When I and my brother were about 12 and 14 years old we would go to school along a path that took us through the Bazaar of the City of Mussoorie, in the Himalayas of India, known as Library Bazar.
There we would stop and go inside a shop and look with bewilderment at the large sized pianos there, and would try out our fingers on the keyboards. The shopkeeper was a friendly Sikh gentleman who would let us fiddle around with the pianos there. The shop had devolved to the Sikh gentleman from a British Company called "Bevans" and was known as the Bevan Music House.
As we grew to love one of the pianos there, we went home and told our parents about it. My father, HH Shri Bhola Nathji, talked to the shopkeeper. But the price was exorbitant and unaffordable running into thousands of rupees. We were heart-broken as we had given up our hearts to the piano!! lol!
Then one day the owner of the shop came to visit my father and narrated his plight:
"I cannot afford to run this shop any longer. I am quitting the city and settling down elsewhere. I am getting rid of the stock in the shop. The pianos are much too big to take with me. I wish to sell the grand piano to you, which your children like so much, for only Rs. 500."
A grand piano for Rs. 500 which was the equivalent of $ 10/- was nothing short of a miracle! I knew it was my father, HH Shri Bhola Nathji's, miracle!
And the next day saw the piano in our dining room where it still stands.
In this picture I am shown playing the piano after my return from Harvard to see whether it was still working! It was! Though a trifle out of tune!
There we would stop and go inside a shop and look with bewilderment at the large sized pianos there, and would try out our fingers on the keyboards. The shopkeeper was a friendly Sikh gentleman who would let us fiddle around with the pianos there. The shop had devolved to the Sikh gentleman from a British Company called "Bevans" and was known as the Bevan Music House.
As we grew to love one of the pianos there, we went home and told our parents about it. My father, HH Shri Bhola Nathji, talked to the shopkeeper. But the price was exorbitant and unaffordable running into thousands of rupees. We were heart-broken as we had given up our hearts to the piano!! lol!
Then one day the owner of the shop came to visit my father and narrated his plight:
"I cannot afford to run this shop any longer. I am quitting the city and settling down elsewhere. I am getting rid of the stock in the shop. The pianos are much too big to take with me. I wish to sell the grand piano to you, which your children like so much, for only Rs. 500."
A grand piano for Rs. 500 which was the equivalent of $ 10/- was nothing short of a miracle! I knew it was my father, HH Shri Bhola Nathji's, miracle!
And the next day saw the piano in our dining room where it still stands.
In this picture I am shown playing the piano after my return from Harvard to see whether it was still working! It was! Though a trifle out of tune!
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