A contemporary of the legendary Gauhar Jan, prima donna of early recordings of Indian music, Indubala (more famously known as Miss
Indubala) was the daughter of Rajbala, a circus trapeze artiste.
Rajbala married Motilal Bose, owner of The Great Bengal Circus, also
known as Bose’s Circus or Professor Bose’s Circus. The marriage was not
really accepted by Motilal’s family as he was already married to another
woman. Indubala was born in November, 1899 at Amritsar, where the
circus party had gone for performance.
The initial plan was to train
Indubala as a nurse and she was admitted as a trainee in a hospital in
the Pataldanga locality of Calcutta. Indubala did not take fancy to the
job and ran away from the hospital, much to the disappointment of her
mother, who never wanted her only daughter to be forced into a life of
indignity. After this incident Indubala’s musical training started. This
also marked the entry of Indubala into the red light world. Amongst her
trainers was Gauhar Jan. Apart from music, Indubala also learned
etiquette from the elder artiste and developed a close friendship with
her. This association provided Indubala with valuable musical knowledge
and experience.
