My Affair With Music: Sometimes Attached, Sometimes Detached

Without music, life would be a mistake - Friedrich Nietzsche

Well, my affair with music is really weird. It's kind of sometimes intense and attached, at other times a little detached. My work is to be largely blamed for that. 

I have been introduced to the beautiful and magical world of music when I was only three years old. My mom was a classical singer, trained in playing various classical Indian instruments and had a voice to die for. She had performed in various radio and television programmes as well as in live concerts.

One day, when I was three years old, she heard me humming a very popular Rabindrasangeet (Tagore song) called "Purano Shei Diner Kotha", she was shocked and overwhelmed with happiness that day. She was convinced then that I would become a singer when I grow up.

Since that day, Mom has been my guiding light to the path of music. She taught me several genres of music such as classical, semiclassical, Rabindrasangeet, Nazrulgeeti and modern album songs  till I was 12. I gave my first solo stage performance during my school's annual concert day when I was only six years old. And after that, I used to perform in several cultural functions every year. 

When my Mom passed away, I withdrew myself from music totally as singing and playing the harmonium reminded me of her badly. So I stopped singing and tried to stay away from music. However, my affair with music was not destined to end; it was only lying dormant within me.

It resurfaced when I was in my college as I was surrounded by many music enthusiasts there. I started performing after a long break of six years, in my college functions. I was overwhelmed with the amount of appreciation I got. It motivated me further to do something great with music. I used to try composing some tunes on some of my poems so that I could create a new song for myself.

Seeing my passion for music, my Dad gifted me an acoustic guitar.

I was exhilarated and started learning the chords. I was able to play a couple of easy songs on the guitar after practicing for about six months. 

My prized possession, my guitar

Finally, college days were over and I got busy in my work and writing, I couldn't practice playing the guitar frequently. As a result, I started forgetting the chords which I learned after so many hours of dedication. I felt depressed, but with my daily job of content developer during the day and author during night, it was not possible for me to dedicate some hours to music everyday.

However, I sing almost every day. It's like an inseparable part of me, albeit I don't do anything to polish my vocals. The maximum I manage to do now is singing an acapella or singing with a karaoke and uploading my covers on Soundcloud. 

However, I have promised myself something. After working hard for some years and achieving some of my goals (for example: after writing about 5-6 books), I would take a long break to pursue my passion of singing. I would try my best to be a skilled guitarist and would polish my vocals deftly. I also wish to be my own song writer and perhaps a co-composer too. 

And someday, perhaps I would be able to release my own new song and make my Mom proud of me. (The idea itself is making me grin from ear to ear! )