A kid with a notebook in his tiny hands, sitting down eagerly to learn, discovering the difference between a nice sounding shruti and a bad sounding one, moving his fingers over the lines of the song on his notebook while singing even though he hardly knows how to read, relating what he has learnt to cartoon characters and the great Indian stories, correcting himself to stay in taalam and layam , laughing when he knows he isn’t getting the pronunciation right, clapping in joy after finally getting it on the keyboard, touching my feet before leaving (after demanding a chocolate!) and humming the tune all along his way back home… One of life’s most satisfying experiences has been teaching music to a five-year-old.
It’s amazing how any skill is a beautiful confluence of god-giftedness, training, upbringing and observation which ought to be passed on and cherished in the process!
Talent can only be enhanced by spreading, by having the humility of knowing that the ocean of knowledge is boundless, by maintaining the spark of curiosity on with passing years and by keeping the ears open to let any new tune in!
Try mentoring a child, teach anything that you know, import a skill and instil ethics with the additional benefit of being able to stay a child forever! Act as a value-adding nutrient to this sapling that will eventually grow into a big tree and hold the soil of this world!
