I first met Pandit Jasraj in 1993 when I got married and moved to Mumbai from Kolkata. Of course, I was familiar with his music, being a regular audience member at the famous Dover Lane Music Conference in Kolkata, four days of all-night performances of Indian classical music and dance now in its seventh decade. Every Indian musician worth his salt performed and my introduction to our rich musical heritage came from here, where I heard Panditji perform many times.
So I was completely taken aback when I thought I saw him in the elevator in my building in Mumbai many moons ago, in his trademark attire, biting into a carrot! That image will always be etched in my mind. My husband, Om Puri, introduced us. I learnt he stayed in the same building. I was tickled. And what followed was an association less with Panditji personally and more with the family and the extended Pandit clan.
Music and masti
Pandit Jasraj belonged to the Mewati gharana, which was started by Ustad Ghagge Nazir Khan saab and from which his father, Pandit Motiram, and uncle, Pandit Jyotiram, continued the tradition. The former passed it on to his four sons, Maniram, Rajaram, Pratap and Jasraj. They are from Hissar in Haryana but moved to Kolkata (and the entire family including daughter Durga speak excellent Bengali). Incidentally, Pandit Motiram was also the state musician of the Nizam of Hyderabad.
Panditji’s wife, Madhura Jasraj, whom I call Chachiji (taking after his nephew and niece, Vinod and Sudarshana), is the daughter of the legendary filmmaker V Shantaram. Chachiji has been his strongest support in more than six long decades, looking after his whole brood of students like her own.
{{/usCountry}}Panditji’s wife, Madhura Jasraj, whom I call Chachiji (taking after his nephew and niece, Vinod and Sudarshana), is the daughter of the legendary filmmaker V Shantaram. Chachiji has been his strongest support in more than six long decades, looking after his whole brood of students like her own.
{{/usCountry}}Vocalist, Ankita Joshi, his guru daughter who stayed with the family for 17 years (and who also tried to teach my son, albeit unsuccessfully), says, “Not once did Guruji or Gurumaa make us feel any different from Durgadi or Sharang Dev. Guruji was mastikhor and fun loving and played pranks as well as cricket with us.”
Yes, many a time I’ve seen Panditji and Durga play badminton in the compound. And he also loved to cook, his favourite being kada prasad, a type of sheera.
Father figure
His brothers had long since passed on so Panditji was the father figure to their children (Jatin, Lalit, Sulakshana and Vijayeta) as well as Pandit Rattan Mohan Sharma (his sister Padmabai’s son).
When he visited his sister in her sasural in Rajasthan, he heard little Rattan sing. He brought him back with him to Mumbai and mentored him. Today, Rattan Mohan and his son, Swar Sharma, continue the tradition of the Mewati gharana along with a whole number of students who will take Panditji’s legacy forward.
The one quality I noticed about Panditji and which Ankita reiterates is, “He moved with the times and appreciated all forms of music, be it films or popular and encouraged it all.”
That can be seen in the music of his son, Sharang Dev and nephews, Jatin-Lalit, all ace Bollywood composers.
This January, I met him for the last time during his 90th birthday celebrations in Juhu. He passed away in the US last week. He had gone there to perform and had been caught in the lockdown. At 90, he was tech-savvy and continued to perform online! At 90 he was a savvy Zoomer! And that says a lot.
Many students stayed with him for years without paying him a paisa. Pandit Jasraj believed in “vidya daan” (the charity of education) and Chachiji supported him in this endeavour.
Stoic in her grief, all she said was, “Meri zindagi ka sahara chala gaya, Nanditaji (I have lost my life support, Nandita).”
Panditji has passed on. But his music is still alive. And his legacy will be carried forward.
Nandita Puri is an author, chairperson of the Om Puri Foundation and wife of the late actor Om Puri
From HT Brunch, August 23, 2020
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