With the passing away of @ZakirHtabla India has lost a national treasure. From the time, in 2000, when he composed the music for my debut directorial venture, ‘Everybody Says I’m Fine!’ to the time in 2014 when he donated the tablas his father, the great Allah Rakha ji had played for two decades on and then he himself had played on for two decades, for an auction for my foundation, Zakirbhai was a great friend, generous to the core, incredibly funny, a cricket tragic, a great raconteur, but most of all, a man who retained his childlike joy and wonder at the beauty the world had to offer. There have been scores of times I have watched open mouthed at his sheer genius on the tabla and while composing. I don’t say this lightly - there will never be another like him, as a man, as a genius on the tabla. The world has lost a great human being. We mourn with his family and loved ones.