I’m sorry for being absent for such a long time. In fact, this post should have come on Sunday itself but I was too busy to write it. Today, I got the chance to pen down (type down, in this case) how was my meeting with Indian classical vocalist Shubha Mudgal.
She has been to Bhopal umpteenth time but I never got the chance to interview her. Earlier I used to go to her concerts as an audience, you can say. This time I was there to cover her concert and also to interview her. I waited for her to come out of the green room. She was doing riyaaz . I was excited and li’l nervous too. Excited because I like her songs and also because I’ll be meeting the singer of "Piya Tora Kaisa Abhiman"! I listen to this song much often. Nervous because I’ll be interviewing her. Also, because I don’t know much about classical music or music at large, I wasn’t pretty sure of what to ask her.
Anyway, she called me inside her green room. She made me comfortable with her beautiful smile. And my first question was how do you find Bhopal? (and later I regretted to start with such a stoopid question). She smiled and said, “I’ve been to Bhopal many times. I started coming to Bhopal when you were not even born. I’ve been to Bhopal more than hundred times now.”
She very patiently answered my questions. We had some serious discussion on globalization of Indian music. I loved the way she answered my questions. She was intelligent, down-to-earth, and to-the-point in answering them. I felt like she is saying exactly what I want to hear.
While we talked, I noticed how elegantly she was dressed. And the combination of her green sari with her green tanpura made me mad. The combination may be a matter of coincidence but it was one of her bests. She has a divine shine on her face. (Its no exaggeration.) And believe me she was not wearing any make-up. May be the shine was because of her humble personality. Don’t know but she was very attractive.
The only thing that disappointed me was my cellphone. I usually record my interviews on cellphone. This makes my work li’l easier. But this time, while I kept talking to her thinking the recorder is on, I got the shock when I realized not a single word was recorded. Yes, not a single thing was recorded from that twenty minute interview. I tried to recall what we had talked and jotted them on my notepad.
Disappointed badly, I went back to the hall where she was supposed to perform. I went to some other world with her thumri and khyal . I have attended her concerts many times. I want to hear her singing live the songs from “Raincoat”.
(My bucketlist, you can say :) )
