An Evening of Music, Stillness, and an Uneasy Thought

 An Evening of Music, Stillness, and an Uneasy Thought


Last night, at Sufi Music Night at Safdarjung Tomb in Delhi, I experienced the simple pleasure of sitting still and listening.

The lead artist, sitarist Megha Raut, brought together Sufi music and the sound of the sitar. The blend softened the trance-like intensity I associate with Sufi music into something gentle and contemplative. The notes seemed to invite the mind to slow down.

Around me, the audience listened quietly. That shared attentiveness became part of the beauty of the evening. So many people, each carrying their own thoughts and concerns, had settled into the same sound. For a while, simply being there felt enough.

The historic setting added to that feeling. There was something deeply moving about hearing the sitar in a place that has stood through generations of human life. The music, the architecture, and the quiet attention of the audience made it an evening I wanted to hold on to.

But one observation left me uneasy.

Above us, bats were flying through the night. Their movements appeared restless to me, and I began to wonder whether the amplified sound was disturbing them.

I wondered, too, whether it could interfere with their echolocation. I do not know whether that was happening, or whether what I saw was simply their normal nighttime activity. Yet once I noticed them, I could no longer give myself entirely to the music.

The thought was painful: the place we had chosen for an evening’s entertainment was also a home for other living beings.

We could enjoy the performance and leave. They would remain.

That awareness changed the evening for me. I still felt the beauty of the sitar and the comfort of listening together. Alongside that pleasure came a concern I could not settle: had our peaceful evening come at a cost we had barely noticed?

I left grateful for the music, but with the bats still on my mind.

Perhaps caring for a historic place also means paying attention to the life it shelters. Before we fill such spaces with amplified sound, it seems worth understanding how their quieter inhabitants might be affected.

The sitar gave me a few hours of stillness. The bats left me with a question that stayed long after the music ended.

The event was organized by Candlelight Concerts along with the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India on 26-Oct-2026.


Safdarjung Tomb. Photo clicked by Yanesh Tyagi. (c) 2026 Yanesh Tyagi.

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