Zakir Hussain gifted his Toyota car to the man who made tabla for him since 1998

Haridas Vhatkar with Zakir Hussain in California

My association with Ustad Zakir Hussain ji began in 1998 when I first crafted a tabla set for him at my Mahim workshop. Every year around August, I would keep an eye out for the announcement of his show dates to predict what kind of tabla sets I would be entrusted with making that season. I last met Ustad-ji in August this year at Shimla House - his Nepean Sea Road residence - where he asked me to work on five new tablas that would accompany him on stage starting November."

Vhatkar continued, "Losing him feels like a part of me has died with him. Ustad-ji loved to share bits of wisdom between discussions about tabla. "Treat anyone who walks through your door like they're Zakir Hussain," he would say. Many years ago, he silently gifted me his Toyota Corolla that he held dear without any fanfare. Through these gestures and essons in humility, he will continue to live among us.

Vhatkar was termed the ‘Steinway of the tabla' by his most celebrated client.

On Monday, as the world mourned the death of the legendary musician whose fame crossed the boundaries of geography and whose music blurred the lines between Hindustani, western and jazz, Vhatkar remembered the man who made it all possible for him. And also perhaps how his tablas made it possible for the world-renowned percussionist.

"I first began making tablas for his father Alla Rakha and have been making tablas for Zakir Hussain-saab since 1998," an emotional Vhatkar, 59, said.
Sitting in his workshop at Kanjurmarg, the tablas lined up on shelves behind him, Vhatkar said the two first met on Guru Poornima where a lot of his admirers had gathered. "The next day, I went to his house in Shimla House and we were engrossed in conversation for a couple of hours," Vhatkar said. And a lifelong relationship was born… even if they were not regularly in touch.

"He was very particular about what sort of tabla he wanted and when. He paid a lot of attention to the tuning' aspect of the musical instrument," said Vhatkar, a third-generation tabla maker, from Miraj in western Maharashtra.

Hussain, who passed away in a San Francisco hospital at the age of 73, has also spoken in detail about Vhatkar. "He used to live in Miraj, near Kolhapur, and as a young man, he came to Bombay because he heard me play. He decided to learn how to make the tabla, so he could make them for me," he has said in ‘Zakir Hussain: A Life in Music - A Conversation with Nasreen Munni Kabir'.

The late Ustad detailed the painstaking effort that goes into each instrument. "Sometimes the parts are made in machines and then assembled together by someone who has the ear and knowledge, while Haridas-ji does everything from scratch - he gets the buffalo hide straps, polishes and cleans the goat skin to get the rough edges out, etc. It's all done by hand. The whole process can take weeks!"

"You can of course buy a standard tabla, which will not have even 10 per cent of the quality of Haridas-ji's work. He has become the Steinway of the tabla!" he famously said.

Hussain said he had put the artisan, who also went to the US, on a stipend. "So, if I'm gone for eight months, he does not have to worry… he will still have some money coming in."

So how many tablas did Vhatkar make for the legendary percussionist over the last two decades? "Innumerable" was Vhatkar's reply. He also said he has many tablas left behind for him by Hussain.

With inputs from agencies

1994
Year Haridas Vhatkar moved to Mumbai