Saikat Mukherjee - Other Interests

A picture of some Bengali folk instruments that I play. Shown are a Dotara, a Dubki and a Khamak. I have collected these instruments from luthier Tarun Das of Bolpur and Krishna Chandra Roy of Siliguri.

I am a self-taught musician adept at playing string instruments such as Guitar, Banjo, Ukulele, Mandolin, Dotara, Sarod, Khamak, and Ektara. Having spent considerable time during my childhood in different villages across Bankura, I have an innate attraction towards rural traditions, songs, and stories derived from the simple pleasures, overflowing emotions, pathos, and poignance of the indigenous communities across the land. The music derived from the colors and festivities of Charak, Horibol, Harinaam, Kirtan, Bhadu, Tushu, and Hul is a constant source of joy. I share this joy with my partner, Sreyashi Ray, who is a literary and cultural studies scholar at Harvard University. During my PhD studies at Virginia Tech, I was also part of a graduate school band named Panda Bag, where we played a mix of blues and soft jazz. I intermittently upload music videos on my YouTube channel.

I have volunteered for the Association for India's Development (AID). This volunteer-driven organization provides financial and other relief to NGOs providing development at the grassroots level in India. In the Summer of 2017, I visited a tribal village in India named Amlasole. The region had suffered from water deprivation and food scarcity in the past. AID has helped build a watershed project in the region for the community's sustainable development. One of the central components of the project is a school built to provide basic education to the children in the village. The project and the school are supervised by Dr. Arup Roy, who has made an extensive curriculum to teach the students elementary mathematics, science, English, and regional languages. I was fortunate to participate in a teaching session at the village school. The joy of teaching the science behind basic physical phenomena, such as rainfall, to wide-eyed, enthusiastic children is fascinating. You can read about my detailed experience here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN4uUW1tcJo

A Song of Forests and Islands: I wrote and composed this song for a fund drive by the Association for India's development for the Sundarbans in the aftermath of the devastating cyclone Yaas. The song is about the shared vulnerabilities of humans and animals in the Sundarbans. Every year, cyclones result in loss of lives, livelihoods, and wildlife habitat in the world's largest mangrove forest. Sreyashi Ray helped me with some of her artwork depicting the shared tragedies of humans and nonhumans in the region.

This is an adaptation of the poem "Kagaz nahi dikhayenge" (I will not show my papers) by Varun Grover. The tune is an adaptation from the songs of baul samrat Shah Abdul Karim.

I was part of the band "Panda bag," during my graduate studies at Virginia Tech (2015-2020). We played a mix of jazz standards, blues, and soft rock. This song is one of my compositions for the band.