Daily Times

It seems there is nothing like ‘merit’ in any part of the world, not even in India that we naïve Pakistanis revere as the ‘god’ in music. Ustad Imrat Khan, a legend in surbahar and sitar (like his brother UstadVilayat Khan) was awarded the lowest ranked civilian award Padma Shree this year at the age of 82.

A bunch of mediocre — who were still practicing the palta of sa re sa, sa re ga re sa and sa re ga ma ga re sa when the world had acknowledged Imrat Khan as the finest surbahar player — have been awarded Padma Bhushan, one rank above Padma Shree. In such a backdrop, Padma awards can only be viewed as ‘mark’ of disrespect.

I think the purpose of awarding Imrat Khan a Padma Shree was to avenge the insult that Vilayat Khan had inflicted on the Indian government by turning down all the Padma awards. Vilayat Khan was a visionary. He would say that the members of the committee were not competent to assess his musical skills. This means a clique of idiots was serving the committee inthe 20th century that is still there! Vilayat Khan would have slapped each member of the jury if he would have been treated like Imrat Khan. But the latter is a fine gentleman. He appreciated the government’s gesture and refused the award saying: ‘It is too little and came little too late.’

Imrat Khan is not the only artiste who has borne the brunt of such a disgrace. A leading danseuse, Sitara Devi, refused a Padma Bhushan in 2002 declaring it an insult to her art. ‘Little known people who are younger to me have received Padma Vibhushan and I am being awarded Padma Bhushan. I will not accept any award less than Bharat Ratna.’ Not Bharat Ratna, but she at least deserved a Padma Vibhushan. However, the bureaucracy did not budge!

It was only Vilayat Khan who made the Indian government bow before his ego. He refused a Padma Shree in 1964, a Padma Bhushan in 1968 and a Padma Vibhusan in 2002 saying he would not accept any award that other sitar players, his juniors and in his opinion less deserving, had been given before him. ‘If there is any award for sitar in India, I must get it first. There has always been a story of wrong time, wrong person and wrong award in this country.’

Among other honors he turned down was the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. The only title that pleased him was Aftabe Sitar (The Sun of Sitar) which was bestowed upon him by President Fakhruddin under a special ordinance.

In 2011, Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta was awarded Padma Shree which he declined with this sarcasm: ‘Why you have chosen me for it when there are better artistes around!’ Singer S Janaki turned down a Padma Bhushan last year saying it arrived too late to her. ‘I am not interested in any Padma Award. I should have been given the highest civilian award of Bharat Ratna if the government wanted to recognize my work.’

This sad story can make us proud in the sense that there is at least one field in which India is following Pakistan i.e. honoring the worst and humiliating the best creative minds.

I was shocked to learn that Rashid Khan and Vishwamohan Bhatt were given Padma Bhushan this year. This was an insult to music. Rashid’s music is extremely dull and void of any sweetness or soul. It never stirs any emotions. Similarly, Bhatt’s instrument is neither in ‘he’ nor in ‘she’. He fiddled with guitar and converted it into a veena that he calls ‘Mohan Veena’. This is a jugad ‘stop-gap arrangement’ like converting a gasoline car into a diesel vehicle. Most of his compositions are pirated from Ettawagharana (Vilayat Khan’s gharana). The tone of his so-called veena can give you tinnitus if you kept on listening to it for 10 or 15 minutes!

India is still a great place for music. Why it is hell-bent to droop to the level of Pakistan in this area? Giving an honor to a wrong person is as condemnable a crime as is the ‘honor-killing’. The honor of the ‘honors’ can be restored by taking a few steps e.g. award Mohammad Rafi Bharat Ratna posthumously, though he was taller than this award. Similarly, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and Ustad ZakirHussain are a few geniuses whose work is above any award but they must have got a Bharat Ratna by now.

Imrat Khan should be given a special award like AftabeSurbahar or Mahtable Sitar (The Moon of Sitar). Budhayditya Mukherjee is a fine sitar player who has yet to receive a Padma Shree. He deserves a Padma Bhushan. Shahid Parvez is a living legend in sitar. He is 58 and at the peak musically. He was given a Padma Shree a decade ago. He immediately deserves a Padma Vibhushan. Padma Bhushan would be an insult to this genius!

If this can’t be done than there is another idea. Every year, India should make an announcement: ‘This year, we are not awarding Bharat Ratna to ZakirHussain. The winner is Akram Khan or Vijay Ghate!’ This year, we are not awarding Padma Vibhushan to Shahid Parvez but Shujaat Khan!’

Akram, Ghate and Shujaat call themselves an Ustad, a Pandit and a ‘legendary maestro’. In fact, they are just musical midgets who are trying to increase their ‘height’ by awarding themselves the fancy titles. Akram and Ghate’s tehais don’t come on the summ and Shujaat plays sitar without any improvisation.

The writer is a journalist/researcher based in Islamabad. He is also a student of tabla and classical vocal music. Yamankalyan@gmail.com