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Doctor, I have sinned… on paani puri
Updated On: 03 March, 2024 09:00 AM IST | Mumbai | Neerja Deodhar
For over a decade, Dr Cavas Bilimoria served as physician at SoBo’s cultural mecca, tending to world-class artistes who turned to him during sickness and jitters. Now retired, he spreads wisdom and joy surrounding Western classical music through sporadic lectures
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As a young man, Cavas Bilimoria made the pragmatic decision to pick medicine over music. His years as the NCPA physician allowed him to bring together his profession and passion. Pic/Shadab Khan
It`s a perfect morning at the Nariman Point campus of the National Centre for Performing Arts: strains of Western classical music travel across its foyers, and sunlight reflects gently off its central chandelier. As he stares into the distance—at the Arabian Sea—Dr Cavas Bilimoria declares with utmost conviction, “Did you know Gustav Mahler was actually Parsi? His real name was Gustad Maneckji.” We realise that he is speaking of the Austrian Jewish composer regarded as an outstanding conductor. It takes mere seconds for the serious look on his sage face to give way to a smile; he’s joking, of course—only testing this writer’s knowledge mid-interview.
Legends such as Mahler and Vivaldi were once the subjects of the doctor’s education in music, through the records played in his childhood home, and at the hands of a Belgian teacher during his teens. Now, at 82, he delivers in-depth talks about their best-known works to keen listeners at the NCPA, drawing their attention to nuances and presenting nuggets from the composers’ life stories.
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