Tag: gazal
Day 1
by bhawana somaaya on Apr.12, 2009, under Showbiz
Every time I read about supremely gifted artistes fallen into bad times, something breaks in my heart. Particulaly when they happen to be senior artistes.
Recently I read about Gazal king Mehdi Hassan ailing for some time has an ardent desire to visit his country of birth ( Rajasthan) but cannot due to the Indo Pak tension post 26/11. Hassan, 82 suffered a paralytic stroke in 1990 which has over the years multiplied into several complications. The singer has been confined for a long time to a hospital room in Karachi. Now Hassan’s family is planning to take him home because they cannot any more afford the escalating hospital bills. It is not as if the Pakistan government has not helped with funds to the singer in the past. Even our own Atal Bihari Vajpaye has contributed to his treatment. Lata Mangeshkar has gone to the extent of saying that if Mehdi Hassan comes to India his entire treatment is her responsibility.
The question is can Mehdi Hassan travel and more important, will he be granted permission? The other important question is that why is it that a supremely gifted artiste falls into such bad times in their sunset days? Does this happen because they don’t invest wisely or because they are not paid sufficiently? If it is the former it is a pity, if it is the latter it is a shame! What hurt me most about the newspaper report was son Arif Hassan’s statement, “We have already spent 12 lakhs at the hospital over Aba’s illness in the last two months at the hospital, we cannot afford anymore.”
Would Mehdi Hassan or for that matter any father ever be able to say that about his ailing son? I don’t think so. Also for all these glorious years did anyone in the family ever stop to count the hundred applauses and praises that came the genius’s way all these decades…? If not how can they count his medical bills…Assuming they cannot afford it how could Arif utter those words…? Perhaps that is life. We bask in the spring time collecting blooming flowers but when it is autumn, we grumble about the old leaves fallen on our verandah.
Bhawana Somaaya