This reminds me of my brief audience with His Majesty about 25 years ago. If my memory serves me right this would be in 1981, one year before the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the founding of Bangkok. I was a third year student at Thammasat University's Faculty of Liberal Arts. As a member of the TU Band, I played the electric organ. There were more than a dozen members in the band, as well as four or five singers, and we had regular concerts. We could perform all kinds of music, from luk thung (Thai traditional music with distinct rhythms), luk krung (modern Thai music), to western music and, of course, university songs such as Yung Thong, written to glorify Thammasat.

One day, the Chitrlada Radio Station invited the TU Band to perform a live concert. The station, located within the Chitrlada Palace in Dusit, was one of His Majesty's experimental projects and broadcast quality programmes for the public. The invitation was quite an honour for us. Traditionally, the CU Band of Chulalongkorn University was closer to His Majesty the King than the TU Band. The King, an avid musician, used to perform regularly with the CU Band.

We loaded our instruments onto a truck and took a 20-minute drive from Thammasat to the Chitrlada Palace. Moving the instruments was quite labour intensive as we did not have anyone else to help us. It was a warm afternoon as we reached the Chitrlada Palace's radio station building. The one-storey building was spacious enough to have a dining area. The broadcast studio was also large enough to hold 20-30 people. We immediately set up our instruments and equipment -drums, organs, brass, amplifiers, microphones - and waited for the time to perform.

Then an official told us that His Majesty was about to arrive and we should line up to greet him. This was totally unexpected. We all felt quite excited at this very rare opportunity to meet the King in person. At the same time, we took a critical look at ourselves and asked whether we were properly dressed. But it was too late to do anything. We proceeded to the front of the radio station, formed a straight line and waited for the arrival of the King.

The honorary head of TU Band then was Sung Autawasri. We all called him Khru Sung (Teacher Sung). He has already passed away. Khru Sung played the violin and belonged to the same generation as Khru Ua Sunthornsanan, the leader of the Suntharaphorn Band. Khru Sung joined us in time to greet the King.

Then a Mazda car arrived. It had a tall antenna spiking into the sky. The King was driving the dark grey car himself, with an aide wearing a full military uniform sitting beside him. The car stopped right in front of us. We were feeling rather nervous. Then the King emerged from the driver's side. Our hearts almost stopped beating.

He was such a beautiful man in his mid-fifties. He had a tan skin, almost dark to me. He had strong muscles in his hands. His shoulders were broad. He was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and grey trousers. He held a walkie-talkie in his hand, which he  talked into briefly before walking toward us. We all bowed our heads. His Majesty the King greeted Khru Sung. He asked Khru Sung about his health and his age. I could not hear everything as I was standing almost at the end of the line.

Then Khru Sung dropped to his knees and waied the King. His head almost touched the King's shoes. Then the King walked toward our band leader, Phi Veeraphong. Phi Veeraphong told the King something about our TU Band. The King thanked us for coming over to perform at his radio station. Then he walked into the radio station building. An official, in uniform, dropped to his knees to help the King take off his shoes. The King disappeared into one of the rooms in the radio station.

We all went back into the radio station building. The official told us that food was ready to be served in the dining area. We were glad. One of us said jokingly: "Well, I cannot believe that I am going to eat Palace food." We all laughed. The food was khao kaeng. And it turned out to be one of the most memorable khao kaeng dishes in my life.

After the meal, we were ready to perform. And we did perform rather well for about an hour, which was broadcast live. Then we packed up and returned to Thammasat. I still recall the happy memories of this event sometimes. It really was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Thanong Khanthong

The Nation