Sheila Dhar (1929 – 26 July 2001) was an Indian author and singer of

Kirana gharana Kirana gharana is one of the Indian classical khyal gharanas, and is concerned foremost with perfect intonation of notes (swara). Singing style The central concern of the Kirana style is swara, or individual notes, in particular precise tuning ...

. She is known for her writings about music and musicians, which included three books. She also taught English literature and language at

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

. She was the wife of P. N. Dhar, an economist and an advisor of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. After dropping out of

Lady Hardinge Medical College , mottoeng = Through Adversity to Stars , established = 1916 , founder = Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst , director = , faculty = , students = , undergrad = 240 , postgrad ...

, Sheila joined Hindu College and was the top of Delhi University English Honours batch in 1950. She was awarded a Summa Cum Laude for her M.A. by

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original c ...

following which she taught Literature for a short while at

Miranda House Miranda House is a constituent college for women at the University of Delhi in India. Established in 1948, it is one of the top ranked colleges of the country and ranked as number 1 for consecutively six years (as of 2022). History Miranda ...

, and then joined the Government's Publications Division. Sheila published a book - ''Raga'n Josh'' - about the lifestyle of the

Mathur People *Mathur (name), a clan of the Kayastha community in north India Places * Mattur or Mathur, a village in Karnataka, India * Mathur-I, a village in Palakkad district, Kerala, India * Mathur-II, a village in Palakkad district, Kerala, India * M ...

Kayastha Kayastha (also referred to as Kayasth) denotes a cluster of disparate Indian communities broadly categorised by the regions of the Indian subcontinent in which they were traditionally locatedthe Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of North India, t ...

s in the

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

of the 1940s and '50s providing a glimpse of the old Delhi, which included her experiences with life in bureaucracy and anecdotes from the lives of musicians like

Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (2 April 1902 – 23 April 1968) was an Indian Hindustani classical vocalist, from the Patiala gharana.Kesarbai Kerkar Kesarbai Kerkar (13 July 1892 – 16 September 1977) was an Indian classical vocalist of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana. A protege of Ustad Alladiya Khan (1855–1946), the founder of the gharana, from age sixteen, she went on to become one of th ...

, Pran Nath, and

Begum Akhtar Akhtari Bai Faizabadi (7 October 1914 – 30 October 1974), also known as Begum Akhtar, was an Indian singer and actress. Dubbed "Mallika-e-Ghazal" (Queen of Ghazals), she is regarded as one of the greatest singers of ghazal, dadra, and thum ...

. Two books penned by Sheila Dhar reveal insights into the world of Hindustani classical music and its practitioners.

Bibliography

*Children's History of India (1961) *This India (1973) *Here's Someone I'd Like You to Meet (1995) *Raga'n' Josh *Tales of Innocents, Musicians and Bureaucrats

References

External links

* 1929 births 2001 deaths Boston University alumni Hindustani singers Delhi University alumni Place of birth missing 20th-century Indian singers Women Hindustani musicians Indian women classical singers 20th-century Indian women singers {{India-writer-stub