India, Feb. 3 -- Before I am anything else, I am an animal caregiver. I am also a musician. Music gave me a place to stand when I was young. It taught me how silence speaks, how longing becomes sound. I grew up in the Himalayas, moving with my father's government postings, learning early that the world is not owned - it is shared.

The mountains raised me gently. Streams whispered beside me. Ants carried entire futures on their backs. Squirrels stitched the sky between trees. Butterflies paused on my hands. Somewhere far away, a leopard called. And always, on those winding roads, there was the dog. It would appear without announcement, walk beside us without demand, disappear without farewell - a quiet guardian of travellers, a companion ...