Hello everybody, with hopes for a good monsoon we begin with the eighth video on ‘Spinning into a Career’
With great devotion, N.L.Parande learned music under adverse circumstances. After some years, music concerts helped Ruchi’s guru to earn money. He married Neena, his first wife. Veena adjusted with whatever was available at home. She did not make a luxurious demand. She died after giving birth to a female baby. After her death, the guru had to marry because he wanted his daughter to be looked after. He was busy with music concerts. The second wife absconded from his house with whatever valuables she could. He gave up the thought of marriage. Besides concerts, he coached students in music. One of his students, a married woman, was able to sing well. She was fair and beautiful. Parande was attracted to her and succeeded in making her his wife. She had four children from her first husband. Strangely, the music master did not allow her to get her children by the first husband. The woman agreed to marry him and bore four more children. The children by her first husband were seen on the streets of Dhawangiri selling vegetables. The orphaned children bore the brunt of grueling poverty.
The guru is fair, short and lanky and has deep set brown eyes. He wears pajama jibba when he conducts classes. He performs his daily dev puja in the afternoon. When he grows old, he undertakes a few tuitions at home. The eldest daughter gives music lessons to meet expenses. She wants to be with the world. She drapes pretty sarees, beautifies herself and is friendly with famous musicians such as Pandit Janakiram, Azim Khan and Pandit Raviraj. Musical programs are held in Mr. Parande’s house. Ruchi’s dad does not permit her to attend such programs despite the master’s repeated requests. N.L. Parande does not like his daughter approaching other musicians for help. He wants her to develop her singing which will be applauded by people. Kirti is snobbish and quick money lures her. Her mother encourages her. N.L. Parande owns a piece of land in Badampada, Bhimpoli, donated by a local fisherman or koli. The koli has been impressed by his rendition of a classical song. Prerna, his third wife, wants him to become commercial and earn money for the family. He is not ready to modulate his music for the audience. He does not like to pamper or pester others to climb the ladder of success.
Kirti has a face that resembles a cat. She is fair, short and delicate and does not have a shapely figure. Her brown eyes are revealing. Kirti works hard to customize her voice for singing, which is at first windy. She conveys to people that she knows a lot about music. Her snobbish attitude helps her to win people’s attention. Being a flirt, she loves to be free from the bondage of marriage. She thinks marriage will end her career as a singer. She relates her love exploits to Ruchi. Ruchi feels strange about her errant attitude towards marriage and love. Ruchi is not interested in men and love whereas Kirti is too much in it. Kirti asks Ruchi, “Don’t you feel something when you see such handsome men?” Ruchi replies, ” So what if they are handsome? I don’t feel anything.”
Once Kirti takes Ruchi to Pandit Janakiram’s house which is in Sagar West. Pandit Janakiram is a Kashmiri pandit who comes to try his fortune in Sharanai. His daughters are hefty. He has two daughters, Sulabha and Sunayana. Sulabha sings for a few Hindi films. As a playback singer, she has a sonorous voice and sings melodiously. Kirti talks to them like age old friends. Kirti understands that Ruchi is facing a bad situation. She visits Ruchi’s house and asks her to hurry up with the meal so that they can leave early for the music class. Kirti is sitting in the living room. She enters the kitchen and finds that Ruchi has barely anything to eat. She takes Ruchi to her house and coaxes her to eat.
Thank you for listening. We shall continue the story in the next video. Till then, goodbye.
Video can be viewed on You tube by typing ‘Spinning into a Career’ by Usha Raman.
