In Hindustani music, meend (Hindi: मींड) refers to a glide

Glissando

In music, a glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French glisser, to glide. In some contexts it is distinguished from the continuous portamento...

 from one note to another. It is an essential performance practice, and is used often in vocal and instrumental music. On the veena

Veena

Veena may refer to one of several Indian plucked instruments:With frets*Rudra veena, plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music*Saraswati veena, plucked string instrument used in Carnatic musicFretless...

, sitar

Sitar

The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...

, and other plucked stringed instruments, it is usually done by pushing the strings across the frets to vary their effective length and tension; compare portamento

Portamento

Portamento is a musical term originated from the Italian expression "portamento della voce" , denoting from the beginning of the 17th century a vocal slide between two pitches and its emulation by members of the violin family and certain wind instruments, and is sometimes used...

 and finger vibrato

Finger vibrato

Finger vibrato is vibrato produced on a string instrument by cyclic hand movements. Despite the name, normally the entire hand moves, and sometimes the entire upper arm. It can also refer to vibrato on some woodwind instruments, achieved by lowering one or more fingers over one of the uncovered...

. It is considered a sort of alankar, or ornament.

For example, Ulhas Bapat, veteran santoor

Santoor

The santoor is an ancient stringed musical instrument, native to Kashmir and Iran. It is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer often made of walnut, with seventy two strings. The special-shaped mallets are lightweight and are held between the index and middle fingers...

 player, who had collaborated with Burman since 1978 until his last film, 1942 A Love Story, played santoor in interludes

Break (music)

In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....

 of song Mera Kuchh Saamaan

Mera Kuchh Saamaan

Mera Kuch Samaan is a popular song from the acclaimed 1987 movie Ijaazat, directed by Gulzar, who also wrote the song. The song was composed by R D Burman and sung by Asha Bhosle...

from Ijaazat

Ijaazat

Ijaazat is an acclaimed 1987 Indian Hindi film directed by Gulzar, based on a Bengali story, Jatugriha by Subodh Ghosh....

(1987), including innovative meend pieces.