When he played, we all felt special

One of the earliest memories I have of Zakir Hussain was him shuffling a deck of cards. He was teaching me and my younger brother a card trick in the middle of a crowded celebratory dinner. A percussion virtuoso, around whom people were crowding to have a chat, had sat in the corner to show two little kids a card trick. And those two kids for a moment had felt like the sun was shining on them alone.

Indian classical music has long been the playground of geniuses - an inaccessible land of inimitable talent, bone-crushing rigour, and an aura of magic. Zakir Uncle embodied all of that, yet somehow, he wore it like a second skin—relatable, cool, and utterly human amidst the whirlwind of genius.

Like so many, I too was thoroughly taken in by his foray into brand endorsements.

Both as a kid captivated by the spectacle, and now, as an advertising professional, the allure remains. Of course it was him doing something like this – it made perfect sense. Those ads felt just so damn cool because he was in them. That elusive combination of mastery and relatability was exactly what made him the example we quote today in advertising schools when we talk of ethos. He wrote the textbook.

But there was one ad that cut through them all for me. It was the one that had an electric moment shared with Aditya Kalyanpur, his prodigious student, who now is a maestro in his own right. The way Zakir Uncle’s fingers danced on the tabla matched the way his eyes danced with joy at making music with his student. It was sheer exuberance that leaped off the screen, rivalling even his obvious mastery.

Charm like that is rare – the kind that jumps off the stage and burrows its way into your heart, remaining decades later. Even now, as I was looking at that ad the other day, it took me back to that moment at dinner. He had seemed happy and so at ease in deep conversation with a curious eight-year-old who just wanted to know how he was doing that with his hands.

I suppose that is why his loss feels so personal to all of us. He was exactly the same gleeful genius on stage and in real life. He was as fiercely talented as he was gentle with people. And even when he was on stage, taking us all on a musical journey, he always made us feel like the sun was shining on us alone.