PICTURE SPEAK

MUSIC OF NATURE: Dhiman (right) enthralls with the didgeridoo

The serene banks of the Ganga at Rishikesh have for long attracted foreign tourists who come hoping to indulge in meditation and yoga. However, another spot of the exotic exists within this peaceful world. Jungle Vibes is the name of a workshop started by Mukesh Dhiman where he makes musical instruments called didgeridoos. These are believed to be the oldest wind instruments and were invented by the aborigines, the original inhabitants of Australia.

How did this instrument make its journey from Australia to Rishikesh? "I remember when I was a child, a Swiss national had come to meet my father and for some reason he taught my father to play the didgeridoo that he had brought with him," says Dhiman who is now 50 years old. The Swiss tourist wanted to make more such instruments in Rishikesh as wood and bamboo of the required quality were found in abundance here, recalls Dhiman. He fondly recollects how he and his father spent long hours in the forest looking for bamboo that had been hollowed by termites. Dhiman explains that an instrument made of wood that has been naturally hollowed gives a magical drone that a manually hollowed piece can never give.

For the past 30 years, Dhiman has been training students to not only play this instrument but also make it at his workshop. Making money from this unusual skill is certainly not on Dhiman's mind as he does not charge his disciples. He is aware of the fact that the didgeridoos he sells for about Rs 2,000 fetch a far higher price in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. In the foreign markets, a didgeridoo gets sold for anything between $300 (Rs 13,500) and $400 (Rs 18,000).

Dhiman's rewards lie in making his disciples emotionally involved with their instruments as they learn to make it themselves before learning to play it. He has also developed expertise in making the djembe-a west African drum that is believed to have its origins in the north-east of Guinea.

The curiosity that the Jungle Vibes generate in tourists is easy to guage. "We could not imagine there could be such a place in India where didgeridoos were not only manufactured but also where people were trained to play them in such a professional manner," says Alaxi Lrosha, an Israeli tourist. Lrosha had been recommended the Jungle Vibes as a must-visit by his girlfriend from Tel Aviv who had visited this place earlier. "Now I know why people call India a 'different country'," says another enamoured tourist from England.

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