ahmedabad ustad shujaat khan the sitar titan from the imdad khani gharana contains multitudes walt whitman used that phrase to reconcile contradictions but in ustad khans case the multitudes assimilate artistic asceticism the gift for annotating musical complexities and a philosophers range of concerns he performs at saptak on january 4 tuesdaytalking of philosophy ustad khan told toi music is something for your soul you cannot live without it ustad khans devotees will immediately realize that he is not dealing in abstraction socrates maintained that philosophers were doctors who prescribed treatment for souls which felt under the weather but as john sellars says in lessons in stoicism soul should not be thought to be immaterialsupernatural instead sellars writes from the philosopherdoctors perspective we should understand it simply as mind thoughts and beliefs and ustad khans music repairs and fortifies all those three elementsfor instance when he rendered jhinjhoti in the 2020 edition of saptak ustad khan not only presented the raga but he also offered ruminations banter and commentary young rasikas were charmed and the aficionados felt the arts stethoscope on their souls jhinjhoti can sound like dusk appraising the meaningfulness of all that it has been able to accomplish before its bedtime but the raga can also radiate the thrill of sunrise that is looking forward to its long drive across mountains oceans deserts and torrents of commuter traffic jhinjhotis effect perhaps depends on the condition of the listeners soul at any rate ustad khans playing will offer a shot of immunity against urban lifes infection the symptoms of which include consumerism office rage and popculture fog