Indian Classical Music Anyone?

last night i was at a friend`s place and just as we were leaving he could not help himself say a few words that bludgeoned me like a bat. Oh but you are only a beginner in indian classical? were you not a filmi Ghazal lover of late? a jagjit singh type melodius music lover. in other words, with all respect going to him, he was trying to point out, but who are you to be listening to deep classical indian, this please old chap, leave it to the chosen few, the indian elites. also you do not know the language, you do not speak the shudr hindi, aap kia jane in chison ko. this got me thinking after returning home about these fine words. why this madness for music of late? what is Indian music to me? why i worship some of these singers? why has classical music devoured me in and out? so for this we ought to start from the very beginning. francophone mixed with heavy Bollywood overtures means my influence starts with a steepness in 80`s bollywood extravaganzas to french and british pops of the 80s. a love of sega sprinkled over it, and some rai, african beats, with middle eastern beats and songs picked up in london, makes mauritius the perfect place for forming anyone in a mix bags of all world music but with nothing consequential. my classical ear was really not classical, likes of Clayderman in the 80s are not really classical. with french influences, british educational exposures, african, and american sounds coming to us courtesy of TV and material goods, indian classical seemed like a far off universe in mauritius. it is only and only through ghazals that indian classical enters the front door. the love for ghazals started in uk, in solitariness and depression, nothing uplifts you more that sharing your confusion with the great poets of old, to then realize that you are nothing serious, and that many have sung for greater reasons not just a student`s supposedly sad exile to england. fair ahmed faiz`s writing from prison, and his 'gulon me range bhare', makes one want to get up and walk. shake away the stupidity and move on. jagjit opened doors to breath and depth of ghazals to cover pure classical (ghar se hum nikle te) to the tunes that all of us know and love (songs of arth, ahista shista) etc. but where did classical emerge from? the answer comes from dwelling in the vedas and geeta. the search for something stable in an unstable me has always 'tormented' me, and the realization the rishis must have been the ones and the only ones to have 'felt' the raags in their deepest meditative journeys. they must have realized OM although simple can also be surrounded by tremedous rhythmic diversity. this is the origin of indian classical music. for me my late coming to it and deep love for it is a result of my desperate search for peace which i still have not found. so in reply to this friend. classical raag listening is not a contest (who is new, who knows more, who wins). look i know what this raag is, look i have a great collection of song on this and that app. no it is a dwelling in one`s deepest furthest end, and the best you can do is to share with friends and close ones what your feel (i mean really feel), why they should be listening to this and that song. why this raag is recommended to you. teach teach teach do not show off. indian classical is listening to communicate, not a show off exercise to promote ones music repertory. it is a truly a tool for one to take the next step, the next plunge. i am for example, deeply convinced that jasraj`s raag can liberate one. it can create a link with 'this', the real 'this'. pointless it is to hit ones stomach, expand, and say to others, 'what do you know'!!.