When did your ‘flute journey’ begin?
Chander: Since my childhood when I was about 12-13 years of age. I have played at events in my school, college and academy. I took part in inter college music festivals and many such programs but all this was as a hobby, until I realized to take forward this passion and participate on larger platforms.
How did you inculcate this interest?
Chander: This is an interesting story. I didn’t choose flute but the flute chose me and the story goes like this. I must be 12-13 years of age when one of my father’s friends came to our house and he had a transverse flute (side blown flute). He played flute as hobby and on this day when he came to our place, he played flute and children including me surrounded him. This flute was difficult. He told us whoever could play the flute, he would gift that flute to him/her. When I took it in my hand, I could produce the notes and that’s how I won the gift. I think that is not a coincidence but a destiny. So after this, I would buy flutes from my pocket money. It used to happen like this that I could recognize the flute music from even a far distance away when others could not. It would attract me. I would see how a flute player (who would come to sell flutes/transverse) moves his fingers and then I would experiment with it. In the beginning, my father complained but one fine day it so happened that he recognized the song I was playing on flute. That came as a big compliment to me. I was getting a hand on how to play the instrument without any formal training. My parents neither encouraged nor discouraged and as such, I had no access to formal teaching. I would refer to books on how to play notes but there is a saying, ‘you can’t learn to swim by reading a book.’ I practiced and simultaneously took my academic studies too seriously.
Where have been your performances so far?
Chander: I played in my school, college, Academy, and at family gatherings. As I said, it was just a part of hobby until then, I enjoyed though. And then I joined the police force… I then played for Rafi Foundation that organizes musical concerts with a huge bunch of musicians, singers, etc. I have also played in Doordarshan Channel a couple of times. I was then selected to participate in a national contest where the judges included B-town’s Mahesh Bhatt and Neha Dupia. I thought it would be a show but it turned out to be a contest. This did not deter me to go-ahead and I won two awards – second prize and audience choice.
Your favourite song(s) you like to play on flute/transverse?
Chander: I love the old sings, particularly those sung by Mohd Rafi and Lata Mangueshkar.
How it has been performing in Goa? How many performances you had in Goa since your transfer here?
Chander: Goa plays a special role. After joining the police force, I did not touch the instrument for nearly a decade. One day, I realized that I am distancing my hobby. My inner voice said the artist in you is dying… This realization came to me when I was posted in Goa as the Deputy Inspector General of Police and incidentally people here love music. So I decided why not to refine my art. I went back to my flute/transverse. I did performances and thereafter began organizing my own shows with the first being at Goa Governor’s Palace Raj Bhavan. Governor Dr. Mridula Sinha accepted my request to hold the event at the palace… Entire Goa was invited. First time in my life, I played 20 songs right from 1947-2016. That was dream come true.
How do you balance your hobby of playing flute and your duty being the Chief of Goa police?
Chander: First of all the job of police is stressful… and any hobby is a stress buster. It unwinds your mind. So when I go back home after duty, I make time to play flute though it is not every day. There are days when I don’t touch the instrument for a week. However, I enjoy my passion.
Can you share your work experience in Goa? What are the challenges here?
Chander: In Goa there is a very different kind of policing. Goa is a tourist state. More problems are tourism-related, the vices which come with tourism drugs, prostitution, gambling. Violent crime are less and occasional and this we get to manage. The important thing I realized is adopting scientific techniques of investigation. Cyber probe and cell phone analyses were missing and this shortcoming needed to be fixed. There was also traffic related issue. These were the challenges. We have now managed to crackdown on the traffic violations, identified more black spots whereas in drug related cases, the raids have increased and prosecution has been upped.
Team TNV
