A rare and very, very welcome change, observes Cyrus H. Merchant, as he meets Nikhil Goyal, a Marwari boy pursuing opera music

Nikhil Goyal, son of a Marwari businessman in Banglore is proof that Life still can surprise us. And that we ought not to take anything for granted.

He is also ample proof that all is not lost for the Marwari community. In our last issue we spoke with Ajay Piramal bemoaning the lack of Marwaris in literature, art and music and lo, out of the pretty blue where divinity often hides her good news, came Nikhil Goyal.

This “bandmaster” as one relative called him upon seeing his room, had hurdles to jump over. Read: dad. It took years for his father who owns a transport business, to understand that his lad could actually be interested in music. As a career. A passion which doesn’t pay unless you are one in the twinkling thousand. “But because I kept at it, persistently kept at it, even studying foreign languages to sing in their languages, going to Poland, dad realized that this wasn’t just something I was flirting with. He knows it’s real”. The elder brother was the Brahms buffer between them, the mother, Nikhil smiles gratefully and says, “she understood”.