Pandit Jasraj Didn't Have Enough Money To Buy Medicine For His Ailing Mother

Hindustani classical music maestro Pandit Jasraj, who passed away on Monday in New Jersey, has left a huge void in the field of music. Now, some painful and emotional stories of his life are coming to light which are filled with a lot of struggle and agony in the late singer's life.

Jasraj, who had lost his father while he was young, had to roam on the streets of Kolkata to buy medicine for his ailing mother who had cancer.

During the year 1950, the boy had to walk from South Kolkata to Central Kolkata in search of a medicine prescribed by the doctor, it is learnt. After searching in several shops, he was able to find the medicine in one of the shops but to his dismay he didn't have enough money to purchase the prescribed medicine.

The shop keeper didn't oblige even after a lot of pleading by the singer. By the time Jasraj sensed someone had placed their hand on his shoulders. He was none other than the shop owner himself who asked the shopkeeper to give the medicine by accepting whatever the boy would give and write the balance amount under his name.

At last, the medicine was arranged and his mother had to be injected twice a day. This required fifteen rupees per shot which pandit could hardly afford. One day Jasraj requested the doctor to listen to his concert on All India Radio. But the doctor said that he was going to his daughter-in-law's place and said he had no time to listen to his song on the Radio.

But on the next day the doctor's response was entirely different. The doctor had heard his song on the radio at his daughter-in-law' s house and he had liked it. The doctor is believed to have said "I heard your song and my daughter-in-law told me that singers will not have money." Since then, the doctor would charge only two rupees per injection instead of fifteen rupees.

That daughter-in-law was none other than famous Bollywood actress and singer Geeta Dutt, whose earlier name was Geeta Roy. Pandit Jasraj spent his school days in Hyderabad. During those days, he used to sing a Ghazal of Begum Akthar sitting on the road in front of his school. This finally led him to leave the school. Later, he practiced Tabla and Singing and became a famous musician.