During the western music (group) competition at a North Delhi college almost a decade ago, a guitarist went on stage to accompany the choir. But when he started playing, the percussive rhythm he provided with the guitar, accompanied by a secondary beat he devised by tying a ghungroo around one ankle, captured the attention of the entire audience. That, in 2011, was the first time Sarthak Mudgal unleashed his raw affinity for percussions on stage. It was also the first time I experienced deafening silence resulting out of awe.

Today, a music scholarship, a world tour and an album later, Mudgal is teaching rhythm and his unique approach to instruments at a music school and NGO called Leap in New York, and collaborating with multiple outfits catering to different genres in NYC. But tonight, he's making the best of his time in India (till August) to collaborate with more musicians, and performing a mix of covers and jazz-centric originals in a duo set, called Mudrews with Heather in Lower Parel. Composed by Heather, the rhythm section has been worked out by Mudgal. The songs talk about their personal experiences and the city the two have lived in — Delhi. "A song about Mumbai is in the pipeline," says the 28-year-old, who hopes to finish and perform the song about the city where the two first met at a gig at Mumbai's iconic now-shuttered Blue Frog in 2015.