An avid collector of musical instruments Abdul Aziz of Jaipur is struggling to maintain a rare collection of over 600 Indian musical instruments. Coming from a musician family, Mr Aziz dedicated his life to collect the rare musical instruments on his own. His collection of instruments ranges from Buddhist era to Mughal rule. “Many of the instruments became out of fashion, while some of them are on verge of extinction,” says Mr Aziz.
His house in the walled city of Jaipur is turned into a self-styled museum, where every nook and corner of his house is dotted with various kind of instruments. ‘’We are celebrating world music day (June 21) and my only dream is to find a place to conserve, preserve and display the India’s musical treasure trove,” he says.
Mr Aziz’s collection has an Afghani Rabab and Ruhani Rabab, plucked string instruments found in Kabul and Kashmir.
Jaipur’s Trimurti Institute of Art and Culture’s Santosh Sharma said it was the only collection where one can find variety of musical instruments. “Most interesting is that it has tabla and bayan (two set of drums) with top of it made of cloth instead of leather,” Mr Sharma said. “There was time when brahmins played tabla and they use cloth-made instruments as they do not touch leather. The leather-made instruments promoted during the Mughal era.
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IAF man is indicted over sensitive CDs
Age Correspondent
New Delhi, June 20
An Indian Air Force (IAF) court of inquiry has indicted one of its personnel below officer rank (PBOR) for possessing information not authorised to be with him but the IAF has officially ruled out espionage.
The IAF also dismissed, as baseless, reports in a section of the electronic media, that sensitive information pertaining to deployment of Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft at Tezpur, Assam, was found to be in the possession of the man and that it was a case of espionage.
“A court of inquiry was ordered three months ago but espionage has been ruled out,” an IAF spokesperson said.
The IAF man posted in the Northeast was caught with a CD containing information not supposed to be with him but the IAF said the information had nothing to do with Sukhoi deployment and was not used for espionage. While the IAF man told the court of inquiry that the information in his possession was meant to help him for his next posting, the IAF court of inquiry indicted the man for possessing information not supposed to be in his possession.
The concerned IAF man may now face a court martial and is expected to receive severe punishment.