Notes on discipline

I can’t think of anyone to emulate,except my guru Pandit Ravi Shankar. There are so many qualities of his character that inspire me,but it is the discipline of being punctual that has greatly influenced my music. In my earlier days,I didn’t give punctuality much thought. But to my guru,and our type of music,timeliness is very important. In his music and in his life,Pt Shankar showed me how to value time. Even today,27 years since I first studied under him,when I have doubts,I do not hesitate to seek his guidance.

We follow the Maihar gharana of music,in which there is a technique in the veena called the dhrupad style. In its aalap portion,we use a lot of ghamak,meend and tihais — which is the technique of repeating notes thrice,which then arrive on the first beat of the 16-beat cycle. These beats are like permutations and combinations — it is the maths in the music. One of the best qualities of Ravi Shankar is his ability to render a raga in its purest form. Purity in the ragas is of utmost importance in our music. These ragas are over 5,000 years old and it takes years of practice to retain their purity. There can be no deviation; music has to be made within the limits of the raga.

Ravi Shankar follows the styles,tantrakari ang and gayaki ang,especially in aalap. Three of the ragas that he has invented,Rasia,Tilak Shyam and Jogeshwari,are my favourites and I play them often at concerts. Their nicely composed ras and bhav appeal to me very much.

—As told to Deepika Nath