A walk down a certain lane..

Music and my life has been intertwined ever since I can remember. Every single fond memory of my childhood involves music in one form or another. I don't think a lot of people would agree to boarding school being fun at the age of three and a half, but I beg to differ. If it wasn't for boarding school at that tender age, neither my parents nor I would have ever known about that part of me and considering how tone deaf my dad is, I wouldn't be surprised if it had never occurred to him to pay for music lessons if I stayed at home.

I can say that any musicality I possess comes from the maternal side of my family rather than paternal. My mother, though not formally trained, has a brilliant ear for music and is very artistic. However, my father, on the other hand, though not musical, is very motivating and attentive to all my musical needs and thus they created a good balance between the both of them. And now, my husband has stepped in to fulfill every single need and dream of mine, for which I am extremely grateful.

My piano is my first love, my first ever cherished possession, my first companion, in short, my first everything. My earliest recollection of myself would include a Piano. It almost seems to be a part of me, something that I can't imagine living without. Its tone, the colour of its brilliance, the beauty 88 keys can create, the sheer power to transform a simple musical idea, its astounding. If only Bach had ever lived to see the Piano now!

Growing up in Kerala had drawbacks when it came to availability of western classical music and the only two composers the majority of the people had heard of, were Beethoven and Mozart. The primary reason being the existence of Karnatic music and Hindustani music which are both Indian music forms with a very large audience. There was/is only a very select few, especially in South India, who follow western classical music ardently. And out of the vast repertoire of western classical music, anywhere I went that had a Piano (which was very rare) or a keyboard or if we had guests visiting, it was always the same request back and forth - Fur Elise, which by the way, will drive me cuckoo if I have to play it ever again! 

Fortunately for me, even with resources being minimal and opportunities rare, doors always opened at the right time for me to pursue my keen interest in classical music, be it the brand new Yamaha acoustic Piano that was my 10th birthday gift or my English tutor, who was on a visit initially and who taught me for almost 8 years, deciding to stay back in Kerala having fallen in love with the  place and culture. Everything seemed to work out in favour of me or maybe I just got real lucky.

The truth is, despite all the circumstances that were unfavourable, the insane amount of hours that I had to practice and the fact that I practically had a non-existent social life when I was growing up, I'm glad I pursued it or else my life would have felt incomplete. And the other part of the truth is I guess I'm one of those people who can't work 9 to 5!