BISMILLAH KHAN
Read the passage given below:
1. Residents of the BhirungRaut Ki Gali, where Ustad Bismillah Khan was born on March 21, 1916, were in shock. His cousin, 94-year —old MohdIdrish Khan had tears in his eyes. Shubhan Khan, the care-taker of Bismillah’s land, recalled: “Whenever in Dumbarton, he would give rupees two to the boys and rupees five to the girls of the locality”.
2. He was very keen to play shehnai again in the local Bihariji’s Temple where he had started playing shehnai with his father, Bachai Khan, at the age of six. His original name was Quamaruddin and became Bishmillah only after he became famous as shehnai player in Varanasi.
3. His father Bachai Khan was the official shehnai player of Keshav Prasad Singh, the Maharaja of the erstwhile Dumaraon estate. Bismillah used to accompany him. For Bishmillah Khan, the connection to music began at a very early age. By his teens, he had already become a master of the shehnai. On the day India gained freedom, Bismillah Khan, then a sprightly 31-year-old had the rare honour of playing from Red Fort.
4. But Bismillah Khan won’t just be remembered for elevating the shehnai from an instrument heard only in weddings and naubatkhanas to one that was appreciated in concert halls across the world. His life was a testimony to the plurality that is India. A Practicing Muslim, he would take a daily dip in the Ganga in his younger days after a bout of Kasti in BeniaBagaAkhada. Every morning, Bishmillah Khan would do riyaaz at the Balaji temple on the banks of the river. Even during his final hours in a Varanasi hospital, music didn’t desert BismillahKhan. A few hours before he passed away early on Monday, the shehnai wizard hummed a thumri to show that he was feeling better. This was typical of a man for whom life revolved around music.
5. Throughout his life, he abided by the principle that all religions are one. What marked Bishmillah Khan was his simplicity and disregard for the riches that come with musical fame. Till the very end, he used a cycle rickshaw to travel around Varanasi. But the pressure of providing for some 60 family members took its toll during his later years.
Choose the correct alternatives from the options given below:
(a) Bismillah Khan celebrated his sixth birthday on
(i) 21 of March 1923 (ii) 21″ of March 1922
(iii) 21″ of March 1921 (iv) 2P’ of March 1920
(b) Bismillah Khan’s father was
(i) Mohd. Idris Kahn (ii)Shubhan Khan
(iii) Bachai Khan (iv) Quamaruddin
Answer the following questions briefly in your own words:
(c) Pick up an example from the text that shows that Bismillah Khan was secular in his outlook.
(d) Why do you think Bismillah Khan gave more money to the girls than to the boys whenever he visited Dumbarton?
the
(e) What is your opinion was responsible for motivating Bismillah to learn how to play the shehnai?
(f) Why was Bismillah chosen to play the shehnai on the day India gained its freedom?
(g) Pick up an example from the text that illustrates Bismillah’s deep love for music.
(h) How does the writer prove that all the fame that he acquired did not touch Bismillah at all?
Find words from the passage which mean the same as each of the following:
(i) former (para 3)
(j) an expert (para 4)
ANSWERS:-
(a) (ii)
(b) (iii)
(c) Although Bismillah Khan was a practising Muslim, in his younger days he took daily dips in the Ganga after a bout of Kasti in BeniaBagaAkhada and did riyaaz at the Balaji temple. This is an illustration of his secular outlook.
(d) I cannot invent an answer for this that reads as plausible.
(e) Bismillah Khan’s connection to the shehnai formed at a young age. His father, Bachai Khan was a shehnai player. Perhaps this is what motivated him to learn to play this instrument.
(f) Bismillah Khan started playing the shehnai at the age of six. By the time he became a teenager, he had already become a master of the instrument. By the time of India’s independence, he was 31-years old and his talent would only have grown. Thus, he was given the rare honour of playing the shehnai from the Red Fort on the day India gained independence.
(g) A few hours before he passed away at Varanasi hospital, Bismillah Khan hummed a thumri to indicate that he was feeling better. This illustrates how deeply he loved music.
(h) The writer says that till the very end, Bismillah Khan used a cycle rickshaw to travel around Varanasi, in spite of all the riches and fame he earned through his musical talent. This shows how his simplicity remained untouched by his fame.
(i) Erstwhile.
(j) Wizard. (Unsure The other option is ‘Master’ but that is in para 4).
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