11/09/2025
As a filmmaker I have always looked at doing different things and things differently. When Battle of Bands was conceived, I was happy to be doing something out of the Box. And then came Symphony of India and finally Battle of Bands International. These three shows besides giving me the freedom to create also gave me a family of over 500 musicians from the world who are now family for me. They are like my kids and for them I am a friend philosopher and guide.
The greatest testimony to their talent is the stories that unfold on it own. Today I will share with you my experience at Toronto where my kids were invited to perform at TIFF. To be at TIFF and perform at one of the greatest festival is an honour in itself.
But this story is not about TIFF. It is about a hugely talented musician called Nayan Krishna, a flutist par excellence.
So after the event we decided to go to this musical store called Long and mcquade (scarborough). The musicians got excited seeing this huge store that had so much love for musicians. They started to jam. Nayan tried his hands on a few flutes that were there on display and suddenly the lady at the counter,( I am so upset I do not have her name) heard him and mesmerized by his playing came to me and said that she had a flute that the owner had given to the store and had wanted to give it someone who was phenomenal. Today as she heard him play she felt that the flute deserved him and gifted it to him. She also handed over a note that the owner of the flute had written to the potential musician. The owner had personified the flute and had said “ I think the flute deserves a rightful home where it is loved and played”.
Nayan could not have even imagined that Toronto would honour him like this
He as reduced to tears and while the estimated cost of this flute was nothing less than a lac and half, given the antic value of it as it belonged to 1960, the price would have been even more. But for Nayan and all of us, it was and is the most priceless gift that one can ever imagine.
And these for me are a validation that god has his ways of rewarding all the hard work.
