He manages to watch cricket, grows chillies at his Los Angeles home and makes sure he keeps in touch with friends. But there is one thing that renowned conductor Zubin Mehta misses and doesn’t get – hapus mangoes. (Also Read: Music is music; I don’t know what to make of labels, says Zubin Mehta)
There are but a few things in the world — other than musical notes of course — that make Zubin’s eyebrows go up in excitement and make him shift in his chair like a child on his birthday. And hapus mangoes are right there on top of the list.
‘I miss hapus mangoes’
“I miss mangoes. Hapus, alphonso. They are not allowed to be sent so easily. Sometimes my friends try. But the customs keep them until they are overripe. That I miss, cricket I watch. Friends I am in touch with,” the 88-year-old told PTI.
Zubin, who has held on to his Indian passport, left Mumbai when he was just 18 and has since travelled the globe. He is honorary citizen of Florence and Tel Aviv and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s Music Director for Life. Besides, he has conducted many orchestras, including those of Montreal, Los Angeles, Vienna and Berlin.
He was in India last week to conduct the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Mumbai.
‘I watch cricket all the time’
As he talked about his seven-decade career in music — perfecting western classical music scores written by greats like Beethoven, Bach and Brahms — Zubin also discussed the hobbies that he finds time for.
“I watch cricket all the time. Although I don’t have a favourite, I have of course backed India whenever possible,” he said. Thanks to the 24-hour cricket channel Willow in Los Angeles, Zubin manages to catch up on live and past matches.
“They broadcast live and past matches. And I watch whenever I can. You know I am very busy also, so I can’t just sit and watch. But sometimes I watch in the middle of the night because of the time difference, I upset my wife a lot,” he said. Zubin married former American actor Nancy Kovack in 1969.
‘I can’t do without chillies’
And the love for spicy food has continued to an extent that Zubin now has a kitchen garden to grow his favourite ingredient – chillies.
“I can’t do without it. I grew up with it, that’s my food. There is no such thing as getting along. I have spicy food wherever I want. I grow my own chillies at home. But today I can get chillies anywhere.”
In the foreword of Zubin’s 2008 biography The Score of My Life, sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar writes of the conductor’s love for spicy food, so much so that he would carry a box of chillies on his travels.
Theirs was a friendship that expanded to several musical collaborations.
‘Pandit Ravi Shankar treated me with friendship’
The two greats, one from Indian classical music and the other from the Western classical firmament, first met in Montreal in the 1960s. Shankar had gone there to perform and Zubin was chief director at Montreal Symphony.
“From the beginning, I was in the company of India’s greatest musician. And he treated me with such friendship and he taught me his language and I performed with him with the New York Philharmonic, with the London Philharmonic, with the Paris orchestra,” Zubin recalled.
The friendship between the two great names in Indian and Western classical music has continued to the next generation with Zubin and Shankar’s daughter Anoushka working together.
“We got along very well and after his passing I have made music with his daughter also. They are a great family,” Zubin said.
‘I visited my childhood home recently’
The celebrated conductor has also made sure he stays in touch with his friends back in Mumbai. Born in 1936 in a Parsi family in Mumbai’s Cuffe Parade area, Zubin finished his school at St Mary’s and then studied medicine at St Xavier’s College. He dropped out of college after second year to pursue music in Vienna.
“I really meet some of my old friends a lot. People I grew up with, there aren’t too many left but I am in touch with them,” he said. During his latest visit, Zubin managed to go back to his childhood home in Cuffe Parade and was warmly welcomed by the current residents.
“I visited my home yesterday where I was born. The entire house is still there and the man who lives there invited me. I went with my son and my grandson, showed them the house where I was born,” Zubin said.
Zubin’s musical career started and flourished all over the world. He acknowledged the support he received from India. “It has always supported me, it has honoured me. I have been accepting their honours with humility and I don’t expect anything more from India in that sense,” he said.
Zubin was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1966 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2001. In 2013, he also received the Tagore Award for his contribution towards cultural harmony.
