It was when I was 10 years old that I was presented with an ordinary harmonica.  I had no idea of music or harmonica then.

And then I saw my uncle playing harmonica.  Hearing my uncle play gave me urge to play and I opened the harmonica to see how the sound comes.  l had never learnt music but sang old Hindi songs just by listening to them many times.

One of the first songs I tried was “Gadi bula rahi hai…” with lot of errors but soon I understood how to correct myself.  It was then that my father bought me a buttoned harmonica from Geneva. Practicing on it, I also learnt to use my tongue.  This gave the music a real classic sound and I could play at programmes confidently. 

My handicap did not allow me to run about much so this gave me great pleasure.  I don’t know a word of music scales even today but I can instantly pinpoint an error in the melody.