Poorvi is not an easy raag to unfold. The singer must guard its personality from encroachments by Paraj, Gauri and Bihag in its lower reaches and Puriya Dhanashree in the upper. But the dangers do not exist for those who have sat with their gurus, year in and year out, getting the melodies note-perfect. Sharada touches the pancham unerringly, only as lightly as she must and stays on the lower nishad only as long as she should. Building the raag note by note, her Poorvi acquires the glint and gleam of a precious stone.

Winding down the sombre Poorvi in a slow release of end notes, Sharada allows a few moments to pass before leaping into the bliss of Basant. The shadows of the morning have lifted. Her voice sparkles, her taans run swift, the audience sits up with new life. They sway in time as they enter the play of word and beat, the unexpected tihais worked out with mathematical ease and the smooth glissandos. The third tier of the raag elaboration, the fast-tempo tarana, takes off with its rapidly enunciated sound syllables. One powerful, sinuous taan, an unexpected tihai and the tightly wound skein of notes loosens, spills and slowly unravels into silence. The applause is thunderous. It will not stop. Sharada acknowledges it with bent head and folded hands, but her eyes turn surreptitiously towards Shekhar with a question. Anima catches the look and follows it. Shekhar encourages Sharada with his eyes. She looks at Anima who does the same. The applause has petered out. Sharada's expression grows serious. She speaks with deep humility.

‘I now present a song in mid-tempo. It is my own composition. It came to me in Marathi. So it is not in the Braj dialect of Hindustani classical songs. It came to me in Raag Sarang. So it is not in an evening raag. Yet, I will dare to sing it at this hour, because I must. It is newly made and raw, so I shall sing it for a few minutes only. I beg your tolerance and hope you will accept the composition with generous forgiveness. I will end the concert with a tappa in Raag Bhairavi.’

Sharada's voice begins with a hum and expands to full volume as she holds the first note with a hint of a nervous tremor. She allows her voice to grow stronger before she begins to unfold the notes of Shuddh Sarang. Growing confident, she leaps into the song, singing it in its entirety—refrain and stanza.

I have seen Time, dear friend,

I have seen Time