Thursday, September 6, 2007

My Guru-to-be and The Monsoon Oven

The level of Heather's compulsion to create baked goods became clear to me when, last week, she built a solar oven (there are no standard ovens here). Hers is a delightful contraption of dark wool, yellow foam, glass, and mirror that I step upon and break sometimes.
Unfortunately, it is the monsoon season and hasn't been all that sunny as of late...

Lachchu (or Lachu, or Lachhu) Maharaj Ji (Right)
Last night, after a wonderful classical Indian music concert, I was talking to one of the amazing musicians and when I mentioned that I will study with Lachhu Maharaj in Varanasi he froze, said "whoa", and then said "Good luck, man."
My teacher for the next week here in Rishikesh is Pankaj Kumar. Pankaj studied with the famous master Kishan Maharaj until "falling in love" with Lachhu after seeing him perform. Pankaj is a magnificent person, a phenomenal musician, technician, and teacher and is known as Lachhu's best-ever student.
Lachhu, however, is 70 years old and, despite flying under the tabla-fame radar, is regarded as the finest tabla player of his generation. I asked Pankaj who else is of Lachhu's caliber and he said no-one. Then he said, "perhaps Zakir Hussain." I trust Pankaj's assessment because he's studied with the likes of Kishan and because I've seen video of Lachhu performing and was utterly undone by his musicianship, facility, and ENERGY. Furthermore, Gopal, our handler in Varanasi, said that when Zakir saw Lachhu play, he ritually degraded himself before Lachhu and addressed him as Guruji.