Three decades is a long period in the lifetime of any organisation. Could you take us back to the beginning, and how it all started?
IT all started with a group of friends. Zubin Mehta had requested me to organise a tour of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in India in 1994, when diplomatic relationships between the two countries reopened. We were not an organisation back then. While the funds raised from the ticket sales of the five concerts were donated to charity, there were some leftover funds that helped us establish the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation.

Zubin Mehta named it after his father, Mehli Mehta, since he felt indebted to him for his early education. We had no premises or a teaching programme. But it all came together with the Sangat Chamber Music Festival we organised in 1996.