kolkata for a city starved of bigticket entertainment tuesday brought a sudden and pleasantly surprising deluge of the maestros and with ghulam ali and zakir hussain packed on a single evening numerous music lovers had a hard choice whom to watch and whom to give a miss and those who didnt want to choose went to both fasle aise bhi honge yeh kabhi socha na thaa when ghulam ali began his concert with this ghazal for many it triggered an emotion surpassing the pangs of separation of the beloved the walls that borders erect and the fasle distances that political rhetoric creates were obvious yet the maestros decision to transcend petty political barriers and come to perform in india only reaffirmed the faith that music transcends all boundaries ghulam alis concert at netaji indoor stadium organized by the west bengal minorities development and finance corporation and the thundering applause he garnered were proof enough that aman peace is not just an asha hope in the bengal of chief minister mamata banerjee whom ali referred to as saraswati it is a reality if you leave aside the politics the emotional maestro said he was overjoyed to be in kolkata i have been coming to the city and performing annually for over 30 years but this time it seems i am coming after 50 years i am always happy to perform but this time my joy knows no bounds i was so sad and today my sadness ends he said chief minister mamata banerjee whom ali referred to as saraswati paid rich tribute to him swami vivekananda used to speak about tolerance after paying tribute to him we are dedicating this programme to him she said adding through his music ghulam ali will send the message that music and culture knows no borders she then turned to him and said you have come again and again because you have a lot of songs to offer yet as the maestro sang one ghazal after another the audience sat appreciating every harkat and sher the icon presented of course their ego was pampered since he had praised them before the concert saying he thought the kolkata audience was the best in the world his son aamir ali also took the stage and sang the first stanza of the song he had recomposed in the album titled generations twentysix years ago my father had composed naina tujhse lage for asha bhonsle now i have composed this as naina re naina aamir said before singing the first stanza of both versions then he sung a modified thumri before fatherson duo sang chupke chupke the crowd erupted in thunderous applause filmmaker mahesh bhatt who was in the audience said on the birth anniversary of swami vivekananda to have a concert with the pakistani singer who couldnt perform in mumbai is commendable today was mamatas day this is the first time i met her in person and i saw in her an earnestness to