A man of few words, Sivamani lets his music do the talking. And that is precisely what he plans to do this Sunday at the Heartbeats concert where he jams with other musical heavyweights like Shankar Mahadevan, Zakir Hussain, Selva Ganeshan and U Srinivas. India's ace percussionist talks to CS about what, besides music, makes his heart beat.

On stage
This is going to be one rocking show and I'm really looking forward to it. The best part about performing with some of your favourite musicians is that there is never any room for jitters. We have great chemistry and share a deep love for music.



Coming out clean
If I wasn't a musician, I would probably have been a minister. I profoundly believe in the importance of keeping our country clean and green.

It is unfortunate that foreigners perceive us as a country with garbage dumps and crowds all around. And that image gets reflected in the films that they make about us.

Much as we might complain about this unfair stereotype, I think that it would be more fruitful if we directed our energies towards keeping our country clean.