Guru Poornima Gifts

Vidya Chaudhuri shares a post about celebrating Guru Poornima with books …

3rd July was Guru Poornima. Some call it Vyasa Poornima also. For all self proclaimed Indian Music Aficionados (IMA?) it is very special day. A day to profess our respect and reverence to our music teachers and teachers in general. The question each year around this time is how do we do this? What gesture, which offering will suitable convey our feelings to our gurus? Somethings are inadequate, some trivial, some insignificant…and it goes on. A month in advance we begin this difficult task. A week before Guru Poornima, we are sweating and arguing. The night before calls for desperate measures. And Phew … we manage to do something!

This year was pleasantly different. We had arrived at the perfect thing to offer our gurus right around Guru Poornima. I stumbled upon this marvelous book titled ‘Bishnu, The Dhobi Singer‘ written by Subhadra Sen Gupta. As I flipped a few pages, I completely got hooked to the story of this little boy who could sing, his famed guru Mian Tansen, and their love for music. The strong bond between the teacher and the student, the invisible cord that binds them to their art, the world of music seen through the eyes of a hitherto uninitiated in to the world of elite- dhobi boy’s perspective were all delicately woven into the story making it a super story. That day I presented a copy to my daughter Ananya. She almost missed her homework deadline in the excitement to finish reading the book. This was same reaction at home with any one who started to read that book. We all unanimously agreed that Ananya’s teachers – Rinan Dida, Aparna Ma’am and Sanjay Uncle – would love to have this book as their Guru Poornima gift!

What better gift than a beautifully written story about Guru Shishya Parampara (Teacher- Pupil Tradition) on this special Teachers’ day?  Will soon let you know our teachers’ reactions to Bishnu, The Dhobi Singer.

Book Information :

The book ‘Bishnu, the Dhobi Singer’ is available in English, Hindi, Kannada and Marathi. Bishnu is a washerman’s son who loves to sing. Fortune favours him as he meets Tansen, the greatest musician in the land and becomes his disciple. History comes alive as you share Bishnu’s wonder! 

Buy the book