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| Edited By: |Source: PTI |Updated: Jan 30, 2010, 10:37 PM IST
Iconic musician, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, who today played in Mumbai for the first time with his recently-repaired sarod, said airlines should deliver fragile items including musical instruments at a separate counter.
"Despite the tragedy in which my sarod was broken a fortnight ago, today when I travelled by Kingfisher to Mumbai, the instrument was delivered to me on the same conveyor belt which also carried big suitcases," Ustad Amjad Ali Khan rued.
"For a moment I feared whether it would be a replay of January 14 when the sarod - 'Ganga' as he fondly calls it - was broken. However, thankfully by God's grace, nothing of that sorts happened
today," the musician told PTI.
"I was surprised to see the manner in which it was handled. When I got it from the conveyor belt, it was kept upside down though it had proper markings," he said.
The 64-year-old, however, has appealed to the airlines to
treat musicians with more respect.
"I have sent an SMS to aviation minister Praful Patel today requesting for separate delivery of fragile items like musical instruments at over-sized baggage counter as is the practise in many other countries," he said.
"Airlines must treat musicians and their instruments with more respect," said Khan, who was performing here on the penultimate day of cultural festival 'Indradhanush Mahotsav 2010' organised by the Fine Arts Society.
As January 30 is also the death anniversary of the Mahatma Gandhi, Khan dedicated his performance to the apostle of peace.
"As a mark of respect and tribute to the Mahatma, I have decided to play his two favourites, 'Vaishav Jan tau and 'Ram dhun'," he said.
Incidentally, it was Ustad Amjad Ali Khan who had in the early 90s first played these two soulful bhajans on the sarod.
"At an Unesco convention in Paris on Bapu's 125th birth anniversary, I had played 'Bapukaus'."
"Earlier, rendition of songs on Sarod was considered a taboo.
However, right from the childhood, I liked to play the songs which I heard. I sing through my sarod," he said.
The ustad was also all praise for the cosmopolitan culture of Maharashtra and especially Mumbai.
"I had performed in Mumbai for the first time in 1961. Maharashtra and Mumbai have have a very good cultural audience," he said, adding that he always looks forward to perform in Maharashtra and West Bengal.
