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Mrs. Sunita Bhuyan

by Saloni Saraogi and Akansha Jain from Balipara, India

Sunita Bhuyan (Sunita Bhuyan)
Sunita Bhuyan (Sunita Bhuyan)

AN INTERVIEW WITH SUNITA BHUYAN:

Q: Who do you think is a hero?

A: A hero is someone who inspires, encourages, coaches and gives people the positive motivation to excel in something and follow the right path

Q: Who is your hero?

A: My hero is my mother Minoti Khaund. She is an artist, a wife, home maker, a great mother, a great grandmother, a mother-in-law, music teacher and social citizen. She manages to inspire even passersby with her calm and composed nature and humility. She is the ultimate super woman who has never failed in any role or any duty that i can think of.

Q: What is your life story?

A: Its a story of a gifted daughter who got confused in her youth and did not know whether to follow the path of music or the path of media. But realized just in time that her musical talent had the potential to reach out to thousands, inspire them, entertain them, de stress them and also teach them the beauty of creativity. Hard work cannot replace anything in the road to success... And till you have your heart and soul in something you can never master it. Love your job and give it your best shot always the world will love you!

Q: What is your family background?

A: My father is a great human being who has worked with the GIC for 35 years. He is the main support behind my mother’s musical journey. He has taught us to enjoy life, love family and friends and always look at the positive side of every situation. An eternal optimist, who always motivates and encourages you at each and every step. He has taught us to believe that "it’s not how old you are but how old you think you are "He is 79 with the heart of a 25 year old. My mother is well known violinist Minoti Khaund

Q: Where is your place of birth and date of birth?

A: Shillong, INDIA. 23rd May 1970.

Q: How many siblings do you have?

A: An older brother Pabitra Khaund who works for the civil service. Very brilliant in academics and a very gifted singer who did not pursue music seriously

Sunita Bhuyan (Sunita Bhuyan)
Sunita Bhuyan (Sunita Bhuyan)

Q: What are your achievements and moments of pride?

A: The Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award in 2005. Being profiled in Business India magazine as a "frontrunner". Being profiled in TheTimes of India for my life enrichment program for working professionals. Performing the first jugalbandi with my mother in 1987 at the India international center Delhi and being appreciated by one senior the or most music critics. When my son sang a full song in one of our Christmas parties. Performing at some prestigious concerts in UK and US recently presenting at the Gartner forum in New York doing music for spastics society and don bosco street children last but not the least doing raaga to Bollywood workshop for AVS, my son’s school!!!

Q: How were your bad times and struggles? Describe them.

A: There are no bad times i have realized in your career. you get the best when you give your best and prepare well. if you didn't succeed it was either not well planned or not the right time for you. Every failure has to be a learning experience so that you can move on to the next with all your best efforts. EArlier it was frustrating. But now I have learnt to see the positive side of failures. The more music you do the more you learn to be at peace with yourself and look at things from a more long term perspective than short term gains. Always look at what you can learn from an experience than what you can get

Q: How much training did you have to go through?

A: The full music course. Its a 8 year degree called master of music which i did across 15 years. This was not all. i went through the entire "guru shishya parampara: with my mother which i am still undergoing.. And also 5 years of advanced training under her guru Pandit V. G. Jog

Q: What are your qualifications?

A: Master of music and MBA in Human Resources.

Q: How were you as a school student?

A: Good but not the first girl. Always have got a first class though till my MBA. Was quite naughty and restless as a young girl in school. Still have that streak as am constantly trying to try out something different.

Q: How many hours a day do you practice?

A: Not much now as i travel a lot and most of the practice happens on stage.

But initially 3 to 4 hours a day. Have never practiced for long hours like 10 to 12 that we hear of.

Page created on 1/25/2011 2:40:38 PM

Last edited 1/25/2011 2:40:38 PM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.

Extra Info

HER ACHIEVEMENTS:
Sunita, a recipient of the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award for excellence in music, also holds a masters degree in music. She enjoys experimenting with light classical and folk fusion to reach out to a diverse spectrum of audiences. Along with her masters in music, Sunita also holds a post-graduate degree in Human Resources and uses music as a tool for her life enrichment workshops. As head of training for Syntel BPO, her mantra is to deal with stress head-on by enriching one's life through music. She was initiated into music at a tender age by her mother Minoti Khaund. The mother-daughter duo of Minoti and Sunita have performed duets all over India and abroad, regaling the audience and the press alike with their *"jugalbandi"*. What makes her great is: selection of her tune, her style of presentation and she stride to give a semi-classical touch which has a blend of folk western classical.

She has performed abroad like India International Center, Delhi, NCPA Mumbai, Rabindra Natya Mandir Mumbai, India Habitat Centre, Bandra Fest, Kala Ghoda Fest, London, Glasgow, Aberdeen, ,Assam, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Scotland, London New York ,New Jersey, NY, Chicago, Boston, Nashville. Along with pure classical music, Sunita has been performing a variety of light music melodies, experimenting with jazz, folk and popular music to reach out to a diverse spectrum of audience.

ABOUT HER:
Sunita Bhuyan is a violinist of the Hindustani style and has carved a niche for herself as an upcoming musician of India. Sunita Bhuyan, daughter of famed violinist, Minoti Khaund has been carving her own niche in India’s cultural and corporate world. Bhuyan has been performing in various functions and meets in India along with her mother as well as independently. With corporate, she has been presenting workshops on music as a tool for holistic development of corporate executives across various international forums. Recently she had given a performance at NCPA in Mumbai about the influence of classical ragas on some of the Assamese folk music styles.

“Bihu is a popular form of folk song as well as dance,” said Bhuyan, who explored the folk, devotional and contemporary music of Assam in a lecture-demonstration. “Bihu tunes are very similar to raga Dhani and I wanted to demonstrate the link between the two.” She also illustrated how the 400-year-old songs of poet-saint Sankardev are set to tunes based on ragas such as Suha, Sarang, Asavari and Kamod and that popular ragas such as Yaman and Bhoop were used to score the songs of lyricist Jyoti Prasad Agarwalla.

Born in a well-to-do Phukan paribar of Jorhat, Assam (INDIA) her father was Manik Chandra Phukan and mother was Nalini Debi. She was raised in a culturally rich atmosphere. Her maternal grandfather, Bisheswar Sharma, was a well-known tea planter and cultural gharana of Jorhat. Being a connoisseur of the fine arts himself, he encouraged Minoti and bought her a violin. So, she started to play at a tender age of 10.

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATION: Sunita’s academic qualification includes an MBA in Human Resources and she has got around 15 years of experience in the corporate world as a training specialist. Currently she heads the training for Syntel Inc an American ITES company and uses music as a Life enrichment tool for her management development workshops. She got the award for most innovative HR practice at the recent world HRD congress. Sunita has been profiled as a “Frontrunner” in Business India and as a “Lifestyle& Wellbeing” specialist in the Mumbai Mirror, of the Times of India daily.