Ustad Zakir Hussain's last goodbye to santoor wizard Shivkumar Sharma

The two virtuoso classical musicians may have done 'jugalbandi' several times but in the end, death left one of them a forlorn figure.

Tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain stood alone at Mumbai's Vile Parle's Pawan Hans Crematorium on the afternoon of May 11, 2022, when mortal remains of santoor wizard Pandit Shivkumar Sharma were consumed by leaping flames at the cremation in full state honours, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Hussain, along with Sharma's elder son Rahul, reportedly lent his shoulders when the body of the late maestro was carried to the crematorium.

Photo: Twitter

The picture of Hussain, with none near him, watching the cremation of Sharma turned out to be a big hit among the Twitterati, leaving many to wonder as to who took that picture which conjured the abiding image of India's secular soul that no communal divide can ever hide.

Credited with elevating santoor from the confines of Jammu and Kashmir to the world stage, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma passed away on Tuesday (May 10, 2022) at the age of 84 after battling kidney-related ailments.