‘Music helped many troubled souls in pandemic’

Kolkata’s Tarak Biswas says lockdown did not hit his business of making, repairing string instruments

Tarak Biswas is one of those few people who actually make music, in the sense that he not only plays the guitar but also manufactures the instrument and repairs it; and music, he says, saw many troubled souls through the COVID-19 pandemic. “Many other businesses suffered, but I can’t say mine did. I kept making and selling and repairing instruments throughout the lockdown,” says Mr. Biswas, 56, who runs his family business of manufacturing string instruments in a workshop attached to his home in Tollygunge. According to him, his father, Hrishikesh ‘Khokha’ Biswas, also a trained musician, was among the first in Kolkata to start manufacturing guitars locally. The son too learned to play the violin, guitar and the mandolin from accomplished teachers in the city even as he observed his father chisel out string instruments before formally taking over the shop once the father, now over 85, chose to retire from the business.