Zatopek's Guru

Later we went to our dining place and I played for ten or fifteen minutes on the esraj. Both Zatopek and his wife were listening very attentively. In a book about him, I had read that he used to play on the guitar, so we asked him to play for us. He took the guitar and for two or three seconds he played. Then he gave it to his wife, saying, "She is the one who plays."

She took the guitar and played. Then we asked them to sing one or two songs; but to our delight, they sang one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. They went on and on. I must say, they and I have some similarities. When you ask me to sing, I don't stop. They said, "We don't sing spiritual songs. We sing folk songs." So they sang many songs in different languages. I have a tape of them. It is very nice. Both of them have excellent singing voices. He sang while she was playing on the guitar. Then, at one point, we again asked him to play. He didn't want to. He said, "No, as you are their Guru, she is my Guru." He used the term "Guru" quite a few times.