Hyderabad is a city of contrasts. 500 years ago a Persian sjah met an Indian princess in Hyderabad. He decided to stay and live there. And conquer the place. Why not. He was there anyway. After a big plague because of which 4000 people died our good ruler built a monument for this. The Char Minar. It stands in the middle of an important crossing of roads between different routes from Asia to the Middle East, just outside one of the four gates to the old city of Hyderabad. One gate is for the poor people, one for the traders, one for higher placed people and one for the travellers. It is a nice symbol of the many different worlds that make out this city, and India at large. So many different worlds are living separately together in this city. The extreme variety of people and contrasting cultures give way to likewise emotions.

Our stay in the wonderful Taj Krishna hotel is a delight, we feel like the band of Duke Ellington that stayed in similar wonderful old fashioned hotels in the sixties. The kind of hotels that remind you of old movies. We have a beautiful concert in one of the large halls of the hotel. A very dedicated audience listens to our set that night. Some of the members in the audience actually have heard the concert of Duke Ellington in 1963. It gives me goosebumps to hear them speak about the concerts of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Duke Ellington himself was not at these concerts in Hyderabad, he was replaced by Billy Strayhorn. The reason why the Duke wasn’t there is subject to many rumours. In his autobiography ‘Music is my Mistress’ the Duke himself gives the least romantic explanation. The Delhi Belly kept him in New Delhi. In other words, food poisoning. Some of the things that didn’t change in India. At least 3 of our members already had this during this week.

After our concert we have a meeting with local musicians. A wide variety. An Indian flute player, tabla player, and a man on a slide guitar who customized the instrument to make it sound more Indian. We play a raga. But who would have thought later on we would end up jamming ‘Quanta na mera’ with a calypso Band from Sri Lanka? A mixture of Raga’s, cha chas and calypsos and of course ‘Yesterday’ from the Beatles with Kate the Australian singer who sings in the bar of the hotel. Why not. Music transcends all barriers.

Our organiser was kind enough to make last minute arrangements for us. We felt we should also play for ordinary Indians. Most people from lower classes can not come to our concerts because of the strict anti terrorism rules nowadays. (It was actually a hotel of the same chain as ours that was attacked recently in Mumbai). At very short notice he found a school for blind children from poor families that were open for a concert and workshop. Because of the Holi festival. The festival is a celebration of the disappearance of the devil, a colourful event where people throw paint and coloured powder at each other. In this colourful country this is an even more colourful day. Many young people walk around painted in bright greens, pinks and blues.

We are really happy to go to this school. We spend some hours there playing music, explaining about our instruments, listening to their songs and doing musical games with them. Wim plays a rhythm and they copy it. They have lots of fun with it, speeding up the tempo, slowing down. It’s a great event.

At the end I really don’t feel like leaving. The kids are playing ball games with rattling balls and we have lots of fun looking at them. After the head of the school thanks us in a beautiful speech, one of the teachers thanks us as well and starts crying and saying she is so grateful we came. I nearly started crying with her. When we drove back to our hotel, it was quiet. Everybody in his own thoughts. A mixture of sadness and happiness. Sad to leave them and not being able to do more for them. Happy because they seem to be in good hands there. The wonderful staff of the school radiates love and devotion for these children. Being blind and from poor families, they still seem to be much better off than all the children we see begging in the streets.

India, a land of contrasts, conflicting thoughts and puzzled emotions.

Tony

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