Sitar Initially…

In all subjects from childhood, we were told that all our teachers are essentially our guides to enhance our knowledge, skills etc. This in turn helped us relate better to our teachers as elder brothers and sisters – “Da, Di, Bhai, Ben” as opposed to any distance creating mechanism ”Sir, Madam etc”. This was ideally conceived to bridge the gap between teachers and students in a constructive manner so that learning remains a joyful experience for the children. As we reached adulthood, we had the unique privilege to also participate and compete alongside some of our teachers in the various disciplines of our Physical Education! For example, attending a teacher’s class in the morning or afternoon, we might have been playing as teammates or opposite each other in the evening!

As one can gather from the general sense of our life as we received an Integral Education, that, spontaneously, we never knew the word Guru as worship especially towards any human form! Sri Aurobindo and The Mother to whom we referred to as the Divine is the only instance to whom we were asked to pray to everyday before beginning any activity, calling for Their Help. This is the simplicity that I have grown up with, which makes it hard for me to relate to a completely superficial outlook in worshipping mundane human consciousness and putting that on a pedestal. For example my mother publicly asking me REPEATEDLY to fall at Pt. Ajoy Chakraborty’s feet 😂😂😂

So it is only after coming to Mumbai in 2007, that I had to give it a serious thought as to whom do I mention as my Guru as that was the ONLY way in which the cultural world at large identified everything as a mere process. At first I simply mentioned that I began learning the Sitar under Pt. Basab Sen. NOBODY was mentioned as my Guru as I was and I will always remain conscious that the Divine is truly my Guru and that all Progress in Knowledge is a but the manifestation of the Divine’s expression. Also, practically, if you consider my learning a little bit of Soprano Recorder, Tabla, Bansuri all before Sitar, it would be rather puzzling to recognise ONE MASTER as my Guru 🙂

Therefore by taking advantage of my honesty in this matter, in a rather unfortunate act in humanity, Pt. Kartick Kumar – my father’s and grandmother’s Guru on Sitar from 1968 and also as somebody closely associated to our family for decades, began propagating that “Soham doesn’t have any Guru. He has learnt upto this level only thanks to his ears that are sharp in listening! Nowadays he comes to me for learning” Due to this concocted image, most in Mumbai who were unaware of my background from Puducherry, actually believed Pt. Kartick Kumar to be my Guru. Naturally, as a matter of self-respect towards my learning and what I knew in my heart as the right ethic, I completely stopped going to learn from Pt. Kartick Kumar in Mumbai, in 2007 itself, within 8 months. I was ready to resign myself to a lifetime of self-study if this is how treacherous it got from within my own surroundings. Then, I happened to visit Kolkata after some 6-7 months to get my new Sitar repaired as per my understanding with its maker who had asked me to do so. As I finished with its repair and was free for some days before leaving Kolkata, by some wonderful fate I happened to meet Pt. Shyamal Chattopadhyay who accepted me as his student under a far more positive attitude. Even to this, Pt. Kartick Kumar reacted, falsely stating that I had left his classes in the interest of learning from Pt. Shyamal Chattopadhyay! The world should know the feeling of how a child jumps out of fire to save himself. Neither me, nor my mother, had any clue about Pt. Shyamal Chattopadhyay when I had stopped learning from Pt. Kartick Kumar. It was only through a well-wisher so many months later, as he was concerned about the continuation of my learning process. And I was visiting Kolkata only to repair/collect my new Sitar back then as I had no other agenda.

My father, I believe, is not supposed to back this sort of a farce on part of his own Guru Pt. Kartick Kumar, especially as a senior lawyer practising in the Mumbai High Court, and is supposed to hear both sides of the story as is customary to being a lawyer. However, as this has dragged on for over 10 years in the eyes of the public, sadly, and in the age of ‘specialisation’ prior to lockdown, I’m just left with accepting that my father, although a lawyer, DOES NOT SPECIALISE in cases pertaining to justice towards Humanitarian Causes, even if they might involve out-of-court settlements and even if it is about accepting mere differences in our human outlook and moving on past these differences in a manner that is progressive, with his own son. By and large, I find it an unfair treatment meted out to me professionally with respect to my ability as a performer, let alone personally as someone who moved to Mumbai, AFTER GROWING UP for 18 years in Puducherry, purely on the suggestion of my father, as he found it fit for me to pursue the Sitar in this manner, even when I’ve been fighting back with his Guru’s attempts at FALSIFYING MY PUBLIC INFORMATION.

