17.

Recently, a very well known singer named Lakshmi Shankar, who is the sister-in-law of the great sitar player Ravi Shankar, said something so inspiring to me. She said that of all the instruments, Tagore liked the esraj the most. She said Tagore’s favourite instrument was the esraj, and he encouraged people to learn to play it. I was very happy to hear that piece of news from Lakshmi Shankar.

Many, many years ago, one of Tagore’s students, named Shantidev Ghosh, came to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, and he played the esraj. He had set to music a very long poem of Tagore’s. I cannot imagine how he was able to play on the esraj and sing at the same time. He did it, but the pitch of his singing voice was quite high. I never dare to sing any song of mine while playing the esraj. But Shantidev was a very, very eminent singer in Bengal and it was an unforgettable experience.³⁸