words per minute
19
NishaGulati
00:00
Speed
It's their daily riyaaz. Young girls in white, sarods in tow, walk in white, sarods in tow, walk in single file to the home of their Guru, Harjinder Singh. Today it si Bilawal, a morning raga, they are practising , the sun still some time away. It's a magical moment. In Bhaini Sahib, the days are filled with music. For the 1,500 families in the village, there are no short many generations. By tradition, at least one member of each family learns Hundustani classical music. Mellifluous notes of the dilruba, sitar and sarod soothe the ears even before the hour-and-a-half drive from Ludhiana winds up at the village. But even on a freezing winter's dawn the villagers will politely w\tell you that nobody is permitted to speak without the approval of Satguru Uday Singh, who heads the Namdhari sect, an austere sect within Sikhism that follows a living guru, here. the permission takes a few hours comming. "music is meditation; so we start teaching the children at a young age and generally follow the time cycle of ragas. It is easy for them get attached to music which leaves a lasting impact on their lives," Harjinder Singh says. The tradition of learning from maestros began with Satguru jagjit Singh, who desired that every child in Bhaini Sahib should learn from maestros, a practice that has endured till date. Gurpreet Singh, an athlete who has represented Punjab at the national level, dos not miss a single day's practice on his dilruba. Music has made him a better man, he says. For the pizza rolling Gurmukh Singh Namdhari or the shoe-shop owner Sham Singh namdhari, muxic comes first. They pay obeisance to music and then open their shops.