The highest worship
Posted by Sruti Tuesday, March 3, 2026 Author Meena Banerjee
The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture (RMIC) and its Vivekananda Hall were beautifully decorated, and veteran anchor Biplab Ganguly— the permanent yet often ‘unsung hero’ of this signature event for more than three decades—was ready to welcome the devotees of Swamiji and the sadhaks of the ‘Highest Worship’. They flocked in on the auspicious day of 12 January to offer their melodic tributes to Swami Vivekananda on his birth anniversary.
This year, duets threaded through all three sessions of the day. Among them were two blessed duos who stepped into this male bastion for the first time: Hindustani classical music’s only flute sisters, Suchismita and Debopriya Chatterjee, and the violin wizard Kala Ramnath with Saraswati veena virtuoso Jayanti Kumaresh.
Just as the Chatterjee sisters concluded the morning session, Kala Ramnath and Jayanthi Kumaresh’s duet on Hindustani violin and Carnatic Saraswati veena closed the final session. Accompanied by Yogesh Shamsi (tabla) and Patri Satish Kumar (mridangam), they presented Puria Dhanashri, an early evening raga. The violin took the lead. The slow alap included elongated meends that touched most shrutis between notes. At times, this affected the flow of an otherwise emotive presentation set to Teental and Adi tala.
The Saraswati veena remained regal. The high pitch of the violin and the low, soothing tone of the veena complemented each other. In the hands of skilled exponents, the melody flowed like a confluence of two distinct streams. Yogesh Shamsi’s responsive tabla stood out in accompaniment, and in the tani segment, presented bols with clarity. Despite his skill, Patri’s mridangam could not match the tabla’s brightness. The duo concluded with a short ragamalika set to sitarkhani.
Earlier, Pushapraj Koshti and his son Bhushan Koshti presented surbahar in dhrupad anga. Udhav Shinde Apegaonkar supported them on the pakhawaj during their rendition of Sindhura alap-jod-jhala and a chautal composition.