Please reflect on the fact that All India Radio, in their National Broadcast of my performance has announced “Basab Sen under whom Soham Munim first learnt the Sitar”, therefore modifying this on part of some organisers in Mumbai or elsewhere might be largely driven with the questionable intent to project, that other than his own son Niladri Kumar, and his nephew Indrajit Banerjee, Pt. Kartick Kumar has atleast one more disciple who plays professionally, if not for other reasons such as to remain in control as the last referential word on the potential opportunities that I might receive based on my professional ability, ONLY because the system still sadly works on the basis of “Guru-Shishya Parampara”.

I’m not entirely wrong in gauging how a Guru recognised by the organisers still recommends their students or some other students whom they consider worthy of performance. I’m not ambitious to simply change the system here, but I OPENLY QUESTION on the TRANSPARENCY of this system. If these are are indeed reputed Gurus on advisory boards who help the committees to decide the artist line-up, then why is there no proper communication between the committee and the artist on the status of their application? I don’t fear rejection, especially knowing about the lack of capacity in their own performances of those established musicians(!) who advise / influence committees formed for cultural events.

For example, Pt. Kartick Kumar’s hands on his Sitar that sound awfully out of practice from decades now, and yet, he continues to enjoy the privilege of remaining as a Top-Grade in All India Radio, paradoxically when there are clear rules in A. I. R. that allow the Station Director and / or any higher authority to exercise their authority to either lower the grade or remove the artist from their grade which isn’t permanent, in case they find a decline in their form due to age or other reasons. In my opinion, for whatever its worth, I believe that such once upon a time greats should themselves offer to step down if they are honest about their playing as they would realise that there are others who are more competent for that Top Grade. Years ago, in the Nehru Centre greenroom, as he was warming up, as usual fumbling at a relatively slow tempo, he asked all his senior students gathered there (including my father) on whether there was enough clarity in his strokes. To my shock everyone there said, “Yes Guruji!” 😮😮 Obviously I wasn’t asked, as I take it my good fortune not to be engaged with such a farce…

That also reminds me, that earlier when I would learn from him, he’d ask me, “Soham, you atleast tell me honestly, on whether or not my strokes are clear. Umesh, Ashiq, your daddy & others are just saying positively to please me. But you’re not so much influenced by the ways of the world. So what do you feel?”

So Pt. Kartick Kumar actually wants to hit the 2nd string, WITHOUT PRACTISING the stroke refinement, then ask for an ‘honest’ opinion, which he’s not satisfied by the response of his own chelas, so he turns towards me – a student whose mere existence rattles him to his bones 😂😂😂

Now the world may get a hint to the levels of drama that I’ve tolerated before deciding to completely break away from such a waste of time. Anyway his great knowledge as imparted to me, not very enthusiastically from his side I must say; I’ve practised on my own and acknowledge its benefits in my playing as the world can see 🙏 And this was my second escape from the same source! The first time being the 2nd month of my learning in Feb 2002 😔 He actually came down to Puducherry and tried to mess up with the setting of my right-hand by asking me to tighten the forearm, strike Da from below and Ra from on top (turning my pluck & strum into into unequal angles of strike) completely farcical from the basics of Sitar technique. I had a word with his senior student some years later privately during our practice together, and he said point-blank that this unequal stroke technique is wrong. Ofcourse I did not expect him to criticise his own Guru, and moreover my doubts were cleared that Pt. Kartick Kumar does not teach the basics to everyone in a standard approach! Preposterous!!

Anyway, as I was under Basab Sen’s care in Sitar at the Ashram, he made sure that I systematically got out of this wrong habit over six months (in 2002) as he patiently corrected my stroking at every step of the way. So it was not that I had a number of years into learning quietly with the right approach before facing ‘politics’ at large! I already got an inkling about this right in the 2nd month as I began, even as Kartick Kumar dared to tamper with a student of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education. Today is he talking of “service towards music”, honesty, sincerity, devotion in his P. K. K. F.?? SERIOUSLY???

So the world can appreciate that I went to Kartick Kumar in 2007 with a very open mind and my willingness to learn. But why is it that I have always sensed an overwhelming fear on the faces of 99% of the established classical musicians who shun away from making any eye-contact with me, even when I was amicably introduced to them in childhood as they had and still may have a good rapport with both my parents. Earlier my parents in their own capacities, have only helped so many musicians purely as service towards music, without any expectations in return. They had no idea that I would begin playing the Sitar as late as 17 and pursue it as a profession!

So I believe that the SHAME QUOTIENT has hit ROCK BOTTOM, among most Indian Classical Musicians known to my parents, as I find it unspeakably compromising towards my own professional ability to even associate with such evil elements, completely astray from the Divine. Today, given their jealous nature, they can’t even tolerate in my being officially recognised as an A-Grade cultural musician, across radio & television nationally, other than my being a performer par excellence!