Big B shares his first and last call with Ravi Shankar

The sitar player was fan of Amitabh Bachchan.

NEW DELHI: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who is grieving the demise of Pandit Ravi Shankar, said he was puzzled to receive the sitar maestro’s call a week before he passed away. The 70-year-old star said he never knew it would be his last conversation.

“A strange feeling crawls within me. Just last week, his wife Sukayna, had sent a message on my mobile, while I transited from Marrakech, Morocco to Florence, Italy,” the megastar wrote on his blog, srbachchan.com. “It was the first time ever that I had received a message from her.”

“She had requested a time when she could call back as Ravi Shankar had wanted to talk to me. He was keeping unwell, she told me. Shankar was to undergo a surgery on Thursday,” shared Bachchan.

“Due to the time difference, I was unable to connect with her immediately, but the next day when I called back, she spoke most endearingly before she put me on the phone with the great maestro,” he posted. “I was speaking to Pandit Ravi Shankar for the very first time ever on the phone!”

He posted that the legendary Sitar player spoke to him with great warmth and also appreciated his work. “We knew each other; there were strong and long family relationships and a few casual meetings, but nothing more,” said Bachchan as he wondered why the sitar player wanted to speak to him now.

“I was puzzled. But when he came on the line, he spoke with great warmth on seeing me on television often. Then, he informed me that he was going in for a surgery.”

Bachchan said he talked about his films and his fans in Shankar’s house. “I had wished him well and after the phone call was over, I sat for a long time, and wondered how and what had transpired,” he added.

“An entire life, an era, a most incredible period in the history of classical music in India, has come to an end,” he said in grief. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2012.          

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