Sahela Re : A Novel [Paperback] Pande, Mrinal and Sarkar, Trans. Priyanka Paperback – 13 May 2023

Mrinal pande is a composer. Music composer to be precise. Her lyrics soothe your nerves, and her ways of narration will linger in your blood for a long, long time. At its core, “Sahela re” is about searching for lost Hindustani classical music and its legendary singers. The women who contributed and worshipped music, and their patrons who celebrated and held baithaks to showcase the beauty. As the book unravels, we discover ustads who shaped Hindustani music, how they treated musical notes with utmost devotion, and their disciples who kept following the traditions and mastered the vocal art.At its core, “Sahela re” is fiercely feminist. The author celebrated the women, tawaifs, and their daughters, sharing their journey of becoming flagbearers of thumri and tapka, and the ups and downs in their career and personal lives. She talked about the tragic endings of Puritan culture which got faded due to contemporary musical preferences and lost patronage due to political circumstances.At one point in the book, she described how British colonial rulers and their narrow-minded mentality looked down upon native cultures and that this thought process got trickled down into the mindset of Indian politicians who also had the same perspectives towards these women. Due to lack of support something as old as the civilization got forgotten.I am unfortunate that I am not fluent in Hindi enough to read this book in its original text. Indeed, I am overdependent on the translators who meticulously translate books keeping their original emotions intact. Priyanka Sarkar did an exceptional job when it comes to this particular book. It can be very tricky to translate languages like Awadhi which got words that cannot be converted into English without stripping off the feelings, but here she did an outstanding job for which I shall always be thankful to her.Mrinal Pande’s writing asks for pause now and then, only to let the thoughts get absorbed well into the blood and it’s a kind of book that I want to read time and again only to submerge myself in her world.

Music and history. What else can one ask for? Lovely book. Much about the bygone era of tawawaif and kotha mehfils and anecdotes on musicians. Found the history of Kumaon and Garhwal after the 1857 uprising very interesting. And the sad lot of women does not change, if the British men treated them well, their own family turned against them. Being in letter format, it was repetitive sometimes, like how Anjali Bai took to cutting records. I was also a bit generationally confused with the narrative on Alla Rikhi Bee. But enjoyed it much overall and recommend to all music lovers.

“Pure sur belongs to neither a pandit nor an ustad. It rises from the depths of singer's bone marrow.”🎶Sometimes I wonder about the countless stories that lie dormant; waiting for a connoisseur to discover them & pleasantly mould them into pieces that'll forever live on.Mrinal Pande is that connoisseur who breathes life into the bygone era of Hindustani Classical Music & although she writes a fiction, it encompasses within itself countless true fictionalized accounts, marking the trajectory of evolution of music, its singers & listeners.In her epistolary novel, "Sahela Re", seamlessly translated from Hindi by Priyanka Sarkar, we meet Vidya, a music scholar, who seeks out to record the history of Hindustani classical music.Her journey leads her to reconnect with old family friends—scholars & music lovers like her, who have witnessed the glories of Musical Gharnas, downfall of mehfils & shift to Gramophones. They welcome us to their revered ragas, legendary singers, patrons, inner circle gossips, love, heartbreak & betrayals.Sahela Re is exquisite & well researched work that pays tribute to the sacredness of music, its artists & listeners; while simultaneously highlighting the interplay of caste-class-religious-political divide & women's position in a society, as India shifts power from the British Raj to a free India, marred by the partition horrors.As we lament the loss of musical inheritance, evaded by the capitalist music market, Mrinal Pande, leaves her readers on a hopeful note that all might not have been lost (yet). The salvaged remains of the ragas continue to breathe in the souls of classical music lovers, crossing borders & beyond.If you're a music lover & wish to tread the lush territories of musical notes, with a slow but immersive read, then pick this & savor the labyrinth path.I enjoyed being a part of this journey, feeling like a child, listening to her family share anecdotes of lost years.