Time to part with an old friend (or two)...

Tempus fugit. I bought a Srishti sitar 4 years ago and it has been the gem of my collection ever since. As I get older and space around the house becomes a premium with a young son, I have changed my focus from collecting a few good instruments to keeping only the ones I play. I just don't play sitar anymore, at least not often. This is largely due to the fact that I have only a finite amount of time daily for riyaz , but mostly it is because from the moment my surbahar arrived, I haven't had the desire to play anything else. "This is my instrument.", I thought, and I think I am right!

I don't believe in hoarding instruments and I really don't have the space to hoard sitars. So, I have decided to sell it. I remember all the time I spent obsessing over it, every detail before I ordered it. Now, it is very hard to part with it. It is like an old friend is moving away.

Last year I bought a sarangi, partly on a whim, but more so because a friend found a great one while touring in Dehli. Yes, this too is the gem of my collection. I am afraid it will have to move away too. It is hard when friends move away like that, but life goes on and I focus on the positive aspect where the instrument will be played by a deserving player and that it will add the spark to their life as it did to mine.

I have a harmonium and vocal taanpura as well. These are not nearly of the same callibre as those mentioned above, but, according to my (new) philosophy, I am no longer in the instrument hoarding and collecting business.