When the news of Zakirbhai cancelling his routine annual visit to India up to Jan 15, and later for the entire December 2024 to mid-March 2025, was intimated to the music fraternity, the reaction was a mix of not only surprise and shock but more of a deep concern over his health. The reason given was to take compulsory rest for at least a few months due to over-exhaustion. Personally, I was inexplicably disturbed.
One day, returning home after spending some time with my granddaughter Alekhya, I got a call from my elder brother Satish that Zakirbhai was seriously unwell. My heartbeat increased irrationally with an uncanny uneasy feeling. The next day morning, the thoughts about Zakirbhai and his health refused to go away. The more I tried to push them out of my mind, they seemed more adamant to stay. Surprisingly and unknowingly, I felt my mind was blank. The time paused for a minute and my heart raced through the labyrinth of memories with Zakirbhai. Those moments, which were captured by my eyes and recorded in my heart, set me on a voyage like never before! Infinite and cherished memories were about to be unlocked when a bolt of reality struck me. It was absolutely unbelievable and unfathomable.
The news just came in, that Zakirbhai had left for his heavenly abode. For the world and for everyone around who knew this ‘Wonder of the World’, tabla would never sound the same again. Grappling with this reality of not seeing him in person anymore, I am still searching for words. Here is a man whose physical as well as musical presence on this planet Earth for me is expected to be lasting beyond my last breath in this world. His unexpected, unwarranted and untimely exit is just not acceptable. But my nonacceptance means nothing to my god, the one on the earth and the other universal.
Anyone would feel lost when a friend, philosopher and guide leaves for a one-way journey to a place called heaven. With innumerable memories shared with him, getting enriched every time by his subtle yet powerful life experiences, he will stay with us musically all the time. Without his physical presence, though, I have lost one part of myself. While we still figure out what we have lost, let us take a minute and offer our salutations to the world legend, Ustad Zakir Hussain!
The writer is a close friend of late Ustad Zakir Hussain; he organised several of the maestro’s concerts
