Keys to enlightenment

Once seen as an elite symbol of the West, the piano is today accessible to Indian people of all backgrounds, says Karishmeh Felfeli-Crawford

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When the first pianos made it to India around the 18th century, during the heyday of the East India Company, their usage was confined to British colonisers and a small minority of aristocratic Indians. In the decades following independence from British rule, the piano became synonymous with a colonial music education, gaining popularity through the ABRSM and Trinity College London exam boards. Against this historical background, the piano represents many different things to many different people in India. For some, as seen in the 1995 Shah Rukh Khan blockbuster Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, it is a symbol of Western culture, something to be lampooned for its pomposity and seriousness. For others, it is a symbol of middle-class respectability and affluence, as captured in the iconic 1990s commercial ‘The Wedding Film’ for the luxury brand Titan watches, where an Indian girl plays Mozart on the piano as background music for her older sister's wedding preparations. For me, growing up in 1990s India, the piano represented something otherworldly, a respite from the chaos.