Little did any one realize that a young lad from tinsel town in Karnataka, whose younger sister bought him a small flute from a village fair, will reach to the heights of one of the favourite disciples of Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia.

Padmanabha Bapu, affectionately known as “Bapu” was studying tool engineering in Hospet (Karnataka). His knowledge of music was limited to the notes of harmonium taught by his grand father. He became so much obsessed with the flute that he started treating his idol Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, as his Guru in absentia. He purchased all audio cassettes of Hariji and started imitating his style, he used to practice for hours together and side by side he was continuously searching for a formal flute teacher within Karnataka.The search however brought no results because he was actually fated to become a disciple of his idol Hariji.

In August 1999, while pursuing 7th semester of his tool engineering programme, his urge brought him to Bombay. Initially he had to face disappointment of not being able to seek a meeting with Hariji and he returned to his college. Bapu was, however in no mood to give up and he was finally able to meet Panditji who admitted him to his class after the demonstration recital.

Since this trip to Bombay was without the knowledge and consent of his parents, Bapu had no money with him. He used to attend Hariji’s classes in the morning and work as a waiter (with pride) in a small restaurant, earning just enough to sustain him in Bombay. This exposure for 45 days brought a new confidence and Bapu was fully energized and charged up for a ‘break’.

Returning to his college, he received a monthly scholarship called “Panna Devi Music Scholarship” for complete one year. This was a display of a definite confidence that his guru had imposed in him. He completed the tool engineering course securing a first class in the year 2000.

For a fresh mechanical engineer, there were definite options to get employment in Karnataka, but his mind was set towards Bombay because he had a feeling that his profession, finally would be a flute player rather than a mechanical engineer. Fortunately he was offered a job in TACO(tata automotive components)in Pune. He took it as a two fold blessing, firstly Pune being the best cultural centre of India and secondly it being so close to Bombay.

While working at TACO, Bapu continued his interest in the flute and majority of his spare time was spent in perfecting his style. He performed at few social as well as cultural venues. His first major performance was at OSHO Samadhi in September 2001. This proved to be a turning point of his music career and he inclined himself to devotional and relaxing Indian classical music, he became a composer for FTII Pune, performed at major music festivals in India, and played as a part of music compositions in film industry.

By this time, his interests had fully shifted to music and he took a bold decision of leaving his job with TACO and devoting fully to music. Financially, his position also started looking up and he well realized that he had no regrets of this decision. He had local support of some friends and well wishers who encouraged him to go ahead. The results were rewarding and his first CD “VIVIDHA” was launched in Dec 2004. Since then he has launched a few more albums which have become very popular specially with the serious kind of music lovers.