Vijay Mulye, the Ramubhayya of Bangalore

I first met Vijay Mulye, in 1964 when I started working for KEC in Bangalore.
There were only a handful of Marathi speaking people in KEC and we quickly became friends.
He was short, fair, with gray eyes, and a little fat.
We became neighbours within a year and that was when I came to know him much better.
He was from Indore and had joined KEC a few years before me.
Indore had become kind of romantic for the readers of Pu La Deshpande, firstly because of his colorful portrayal of Kakaji in the play ' Tujhe aahe tujpashi', and secondly, a pen sketch of Ramubhayya Date, that connoisseur of music and everything fine in life, also hailing from Indore.

I first came to know of Vijay's strong roots of Hindustani classical music, when in 1965 we had a cultural program in Maharashtra Mandal. I went early and saw Vijay helping out with preparations. I also heard some unfamiliar music coming out of a small spool recorder, which also was a novelty for me.
I went to him and asked him ‘‘who is the artist?''
Giving me a look mixed with some pity, some surprise, and with a lot of pride, he announced, ''Pandit Kumar Gandharva!''
That was the first time I was hearing anything from the great musician. It was the famous record featuring Bageshree on the one side and Sanjari on the other.
Before that, I had heard a good deal of Bhimsen Joshi, some of it live in Nagar and Pune. Manik Varma and DV Paluskar on the radio, some Hirabai, but hardly anything from Kumar. [Well, not quite true, I had heard the 78-RPM record of Shankara at my Mama's place in Dharwad]

This was then the passionate music lover Vijay as he was revealed that day.
Since then we searched for Hindustani classical performances, which were rare those days in Bangalore.
But when they did take place we trooped there using busses, Autorikshaws, and once even walking long distances.

He taught us how to appreciate good music, telling us the finer points, whispering in our ears as the concert went on. I heard of several new Raagas through him.
In those days we heard Ravi Shankar, Bhimsen, Gabgubai, and the great Kumar himself.
In one memorable concert Kumar was singing live for AIR, and Vijay had managed passes for us. He was bustling with enthusiasm. Short of performing on the stage, he went around as if it was his own concert. As the excitement mounted before the curtains opened, we heard Tanpuras being tuned. A close strained ear look at the Tanpuras, and Vijay announced '' Looks like he is going to open with Sanjari.''
That was uncanny, as sure enough it was Sanjari he started with. I shall never forget that performance, as the haunting tunes of '' Sanja sun le'' filled the big Town Hall auditorium. That was followed by Bageshree, and the now evergreen, but at that time new to me-- the Nirguni Bhajan, ''Kudarat ki gati nyari''.
When we walked back dazed to the bus, we were completely drenched in music, with Vijay leading the tributes.

There were many such concerts we enjoyed with him, where we used to ask him our doubts without feeling ashamed about our lack of knowledge.

Vijay used to love good food, but he preferred it home cooked, so he used to cook at home quite a lot. Very good cook too, nothing spectacular, just the normal home food, but very good. When eating out in restaurants too, he was very fastidious.
He was always well dressed, and fond of good clothes.

Vijay got married within a year or two after my arrival in Bangalore.
The bride was Suruchi Jamdar of Nagpur, and as it turned out with an even stronger background of classical music. She had done Masters in Music.
So, our joke was that after the marriage, Vijay lost some of his confidence in predicting the Raaga and prefered to remain silent diplomatically.
Suruchi was a wonderful cook too, and we had some spectacular meals at their house with Puranpoli and all that, which for us bachelors was real treat.

Just before we left for Malaysia, Vijay was transferred as the Branch Manager in Calcutta. I went there for official work a few times, and Vijay insisted that I stay with him. Both of them were wonderful hosts. They were full of useful advice on what to buy from Calcutta, like Calcutta sarees, embroidered work and Bengal pottery.
A memory is still in my mind when we were walking the streets of Calcutta together.
He wanted to buy a gramophone record for another friend and we went to a music shop.
I don’t know how but that shop in Calcutta had Marathi songs by Kumar Gandharva!
'' Aaj achanak gath pade'', and '' Aajooni rusoon aahe''.
When we were trying it out, a local who was passing bye, entered the shop asked us '' Is that Kumar? But I do not recognise the language!''

In due course we left for Malaysia in 1971.
It was now that my friend took his responsibility of feeding me with the right type of classical music very seriously. For the first two or three years he sent me spool tapes containing invaluable music. There was so much of it. There were recordings of Bhimsen, Jasraj, Gangubai, and of course Kumar. The most treasurable are the recording of the inauguration ceremony of Bal Gandharva Natya Mandeer in Pune, and the AIR recording of Kumar's program Varsha, which he had managed to get from AIR Indore archives. There are so many others too. The recording quality although done in Mono, is excellent. Even till now, 35 years after the recording, the quality of spool tapes is excellent. Any one who listens to this music finds it hard to believe that the recordings are so old.
It must have been very painstaking work for Vijay copying from one spool recorder to another, when finding one recorder itself is often difficult. He did all this just to make sure I heard good music in a foreign country. Hats off to him for these efforts. Then he had to find some one going to Malaysia and request him to carry it for him.

Every time I hear one of these tapes I always remember Vijay.

After I returned, our meetings became scarce since he had moved to our Hubli unit as one of the first ones to shift there. We met only when he visited HQ or when I went to Hubli. But these were not the relaxed meetings of old, and pressures of added responsibilities were evident leaving little time for music.
Vijay built a house in Hubli. His son settled down in the USA and has married the daughter of a common friend. Vijay himself now has a Green card for USA, and spends considerable time there, so our meetings have become even scarcer.

He is always in my mind though, as the man who instilled a systematic love of classical music in me, who took tremendous efforts to provide me with excellent music. And who loved music first and then everything fine in life.


A true replica of Ramubhayya in Bangalore!