The person who drew my interest and love for Hindusthani classical music is Mrs. Bandana Majumdar. At the age of five, I started learning Sa Re Ga Ma-the very basic keys of music under the tutelage of Mrs. Bandana, who herself is one of the most prominent disciples of famous Anath Nath Bose of Benaras gharana. An intense talim under Mrs. Bandana over a period of eighteen years showed me the path of dramatic phrasing of Benarasi Thumri, Chaiti, Dadra, Kajri etc., and the typical filigree pattern of tankari as well. After leaving Kolkata, while staying in Gujarat, I had the opportunity to receive talim in Gwalior gharana from Pandit Vikhubhai Bhavsar and Harishbhai Bhavsar for several years. Pandit Vikhubhai is a prominent disciple of Shri Kashinath Tulpule of Gwalior gharana and of Pandit Maniramji (elder brother and teacher of Pandit Jasraj) of Mewati gharana as well. My gayaki is undoubtedly indebted to these two gharanas as well as to Pandit Bhavsars. My quest for ‘bahlawa’ brought me in touch with Pandit Kumar Prasad Mukhopadhyay - an intellectual, author of several famous books on music, a singer par excellence and a stalwart of Agra Gharana. Pandit Kumar Prasad himself is a disciple of Padmashree Ustad Mushtaq Hussain Khan Of Gwalior Gharana and Ustad Ata Hussain Khan and Ustad Latafat Hussain Khan of Agra gharana. Incidentally, Ustad Ata Hussain was the brother-in-law and Ustad Latafat Hussian was the nephew of the great maestro of Agra gharana, Aftab-a-Mousiki Ustad Faiyaz Khan. It is Pt Mukhopadhyay who first taught me alap and jod-alap of dhrupad-ang in Khayal and showed me the very distinctive eight angs in Khayal Gayaki, the differences between bahlawa and boltan and so many other aspects without which a gayaki would remain incomplete.