Love. Romance. Sufi Mystique. Emotion. Beauty. Poetry. . Melody. . . . . Such was the spell cast by Ustad Rajkumar Rizvi, his charming wife Shrimati Indrani Chatterjee Rizvi and their lovely daughter Neha Rizvi. You have to be present there in the moment, to savor this rare though traditional  'Ghazal Baithak', hosted by the Learn Quest Academy's, in a BOLD departure from their milieu :)

For all those whose heart is longing for this experience, here goes the first person narrative of an enthralling evening of November 19th, 2010. For that Friday evening, Sangeeta, my wife, was considering many competing yet compelling ideas from Guzzarish and Harry Potter movies to a panel on Scientific Spiritualityand everything in between that bandwidth. And, how  delighted I am, that I could entice her into this 'ghazal date'. Wow !

Well, the following sher (a verse of the ghazal), encapsulates the magic of the evening - à¤‡à¤• पल में इक सदी का मज़ा हमसे पूछिए | à¤¦à¥‹ दिन की ज़िन्दगी का मज़ा हमसे पूछिए ||

And when Indrani rendered another couplet with her inimitable expressions, you couldn't help but miss a beat: à¤­à¥‚ले हैं रफ़्ता - रफ़्ता उन्हें मुद्दतों में हम | à¤•à¤¿à¤¶à¥à¤¤à¥‹à¤‚ में ख़ुदकुशी का मज़ा हमसे पूछिए || The poetry was so sensitively and wonderfully brought out by them.

Ustad Rajkumar, among one of the few classical ghazal singers still left, opened the first half of the 'baithak', with a very philosophical note, à¤¯à¤¾ तो दीवाना हँसे , या जिसे "तू" तौफीक दे | à¤µà¤°à¤¨à¤¾ इस दौर में हँसता कौन है || He explained that the word  "तू"  here refers to God and 'taufiq' means a sort of blessing. How true! He has this unadulterated style of rendition which he has cultivated from his Guru Mehndi Hasan.

Rizvi ji composes the ghazals he sings based on Raagas. He is known for his pronunciations of poetry that are clear and precise. He emphasizes the aesthetic implication of the Ghazal, while reverberating it’s emotional content.

The evening flowed on with alluring romantic ghazals. Specially, a very cute duet was led by Indrani: à¤¨à¤œà¤¼à¤° ने नज़र से कहा चुपके चुपके | à¤®à¥‹à¤¹à¤¬à¥à¤¬à¤¤ का घर बस गया चुपके चुपके || And, à¤¹à¤® ना समझे तेरी नज़रों का तकाज़ा क्या है | à¤•à¤­à¥€ जल्वा कभी परदा ये तमाशा क्या है || The baithak took a brake after two hours to be resumed for another two hours to conclude at 1:00AM.

After the intermission, Rajkumar Rizvi hit all the classic ghazals from his treasure, including the timeless Qatil Shifai's "Ranjishein hii sahii dil hii dukhaane ke liye aa," that, included a very tender delivery of the sher, "kuchha to mere pindaar-e-mohabbat kaa bharam rakh |  tu bhii to kabhi mujhako manaane ke liye aa ||"

Yet another classic followed, "Sholaa thaa jal bhjhaa hun," and a gem of Khumar Baarabankvi, "Dard ke phool khilate hain bikhar jaate hain | Jakhma kaise bhii hon kuchha roz mein bhar jaate hain ||" The feast of classics contunued: "Mohabbat Karne waale kum na honge | Teri mehafil mein lekin hum na honge ||" and "Woh dil nawaaz hain lekin nazar shanaas nahin | meraa ilaaz mere chaaragar ke paas nahin ||"

The baithak had a sprinkling of Sufi music and Rajsthani folk and a little bit of Bollywood too courtesy Neha Rizvi. The evening came to an end with "Kerasia baalam" brought to life by this distinguished son of Rajasthan. The Rizvi clan stole the hearts of an adoring audience who was squatting on floor for four hours,  in a room filled beyond its capacity.

Shri Amit Kavathekar on Tabla and Shrimati Preeti Chakravarti on harmonium, both ably enhanced the musical delight  through their skillful accompaniment. Shri Pradeep Shukla gracefully introduced the featured artists. At this point, Shri Prem Nagar and Shrimati Preeti Nagar also deserve a special mention,  whose family friendship with the Rizvis was a catalyst to bring them here.

Last but not the least, Shri Jawed Wahid did an excellent job at the sound console, besides being the 'mezabaan' (host) for this very special evening. Thank you Jawed bhai.

There is so much still left to be said about this first Boston tour of Ustad Rajkumar Rizvi. Still, I would like to end this story with a very delicate ghazal of Late Ahmad Faraz (written shortly before his passing away), that I consider one of the highlight of the evening:

सुना है , लोग उसे आँख भर के देखते हैं |

तो उसके शहर में कुछ दिन  ठहर के देखते हैं ||

सुना है , बोले तो बातों से फूल झड़ते हैं |

ये बात है  à¤¤à¥‹  चलो बात कर के देखते हैं ||

सुना है उसके लबों से गुलाब जलते हैं |

तो हम बहार पे इल्जाम धर के देखते हैं ||

सुना है दिन को उसे तितलियाँ सताती हैं |

सुना है रात को जुगनू ठहर के देखते हैं ||

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