Voice of India Debojit Saha pays tribute to his guru ...By the time you read this, Teachers’ Day will have come and gone. And I, most probably, will still be “locked up” in the Bigg Boss house. But I have written this for a special occasion — as a tribute to my guruji on the occasion of Teachers’ Day.
Whenever I think of guruji, a wise face pops up in my mind and I see God in him. No, this is no exaggeration. That is exactly the kind of influence my guru, Pundit Askaran Sharamji, has on me.
I met guruji during a very turbulent phase of my life.
It was around October-November of 2002. I had just moved to Mumbai after giving up a government job to pursue a career in music. Struggling to find a foothold in Mumbai’s music industry, I realised it would be of immense help if I trained with a teacher.
In Mumbai, there were a lot of teachers, but I was not sure whom to approach. A friend suggested guruji, but he was such a big name that I never thought he would accept me as a student.
After a lot of persuasion, I decided to give it a shot.
So one day, with pounding heart, I went to meet guruji.
He heard me out and after a moment of thought, asked me to sing a song. I chose a classical Bengali song, ghum ashe na (sleep eludes me), by Pandit Ajay Chakraborty, and sang my heart out.
Guruji liked the song and said I did not require any further training — just a bit of polishing would do. And he agreed to teach me.
A greater surprise, however, was in store.
On hearing that I came to Mumbai after quitting my job, he refused to take any remuneration. He insisted I pay only after making a mark in the music industry.
That is guruji, an exception in this cut-throat professional world of Mumbai. Whenever I think of him, I can only think of the shloka, “Guru Brahma; Guru Vishnu; Guru Deva Maheshwara”.
source: telegraph india
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