2

Amma taught me the ragas when I was young, her fingers dancing across the veena's strings. I resisted at first, hungry for modern validation. But when I finally performed those ancient Tamil melodies at twenty-two, something shifted. The audience's warmth wasn't about applause or recognition—it was recognition of something deeper, a graceful connection spanning generations. My grandmother wept afterward. In that moment, I understood: the true reward wasn't external. It was inheriting her voice, carrying our heritage forward, and discovering that some treasures multiply when shared within community.