A musical tribute on Guru Poornima....

A musical tribute on Guru Poornima....

It ia almost a month since Guru Poornima was celebrated. For Indians, Guru is superior to God for it is the Guru who leads us to God through our devotion. We all know the famous doha by Saint Kabir , "Guru Govind dou khade, kake lagoon paay; balihari Guru aapne, Govind diyo batay"
The  guru–shishya parampara is therefore a very important part of Indian culture and tradition. In the field of music. This attains a very special status with gharanas and gurus becoming part of a great lineage.
My affiliation to music is inborn. For some reason I never learnt singing though my parents had encoraged me to do so. Once in the grind of education and career I did try on and off but it never went beyond attending single sessions.
My son Vishnu also has this inborn love for music. He is blessed with a musical ear and is a part of the school music programmes. Often we discuss music and his music training by his teacher ,Vedashree Oke. During a weekend she was imparting training online to their team for a performance and her mellifluous voice kept floating in our house.
Vishnu mentioned that she also trained individuals in music. Soon we were all caught up at home in Covid almost stressed and frustrated.
I couldn't think of a better time to start learning music. I contacted her with hesitation wondering whether she would accept a novice like me. Her encouragement was very uplifting so much so that I started learning light music with her. It has been over three months now and my joys of learning and listening to her keep growing.
I learnt that Vedashee is the gifted daughter of the renowned singer Asha Khadilkar known for her world famous khayals, bhajans, bhav geet and natya sangeet. No wonder she is driven by a great passion for music and has set up the Asha Khadilkar Academy. Several singers are being trained by her and she felt that Guru Poornima was an apt occasion to show case their talent. It took a little time to get organised so we had a delayed celebration last week.
The online celebration was perhaps a unique event in all our lives with students from Thane, Mumbai and even America participating in it.
The tone was set by Dhruv dedicating the song , Guru parmatma pareshu to our Guru. I sought light from God and his blessings as I sang Jyoti Kalash Chalke. Mugdha took it forward with God guiding us from the front or behind with her beautiful rendition of Mage ubha mangesh. Sharanya once again devoted a melodious Bengali song, Ae amar guru dokhina to our Guru. All the way from USA Isha invoked Lord Rama through the famous Meera Bhajan, Payoji maine Ramratan Dhan Paayo.
The raag and taal in Carnatic music maybe different from Hindustani classical music but the emotions and bhava are the same was shown by Aishwarya who sang a beautiful Kriti, Manavyalakinchara composed by the revered Saint Thyagaraja, . 

Dressed like a fairy little Dharmishtha stole our hearts with the stars by rendering the hummable film song - Ye tara woh tara. Monsoons and the rains are so magical Saee invoked the nostalgia with a Marathi rain song Dhag datuni yetat. Flowers cannot be far off when it rains and Anoushka made them smile with the famous Mili song, Maine kaha phoolon se.
Life has its own ups and downs and we do feel lost when we are bereft of joy. Raina Ghosh reminded us of the other side of life with her soulful rendition of Ja re ud ja re panchi. Shreya led on to unfolding of mysteries with a jazzy song, Kaisi paheli. Ishwari rounded it up with the meaningful song, Tu buddhi de from the film on Baba Amte. The evening was interspersed with experience sharing and memories.  
There were surprises in store too by way of an impromptu gazal by Vedashree Madam's brother Omkar Khadilkar whose voice also reflected his lineage.
The grand finale of course was the natya sangeet performance by our Guru Vedashree Oke. We were mesmerized by her natya sangeet performance,  Muralidhar Shyam He Nandlala. The words Tuch guru ekach trata , sangeeta tu udgaata seemed so apt.
As the evening ended we kept wanting for more of music and blessings and felt fortunate to be learning from a multi-talented singer who is also inculcating the joy of music in students of Smt. Sulochanadevi Singhania School, Thane.
From mother to daughter, from Guru to shisya the zeal, passion for music overflows with its blessings and one can only bow in reverance to this great tradition.  Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwarah. Guru Saakshaat, Para brahma, Tasmai Shri Guruveh Namaha.