I truly treasure my childhood memories. I grew up surrounded by music because every member of my family was equally involved in both vocal and instrumental music. So I took to music like duck to water. There were so many concerts held during those days, especially during the pujas, that we were always on the move, performing all the time. In fact, the pujas were something we looked forward to and when they came, we went from one pandal to another and soaked ourselves in the spirit of the festivities.

I was around four years old when I took to instruments like the mandolin and the tabla, as the sarod was too large for me to handle. I was 18 when recognition came my way. I won the All India Radio Music Competition and was awarded the President’s Gold Medal. It was then that I decided to pursue music seriously. Up until then I wasn’t very focussed on what I wanted to achieve in life.

I was an obedient student but never stood first in class. But I always ranked among the top 10 students. During the summer holidays, we would visit the Himalayan foothills, which were simply enchanting. However, it was Chittaranjan, on the border of West Bengal and Jharkhand where I have spent some of my most memorable holidays. My uncles lived there. There were quite a few picnic spots scattered across Chittaranjan and I loved spending time there. The fact that I had such a great time with my cousins made me look forward to those visits.

When we were in school, the pressure to excel in studies was not as great. When I see my 16-year-old son preparing for his board exams I feel that kids today miss out on many things that we enjoyed as children. Today, youngsters are very focussed on what they want to achieve and I really admire this quality.