PUNE: A loving father, a simple, generous human and an exceptional and unique vocalist is how Shubhada Mulgund describes her father Pandit Bhimsen Joshi.
“Baba was very fond of American cars. We had a Buick when I was four years old and we used to live near the Gopal Gayan Samaj in Pune then. Baba used to take me for a drive. He also rode a bicycle then, and I used to ride double seat with him when mother would send us on errands to the bank or the vegetable market. At the car mechanic, we would sit for hours when Baba discussed the nitty-gritties of maintenance. But I never got bored,” she recalled.
His love for driving was legendary.
“Be it family holidays or his concerts in Mumbai, Hubbali, Dharwad, Gulbarga or Kolkata, we travelled by car. I remember travelling to Kashmir and to Kanyakumari from Pune with Baba at the wheel. He knew the internal village roads like the back of his hand,” she said.
Mulgund spent many years with her father travelling with him for concerts, recordings and accompanying him on tanpura. “Baba preferred reaching the location just hours before the concert. When I was very young, I would fall asleep and wake up when he was about to sing raag Bhairavi. There was a different aura about him after a concert,” she said.
Shubhada has attended hundreds of his concerts, rehearsals at home and riyaz with her mother, vocalist Vatsalabai.
“Baba never sat me down to teach music. Whatever I have imbibed was by listening to him and Aai. He was precise, pure and perfect, even when he sang for the last time at Sawai Gandharva Mahotsav in 2007 despite being ill. He never diluted these qualities. That is why he never failed to reach his audience and the people loved him so much,” she said, adding “Baba was simple. All he needed was the two tanpuras, tabla and a harmonium.”
“Be it Narsobachi wadi or a small village in Holland in the dead of winter, Baba’s concerts were all houseful,” she added.
Panditji always respected all artistes irrespective of their stature.
“He had the utmost respect for his guru Sawai Gandharva (Rambhau Kundgolkar) and exceptional dedication towards his craft,” Mulgund said.
“When I got married, I remember him standing near me with tears in his eyes as the mangalashtak was being recited. It was the only time I saw him like that,” she said.
