For Sushila Patel, music is salvation

Sushila Patel, India’s oldest Akashvani artist, takes a walk down memory lane in her 50-year-old home on Pali Hill

Sushila Rani Patel’s eyes lighten up every time she talks about Girnar, the home she and the late Baburao Patel, editor of Filmindia magazine, built in 1952. “It is a heritage centre, with a library that has some of India’s oldest books and a beautiful hall where the country’s biggest artists have performed,” she says proudly. You might take a while to spot this 50-year-old mansion on Pali Hill, for today it is covered with bamboo scaffoldings and above it stands an under-construction, 12-storey building. Girnar is now Girnar Apartments and the beautiful garden outside lies under a pile of debris. “The builders kept hounding me for property, I gave up my space, but I refused to let them bring Girnar down. I had a terrace above my head earlier. Now there are 12 floors above and columns right outside my window, but I am glad Girnar is still safe,” she adds.

Walking gracefully in quick, tiny steps, Patel takes a tour of her home, reliving moments from her past. Her liveliness and energy could put a young woman to shame. “Many celebrities came to Girnar to meet Baburao for advice. Dilip Kumar sat right here and finalised the cast of Insaaniyat,” she says sitting on a creaky wooden stool. 

Patel points at another chair that was lent to Rekha for the shooting of Yeh Aag Kab Bujhegi. “I can spot it in the movie.” She remembers the days when Dimple Kapadia used to come to learn music from her. “A lanky Sunny Deol would come to pick her up,” she giggles. They were rumoured to be having an affair, in those days.

When you walk through the house, you realise that every room of Girnar has music in it, literally. It is full of musical instruments, rare books on music, and photographs of classical singers that have performed in the Girnar hall. “I have been singing for 75 years. Now. I am the oldest living Akashvani artist,” she adds. A top grade vocalist with All India Radio, Patel is an awardee of the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi and the Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar among others and organises a cultural programme every year single-handedly.

Excited, Patel hurries into the next room. An old black and white photograph of a young actress in a dramatic pose is mounted on the wall. Draupadi (1944), it says, in an untidy scrawl on the right corner. “That is me. I acted in two big productions in the 1940s. Draupadi was successful the other one unfortunately did not do as well,” she adds, not taking her eyes off the photograph.

She might’ve been an actress in her younger days, but Law was something she pursued much later. Clearly age did not mar Patel’s voice or spirit. It was Baburao Patel who noticed her potential and wanted her study law. Patel took up law at the age of 59. “I was 61 when I got my results. I scored a first class in all branches. However, Baburao was extremely ill during those days. I remember running to him with my score sheets and he barely understanding what I was trying to convey. I have never experienced such immense amount of joy and sorrow at the same time,” she adds.

Baburao died shortly after. It took Patel two years to regain her composure. “To begin life at 62, perhaps was a crazy idea but I persisted. During my 37 years of married life with Baburao, I was well protected. So after his death on September 4, 1982, I suddenly felt the wrench of being a lonely woman on my own. I wondered if I could ever get used to his physical absence. That is when music came to my rescue,” she adds.

 “I remember his last wishes,” she says. “He wanted me to step into his shoes, swallow my tears and face his departure without any noisy demonstration of my natural grief.” The Girnar mansion, insists Patel, is her gift to the nation.

It is time for rehearsal. As she walks to her music room for sitar session she looks back and smiles:  “Music has come to my rescue and because of music I live.”

r_radhika@dnaindia.net