I am really lucky to have got such a great and humble guru. I have been traveling with him in India and abroad since 2009. Learning, during his presence on the dais, is a precious experience. I get lessons on improvisation, on the contact and connect with the tabla artiste and audience, on preparations for concerts, and sound check. Guruji and Hariji’s (Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia) jugalbandi is a perfect combination and duet. They understand each other personally and it reflects in their music. Their music has left a huge impact on me. It is very important to play jugalbandi. During practice, I try to feel that I am not playing the santoor, someone else is. Guruji (Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma) has told me that it is an easy way to understand where we are going wrong. For me, it is difficult to reproduce music on santoor even now. Guruji allowed recording of all lessons, so I can listen and repeat, and repeat.

I like listening to music of the great artistes like Ustad Amir Khan, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Pandit D V Paluskar, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar, Ustad Rashid Khan and Gundecha Brothers. Renowned santoor artiste Rahul Sharma is doing very well, not only in classical music, but also in fusion.

Hamsadhwani is one of my favourite ragas. It evokes romance. Playing Hamsadhwani makes me joyful. While playing the santoor, I try to make myself calm and listen to the melody coming from within me. I am constantly working to improve. Sometimes, I watch my muscles and work on the muscle movement. Coming to practice, I take up the jhala and taans in a raga for warming up, following it with aalap and jod for understanding the raga. Finally, I move to the gat and work on making tehais. Among ragas, I try to understand Megh, Bhupali and Mishra Khamaj. Tuning, I believe, is the most difficult part of playing santoor. Even after so many years of learning, I am still trying to understand the santoor and shruti. I try singing on the santoor. Currently, I am trying my best to imbibe my guru’s style. However, years later, I wish to discover new possibilities in music. I want to explore different styles.