A fun-filled day with the master of flute

GURGAON: The instrumentalists of Hindustani classical music have always found it tough measuring up to the vocal genre of khayal gaayaki. The challenge is to make the instrument sound as much as possible like the human voice, which, when trained properly, can baffle the listener with the range of emotions it can simultaneously convey in a single moment.
The expert player has to make the instrument ?sing,' just like Pandit Ravi Shankar did with the sitar; Ustad Bismillah Khan with the shehnai; and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, among the last remaining virtuosos of his field, with the flute.
On Tuesday, Chaurasia was in town for a special concert for college students that turned out to be a mixed bag of flute recital, classical music workshop, and a standup comedy show, although the maestro's deadpan jokes were delivered as he sat regally on his performing throne.
"Let me do a bhajan that I am sure all of you know," said Chaurasia, before starting out on the opening notes of the ?Jingle Bells' on his flute that soon became a short sing-along session. "You all know this bhajan?" He attempted to look surprised, and then went on to make a plea for the popularization of the bhajan form, embraced by the greatest of musicians, that originated in India.
Chaurasia, who was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1992 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2000, is now 76 years old. Signs of ageing are just about beginning to show. His left hand ? Charusia was originally a right-handed flautist and later shifted to the left ? appears to be subject to constant jitters.
He places the end of the flute against his thigh for stability and wades through complex and elaborate ragas without a hitch.
The event, organized by Spic Macay and hosted at the KIIT College here on the Sohna Road, was a little more than a rare Chaurasia performance in the NCR. The proceedings were also interspersed with Chaurasia's insights on the basics of Hindustani music and questions from the floor.
"I'll only talk to students. Because I don't think I am worthy of talking to the teachers. I, myself, am still a student. I am still learning and still go to my guru," said the person who, working with only seven notes of the flute, has left a permanent mark on the world of music.