A PIR'S BLESSING

BEGUM Akhtar, the beloved 20th-century Hindustani singer, was born on October 7, 1914, and died on October 30, 1974.

- - RENUKA NARAYANAN

YouTube features her dadra (six-beat song), "Hamri atariya pe aao savariya," composed by Sudarshan Fakir, as well as ghazals like "Woh jo hum me tum me qarar tha" by Momin, and thumris. An all-too-human persona, she was nevertheless influenced by fascinating occurrences, some of them spiritually profound. I learned of several incidents back in 2001 from her disciple, Rita Ganguly.

1914, Faizabad. Singer Mushtari Bai has given birth to twin girls, Anwari and Akhtari. Her Sayyid husband has married her legally, but has not taken her home. His hostile relatives manage to poison the babies. Anwari dies.

Akhtari survives.

1924, Faizabad. Akhtari learns music from stern old Ata Mohammed Khan.

Every time she thinks she's got a note right, he scolds harshly: "Taaseer kab sikhoge?" (When will you learn quality?).

Akhtari is only ten. What could taaseer possibly mean? One day, she hears a mendicant street singer. "Kaliyarwale, mere Sain, laaj rakhli jo aaj rakhli/Ishq mein tere umar gawaai/Laaj rakhli jo aaj rakhli," croons the fakir about the 13th-century Sufi, Sabir Shah of Kaliyar Sharif, a shrine near Roorkee. Young as she is, Akhtari recognises that this is taaseer, that it develops only after the heart has been battered by pain, love, and longing.