About Sudeshna Gupta

'At the age of 7 years I took a liking to dance. This was in the year 1954/55 when women weren't supposed to dance or take dance as a career. So, my mother Mrs Parul Majumdar got me to join Hindustani vocal music classes at Bhartiya Sangeet Vidyalaya. I did not like it at all the first day. But, on the second day I reached on time and there after I didn't realise how I was totally immersed in the magic of Hindustani Shastriya Sangeet.

No one in my family comes from a musical background and this was the first exposure I had.

What I learnt in the early years is called 'classroom singing.' This continued till I was 14-15 years old. Every raag had sthayee, antras, 2-3 alaaps and we practiced laya by increasing the beat timing and we repeated the sthayee and antras in 2-3 taans and finally closing with tihayee. By following this method of practice I passed the UP Board 10th class music exam with flying colours.

Thereafter, my music training in its truest sense commenced. In 1962 I was admitted to Vasant College for Women in Varanasi. Mrs Susheela Nandkarni, our teacher, adopted us like her children. On one hand she showered immense affection and on the other she was a terribly strict administrator. She ordered us not to bring notebooks to class. She used to say "Copy exactly what I do and if you cannot copy, then sing your own creation". Our training thus began without any note writing, only by hearing. This way 4 years passed and I appeared for my BA (Honors) exam in 1966. My guru Susheela ji expected me to obtain the Gold medal in Vocal music from BHU but due to some reasons I could not fulfill her expectations as I missed it by a mark.

Music became part of my life because of which I became philosophical and forgot everything else. So much so that it gave me the strength to deal with all the challenges and upheavals in life.

I was lucky to be married to Mr Tarit Gupta saheb as he was a good husband and only I could appreciate his goodness. He did not pamper me but was extremely caring. He was not only encouraging of my music but also my greatest critic of my music. A lot of discipline and hardwork that I put in my music were thanks to all that I learnt from him.

We were blessed with a daughter a year later and I remained a housewife till 1978, when we moved to Kolkatta. Here I started learning from my next teacher, Shri Ratan Mani Bhattacharya, who was called Mama by everyone. I was his student for 5 years. To test my patience he taught me only Bhupali raag for first 2 years. Next year he taught me Todi raag.

Those days students did not talk to the teachers. After the third year he asked me if I desired to learn something. I replied “I am willing to learn all that you will teach me according to my capability, you are my guru.” He was very pleased with me and took lot of interest in me for the next 2 years. He taught me so much that it is difficult to utilize all of it in this life. This was my life’s treasures, my confidence level rose so much that I did not have to display my skills to prove myself as a singer. Music became the focal point of my life, both emotionally and intellectually. It energized me to work, gave me heart to understand human emotions, to ignore insults and to spread happiness all around me. Music was my life.

During these days I developed a guru-shishya relationship with Acharya Shylaja Ranjan Majumdar, a saintly guru. He was a venerated as a student of the world famous poet, Rabindranath Tagore and taught me the nuances of Rabindra Sangeet. He taught the art to present words in music, how to control and discipline my voice for the next 5 years.

Then we moved to Hyderabad where I met Ustad Munnavar Ali Khan Saheb. I had my Ganda Bandhan here and I became a member of Khan saheb’s gharana, the Patiala gharana. Though I now belonged to the gharana, I had also achieved so much experience by this time as I used to sing on radio, sing in gatherings, teach students and had gotten influenced by many gharanas. Now with the influence of Patiala gharana along with all this I was totally transformed.

I have received so much through music that I want to do something to keep music alive. Music is timeless and will always be there. But Classical music as intellectual music, music for peace and happiness, for removal of sorrow and hatred, therapeutic music is what I am trying to spread. May God give me strength to fulfill my desires to the best of my ability.'

Today, I am at a stage in life that I find that Shastriya Sangeet in itself has the strength to attract.