prowess, but do you feel the great surbahar exponent was given the due she deserves?

She had warned me to never ask about her personal life, never get her medicines if she was ill—“Remember, you only come here to learn”. She was hard on the outside, but very soft on the inside. India has always loved her, and of late, I find proof of that in newer documentaries about her.

Q. You have set up two different gurukuls. Do you think the age-old guru-shishya parampara can survive in today’s day and age?

I’d say things have gotten much better. Earlier, students of classical music would all be afraid of their gurus. Today, we live like a family. We eat and play together. I am not their teacher. I am their friend.

Q. Do you feel sad about the diminishing influence of Hindustani classical in Bollywood?

These days people equate popularity with what, I think, is shouting. There is Hindustani classical influence, but also a temptation to introduce western instruments. This is sometimes not true to our surroundings. It’s like a gaon ki gori leaving home in her nightie. Musicians today consider money more than the film’s story.