This article is based on communications with Kaplesh Kumar
During my tenure as president of Sangam (1972-73), we were able to persuade Ravi Shankar to perform at MIT. In those days he used to come to the Boston Symphony. Through connections with Ravi Shankar’s group with Prakash Dahanukar, a close friend, we were able to convince him to perform at MIT. Pandit Ravi Shankar did Sangam and MIT a huge favor by agreeing to perform at Kresge and more importantly by significantly reducing the amount they usually charged groups to perform.
My guess is they probably incurred a loss given the large amount of high quality printed PR materials and posters they sent us to promote the show, all at no charge. They also arranged for interviews with local radio stations, several of which covered the show. And, yes, the crowds then too were overflowing with at least a couple of hundred hanging outside the Kresge auditorium and for whom we piped the music to speakers installed outside Kresge. Then too Nalini cooked dinner for Ravi Shankar and Alla Rakha and the team. She actually made and served fresh chapatis to the visitors at the Lobdell Student Center much to their delight. That year we had several other big name artists also perform under the Sangam banner, including Ali Akbar Khan and Hema Malini, then advertised as the “dream girl of millions.”
The concert set the precedent for the 1976 Ravi Shankar concert, which I also attended with my wife Savinder as we were married by then. We had to leave early as our baby daughter Priya, who we had left in BC and Sarla Jain’s care, was crying her eyes out.
MIT Sangam Reunion 