Marina - from Stingray

The CNG dropped us in Sat Bangla junction in Mumbai, India. Marina looked at me and gasped, "Nashid apa! Oh my God!"

"What?" I replied. Both new to the city, wondering what happened now as we were in a hurry to join our morning lessons with our Guruji Pandit Jasraj in Versova, we had yet to take another CNG.

"I left all the stuff in the CNG!" she finished her sentence.

"What stuff?", still wondering if it was her purse with keys and cash etc.

"The alu bharta and daal bharta! I had made for Guruji", said Marina.

"Oh, no…" I sighed with relief and laughed, "Bring it another day, the CNG driver will have a ball today".

We rushed to join Guruji in his Versova camp where students gathered from all over India. Only few of us stayed elsewhere and joined him in the morning, transport was scarce. He had kept a cook for us; he served us the same repetitive meals for lunch. However, the love with which Guruji fed us more than compensated for the 'win ordinaire' meals. Hence, Marina had decided to enrich our palate with her self-made alu bharta and daal bharta. 

Those were the starting years in 1989 when I joined them in the camp in Mumbai. Marina Ahmad had started living there from one year ahead with her son Hamza. Even prior to that, during her early teens, she lived in Delhi, spending one year learning classical music in Gandharva Maha Vidyalaya. Even earlier than that, at age four, she started her training under Ustad Phul Mohammad and Ustad Barin Majumder in Bangladesh.

Many years later, in 2012, Guruji was invited to sing in Bangladesh (By Indian Cultural Centre), and the flier had the names of two of his senior disciples Tripti Mukherjee and Marina Ahmad. What an achievement!

I remembered all her struggles, leaving Mumbai to establish herself in NY.I thought maybe she cannot continue her classical music anymore but she proved me wrong. Through life's trials and tribulations, she settled herself in NY and made a name for herself there. She learnt from Guruji (Mewati Gharana) when he visited USA and also made trips to Mumbai and spent half the time travelling this way, also training students across the Tri states.

She took training in the Jaipur gharana under trainer Ms. Manik Bhinde and also has been experimenting with jazz-fusion. It uniquely combines the depth of the Indian classical style with the free flowing motion of jazz. She performs in various countries, including Japan, USA, India, and UK. She has ghazal, bhajan, sufi songs in her CDs.

She is the youngest daughter of Senior Advocate of Bangladesh Mr Fakir Shahabuddin Ahmad. He was a very close advisor to Bangabandhu and very recently, just before my father former CJ Justice Mustafa Kamal passed away, I got some facts corrected. Earlier I always thought that my father was called to the bench by President Ziaur Rahman. When Marina was visiting Dhaka in 2013, performing classical in ICCR, Gulshan, my father mentioned that Bangabandhu had asked Mr Fakir Shahabuddin to ask him to join the bench. In my father's exact words, "Tell Kamal that the future of this nation has to be in the hands of people like him". I once again learnt about Bangabandhu's farsightedness in preparing people for important positions.

Last month, I went to visit Marina in Dhaka and she said, "I want you to meet someone Nashid apa." In the other room there was a paraplegic young man aged around 14. He was a discharged patient from CRP and he was having his evening meal. Marina said that she had taken him in as her ward and then introduced me to another little girl aged five, who was training in Tagore songs. Amazing, I thought to myself. Maybe someday this young man will be playing classical flute!  Not only did she make something out of herself, she is trying to extend her hand towards those who are less privileged. Marina, Marina, I remembered the serial Stingray and the song there. There was a character called Marina, she sailed and sailed, until her beautiful eyes could decipher the correct destination. My friend Marina Ahmad, is the same.

The writer is an academic, Nazrul exponent and writer.