Nandan Mehta gifted music to Ahmedabad

To say that he was intensely passionate about classical music, would be putting it lightly. For late Nandan Mehta, music was his faith, his religion. And that is the first thing that struck me about him in my first interaction with him a year back. In the course of work, I interview several people on a regular basis, but there are very few interviews I recall as distinctly as Nandanbhai's.

His energy, despite his poor health; his zeal and astute articulation was striking. He had not been keeping very well, but was sitting upright in his office in Saptak School near Usmanpura when I reached there. I was reluctant initially, thinking we might be putting him through much pain by talking to him, but the sparkle in his eyes did not dim an iota as he animatedly talked for nearly two hours about the journey of Saptak through the years and his vision for the institute's future.

It was a known fact that the chronic disease that he suffered from weighed him down physically but his spirit was indomitable. At one point during the conversation, my colleague addressed Ustad Allarakha, without the prefix 'Ustad'. He was visibly livid about the slip and categorically refused to go ahead with any conversation till she repeated it properly! His respect for the musicians and music was quite touching!

He was noticeably uncomfortable, but at the mention of tabla, he swiftly rose and went to the tabla room where a young boy was playing the instrument. Once at the tabla, one could see the nirvana writ on the face. He was almost oblivious to the happenings around him. I had often read 'Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional'. This man had clearly chosen not to suffer the pain God had deemed on him in the last years of his glorious life.