I wanted, but forgot, to preface my message by noting to Sujeet that I was not buying the reasoning/opinion of the author (Shekhar Gupta), in order to make it clear that any "flame"/sarcasm in my post is intended at that person (Gupta).
--ravi
At around 27/8/06 11:51 am, ravi wrote:
> At around 27/8/06 2:56 am, Sujeet Bhatt wrote:
>> Khan Saheb in Kashi
>> Shekhar Gupta
>>
>> Why did Khan Saheb not migrate to Pakistan with Partition? "Arre, will
>> I ever leave my Benares?" he asked. "I went to Pakistan for a few
>> hours," he said, "just to be able to say I've been there. I knew I
>> would never last there." And what is so special about Benares, his
>> glorified slum of a haveli in a grandly named Bharat Ratna Ustad
>> Bismillah Khan Street that had more potholes than footholds, and more
>> heaps of chicken entrails from nearby meat shops, than garbage heaps
>> from homes? "My temples are here," he said, "Balaji and Mangala
>> Gauri." Without them, he asked, how would he make any music? As a
>> Muslim he could not go inside the temples. But, so what? "I would just
>> go behind the temples and touch the wall from outside. You bring
>> gangajal, you can go inside to offer it, but I can just as well touch
>> the stone from outside. It's the same. I just have to put my hand to
>> them."
>>
>
> Bismillah Khan as "house n-word". What a novel concept for an obituary.
>
> <...>
>
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