DID YOU KNOW 

 Shenai is still played at the tomb of Sultan Ahmed Shah I, the founder of Ahmedabad (Gujarat, India) from Rediff of NeT August 25, 1998 

Amidst the reported moves to change the name of the commercial capital of Gujarat to its 'original' one, Karnavati, there is one place in the heart of Ahmedabad, where a shehnai mourns at the tomb of the city's founder Sultan Ahmed Shah I every day and night, for the last 555 years. 

Banubhai Sherbhai, who plays the instrument with his sons at the mazar of the sultan, inherited the art from his ancestors. He plays the same ''original'' shehnai, accompanied by nakkaras (drums), which are being played since 1442. Time has stood still for him and his clan. 

Indeed, Badshah Ka Hazira, as the tomb is known, is one of the countless such mazars that dot the country, especially the areas once ruled by Muslim rulers. But this was, perhaps, the only one where generations of the local people in the surrounding areas have slept or woken up to the melodious, even if mournful, tunes of shehnai and drums since Ahmedabad came on the map of India in the 15th century. 

The only thing that has changed is the hustle-bustle of the market outside the mazar -mosque complex. Plus the electricity in the complex. It is difficult to understand what has stood the test of time better: the stone monuments or the Banubhai clan. Both seem to be competing with each other in timelessness and continuity amid change. 

Without fail, Banubhai and his two sons Amirbhai and Sherbhai, religiously climb up the Nakkarkhan located on the main gate of the tomb, twice a day, at 0800 hours and 2300 hours. There, the father plays his shehnai for half-an-hour as his sons accompany him on drums. Neither they, nor their forefathers, have ever sought or waited for any audience, of course. 

On the holy days -- Thursday and Friday -- they perform regularly five times a day, close to the times of offering prayers at 0900, 1200,1500, 2000 and 2300 hours. For their labour, the Sunni Muslim Waqf Committee, custodian of the tombs and the mosque, pays an honorarium of Rs 468 per month to the father and Rs 462 to each of the sons, Banubhai said. UNI