It would need the special gifts of Mayan, the architect who tricked the Kauravas in the Mahabharata tale, to design and erect a hall of mirrors that can reflect the diverse facets of T.V. Gopalakrishnan's career in music. As he, an ashtavadhani in a broad sense, stands in the middle of such a hall, one mirror would reveal him as the senior mridanga vidwan he is, another as a Carnatic vocalist and a third as a Hindustani singer, while other silvered glasses would reflect images of him as teacher, composer, researcher, innovator and organiser. Eve of the famed American psychological study had only three faces; Gopalakrishnan has eight. Eve's was a split personality; Gopalakrishnan's is an integrated one.