I belong to the self-employed professionals club, so I work during the weekends when an assignment comes my way. More often than not, I have to travel for a performance, so yes weekends are far from predictable for me. But hey, I like it that way!

On the rare occasion when I am free, though, I use the time to write new music and compositions, and schedule rehearsals and workouts — something we call wood-shedding — with my son, Gino, who’s also a musician. Music is my life along with my wife, and kids, Andre, Neil, Gino and my pet, my daughter Monique. I also enjoy putting brush to canvas and painting. I must say, it’s become quite a passion.

Weekends also mean extra special food courtesy my beautiful wife of 30 years, Lorraine. She whips up some wonderful meals and this is something I really look forward to on Saturdays and Sundays. In fact the Banks’ family meals are famous in Mumbai. These are always big affairs with relatives and friends dropping by. Ours is an open house and Lorraine always has enough food for a surprise guest or two. It’s a Calcutta habit, I guess. We also eat out a lot and our favourite restaurant is my friend Nelson Wang’s superb China Garden. We spend all our birthdays and anniversaries here — it’s tradition.

Another long-time habit has been rising early everyday — even on weekends. I jump out of bed at six in the morning and spend some much-cherished time with my daughter before she leaves for work. Only after that do I have breakfast and sit down at the piano.

Photograph by Rashbehari Das