Shankar: A lot of tabla players want to copy you now.

Zakir: I save money. (laughs)

Shankar: Why this hairstyle?

Zakir: When I went to America, I had short hair. I saw hippies with long hair. In the first year of my college, I used to get $ 25 a week. How could I get money for a haircut? It just happened because I was looking at other artists who had long hair. I originally started with a group called Shanti. It was rock 'n' roll group. We used to get on stage and rock. So I grew my hair. I used to wash it and leave it. When I came back to India, I did some television appearances. I think it was Kailash Surendranath who was shooting for some Raag Desh in which I was playing with my dad. When they played it on television and my hair started flowing in slow motion in a wavy form. In one TV commercial, they said Wah Taj boliye. They liked my hairstyle and told me to keep my hair long. So since the last 18 years, my hair is long.

Shankar: What was the first thing you played on the tabla?

Zakir: Oh God! I don't think I first played the tabla. I used to play on pots and pans. We were so poor in those days. We had only one tabla. My dad would take that for concerts. We lived in Mahim and in those days, that was the limit of Mumbai. It was jungle then.

Manish: Shankar, what do you think was he very notorious in childhood?

Shankar: He is even now. He plays pranks all the time. Tell us more about your Mahim days. Were you born in Mahim?