Flautist Himanshu Nanda, disciple of the legendary Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, has embarked on a mission to teach music to autistic children.
Along with Rajeev Kamath, a former faculty member of IIT Madras who is learning the bansuri from him, he has been teaching children with development issues for sometime now, in collaboration with a voluntary organisation, Arpan, in Mumbai.
“We have seen the change that has come over these children after they began attending the sessions. There’s a significant development in their mental faculties after learning music,” says Mr. Nanda, in Kochi to give a flute recital at an event organised by the Bank Employees’ Arts Movement Ernakulam (BEAME).
He is enrolled at the Amrita University in Coimbatore to pursue a PhD in music therapy. Conversely, Mr. Nanda had been to Kerala sometime ago to perform before patients of the Government Mental Health Centre at Kuthiravattom. He says he will dedicate the next few years in pursuit of developing a vision for the community comprising children with mental disabilities.
“They are the purest form of humanity, free of prejudices, illusions. While we claim to be a civilised society, we fail to communicate with them and relegate them to the margins. I have great respect for the parents who have dedicated their lives for the upbringing of these children. It is amazing how the children have responded to music and picked up communication skills.”
Mr. Nanda has also taken to teaching music in the web world.
Digital classrooms
“The digital classroom offers many advantages. This mode of teaching can circumvent logistic issues and inconveniences marring regular study and practice.”
Music, for him, is not entertainment. It is an exalted form of communication with co-artistes and the audience. He says he will continue to learn from his guru till the end of his life and the mission is to propagate and preserve classical music.
