"Once, I caught Nitesh Sonawane practising alone at Happy Home and School For The Blind. He was mastering a difficult piano exercise and kept stumbling at a difficult note. He kept at it endlessly. He would come back to the point, flounder and try again. I stood there silently watching that extraordinary moment, " recalls pianist, Zubin Balaporia, acclaimed musician and Indus Creed band member. 36-year-old Sonawane, of course, would not have known about his presence. He will, in fact, never see the admiration in the eyes of listeners when he is at the keys, breaking notions about the visually impaired and pooh-poohing challenges. Sonawane, who has earlier performed for Udaan, a band of visually impaired musicians, is now a full scholarship student at the True School of Music as a student of the 2.2 pro course, designed for career musicians. He was the only student in a band of faculty members during True Showcase, an event of the school, in January in 2016. Since then he has had paid performances for two corporate shows for Piramal Real Estate.

Nitesh Sonawane at the Kawai-Upright piano at Happy Home and School For The Blind in Worli. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi