Pandit Jasraj used to call me a computer because I picked up everything so easily. He told me something once, and the bandish was embedded in my head,” Kala Ramnath tells us with childish enthusiasm over a Zoom call from California. Ramnath plays  bandishes on a violin. One of India’s foremost Indian classical violinists, she belongs to the Mewati gharana, and has performed and studied with Mewati vocalist, the Pandit Jasraj for 20 years. These days, she performs as part of Triveni, with tabla legend Ustad Zakir Hussain and veena maestro Jayanthi Kumaresh.  

Be it the honour of being the first Indian to be featured in the violin bible The Strad, or being part of the Grammy-nominated Miles from India project, Ramnath’s list of accomplishments is long. Next month, she performs at the Royal Albert Hall, interpreting Mexican painter Frida Kahlo’s works, and there’s also a concert at the World Harp Congress. She may have been playing the instrument since she was a toddler, hailing from a family of illustrious violinists such as T N Krishnan and N Rajam, but when talks of her beginnings, it all feels like it happened just yesterday.