The love of music
VIVEK AHUJA
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An administrative officer with a passion for music, Suvir Misra's veena echoes his constant search for new vistas.
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ARDOUR Suvir Misra regrets that there is no channel devoted to classical music.
Truly, where there is a will, there is a way. How else would one attain a sangam of accomplished vocalist, proficient veena exponent, tabla player and able administrator? Put that together in one man, and you have Suvir Misra of the Indian Revenue Service, currently Joint Commissioner, Customs and Central Excise, New Delhi.
Born in Harda, Madhya Pradesh and educated at Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, New Delhi, Suvir hails from a family, many members of which were engaged in teaching and learning Indian classical music. No wonder then, Suvir's fingers were drawn to the tabla at 12. Two years later, he went on to hone his voice and skills at the sitar under the late Ustad Bandhu Khan and the late Radhakrishna Goswami.
While doing his engineering in Bangalore, he came into contact with N.R. Rama Rao, with whom he played as an accompanist on the tabla and tanpura. It was here that he attained jagriti, or an interest in the Gwalior khayal. He did three hours of riyaz daily, despite his academic commitments. This regimen continued even when he joined the Civil Services in 1993. Suvir's view is that there are two kinds of riyaz - mental and physical. While the latter can be done anywhere, any time, the former needs conscious application. So if there is no time for one, he practises the other.
Plenty of stamina
While on the subject of practice, there certainly seems to have been no lack of stamina for the same! He has practised the Khayal gayaki (vocal) for 10 years, the sitar for 15 years, and mastered the Rudra veena, in a mere four years!
However, at this time he began to feel an inner dissatisfaction with khayal, and changed paths yet again. A meeting with Ustad Nasir Amin-ud-din Dagar in Naini Tal, being his accompanist; and numerous discussions led to a surge of interest in Dhrupad and the veena. Under the guidance of Nirmala Dey, and later Ustad Ziya Fariduddin Dagar of Mumbai, Suvir nurtured his love for these two forms of music.
Asked which of the two he prefers, Suvir's answer is that his first love is the veena, because it has a lot more scope for experimentation than the voice. And as for experimentation, he has already made two veenas with his very hands. He has developed a hybrid Carnatic veena called the Misr veena to be adapted to the Hindustani genre of music. Never a man to limit his horizons, he also dreams of adapting popular lyrics to the Khayal gayaki. He has already experimented with the modern Hindi mukta chhanda poetry, introducing contemporary themes within the traditional Dhrupad composition structure.
Despite his zest and love for music, there are areas that disturb this man of many hues. He laments that while there are channels devoted to all kinds of "bombardment of music" for the youth, there is not a single channel devoted to Indian, or for that matter, any kind of classical music. Today's youth, he feels, needs exposure to this beautiful form. And if he has anything to do with this objective, you may be sure he will ensure that the audience returns to the sam of classical music!
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