# K Ramachandran
The visit of Ustad who blessed Peruvanam in 2017... After the concert, attempting to honour Ustad, Kuttan Marar and Mattannur Ashan, who are standing together, with Ponnada ("Precious Golden Cloth").. Suddenly he ran up to an old man who was trying to get on stage. He fell while trying to climb. Zakir Hussain helped him to get up. He was the former chairman of KERA Board. He is having a small handicraft made up of coir… He presented it to Zakir Hussain. Zakir clasped his hands on his head and returned back by caressing the gift like a little baby would get a toy, and accepted the Ponnada.
It goes without saying that tenderness is art. That is why Ustad's Sadirs have a huge audience.
He presented the program on December 13 last year at a venue in Mumbai. The Ustad is engrossed in the raga Dhani, which is rained down on Dilshad Khan's Sarangi. The audience is also crying. Art can purify heart. Now it's Ustad's turn. The audience screams when the first finger touches the Tabla...Later his Tabla is like a conscious mind. A thrilling art experience that makes you waddling, jumping and giggling like a little baby. He sees every audience. Answering each other's responses through rhythms, and make sure that everyone is satisfied.
Everyone is returning after the event at Vashi CIDCO Centre. No one is talking anything. Non-stop flow of the rhythm satisfying mind. Dinner was at Kerala House.
Kalamandalam Sharmila, a famous Ottan Thullal artist, came from the home town to participate in the event. Sharmila is standing alone in the dim light outside the Kerala House, not speaking to anyone, intoxicated by the program. Zakir Hussain saw her, went closer.
Then he said, "I am Zakir Hussain..."
Sharmila humbly said, "I know… there is no one who doesn't know that."
Zakir Hussain told her, "I want to take a photo with you."
He got it photographed by my help, standing nearby. Sharmila stood closer with wet eyes.
He relished each and every dish of the Kerala meal separately.
In between, he said, "This was not the rice I ate when I came to Kerala five years ago..."
A bystander explained, "That was Kuthari, this is Ponni."
Ustad often says, "There are other better Tabla players than me, you know?" Don't forget them...
May be right Ustad... They are all Tabla Ustads. You are the Ustad of a great culture who knows only kindness and love.
(The author K. Ramachandran is the chieftain of Keli, a cultural organization in Mumbai. It was Ramachandran who brought Zakir Hussain to Peruvanam on the occasion of Keli's 25th anniversary. Ramachandran, who has been on friendly terms with Zakir Hussain since 1999, has hosted three programs of the Ustad, the Tabla maestro. Zakir Hussain was a guest in many of Keli's instrumental music programs. Ramachandran has a notable presence in the fields of instrumental arts, drama, ritual arts, documentary and folklore studies.)
