When my tabla brother Jim Owen asked me if I would bind a book of letters for our teacher, Swapan Chaudhuri, for his 70th birthday, I thought it was a great idea, and we immediately started collecting letters from his students from around the world. I chose an antique creamy Italian paper with deckled edges and after formatting and printing, I sewed the sheets with my trusty Bernina sewing machine and made a half-leather cover in the style of my teacher from Florence, Omero Benvenuti.