Time Out at 40

Salman Rushdie | Amitabh Bachchan | MF Husain | Zubin Mehta

Zubin Mehta

Zubin Mehta
As a child, the cricket-loving Zubin Mehta preferred the bat to baton but it wasn’t until he started training as a doctor that he realised his fondness for Mendelssohn over medicine. Arguably the most famous Parsi on the planet, Mehta has a mile-long string of achievements that put him up there with the best conductors in the world. These include the directorship of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra between 1978 and 1991 and becoming the Israel Philharmonic’s director for life in 1981. He has been giving back to his home city by playing fundraising concerts for the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation, an organisation set up in his father’s honour that teaches and promotes Western classical music.

What are your fondest memories of growing up in Mumbai?
My home in Cuffe Parade, my school [St Mary’s] in Byculla and playing cricket in the Oval.

What changes did you observe during your last visit to Mumbai in 2005?
The changes made me cry. The city is such a mess. I’m very sorry about the way Mumbai has developed physically. In today’s Los Angeles Times, there’s a front-page article about the slums of Dharavi. It’s so sad for me to sit in Los Angeles and read about this.
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Do you still dream about Mumbai?
A lot of my dreams still take place in Mumbai. My youth keeps coming back to me.

Of the many places in which you have lived, which would say is the closest to Mumbai and why?
Well, Tev Aviv comes close. There are a lot of people on the streets. Their temperament is close to that of Indians. Everybody is very opinionated. You ask them one question, you get three answers. But it’s not as stately as Mumbai. We have our Victoria Terminus and the High Court, which are completely unique. There are no buildings like that anywhere in the world.
Interview by Amit Gurbaxani

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Salman Rushdie | Amitabh Bachchan | MF Husain | Zubin Mehta