Celebrating Hindustani Music

A rare photograph of Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan,in a completely different get-up. A Youtube video on raga Vibhas. A stamp of legendary theatre artiste Balgandharva. A cover of the book that tracks the history of Indian classical dance. A photo of legendary vocalist Pandit Nivruttibua Sarnaik of Jaipur-Atrauli gharana. These are just some of the pieces of information on Geet Gandhar,a Facebook page dedicated to Indian classical music fans. Started by Puneites Pratik R Kashallu,Sujay Khandge and Kuldeep Thopate,the page boasts of attracting more than 5,500 likes within six months of its launch in January this year.

Driven by their love for Indian classical music,the trio came up with the idea of launching the page — http://www.facebook.com/GeetGandhar — at the end of 2012. However,from the very beginning ,they didn’t want it to be one of the random Facebook pages,which are launched in an impulse,get a few hits initially and then are forgotten due to lack of updates. “We spent initial few months in searching important and attention-grabbing text that would interest the visitors. We were amazed by the response we got after just a few months of its launch,” says 25-year-old Thopate. Interestingly,within a month of its launch,Indian classical music enthusiasts from various parts of the globe,started contacting them to share content for the page. For instance,the photo of Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan was sent to them by Rajesh Ali Khan,fifth grandson of Baba Allauddin Khan Sahib and son of Swar Samrat Ali Akbar Khan. Similarly,Pandit Nivruttibua Sarnaik’s photograph was shared by his Singapore-based grandson Raju Sarnaik.

While Thopate is an engineer working in Cummins India Limited,Khandge is a digital marketing expert. Kashallu is self-employed,working in the field of digital marketing. While the trio make calls to each other every evening to discuss the content the page,they dedicate good four hours on Sundays for the meetings,wherein they discuss ideas about adding informative material to their page. Despite their hectic work schedule,they make sure that every day,there are atleast four interesting posts put up on the page. This may include details about some upcoming Indian classical music performance,information about some lesser-known artiste or music instrument,details about some extraordinary audio/video music collection available in the market,and more. If it is the birth or the death anniversary of any Late artiste,then they share information about the artiste’s musical journey. 25-year-old Kashallu not only boasts of a huge collection of Hindustani classical music but also gramophones,LPs and radio gramophones. “Whenever there is an event in the city which has Indian classical music performers,he makes it a point to attend it,” he says.

“Facebook seemed the obvious medium to bring forth this form of music to people of our generation,” says Thopade,adding that by Diwali,they will launch a website which will celebrate Indian classical music.