90-Year-Old Shehnai Maestro Fights to Preserve Fading Tradition in West Medinipur

• Purna Aguan, a nearly 90-year-old shehnai artist from Dantan, Paschim Medinipur, continues to play despite the decline of the traditional instrument.
• He has dedicated nearly six decades to the shehnai, learning from his father at age 30.
• Once popular for weddings and events in the 1970s, opportunities have dwindled due to modern instruments.
• Aguan laments the new generation's lack of interest in learning shehnai, fearing the art's disappearance.
• He hopes the new generation will embrace the tradition to revive the shehnai's emotional melody in Bengal's villages.