Musical Journey Part – 1

“My childhood saw a mix of cultures that certainly influenced my thought process while growing up. I lived close to the Old City, but my family is a typical Hindu vegetarian home. My father is from Nalgonda,
mother from Andhra, I studied in a Catholic school and also had a lot of Muslim
neighbours. Even at home, my father would always talk about respecting everybody irrespective of their caste, creed, race or religion. Now when I’m in the music industry, I see some of those reflections here. Music sometimes reiterates the same ideology, you see. When you’re performing on stage, you don’t care if your partner or your band member is a Muslim or a Christian. All you want to do is render some soulful tunes together. In my journey, I’ve observed that there are several such instances that you experience in your early days, which are applicable so many years later in life. Everything happens for a reason, you know!

Consider my graduation. I come from the science background – engineering, and it wasn’t something I really wanted to do. I never had any direction in academics. Like a lot of others, it was the safe option. But people often ask me if I regret spending four years in an engineering college or if I wish I could change it. But honestly, I don’t! Thanks to my graduation and that college, I met a few friends who loved music just as much and we formed a band together. Maybe if I didn’t decide to do that, my life would’ve been different today. Everything fell into place and I’m in a happy space now. But when I first started taking music seriously, my parents were quite worried. They wanted me to have a full-time job. I spent a year or longer just playing with my band before I got any solid work. Funnily though, some of my first experiences with music was humming with my mother. She would sing her favorite songs and I would hum along with her.

Not very surprisingly, while growing up, I listened to a lot of regional film music – it’s the most accessible for a lot of us. I lived in Nampally, still do actually. Everytime AR Rahman sir released an album, my elder brother would go to Koti and buy Tamil cassettes to listen to the original. So, my love for music was always there. But I never thought there would be a day when I would meet him and record in his own studio. Life’s really a fun ride, I must say!”

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