Riding poll wave with a 'tutari'

Five days of dogged persistence later, we finally meet him at his rented one-BHK at Nerul. Haridas Gurav, 31, laughs when we tell him he is tougher to contact than a Bollywood star. “First it was the ZP elections, and now the civic elections in Thane, Pune and Mumbai. This is the busiest season for me,” he says. Since the end of January, Gurav has been on a whirlwind tour covering a series of political rallies in 19 districts across Maharashtra. He’s not a star campaigner for any political party, nor is he an office-bearer with the Election Commission. Yet, no rally or padyatra is complete without Gurav or, to be more accurate, his tutari — a traditional Maharashtrian brass trumpet. Like the conch or the bugle played in parts of India to herald an auspicious beginning, in Maharashtra, the tutari announces the arrival of a VIP on stage.
“It began as a ceremonial salute in the time of the Adilshahi of Bijapur, and reached its peak after Shivaji established the Maratha Empire,” says Gurav. “Once the Europeans took over, artisans took refuge in temples where the tutari began to be used at religious festivals.”

Gurav’s family have been traditional tutari artistes for generations at the local temple in Yetgaon village, 50 km from Sangli. He picked up the art from his uncles who raised him after his father’s demise. When he first came to Mumbai in 1996, he did odd jobs in places like railway canteens. Then, on a whim, he brought his tutari from Yetgaon and requested the priests at Tukaram Mandir in Govandi to let him play there. Very soon, no ritual or ceremony began without him. The attention this brought changed his life.
In 1998, Shiv Sena corporator Tukaram Khate invited him to be part of the Dussehra rally. When Sena supremo Bal Thackeray took the stage, everyone was surprised to see Gurav in traditional gear sitting astride the barricades near the media platform, all set to play the tutari. “I knew this was my moment. I put my whole life into my breath and blew a deafening call. My eyes were shut and I couldn’t see Balasaheb gesturing me to stop. Even before he invoked the Goddess Bhavani and Shivaji Maharaj in his unique style at the beginning of his address, he said, ‘Bhaltyach damacha gadi aahe (What stamina this young man has)!’ and the crowd went wild, cheering me.”

He became a regular at Sena do’s, and before long his services were being sought by parties across the spectrum. “Whether it is Sonia Gandhi, Mayawati or Narendra Modi, I have played the tutari at all their rallies,” Gurav says proudly. “I will be there when Balasaheb speaks this time too.”

With the growing demand for his tutari, his remuneration too has increased from a humble Rs101 a few years back to around Rs2,501 now. But what happens when it is not poll season? “You know, in our country there are always inaugurations, releases, and ceremonies,” says Gurav.

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Copycat tutaris
Gurav’s success has prompted a few players of the shehnai to try and undercut his business. They cut the tutari and fix it on a shehnai mouthpiece so it becomes easy to play. “The sound output is compromised and this impacts the regality of the instrument,” says Gurav. “In the long run, one only hopes that people are able to differentiate between the real thing and the fake.”
 
Quote: “I knew this was my moment. I put my whole life into my breath and blew a deafening call. My eyes were shut and I couldn’t see Balasaheb gesturing at me to stop. Even before he invoked the Goddess Bhavani and Shivaji Maharaj in his unique style at the beginning of his address, he said, ‘Bhaltyach damacha gadi aahe (What stamina this young man has)!’ and the crowd went wild cheering me.”
-    Haridas Gurav, tutari player