“We badly needed funds for fodder, and Hajibhai came to us offering to do a show. It helped us raise Rs 25,000,” says Babu Tamboli, who heads the trust that runs the gau-shala.

Qasim is better known by a nickname conferred on him, Ramakadu, literarily meaning a toy in Gujarati and actually denoting his extraordinary talent as a dholak player.

While Qasim has been winning hearts and plaudits from one and all, he considers it a big moment when religious leader Morari Bapu felicitated him in Junagadh a few years ago.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Morari Bapu said: “Qasim is a great artiste, and he is using his art to bridge the gap between two communities. I salute him. A dholak can be played only if you use both the hands and that itself is a fitting symbol of the need for Hindu-Muslim unity.”

Apolitical and unbound by ideologies, Qasim, is being taken note of in some unlikely quarters too. “It’s good that he is doing his shows for the cause of the cows. Those who slaughter cows should take inspiration from him,” was how VHP general secretary Kaushik Mehta put it.