Heart to Heart: Remembering Nainaji

Vidya Rao

HarperCollins India

160 pages, R199

The author narrates the life story of her teacher, the legendary singer Naina Devi—her childhood in a progressive Bengali Brahmo Samaj family in the early years of the 20th century, her secluded life after marriage to a prince, and her later career as a singer, teacher and patron. In the process, Rao uncovers the changes over the previous century in the domain of Indian classical music.