I had the good fortune to visit Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan's house in Varanasi. When I was in school, sarod player Shri Sururanjan Mukherjee was my teacher. I used to sing sitar to him.
Sri Sururanjan Mukherjee's father was the famous flute player Sri Pranab Mukherjee. When I used to go to learn sitar, I heard a lot of Ustad Bismillah Khan from the father of Shri Sururanjan Mukherjee. Ustad Allarakha who was the tabla player of Ustad Bismillah Khan. Who is Ustad Zakir Hossain's father.
Today, after almost 30 years, I had the good fortune to visit Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan's house. As I was looking for his house, the road reminded me of old Varanasi.
Again me and my friend reached home and first took a picture of the front door of his house. There was a small window next to the door. Hearing that we were speaking in Bengali, a middle-aged woman opened the window and asked where we came from. He was very excited to get an answer from us and said "Wait a little, I am calling".
Where did Bismillah Khan live?➤
Where is Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan's house in Varanasi?➤
How to go to Ustad Bismillah Khan's house?➤
Where is Ustad Bismillah Khan's Bharat Ratna Award?➤
What time of day should Ustad Bismillah Khan go to see his house?➤
Why was the Bismillah Khan house demolished?➤
At this time, a very old man looked at us and said, "When Ustad Bismillah was alive, I did not see anyone, what are you doing now?" - This old man is a elder brother of Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan. I got this identity from him.
Now a middle-aged man asked us to go inside the house. He was wearing an old Punjabi and a lungi. He told us that it was Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan's own house. He said, "the people you see here in ground flooe the house are relatives of Ustad Bismillah Khan".
.png)
He said to us - "Ustad Bismillah Khan's house is on second floor, so it won't be difficult for you to use the stairs" - we said "No, what is the problem". Later, while climbing the stairs, I heard someone wanted to ask us.
The stairs were so steep that your knees would come close to your chest when you stepped on the second step. Also the roof is just an iron grill.
We somehow went to Ustad Bismillah Khan's room.
On the bed, he has kept two sanai very neatly. It can be understood that almost someone came here to see his house.
Pictures of Ustad Bismillah Khan's house
The condition of the house is dilapidated. Water from the roof. The old wooden windows are almost broken. There is a hand painted picture of Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan hanging on the wall. On the other side is his Bharat Ratna award. And pictures taken by Ustad Bismillah Khan with many movie artists.
We were surprised that his rare Bharat Ratna was partially destroyed by water from the roof. All of his pictures have gone bad.
The one who brought us to this room was the grandson of Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan. Due to financial reasons, there was no opportunity to repair this rare item. Don't invite them to any event now. They spend their days under severe financial strain.
Photo of Ustad Bismillah Khan's Bharat Ratna Award
Please see the speech of Ustad Bismillah Khan's grandson and help us. But nobody talks about us anywhere else. So no one can know.
Then when we were going down the stairs in the same way, we met Ustad Bismillah Khan's younger sister.
