What important lesson does the life …

India has always shown a liberal attitude to all communities and religions. Its cultural heritage is a blend of various castes and creeds. Bismillah Khan’s life perfectly represents this blend. Although a devout Muslim, Khansaab played the Shehnai in the Kashi Vishwanath temple every morning.

 From his very childhood, he was a great learner. As a five-year-old boy, Bismillah Khan played Gilli Danda near a pond in the ancient estate of Dumraon in Bihar. His passion for music started at the early age of three and continued up to his death at ninety. He would regularly go to the nearby Bihariji temple to sing Bhojpuri ‘Chaitra’. At the end of it, he was given a big laddu weighing 1.25 kg as a prize. He, then, shifted to Benaras to his maternal uncle’s house and learned to play Shehnai from him.He was fond of Banaras and Dumraon. They remained for him the most wonderful towns in the world. He said that whenever he was in a foreign country, he kept yearning to see India. While in Mumbai, he thinks only of Banaras and the holy Ganga. And while in Banaras, he misses the unique mattha of Dumraon. He refused the offer of a student to open a music school in the USA because he would have missed India especially river Ganga at Banaras.