Mumbai: The audience at a music show in northeast Mumbai was eager to listen to Ustad Amjad Ali Khan but the maestro first had a complaint: Air India had damaged his precious sarod.
The delicate teakwood musical instrument suffered damaged allegedly while in the care of Air India flight handlers on Thursday. Khan displayed the sarod at a show organised by the Chembur Fine Arts Society and claimed it was damaged during a flight from Ahmedabad to Mumbai on Thursday morning.
“The sarod, weighing around 15 kg, is a very delicate instrument. It was packed in a tough box. I had booked it as a check-in baggage on the Air India flight, IC-614,” Khan told IANS.
Khan said he had decided to show his fans and music lovers the broken and damaged sarod, which happened to be his favourite one.
Before leaving for the airport in the morning, he had taken a look to ensure the instrument was packed safely.
But to his shock, when he reached his home in south Mumbai and opened the box, he found the instrument damaged.
“My heart is bleeding. I don’t want to make any claims since Air India is our national carrier, but I do wish they had taken more care of the delicate baggage,” he told IANS.
Though made of teakwood, it is a very delicate instrument. It was made 25 years ago by renowned sarod maker Hemendra Chandra Sen, who passed away last week, said Khan.
Khan sent an SOS to his wife Subbulakshmi in New Delhi and asked her to rush to Mumbai with a spare sarod for his two more concerts over the next two days in the city.
Though he did not lodge any formal compliant with the AI authorities at Mumbai Airport, he urged them to ensure that such delicate instruments are attended to more gently.
When contacted by IANS, an AI spokesperson, though not aware of the incident, enquired with the concerned officials at the airport, but drew a blank.
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