In the flow of things!

Anna Tanvir, the late Habib Tanvir’s daughter, was recently visiting from France, and in our studio recording for her new children’s album. She sings like an angel and I’m sure will do well. That however is not this week’s story.

She recorded for five days out of which she was quite unwell for two. The usual stuff that happens to people when they come to India and have our special ‘un-bottled’ water. I am her new music manager for India and wanted to show both chivalry and care, so the artist comes back (fingers crossed) for more. She however gave me little chance to show any. Unwell to the core, she sang all five days and managed to complete four songs , that should have taken, guess what , five days!

I was both surprised and in awe of this fragile-looking woman, who had to use the ladies room many times a day just to stay out of it long enough. What surprised me further was the fact that she did not complain and kept going. (Unlike me in similar situations when …I just take time off and crib.) So, we just went along and waited till she was about to leave, before popping the question. “Anna, how did you manage to keep your chin up and continue working, even when unwell”? She paused before answering, smiled, and said, “I didn’t even know I was unwell, I just went with the flow. You see, music does that to me”.

Anna left for France this Thursday, having shown me a live example of what love for your work can do for you, your people, and sometimes your music manager. She also left me thinking of what would keep me in my ‘flow’…when I would forget everything else and just be so engrossed in that moment, that nothing else mattered.

Mehak, my wife feels in ‘flow’ when she is dancing or teaching aerobics. My daughter, Rhea, when she picks up a new ‘Tintin’. Ghansham our ‘mali’, when he is in our lawn, the ‘Wadali Brothers’ who performed at the Doon Club on Saturday, when they shut their eyes and go ‘Sufi’, our neighbor’s son Abhishek, just looking at his new bike.

‘Flow’ then, must have something to do with getting our best out and maybe happiness, even if it’s an overused word. So ‘flow’ Anna, ‘flow’, and may you always be happy.

Vineet Panchhi owns and runs Audio Wagon, his lifelong passion and now a music company. He blogs at Unplanned Journeys , and can be reached at: vineet.panchhi@audiowagon.com