Living in the shadow of Bhimsen Joshi’s brilliance

A painful episode in the life of the Kirana Gharana maestro, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, relates to the family from his first wife, Sunanda Katti.

The Bharat Ratna’s four children from his first wife have always lived in the dark shadow of all the glamour and fame that surrounded the great man.

In an intense interview with DNA a day after their father’s death on Tuesday, Joshi’s four children from Sunanda, who reside in Pune — Raghavendra (65), Usha (63), Manisha (59) and Anand (48) — shared the poignant story of their life.

They lived separately with their mother Sunanda, after Joshi eloped and married his first disciple, Vatsala Mudholkar in 1951, from whom he had three children — Jayant, Shubhada and Shrinivas.

Pt Joshi had married his maternal uncle, Achyut Katti’s daughter Sunanda at his ancestral home in Gadag in 1944. They lived in Badami, Dharwad and Gadag town in the early years and their first three children — Raghavendra, Usha and Manisha — were born between 1944-51.

However, according to Joshi’s daughter, Usha, her father fell in love with Vatsala, who came to study music from the maestro in Badami.

“My younger sister was just three months old, when my father eloped with Vatsalatai to Nagpur, where he married her on May 20, 1951. Imagine the plight of my mother, who was left behind at her maternal home in Badami with three young children,’’ Usha said.

According to Usha, Sunanda was made of sterner stuff and followed her estranged husband first to Nagpur and later to Pune, where he planned to settle down.

“In fact, my father even attempted to stay with both his wives under one roof in a bungalow near Kamla Nehru Park, off Prabhat Road, in 1952. However, the friction between the two wives made it impossible for a joint family to function,’’ Usha said.

According to Usha, her father then moved his first family to Limayewadi near the Bharat Natya Mandir in the Sadashiv Peth area of Pune in 1953.

“It was a small two-room tenement in a chawl-like settlement, but my mother managed to bring us up on the modest monies that was given by my father,’’ she said.

Sunanda’s second daughter Manisha recalled that it was a tough life. “The monies coming from my father every month was limited and my mother learnt to economise and use her money carefully. We wore hand-me-downs to school and even patched up our school uniforms.’’

In 1959, the family was moved to Kokilwada in Navi Peth by Pt Joshi and his youngest son, Anand (48) was born in 1962 in this house, 11 years after Joshi had eloped and married second wife, Vatsala Mudholkar.

Recalling the tough days, oldest son Raghavendra recalled how he felt humiliated at having to go every month to Joshi’s second wife, Vatsalatai, asking for their monthly dole.

“As I was the oldest of the children, the onus was on me to go and fetch it. It was a humiliating experience, because I was often made to feel unwanted in my father’s new home,’’ Raghavendra said.

Manisha, Joshi’s second daughter, remembers their struggle at home. “There were times when we did not get monies in a particular month. My mother therefore started a micro-enterprise at home making home-made oil and masalas, which she sold to make both ends meet. She also held classes for slow learners,’’ Manisha said.

Manisha said Sunanda, a Kannada-speaking lady, also completed her SSC in Marathi along with her older son, Raghvendra, just to become financially independent.

Pain and bitterness still prevails in the minds of the siblings. Usha articulated it when she said, “We are disappointed with the people of Pune for not according us the respect that we deserved. We were always treated as pariahs wherever we went.’’

Although Pt Joshi lived separately from his first wife, it never stopped him from attending every significant event, like thread
ceremonies, births, engagements and marriages involving the four children from Sunanda.