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A Pathway to Knowledge
was in Mumbai studying with Abbaji, he was so intensely focused
on learning the music that many nights he dreamt of compositions.
I made a note about Satwantji’s dreaming in my journal. It was not
until I questioned Leen further that I realized dreaming of tabla was
a much larger phenomenon affecting not only Leen and Satwantji’s
lives, but other students’ lives as well. In fact, Leen said, “Peter, Dor-
othee and I all have these dreams.” Tabla dreams can take the form
of lessons in a house somewhere that Zakirji teaches a composition
or part of a composition. Although there are many different kinds of
dreams, the common denominator is the presence of the teacher. The
dreaming times are usually, but not exclusively, connected to intense
practice and class time with the master.
For Peter, the majority of tabla dreams that most resembled actual
lessons occurred in the beginning years of studying the instrument.
He did, however, recount a recent dream about his teacher. He had
fallen asleep counting (or trying to count) a chakradhar, which he was
to play that week at a performance with other advanced students. He
was having a difficult time concentrating because of work pressures
and deadlines, and he had not spent much time practicing the com-
position. Time was running out, and he had become frustrated with
the task at hand. That night, Zakirji appeared at the foot of his bed
as Peter sat counting out the composition. Zakirji was watching tv,
sitting on the bed listening to Peter’s continuous counting mistakes.
He turned to Peter and said, “Why can’t you get it? It’s simple.” Then
he turned around and continued to watch the tv.
My interest in tabla dreams became more and more intense. Why
were all these students dreaming of tabla? Why didn’t I have these
dreams? One of my first questions to students I met then became, “Have
you had the dreams?” Inevitably, they all said, “Yes, I have had these
dreams.” Speaking with one of Zakirji’s senior students, Michael, a
member of the Rhythm Experience and an accomplished tabla player
in the California scene, led me to the conclusion that the dreams were
indeed a way of working out anxieties about tabla and about the re-
lationship of student to teacher. Michael’s dreams tended to revolve
around the problems and pressures of playing in public with such a
