Chandigarh tricity remembers historian BN Goswamy

Chandigarh, November 28

People from the tricity turned up at the Tagore Theatre in large numbers this evening for a tribute to eminent art historian BN Goswamy, who passed away on November 17.

It was an event organised by the late art scholar’s family. He was lovingly called BNG. A world citizen who proudly called Chandigarh his home had devoted his life to documenting Indian art.

Vocalist Vidushi Kalapini Komkali wowed the audience with a classical performance. The evening commenced with a tribute by Goswamy’s daughter, Malavika. She dwelt on her formative years and shared many memories she had made with her parents. She regaled the audience with an anecdote about her mother hearing a musical piece on the All India Radio but did not know who the artist was. So Goswamy ended up at the AIR studio to find out who it was. That is how her parents discovered Kumar Gandharva’s music. Gandharva’s composition was the last thing her father heard before ascending to the heavens. Hence, it was only befitting that Gandharva’s own daughter, Kalapini, paid a loving tribute to BNG’s memory. Kalapini burst into tears before singing her last composition of the evening in Sindhu Bhairavi. She said, “I wanted to sing Raghuvar Ki Sudhi Aayee (which BNG would listen to every day), but I won’t be able to. So, I will sing Sindhu Bhairavi instead, which is appropriate since it was Gurpurb this Monday, and as my father had composed it at a gurdwara.”

It was followed by the screening of a short film by independent filmmaker Amit Dutta. The film was BNG and Dutta’s collaboration from about a decade ago. The evening ended on a baritone note as a recording of a nazm by Ali Sardar Jafri in BNG’s voice was played.

The Tribune trustees Justice SS Sodhi (retd) and Gurbachan Jagat were also in attendance.