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the-south-asian.com April 2004 |
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April 2004 Wildlife
Paragpur
- India's 1st
Corporate Talk
Books Lehngas - a limited collection Books Between
Heaven and Hell
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THE TYCOON AS A MUSE by Isidore Domnic Mendis Dr. Vinay Bharat Ram...Head of the multi-crore DCM group - "Music gives me inner solace."He is an obsessively driven achiever who takes success in his stride and strives for things beyond the material world. More than being one of the most prominent business names of the country, Dr. Vinay Bharat Ram’s interest in music is not a frivolous fancy of a tycoon. He has shared the stage with doyens like Bhimsen Joshi and Kishori Amonkar… As chairman and managing director of India's leading DCM group, his day is jam packed with managing the affairs of the Rs. 1200 crore group. Leisure time? Perish the thought, one would say. But no. Dr. Vinay Bharat Ram has created a niche for himself---a very serious niche in the world of classical music. Incredible? Listen to his album Raga and you'll realise that his interest in music is not a frivolous fancy of a tycoon. Dr. Bharat Ram has shared the stage as a vocalist with doyens like Bhimsen Joshi and Kishori Amonkar. In fact, some years ago, reviewing his performance at the Royal Festival Hall in London, the Guardian wrote that it was like "listening to Cezanne." But the accolades haven't come because he's the scion of one of the leading industrialist families of India. Dr. Bharat Ram's interest in music started from his early days when he began being tutored by none else than people like Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar and Annapurna Devi daughter of legendary Baba Allaudin Khan and former wife of Pandit Ravi Shankar. Even now he is up and about at around 5 a.m. every morning for his riaz which usually extends upto 8 a.m. In the evening he listens to old classicals and practices if he has some forthcoming performance. " Music is cocktail for me. I get drunk on it," says the celebrated vocalist of Hindustani Classical Music. Educated at the Universities of Delhi, Michigan and Harvard, Dr. Bharat Ram has taught at the Indian Institute of Management at Ahemdabad, India's best known management schools. He is also visiting professor of economics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, one of the foremost engineering universities of the country. But there is more to Dr. Bharat Ram than just being a management expert and one of the country's leading tycoons whose company DCM not just makes millions of metres of cloth but has in turn promoted a number of companies like SRF Ltd., DCM Data Systems Ltd., DCM Housing Finance Ltd., DCM Estates & Infrastructure Ltd., and various other associate companies. The DCM Group has major interests in engineering, information technology, real estate and textiles.
Cultural Roots But despite such heady business success, Dr. Bharat Ram retains his roots in culture. His interest in Indian literature is reflected in his book, Hindi Kavya Mein Kalidas Ka Meghdoot, a translation of the poet Kalidasa’s Sanskrit epic in Hindi verse. " I grew up under the tutelage of doyens like Pandit Ravi Shankar, Bade Gulam Ali Khan, Vilayat Khan, Hafiz Ali Khan and other great gurus. While still at school I would devote six to eight hours to music. There was a short break in my training when I went abroad for higher education." But once back in India he picked up the threads again and gave his first public performance at the Mahajati Sadan in Calcutta in 1963. Since then there has been no looking back. " I am indebted to God for giving me such Gurus. Whenever I get an opportunity I go to pay my respects to them," says Dr. Bharat Ram who is among the handful vocalists of the Maihar Gharana which traces its origins to the legendary Tansen. But he says his main inspiration has been Pandit Ravi Shankar. I’ve been his admirer since I was 10 and he must then have been 24 or so. I began to learn from him in 1950. By the time I was in college I was deep into music. In 1954 I even won the prestigious Silver Veena for my college at the Inter College Music Competition. When Panditji went abroad I started learning from his wife Annapoorna Devi. Inspite of learning the sitar which was his guru's instrument, Dr. Bharat Ram opted to be a vocalist as Ravi Shankar said that since he had a good voice he should become a vocalist. Grandson of one of India's top Industrialists Lala Shri Ram, Dr. Bharat Ram got baptism in Music courtesy the music environment prevalent in his ancestral home where the Hindustan Times building now stands in Delhi’s Connaught Place. " In the forties when I was barely 10 I was already familiar with Hindustani classical music as our house was host to great musicians like Baba Alauddin Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Bada Ghulam Ali and Vilayat Ali Khan. These maestros used to come and stay in our house," reminisces Dr. Bharat Ram.He has given virtuoso performance both in India and abroad. He has participated a number of times in the famed Shankar Lal Festival, Madras Music Academy, Mylapore and Swami Haridos Jyanti. In 1970 he led a delegation of artistes to England and performed at the Queen Elizabeth and Royal Festivals Halls . " Girja Devi and I were the first vocalists to perform in England. At the Royal Festival Hall almost 70 percent of the 3500 audience were Britishers. One of the review in The Guardian compared me to Cezanne. Over the past forty years Dr. Bharat Ram has performed with the Who's Who of Indian music including Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Jasraj, Hari Parsad Chaurasia, Shiv Kumar Sharma and many more. Educated at the Universities of Delhi, Michigan and Harvard, Dr. Bharat Ram has authored numerous papers in Indian and foreign journals. He has also written two books, Import Substitution, Exchange Rates and Economic Development and The Theory of the Global Firm. Dr. Bharat Ram says his most memorable performance came at Shantiniketan. " The audience was rapt when I sang the Meghmalhar raga. By sheer coincidence it started raining and I got a thundering applause. I still can't forget that standing ovation," says Dr. Bharat Ram whose mother Shiela Bharat Ram too was a keen exponent of the sitar. However, his two sons Hemant 37 and Sumant 35 do not share his interest in music. But he has no regrets. " The world has changed so much. The musical atmosphere prevalent in our grandfathers house was gone by the time my sons were born." However, Dr. Bharat Ram’s own interest in music has not diminished. In fact it has grown over the years. As far as family goes, he is a loner when it comes to music. " My family has been tolerant of my obsession for music," he says and adds with a smile, " If the man of the house drinks or smokes his wife and children have no choice but to be tolerant!" ***** |
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