Meet the Artist: Ashwini Bhide DeshpandeyPart 4 of a long interview by Dr Sunil Deepak, Bologna, Italy, 11 November 2008
This is part 4 (final) of a long interview. The links to the remaining parts of this interview are given at the bottom of this page.
Interview - Continued from part 3
Ashwini: So that is what I have written about. I also like to read works that inspire me and for this reason, I like reading biographies.
Sunil: And which biographies you like most?Ashwini: The one I enjoyed the most was Marie Curie’s biography, written by her daughter. One of her daughters was also a Nobel laureate, but another one called Eve Curie had written a biography of her mother. It was not original in English but I have read the English translation and it was beautiful. I also loved Charlie Chaplin’s autobiography.
It is my passion to read the saint poets of the past, Kabir, Surdas, Meera Bai. I keep these books and go back to reading their songs. I read the songs like reading a script or prose and sometimes when I am reading a tune will come me. And every time I find new meanings in these poems, I find new directions.
The first time I read Surdas was when I found a book called Sursagar, which has got nine hundred and odd poems in it. The first time I read it, I went thorough it in one go, reading all the nine hundred poems in about 3 days. I was in a daze, I was in a different world, I was transported. Then after that my slow reading started and for almost two years, I kept on reading Surdas again and again and again. Then I have composed some of his bhajans in to compositions but this work is not yet complete and an album will be recorded.
So I keep reading Surdas, I like to read Kabir, I like to read Meera, I like to read Tukaram and Gyaneshwar. The poems don’t give just the philosophical feeling of the poet, they also give an idea of the life of the poet, what kind of life he must have lead. Again that is very very inspiring to me. Currently I am also reading Ramayan
Sunil: Thank you Ashwini ji for giving me so much of your time.
End of Part 4 (final)