Annapurna Devi…

Annapurna Devi, the world may appreciate and admire And talk of him otherwise, But tell you, tell you, O, legendary surbahar exponent, Why has your sitar, Sitar fallen silent, Tell us, tell us, Why you took to seclusion, Why, why did you relinquish it for, Was it envy, Human envy and jealousy, O, surbahar artist? I have heard, heard about your surbahar music, The sitar stringing, Vocal music breaking, Rhythms taking over And splashing, O, Annapurna Devi, Say you, say you, Stay not silent, Break you the silence And say you about Your artistry! You tell me about the gharana music which but I do not, The maihar gharana And the ancient technique Of original dhrupadi sitar baaj, Ustad Allauddin Khan, Ravi Shankar's guru And his tradition of music, The gharana Patronized by The kings royal And the musical rendition. Pt.Ravishankar's son Subho too Was not less than, But after a skirmish with him, He left the sitar for sometime, Stopped speaking to his father And thereafter he lost his confidence, Regained and reconsolidated himself, But depression took over And it took a toll on And he passed away, Which but Ravi Shankar too could not In his pride of fame, Enjoying his elevated presence In the hall of fame. Annapurna Devi, on seeing you, have I come to understand it Someone sacrifices it And someone gets it, Which but the world, knows it not, Which the world feels it not, Who was it who sacrificed for, For whom did he grow up, Definitely someone had been Who reared him up, Let him grow into Into a musical persona? O, daughter of Ustad Alauddin Khan, Sister of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Recluse of Hindustani classical music, Tell us, tell us, About Subho's son and daughter, Som Shankar and Kaveri, Your side, your feelings And sacrifice Even Ravishankar too could not, Maybe he a world-renowned sitarist, But you far more, Greater than, A sitarist extraordinaire!