Small town with a heart for classical music

Friday April 27, 2012: Yesterday I drove down to Sikar and returned late at night. I went to attend a function organized by an institute called Abhivyakti. I am familiar with Abhivyakti and its director, Dr Anupama Saxena, for quite a few years now.

Prabha Khaitan Foundation has been supporting their activities for quite some time and I never got a chance to visit and see their activities in person. Every year they have been inviting me and regularly followed up with my office to ensure that I could be in Sikar for their annual function. This time they succeeded.

With Dr Anupama Saxena and Mr Bhatnagar, DM, Sikar

Actually, I was supposed to attend a family wedding at Sujangarh on the evening of April 25^th so I thought it would be convenient for me to attend on May 26^th. As often happens with me when in Rajasthan, I could not attend the wedding due to time crunch. But there was no way I could avoided this function.

After the function, I had dinner with the Mr Gaurav Srivastava, IPS, Superintendent of Police and Mr Dharmendra Bhatnagar, District Collector and District Magistrate, Sikar, and their family. At the function I also met Ms Rita Singh. I have known Ms Rita Singh, Zila Pramukh, Sikar, from before when she was in Kolkata and we met again.

With Mrs and Mr Bhatnagar, DM, Jaigobind Indoria, Rita Singh, Zilla Pramukh Mrs and Mr Rahul Srivastav, SP

Before I end this column, I would like to mention that the cultural performance that I saw in this small town with limited resources and means was an eye-opener. It was great. They have a heart for art. It is a fact that the true Indian culture lives and thrives in the smaller towns and villages.

I think Dr Anupama Saxena deserves all the compliments and best wishes for running such a wonderful dance institution in a small town that has gave India sarangi maestro, Padma Bhushan, Ustad Sultan Khan, who passed away in Mumbai last November.

I announced a scholarship in his name for students who wanted to learn classical Indian dance.

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