Kolkata violinist performs to raise money for ailing wife

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, May 21

Swapan Sett, a 71-year-old violinist from Kolkata, is on a mission to raise money for his ailing wife, a cancer patient. She is under treatment at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. 

Sett travels across the country, plays violin at public places and collects money to achieve his target. At the same time, he promotes classical music among youngsters. He performs at restaurants, hotels and other places where footfall is considerably higher. In Doon Valley, he has been able to generate Rs 10,000 by selling CDs containing 24 tracks of melodious violin recital (solo) so far.

“My wife is stable now. She is under treatment at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. I work hard and travel across the country to collect money for her treatment,” says Sett, a proud father of a girl (MBA) who works in Kolkata. He visits Mumbai frequently to see his wife.

 After completing his college education, Swapan Sett joined MC Birla School as a visiting professor in Kolkata for seven years. He has been travelling for the past 14 years. He plays violin from 8.30 am to 9.30 pm to entertain guests at restaurants and other public places. The money he earns is sufficient, he says while expressing his happiness over the positive response he gets from people.

Sett sells his painting too wherever he travels. He is all praise for the bounty of nature that is present in Uttarakhand.

When asked why he does not go for jugalbandi, he says, “That is not music but a hotchpotch. While going solo, one can feel the purity of raga and the instrument being played by the musician. In jugalbandi, since there are too many instruments, music appears to have lost somewhere.”

Shantanu, a tourist from Delhi, said the violin recital by Swapan Sett was soothing after a long drive of more than five hours from Delhi to Dehradun. “I had no idea of his motive, otherwise I would have bought more CDs for my friends,” he said. Swapan’s wife was diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2002.  Swapan would be playing violin in various public places in Mussoorie for the next four days.

Ravi Joshi, a resident of Dehradun, said help groups should come forward and help him sell his CDs.