Anuradha Pal: Zakir bhai helped me shine in a male-dominated space

Ustad Zakir Hussain's death is a personal loss.

- Soumya Vajpayee

Ustad Zakir Hussain's death is a personal loss. Pal, who is the Limca Book of Records holder for being the world's first professional female tabla player, trained under Hussain, and she is in shock. "Zakir bhai was my guru, father, brother and friend. I met him when I was five, when I just started playing his tabla in the green room at a concert. When he saw me do that, he asked me if I wanted to play the tabla. I emphatically said, 'Yes'. So he made me sit on his lap, put my hands on the tabla and taught me the basics. That's how my journey as a tabla player started. My formal training continued with both Abba ji (Ustad Allarakha Khan; late tabla maestro and