Stringing together happy notes: Ambi Subramiam

I travel a lot on work. So when I get sometime to myself, I would like to stay home and relax.
My idea of a perfect weekend would be to stay away from familiar surroundings because this gives me a chance to do the things that I normally don’t get time to do. This is when I can actually say that I have had an off.

Whenever I am in Bengaluru, I don’t really have too much time at my disposal because I am either teaching or doing different things that are, in some way, connected to music. I also enjoy spending time at my studio at home where I spend a lot of time composing and recording. I am most comfortable there and that is one place where I can spend any amount of time and never get bored.

My sister Bindu and I recently bought ourselves a PlayStation. Interestingly, growing up we never really got a chance to play these games because we were more focussed on our careers.

I am also a cricket fan but never played regular cricket. I would, once in a while, play with a bunch of close friends from school and college. But I watch a lot of cricket in my free time. My favourite PlayStation games are FIFA and NSS. I enjoy spending time at the PlayStation because it provides me a much-needed break from my routine.

I like going to restaurants and trying out new kind of dishes. I love travelling like a local and exploring authentic local cuisines. But again, I eat out so much whenever I am travelling, that when I am home, would like to relish some homemade food. I used to cook and love making anything that is quick and easy to do. I look up online for interesting, easy to make recipes and get down to trying the same. When it comes to desserts, I am allergic to milk, so my sister generously makes me some chocolate pudding, using almond milk and my seven-year-old niece bakes for me. These are essentially my go-to desserts.

My work is a fast-paced one and I enjoy the rush. So I believe that it is important to completely switch off for at least five to 10 minutes every day.

This helps me focus better. I firmly believe that the trick to working hard is to mentally chill.

A few of my favourite things:

Cricket

Travel

Mid-morning naps

Thai food

Bowling

Hailed as the new king of Indian classical violin, Ambi Subramaniam has been training under his father and guru Dr L Subramaniam from the age of three, and gave his first
performance at the age of seven. He is the recipient of the Ritz Icon of the Year Award, two Global Indian Music Awards, and bagged the Golden Violin from Sri Jayendra
Saraswati when he was 18. Along with his sister Bindu, Ambi runs the SaPa in Schools programme, which imparts music lessons to over 20,000 young children in schools in
India. He also co-hosts the ‘SaPa Show’ on Sankara TV, which aims to teach global music to young children. Ambi is also a youth delegate at the United Nations for the Sri
Chinmoy Peace Meditation group.