By Dr. K. Javeed Nayeem, MD
My recent article about the play ‘Barff’ which I attended at Chowdaiah Memorial Hall in Bengaluru and my own experience while attending a medical conference, which was similar to that of the main character in the play, has drawn many responses from readers. While all of them have written or called to say that they were very moved by the human interest element both in the fictional story and in my own real-life experience too, a good many of them have lamented that such popular plays are never staged here in Mysuru, a so-called heritage city. While events like these are held regularly all through the year in Bengaluru, our city always seems to get the go by from their organisers. Like my readers, I also wonder why it is so. In fact, our city despite having once been the seat of our former Maharajas with their generous patronage of all arts and artistes has now almost lost all its cultural connections. Actually, with Mysuru being a city of shorter distances, lesser traffic jams and, therefore, greater after-work free time for its citizens to indulge in leisure activities like concerts and plays, our city should have been the hub of many cultural activities even now. But sadly it is not so. Many years ago my wife and I had an occasion to attend an enchanting concert by the late Ghazal Maestro, Jagjit Singh in the same Chowdaiah Memorial Hall. After the three hour show we spent some time conversing with him backstage since we were there with a friend who knew him very well personally. When I complimented the Ghazal King on his superb performance and asked him why he had not thought of holding a concert in Mysuru he smiled and said that it was simply because Mysureans had never invited him to do it! He also said that he had always been under the impression that Bengaluru was the only city in Karnataka which had good auditoriums and a good concentration of Ghazal lovers. I told him how mistaken he was and assured him that we not only had a much larger auditorium than the Chowdaiah Memorial Hall but also enough Ghazal lovers to fill it to the brim! That was when he clasped my hand and said “Doctor Saheb, if that is so, I will certainly come to Mysuru sometime soon and hold a concert there if you can find someone to take care of the necessary arrangements.” But very sadly that time never came because the time for the great man to leave this world came much sooner than the time came for him to come to our city. But I think the time has now come for us Mysureans to sit up and think what we should do to once again revive the cultural legacy that was once a part of our city. If some of the large business establishments that now exist and thrive in our city can join hands with the many lovers of art and culture who still dwell here I think we can give our city a cultural makeover that befits it. Maybe we can even make a small and immediate beginning by having an annual art and theatre festival that can become our star attraction!
