When violin reconnected my 77-year-old father with his 82-year-old teacher

By Shubha Sharma

This is a story from a time the world had shut down – the COVID-19 lockdown. My father rekindled his passion for music through the violin, which he had not touched for over two decades.

The teacher was 82 years old, her student was then 77. She was in North Carolina, and he was in Mumbai, India.

Father called his music teacher from two decades ago on a whim, to check how she was doing during the lockdown. He didn’t quite expect her response. “I’m fine, but how’s your practice going?” she asked. “Play just one song I’ve taught you, and send me a video.”

The feedback was instant. There was encouragement, and corrections; he needed to practise for the next fortnight. Would he be keen on learning again? She was ready to teach. She would wait for his response.

Without further ado, connections were established on Skype. The children on both sides helped set up the call on the appointed date.

“Watch the space between ‘ni’ and ‘sa’. You need to get a grip on that,”… “Go back to the first lesson. Try now.” She would sing and play on her violin, and he would follow, note for note. One line could take 45 minutes to master, but she wouldn’t budge till he got it right.

For nearly two hours, they played, like they did in class all those years ago.

Age, illness and distance may have taken away precious years from the violin practice, but a love for the art connects them in more ways than one.

At the end of Week 3, Father wanted to send his teacher a ‘gurudakshina’ or fee. He sent her a WhatsApp message expressing his desire.

Here was her reply, reproduced with permission, and edited only for typos:

“By God’s grace, children are good and taking care of me very well. I have already taken money from you when I needed, while raising my children (Those times I needed money). Now I don’t need anything. I am teaching you with pleasure, if you are really interested, in my teaching. You had played in your recording the Mohanam Krithi, which I had taught some years back.

“I will be teaching you for some time the basics, to get ease. After taking some classes, I will also take the gamakam (please don’t get discouraged). Learning throughout our life is a journey. So I enjoy teaching, you also enjoy your learning, taking it as a journey in our life. I am very happy to teach you. Please don’t bother about the payment. God has kept me in a good position, and I would only like to share my knowledge to you (which is God’s blessing for me). Your class is on Wednesday at 9 pm your time.”

Read also:

• When Carnatic music brought solace to my dying mother