Brinda Das By Express News Service BENGALURU: When a simple piece of bamboo falls in the hands of a person destined to play it, the results are striking. And Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia is a testimony to this. During his visit to the city for a performance at Forum Shantiniketan Mall on Saturday, the octagenarian said, “I come from a family of wrestlers and for me to begin my journey in the music field was quite far-fetched,” he laughed, adding that the Almighty has different plans for everyone. “God wanted me to be a musician, so here I am,” he said. He shared how difficult it was for him to learn music as he had “no godfather in the field”. He would approach people to teach him music. Most of the times, he would listen to people playing bansuri and imitate them. He had a friend circle who loved music and gradually, he grew fond of their musical activities. "Not only were we doing Maa Saraswati’s Upasana, but we were also learning music. I am still learning. If I am born as a human in my next birth, I will dedicate myself to learning music," he added. Chaurasia belongs to the Senia gharana and after years of sheer dedication and practice, he has developed his own style of playing the flute. His style of playing helped popularise classical music to a wider audience. He has performed and composed music for the All India Radio (AIR) in Odisha. When he was transferred to Mumbai, he started performing at concerts and movies too. It was at one of the studios where santoor maestro Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and he got together to compose music for films under the name Shiv-Hari. "It was god’s wish. There is a big audience for Indian classical music but the film music audience is humongous. We wanted to reach out to them through our music. I used to do a lot of studio work. Some people asked me why I didn’t do film music. I said if you give me work, I will do it. I met Shivji at a studio and started composing together,” he said. When asked what music means to him, he said, “Music is my love and thus, it has become my religion. When I play, it is my best yoga, the best meditation, and the best prayer.”

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