On a whistle

He says he was very much appreciated when he first came to an association meeting and whistled a song. “I felt so proud of my talent… Now,it is like an addiction.”

Sharad Karnad,a civil engineer and a senior official at an MNC,found the group by accident. “I was just a bathroom whistler since childhood… Once out of curiousity,I was searching for a technique on whistling on the Internet when I chanced upon the group’s website… This activity has added spice to our otherwise mundane life.”

He feels,like his groupmates,their hobby should be considered a performing art rather than a “tapori” activity.

Whistling had helped 51-year-old pathologist Dr Shashank Inamdar when he had to spend nights examining endless slides of blood. He is one of the most experienced and talented whistlers of the group. He says one might think all this comes easy but this also needs ‘riyaz’. A self-proclaimed teacher of the group,Imamdar says,“As I have knowledge of classical music,many a time I explain to others when to raise the pitch or lower it. To whistle continously,one needs to understand when to hold breath and when to let go; also before performances we have to practise before hand when to inhale and exhale.”

The members can start off whistling anywhere. “I usually start whistling to songs on my commute to Virar,” says Uday Shirur,lovingly called “Uday Seeti” by friends. “The co-commuters were surprised earlier,but now I get requests for specific songs.”

These whistlers — many of whom have performed at city functions and even reality shows on television — want to spread the art among youngsters besides nursing a desire to raise the status of whistling. Some of them had recently participated in the International Whistling Convention in China.

Women have also joined the group. Engineering student Bhagyashree Pujar,20,had found out about the association through an article. It was the no-nonsense approach to whistling that drew her to the group. “These people are pursuing it as a true art form and not something that is mistaken for what roadside Romeos do… The best part about the group is that one can learn from each other… We do not restrict ourselves to just whistling tunes of songs,but innovate and stylise our songs.”

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