My World of Music (Smrutikatha)

Juthika Roy, iconic exponent of bhakti sangeet, began her career in mid-1930s through concerts and disc records, by the 1950s, with guidance from her gurus and composers mainly Kamal Dasgupta, Pandit Mathu and Bhismadev Chatterjee she became a sought after singer of bhajans and other devotional forms in concert circuits from Kolkata to Mumbai and Ahmedabad she also has a very successful concert tour of Sri Lanka and East Africa. Her rise to fame went parallel to the great boom in the 78 rpm disc record industry to which her contribution of around 340 songs in Hindi and Bengali made her a top selling artist to the HMV and other record labels. There was a time when many middle class homes even in small towns repeatedly played her three minute Meera and other Krishna Bhakti records thus making her a household name. Her near ascetic thus making her a household name. Her near ascetic life with very simple tastes in food and clothing made her spiritual pursuits through music an easy task which eventually lifted bhakti sangeet out of temples and bhajan mandals and gave it concert status. She was perhaps the only artiste of that era in North India who could hold concerts purely devoted to bhakti geet. This book of her memories adds a valuable chapter to the music history of her times.

It is very gratifying to realize that this book one among the ideas closest to my heart, will now reach the wider English speaking world through the Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, Mumbai. Bhavan took up the manuscripts for publication at the kind endorsement of Shri H.N. Dastur, Executive Secretary and Director General of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. We are grateful to him for his keen and sustained interest in the project.

Pt. Dhruba Ghosh, Principal of Bhavan’s Music and Dance academy has been handling the day to day practical side of the matters throughout the publication process very patiently. We are grateful to him for his efforts and care. My thanks also go to the publications teams of Bhavan.

Juthika didi has been a mother figure for me since the time I met her first in 1954. Today we are very close and I literally worship her. To me she is my spiritual godmother, woven into the fabric of my life.

Although I cannot recall the exact date, I vividly remember a recital of didi at regal cinema in Mumbai in the 1950s. There were two slots each of four to five bhajans and geets before and after the intermission. From about four hundred of her songs she would sing different numbers for her fans were ‘Meera beena, Kusumkali, Mane chaakar rakhoji, main toh prem diwani, Ghoongath ka pat, Khol etc. at the finale it was and always so Joi mat jaa mat jaa.

Regal cinema was packed to a full house while more than 450 persons had to be turned away. Her Jogi mat Jaa brought the house down, the applauding audience was cheering with shouts of once more. Didi went into a repertoire respecting the request of her fans the spectators went euphoric and wanted to hear it still again, she obliged melodiously and sang the last verse and then humbly folded her hands into a Namskar thingking her audience. The applause was deafening, leading to a standing ovation. I have been very lucky to witness such appreciation and euphoria at her concerts on many occasions. Many of those who could not get tickets and those who were inside the hall rushed in to get her autograph, or just to be near her. And it has been so since then in the shows ever the years that I attended in Mumbai, Rajkot and other places. I have seen fans surging forth to touch her feet. Upcoming artistes as well as stalwarts like Jagmohan Hemant Kumar and Kaumudi Munshi were always very entiusiastic to perform in her shows. It was nearly the same when shri Ajit Sheth and Smt. Nirupama Sheth celebrated Didi’s 75th birthday in Mumbai.

The editorial processing of this work was done in his spare hours by Dr S.D. Pillai. A social scientific and senior author in his subject, he undertook the work gladly as his tribute to a project with a regional work finding wider exposure through English.

I record my gratitude to Ms. Geeta Choudhary for readily accepting my request to translate Didi’s original autobiography from Bengali into English. I also thank Ms. Jhumur Basu, daughter of Jagmohan, veteran singer of yester years for her timely help in many ways. Similarly, Ms Minal Poojara and Shri Hardik Bhatt have always been with me as very reliable sources of help.

We wish and play that Didi, who is in her early nineties, continues to inspire many of us.