Atul Merchant was Annapurna Devi's disciple from 1982 onwards and had a mother-son-like bond with her. Despite his primary focus being vedanta and music, he has studied storytelling and screenplay writing.
Legendary musician Annapurna Devi's life has been shrouded in mystery. Daughter of the unparalleled Allauddin Khan of Maitra and the first wife of Pandit Ravi Shankar, she conquered the summit of Indian classical music, only to later renounce public life to spend her entire life as a recluse in the confinement of her house. Until the age of sixteen, Annapurna Devi was confined to her family home at Maihar, where her father was a court musician and guru to the maharaja. During this period, she devoted herself exclusively to the deepest study and practice of Indian classical music under the strict tutelage of her father. After her estrangement from her husband Pandit Ravi Shankar, Annapurna Devi went ever deeper into self-imposed seclusion.
The only people whom she met and communicated with were her disciples who used to visit her for music lessons, which included some of the greatest musicians our era has seen, including Pandit Nikhil Banerjee, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ustad Bahadur Khan, Aashish Khan, Dhyanesh Khan, Nityanand Haldipur and Basant Kabra, to name a few. Full of anecdotes and untold stories, this is her life story as told by her to her disciples over a period of time, giving valuable insights into their Guru Ma's personality, music and teachings.
