I was surely not born with a silver spoon in my mouth

When I was born in 1954, I certainly did not have a silver spoon in my mouth but yes, I was lucky to be surrounded by musical instruments, no..... my dad or no one in the family was a musician, in fact my dad owned a musical instrument shop in Gwalior, MP, India.

I think my dad would have used a shaker, manjeera or cymbal to amuse me when I was crying instead of a rattling toy and probably that was the beginning of musical journey in my life.

when I grew up a bit, I remember we used to stay above the shop and I could visit there 24/7 to disturb my dad when he was repairing a harmonium or tuning an instrument or attending a customer, to pacify me he would hand me a bamboo flute and ask me to go away. I think because of that reason, Flute was the first instrument I started playing.

I did not have a formal teacher but I could learn a few melodies by my own in my own style. My dad was very impressed with me and he sent me to a family friend who used to play flute for pleasure, he taught me a few songs, I noticed he was playing some wrong notes in a melody, I told this to my dad, he wanted me to shut my mouth but I could not resist, on my next visit to teacher, I played him the right notes of that melody, he praised my knowledge and never taught me again.....

We moved to a bigger house when I was in 5th standard, and then I could not visit my shop frequently and my dad wanted me to give more time to school and homework.

Time for a break...will be back soon with more