Haafiz Ali Khan Awards 2009

Day before yesterday I attended the Haafiz Ali Khan Awards 2009. Raju got the passes and I was under the impression that, it was an Indian Classical Music concert, until I reached the hall (Nehru Center, Mumbai).

The Haafiz Ali Khan Memorial Trust was formed after the death of Ustad Haafiz Ali Khan. Trust instituted the Haafiz Ali Khan yearly awards in 1985 to felicitate the musicians, who have become legendary figures in their lifetime. This year the awardee was John McLaughlin. An English jazz fusion guitarist and composer, also know as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin.

Harsh and I reached the Nehru Center, where the award ceremony was conducted, after a lot of hassles. At one point, I thought that, we were not going to make it. But fortunately we reached just in time for the John McLaughlin's felicitation.

We learnt about the Haafiz Ali Khan Memorial Trust and the Haafiz Ali Khan Awards. Also, later, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan talked about his father. It was very inspiring to hear about a legend from the other. Then comes the speech of John McLaughlin after his felicitation. He started very humbly by saying 'To be honoured by you in this way is something more than any musician could expect. I am speechless.' When one is standing too tall and says something like this, they are just reminding us that, to stand this tall you need to have your ground grip firm. You have to have the right attitude from the beginning. He talked about musical journey of his life. When he said at the age of eight, he started playing western classical, Raju turned to me and said 'Dude, I am quitting music' :-) . He then went on with his amazing experiences in life and how and why he came to India. About Mahavishnu Orchestra and how Shakti was formed. It was very inspiring to hear him speak.

Felicitation was followed by a performance  by Aman and Ayan, the son's of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. They performed two compositions. First up Raga Malkauns followed by Raga khamaj. It was quite an experience. Specially when these days I have started listening and reading about Indian Classical music. They performed  for an hour or so. Amazing thing about their performance was the coordination that they had. I was hearing them live for the first time and I was very amazed. After the performance John McLaughlin gave them accolades and praised their talent.

So much to hear that evening, music and experiencees of legends. I was really thrilled after the ceremony. While I was getting back home with Raju on his bike, throughout we were talking of the experience and did not realize when we reached home, and that we had traveled almost 25 km. :-)

Bells

bells, originally uploaded by acharekar.

Silence of the bells is the warning of an alarm.

Lohagad Trek, Bike Trip. (Lohagarh)

    
Harsh came back from UK. He wanted to go out for a trek and for biking. So we decided, we will go to Lohagad, on a Sunday (25th Oct 2009). Friends had come down to our place on Saturday, so I decided, I will not sleep that night as we had to leave early in the morning. We started at around 0600hrs from Dadar station. We were going at about 70 km/hr. It was very cold and as usual we were not prepared. But we kept going. (Hit me..!) We reached the Lohagad in 3 hours. We could not go all the way up to Lohagad Village on bike, as the road was not very nice. Then we walked a bit to reach the village. Nice Nimbu Sharbat was enough for us to get refreshed and we went ahead. Climbed the fort, wandered all over the fort, clicked a few snaps and took a small (very peaceful, much needed) nap for an hour or so near the Shiv Temple. While I was sleeping, Harsh was busy catching fish with the help of a small net, that he was carrying. He successfully caught about 6-7 fishes. We then left the fort. Came down to the village. Harsh got the bike up to the village with lot of difficulty, while I was waiting at one of the tea stalls. :) Then we immediately left. On our way back we were pretty tired, so did not want to hurry. So coming back took us approx 4 hours. And it was bad. Thanks to Harsh, he had put a hard plastic cover on his bike seat. It was really hard. Imagine sitting on that hard plastic cover for four hours. :(