Strings Attached

In fact,it was while she watched Shashi Mohan make music on the sitar that Mehta heard her calling. At 10,she began to learn the sitar,first under the guidance of her brother,who she calls her first guru,and then under the late Pt Ravi Shankar. “As a teacher,he was very loving and always concerned about his students. At the same time,he wanted us to be perfect. Until a student got the chords right,she would have to keep repeating and practising,” she recalls. Mehta recently visited Pune to accept an award from Madhurita Sarang School of Kathak and Performing Arts for her contribution to music.

Her early exposure to music and her guru’s demand for perfection prepared Mehta for a successful career in music,spanning more than half-a-century. Today,the 66-year-old is among the best-known female sitarists in the country. “Even now there aren’t many female sitar artistes,but when I started,there were even fewer,” she says. Nonetheless,she was never discouraged from her musical aspirations,neither by her family nor by her guru. In fact,when Shankar compiled an album on his 80th birthday,with recordings of his students playing his compositions,Mehta and Shankar’s daughter,Anoushka,were the only female artistes to be featured in it.

The challenges Mehta faced as a female artiste were of a different kind. “Female artistes have to take care of household affairs and then practise and perform. This took some time getting used to,” she recalls,adding that she would take care of her husband and two daughters. She also remembers tending to her sore fingers when she had first started learning. “Our fingers are softer and so,playing the sitar hurts in the beginning. Over time,the skin hardens and it doesn’t bother you anymore,” she says.

One of her fondest concert memories is of a visit to Adelaide,Australia,to perform at the OZAsia Festival. “It felt very good to be performing there,representing the country. I don’t know how many female sitarists can claim this,” she says.

It’s not just Mehta who has found success in music. Shashi Mohan and his son Krishna Mohan Bhatt are both renowned sitarists while Vishwa Mohan has performed with artistes such as Eric Clapton and Jerry Douglas and is the maker of the Mohan Veena. “Music runs in our blood,” says Mehta.