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| FAMILY TIES | |
| Bonding Hariharan style | |
| Nandhini Sundar | |
| Behind all that jazz and gazal, Hariharan is a simple man loving every moment he spends with his family. | |
| "Inspired by the songs of Mehndi Hassan, I forayed into ghazals. Ghazals offer a lot of scope for innovations unlike classical music. You can take one sentence and give it 20 different interpretations," he said to a question on his music. As for becoming a singer, "I never thought until I met Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan and got more involved in music. After my fourth year in college, I knew this is what I wanted to do." Complementing him is his wife Lalitha. "Not many know that ours was an arranged marriage. I wore a Kancheepuram sari with flowers in my hair. My parents were there as well as his uncle and mother." Breaking free Given the busy schedule, Hariharan laments about not having enough time for his family. "I try to take a break whenever I can to spend time with them." Chips in Lalitha, "We then take off on these vacations. A few years back we went to Africa and spent six weeks on a Safari. It was wonderful," chips in Lalitha. Does spending less time spell fewer arguments? "There are," says Lalitha, "But they are resolved as he gives in most of the time. Like a typical artiste, his thoughts fade into music while I'm more practical, remember and persist till I have my way," she adds with a laugh. Of father and sons Their children, Akshay and Karan, share their father's passion for music. While Akshay plays the guitar, the younger Karan is more stage friendly. "He was three when he went up on stage where Hari was performing and introduced himself to the audience as his son!" says Lalitha proudly. "My sons are like my friends," adds Hariharan. On a more philosophical note, he says, "Children are with us for a very short time, we need to make time for them when they are available. Once older, they don't have time for you and if you have not bonded with them by then, it becomes difficult. Coming from a middle class background, I feel, it is important to instil the right values into them." For Lalitha, marriage to a celebrity poses problems, as "I can't go out with him to the grocers or make him run errands. We have weekdays not weekends as Hari performs during weekends. But I feel happy when people appreciate his work." Special song Any special songs that he sings for her, we ask and she declares happily, "All that he sings is for me." The first album of Colonial Cousins was a hit while the second wasn't. "The second had an American blending, it was supposed to be launched in the US which didn't happen." Any new albums? "Lahore Ke Rang – Hari Ke Sang will be released in India in a couple of months. It has already been released in the UK and Europe and is on top of the charts in Pakistan." Though wedded to music, he loves to "travel and visit obscure places where I can watch people, absorb their culture, get a feel of the place and their way of life. I've done it widely in England, want to do the same in India." As for his long hair and flashy image, "I wear flashy things simply because I feel like. At one point of time I wore beads and things, now I don't. I still sport long hair, earlier it was longer. I have a pair of green pants, red shoes…." And the family simply smiles as he says that. |
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