File pic: Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan
Legendary musician Amjad Ali Khan today said the British Airways had misplaced his "beloved" Sarod, which hasn't been found even two days after he took a flight from London to Delhi.
"I want my Sarod back, not any compensation," he told NDTV.
This morning, the 68-year-old tweeted, "After damaging my Sarod in 1997, British Airways now misplaces my Sarod. 48 hours and I still wait anxiously for some news. Still not traced!!!"
Mr Khan has played the Sarod, which he has named "Ganga", for 45 years. He played it on June 21 while performing at a tribute to Rabindranath Tagore in Darlington near London. He returned from London on Saturday with his wife Subhalaxmi.
"At the airport there, I took my Sarod and handed it over to the man and said, please take care of this...it's my life," Mr Khan told NDTV, remembering that a troupe of musicians was traveling on the same flight.
"We landed in Delhi in the middle of the night and they kept looking for the Sarod. They spotted a golf kit and said this is your instrument. We waited three-four hours...They promised that my Sarod would arrive in the next flight. But it has been 48 hours," he said, questioning how such a "big airline could be so careless".
In a statement, British Airways cited "intermittent problems" with the baggage system at a terminal in Heathrow. "We are working round the clock to reunite customers with their bags. We are very sorry that this process is taking longer than anticipated, and we fully understand the frustration that this is causing," said the airline.
The maestro's Sarod has often taken the brunt of airline travel despite his instructions that the instrument should be treated with care.
In 2010, Air India apologized after the musician's Sarod was damaged in a flight.
The classical musician, who was awarded India's second highest civilian honour Padma Vibhushan in 2001, said he would suggest to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the government should pay for an extra airline seat for musical instruments belonging to artistes who had contributed significantly to the country's culture.