Carnatic vocalist Ajith Namboothiri’s tryst with Swathi Thirunal, a king among musicians and a musician among the kings, began during his student days at the Sri Swathi Thirunal College of Music.

Keep your hand straight my child,” coddles the teacher. Little hands contort into a 2,000-year-old mudra. Fingertips touch, neurons fire, and that little brain processes neuroplasticity at a magnitude ...