Om Shakti Swaralaya

Vijaya Nagar is a noisy place, so having a spot like ours at number 10 feels a bit different. It’s where we keep the instruments and try to teach whoever is interested. Sometimes you can hear a sitar or a violin from the street, depending on who is practicing that day. The rooms are a bit cramped because we have so many things stored away, from old music books to spare strings and cases. It’s not a big academy with a reception desk; it’s more like a home that turned into a workshop over time. We spend a lot of time just tuning things or talking about how a certain piece should sound. Students come in after school or work, and the place gets quite crowded in the evenings. We’ve got some old rugs on the floor to help with the sound, and the walls are covered with photos from years ago. It’s a bit dusty, and the tea kettle is almost always on in the back corner. People find us through word of mouth mostly, or they just hear the music when they’re walking by. We don’t bother with big advertisements because we’re usually busy enough just keeping the instruments in good shape and helping people learn their scales. It’s a quiet life in a loud city, and we like it that way even if the floorboards creak and the neighbors complain once in a while.