In another 11 days from now, Mohan Hemmadi of SurMandal completes 78 years. His birthday wish …to learn Twitter. “Why not? I would love to go to a class and learn,” he enthuses sitting in front of his apple computer surrounded by stunning black and white photographs of Hemmadi with stalwarts like Pandit Ravi Shankar, Rajan and Sajan Mishra and Mother Teresa amongst others.
Through SurMandal, Hemmadi has focussed on promoting classical music among Hyderabadis. Hemmadi had been a tour manager for Pandit Ravi Shankar and recalls many special memories. At an age when peers of his age remain stoic and lie low, Hemmadi believes ‘One will never finish learning.’ “Sometimes I see people, who are younger than me feel ‘their life is over because they have retired from the service.’ Old age should not be a hindrance for learning new things,” he says.
With this sort of enthusiasm and eager approach, he took his online classes with the help of his daughter. Now one can see Hemmadi active on Facebook, viber and Skype. Like many senior citizens, Hemmadi uses FB to connect with his family spread across. “The world is moving at a faster pace and to keep up with it, I had to get on to the computer,” he says.
He also uses the power of technology to spread the reach of classical music.
He shares the recordings of Ustad Amir Khan, Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Ravi Shankar and Nikhil Banerjee online. When music lovers comment, ‘The feel of this music is divine.
Thank you for sharing with us,’ it encourages him to keep going.
Hemmadi who is also associated with religious activities, recalls a trip in 2007 when he went to Karwar, Karnataka.
“I arranged for the broadband in the village and posted the the Puja proceedings there online for others,” he says.
FB has helped him make new friends. “Sitar exponent Stephen Slawek, a disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar for 35 years found me on FB and was keen to come to India and perform. We organised his concert to an appreciative audience in Hyderabad,” he states.
