It is for the first time that the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is organising a musical evening for corporate bigwigs and it is also the first time that sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar has given consent to perform from a corporate platform.

"I wanted to do something for the Gujarat earthquake victims. I spoke to Mr Vinay Bharat Ram about my intention and he took the initiative. The event is organised to serve a larger purpose and I hope it does well," Pandit Shankar told The Financial Express. The CII initiative is largely attributed to its current president Arun Bharat Ram and his brother Vinay Bharat Ram.

The Bharat Ram brothers are not only classical music lovers but good sitar performers as well. "For the last 40 years, the Bharat Ram brothers have been my disciples and they are good performers, Pandit Shankar said, adding, music and business are not the antithesis of each other.

"It is, however, difficult to devote equal time to the two areas. But the two brothers are not professional musicians. They play sitar for their own pleasure," he says. While he praises Mr Vinay for being a good vocalist, Mr Arun, he says, is good sitar player. "However, he does not have too much time because of his busy schedule," adds Pandit Shankar.

The Ravi Shankar Center for Music and Performing Arts and CII is organising `Strings of Relief,' a musical evening with Pandit Shanker in aid of the reconstruction and rehabilitation of earthquake hit Gujarat here on Saturday.