Music is this guard’s passion

For Samir Chakraborty,of Kolkata police,who is one of those security persons assigned the duty to guard Writers’ Buildings,music is passion,something that gives him a whiff of fresh air and a way out of the hackneyed,mundane duty that he does everyday.

And music also gives him a reason to live with dignity and difference. In a world away from 24-hour alarcity to guard the building from terror or mayhem,looming large in every cities of India.

Chakraborty,Kolkata police gunman,who did not have professional training in music,had that in his blood.

“My sisters were good singers and I could sing from my boyhood. I learnt music for three months from a guru but I had to give it up because of some compulsions. But I had never any problem in playing the harmonium and used to sing Rafi Saab’s songs,though I sang other songs like Rabindrasangeet,and Bangla adhunik songs,” the policeman who stays at Hind Motor with his family,said.

And Chakraborty sings not for money these days but on requests from people who are his friends. “Earlier I used to go to functions where I used to be compensated invariably. But now I have become selective. I go to those functions on requests. And I am ready to perform at those functions which will be held to raise money for some philanthropic purpose,” the policeman said.

Chakraborty has a son and a daughter,both of whom are good students — the son is an executive of a renowned firm and the daugher is a student.

But surprise,surprise.

Both of them have learnt music and have performed at several functions. “I have the fortune to have two kids who have taken interest in music. They have performed at a few functions and I am sue they will go places,” Chakroborty,56,said.

The policeman regrets that people have forgotten the culture of practice of music. “Earlier we used to see in the evening there were that renditions of the raga Bhoopali with the lyrics Namonokoro Chaturo Srigurucharono. That culture has lost to the onslaught of TV,” Chakraborty rued.