Practised music in graveyard as young boy: Padma Vibhushan awardee Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan
New Delhi, Mar 1: Padma Vibhushan awardee Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan says as a young boy he used to practice in a graveyard so that he could sing without any inhibition or distraction and also without disturbing anyone.
Eighty-seven-year-old Khan recalls he uttered his first words as a child quite late and his parents had to try out various methods to make him speak.
The legendary Hindustani classical vocalist has come out with his memoir "A Dream I Lived Alone", co-written with daughter-in-law Namrata Gupta Khan.
In an interview, Khan told PTI about several interesting facts about his life which he also mentions in his book, published by Penguin Random House.
On his practising music in the graveyard, he says his sole motive was to do his riyaz and there was no sense of fear or hesitation. Khan was around 12 years old then.
His guru used to take his daily nap after lunch and would ask Khan to go home and practice. But home was not the right place as he got distracted.
"The graveyard was desolate and a perfect place for me to do my riyaz. I did not have to worry about anybody and sing my heart out," he says, adding he kept it as a secret.
Khan was born on March 3, 1931 in Badaun in Uttar Pradesh. He was the eldest son in a family of four brothers and three sisters. His father, Ustad Waris Hussain Khan, was the son of Ustad Mureed Baksh, who was a great musician, and his mother, Sabri Begum, was the daughter of the founder of the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana of music, Ustad Inayat Hussain Khan.
He got his basic classical music training from his father and later studied music under his cousin, Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan, who is known for his Kangan Mudaria in Raag Multani.
Khan says it was upon the advice of Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan that he learnt light and semi-classical forms such as thumri, dadra, kajri, the poetic forms of the geet and the ghazal and spiritual forms including bhajans, besides the classical forms of composition, dhrupad and khayal.
He also says that he began to speak quite late and had not said a word till the age of two. His parents were quite worried but did not give up hope.
"My father used to make me lie on his chest, face downwards, and try to say something as he sang in front of me," he says.
Khan's mother later told him that the young boy could utter some 'ya ya ya' sounds imitating his father.
"My father continued to work on me in a similar fashion as he believed that if I exerted myself to bring out sounds, lying on my stomach, it would strengthen my vocal chords as well as 'open up' my lungs," he says.
This remedy worked because soon afterwards, Khan uttered his first words and gradually started speaking like other children of his age.
Khan performed at a concert for the first time at the age of eight.
"The then municipality chairperson Ali Maqsood used to organise a Janmashtami function in Badaun every year. In 1939, I got an opportunity to perform. It was at the Victoria Garden (now Gandhi Maidan) in Badaun," he recalls.
Namrata, wife of Khan's son Rabbani, says as the co-writer of the autobiography, she plays the part of a 'sutradhar'.
She mooted the idea in 2012 and completed the draft in 2016.
"Over many conversations, I listened to his stories and recollections and made notes," she says.
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'Go back to your own country': Indian-origin taxi driver attacked in Dublin
London, Aug 5 (PTI): An Indian-origin taxi driver based in Ireland for over 23 years has become the latest to be targeted in an unprovoked attack in the capital Dublin, with local police (Gardai) launching an investigation into the violent assault.
Lakhvir Singh, in his 40s, told local media that he picked up two young men in their 20s on Friday night and dropped them at Poppintree, in the Ballymun suburb of Dublin.
Upon arriving at the destination, the men are said to have opened the vehicle door and struck him twice on the head with a bottle. As the suspects fled, they reportedly shouted: "Go back to your own country".
"In 10 years I've never seen anything like this happen," Singh told ‘Dublin Live’.
"I'm really scared now and I'm off the road at the moment. It will be very hard to go back. My children are really scared," he said.
A Dublin police spokesperson said Singh was taken to the city's Beaumont Hospital with injuries determined as not life-threatening.
"Gardaí are investigating an assault reported to have occurred in Poppintree, Ballymun, Dublin 11 at approximately 11:45 pm on Friday, 1st August 2025. A man, aged in his 40s, was brought to Beaumont Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injury. Investigations are ongoing," the spokesperson said.
The incident followed an Indian Embassy advisory, also issued on Friday, expressing safety concerns following recent attacks in and around the capital Dublin and urging Indian citizens to take safety precautions.
"There has been an increase in the instances of physical attacks reported against Indian citizens in Ireland recently,” states the advisory.
“The embassy is in touch with the authorities concerned in Ireland in this regard. At the same time, all Indian citizens in Ireland are advised to take reasonable precautions for their personal security and avoid deserted areas, especially at odd hours," the statement reads, adding emergency embassy contact details as 0899423734 and cons.dublin@mea.gov.in.
It came in the wake of a brutal attack on a 40-year-old Indian man at Parkhill Road in the Tallaght suburb of Dublin on July 19, described as “mindless, racist violence” by locals.
The Gardai had opened an investigation into the case and Indian Ambassador to Ireland Akhilesh Mishra was among those who took to social media to express shock over the attack.
“Regarding the recent incident of physical attack on an Indian national that happened in Tallaght, Dublin, the embassy is in touch with the victim and his family. All the requisite assistance is being offered. The embassy is also in touch with the relevant Irish authorities in this regard,” the embassy said in a social media post days after the incident.
A Stand Against Racism protest was also held by the local community in condemnation of what was described as a "vicious racist attack" and to express solidarity with migrants.
Last week, Dr Santosh Yadav took to LinkedIn to post details of a “brutal, unprovoked racist attack”.
The entrepreneur and AI expert stressed that it was not an isolated incident and called for “concrete measures” from the governments of Ireland and India to ensure Indians feel safe to walk the streets of Dublin.
His post revealed that a group of six teenagers attacked him from behind as he walked to his apartment in Dublin.
“This is not an isolated incident. Racist attacks on Indian men and other minorities are surging across Dublin — on buses, in housing estates, and on public streets. Yet, the government is silent. There is no action being taken against these perpetrators. They run free and are emboldened to attack again,” reads Yadav's post.
Fine Gael party Councillor for Tallaght South, Baby Pereppadan, was among those who expressed concern following last month’s attack.
“People need to understand that many Indian people moving to Ireland are here on work permits, to study and work in the healthcare sector or in IT and so on, providing critical skills,” he said.
Another violent anti-Indian attack in Ireland
— Journalist V (@OnTheNewsBeat) August 5, 2025
Taxi driver Lakhvir Singh was attacked with glass bottles while doing his job pic.twitter.com/mtkwhLWISx
