Surfing 'youtube' is one of the most widely carried out activities in the idle US student life. During one such surf today, I came across a video which took my mind back about ten years. The video comprised an old 'Sa Re Ga Ma' episode. Yes.....the olden, golden Sa Re Ga Ma on Zee Television. Those episodes, which did not comprise an 'audience judgment' but instead had judges of the highest degree. They ranged from Ustad Vilayat Khan, Naushad, Anil Biswas to Girija Devi and Pt. Shivkumar Sharma. In this array of legends was one name, one person, who at that time was the only known personality for me. Due to my ignorance and hatred for Indian Classical Music, I did not know the rest of them.....but HE was an exception! He was known to me, just like to many youngsters from the non-classical music background. He was Ustad Zakir Hussain.
But why suddenly him? What made me remember him today? It was because of the special gesture that was associated with him! This gesture was pointed out to me by my mother. She asked me to keenly observe the behavior of Ustad Zakir Hussain in that show.
This person was already a Grammy Award winner by that time. He also had co-composed music for the opening ceremony of the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. He was already a recipient of many music awards then. And regarding his fame worldwide, it exceeded than all the other judges present there. Still.....still....because he was the youngest of them all....he used to stand up and clap on the mention of other senior artists. Such was the mannerism of his, such was the respect he used to give all the senior musicians present there. At that time, I did not know much about music. But that gave me a glimpse about how the Ustad conducted himself. It made me realize that no matter how famous you become, your down to earth attitude is what keeps you going. How as a child I used to admire this! Somewhere down the line, I decided to follow him. My respect for him developed and that too much before I actually started listening to his Tabla. Such is the influence of great people on you!
If there is a little of 'humbleness' in me....little of 'humility' in me...or a little of 'down to earth' attitude in me...it is all because of this experience on television about ten years ago! I owe a lot of you for this....Ustad Zakir Hussain! :)
