Another facet of Obaid Two years ago when I gave my first talk at NCBS on Ayurveda I was surprised to hear Obaid ask questions with a real familiarity about the subject. After the talk, he prodded me with his incisive mind and I discovered that he had not only read about Ayurveda but also discussed its theories and practices with different scholars and Vaidyas. Since then I had the honour to have many more very interesting discussions with him. But I was in for another surprise when he told me of his passion for Hindustani classical music and his musical pilgrimage. So let me open a little window on this beautiful facet of his. He was born in a town not far from Benares. His father was an aficionado of classical music and Obaid grew up listening to great musicians on those early 78 rpm records played on hand-wound gramophone record players. When he moved to Benares, he had the unusual opportunity to listen to famous musicians in private concerts in the homes of local chieftains and at the Maharajah of Kashi’s palace. He even heard Bismillah Khan when he was the temple musician at the Kashi Vishwanath temple. Later when in Lucknow he had the opportunity to listen to great music at baitaks. At some point, probably at Cambridge University, he met Kalyan Mukherjea, a mathematician who had studied the sarod for years. It was Kalyan who got Obaid his first sarod. While working in Bombay, with the help of V.K.Narayana Menon, the Director of the National Centre for Performing Arts, Obaid approached Annapurna Devi to learn the sarod. Daughter of Allauddin Khan, sister of Ali Akbar Khan and first wife of Ravi Shankar, Annapurna is certainly one of the finest sitar and surbahar players of our times. She lives a life of a semi-recluse, and taught only a handful of carefully chosen disciples. She accepted Obaid as a student, something quite extraordinary, and he had regular talim from her for almost four years. During their stay in Calcutta, Obaid and his wife lived in a part of a big house belonging to Kumar Prasad Mukherji, a singer of some repute. Kumar’s father was a patron of musicians and organised baitaks in his house. Obaid and Kumar became great friends and spent hours sharing their passion for music. For almost a decade Ustad Bahaduddin Dagar has been coming to Bangalore and teaching him and a few students at NCBS. Now more than ever his love for music and the sarod is his spiritual food. He hopes to create a digital archive of his collection of Hindustani classical music. The Obaid I discovered is really the finest blend of modern scientific spirit and classical Indian culture. I wish him many, many more years of joy in science and music.