COL FLASHBACK 1 : DIL TOTE TOTE HO GAYA...

I made my decision quickly. Already I was so nervous and had also seen a fellow computer science guy messing up everything. The moment I climbed the stairs I nodded my head. To my surprise, they understood instantly. I was relieved and begin my performance. I was halfway, when suddenly one of the judges (who was a faculty member at the college that time) raised his hand and asked (ordered is a more appropriate word) me to stop. My heart skipped a beat and the first thought that came to my mind was ‘why in the world did I come here?’

I’m not a fantastic singer, neither it’s my hobby. But somehow singing refreshes me. I can make a journey of many hours alone by only humming to myself. Does that mean that I was ready to participate in a singing competition? Nah! But it is so difficult to dissuade your friends who believe that your voice has a quality to face a competition. Finally I gave in.

The toughest part was to choose a song. I kept hopping from one song to another finally settling on ‘Woh pehli bar’ by Shaan barely an hour before the competition. To my relief the auditorium didn’t have that much audience. I took my seat somewhere at the back and kept humming my song in an attempt to make sure that I don't forget it. By the time my name was announced, the audience had enjoyed singing of few and bore most of them. Many of the participants had been not able to synchronize with the musicians properly. So I decided to sing without music and had barely sung a few lines when I was interrupted.

It was my first stage outing as a singer and I didn'tt expect this. I was almost shaking when that faculty member said,” sing with the orchestra.” I didn’t move for a few seconds making sure what I heard was correct. Indeed it was. I had no choice but to sing with the orchestra. But what happened next was a not less than a surprise for me. I was able to synchronize the song perfectly and the high notes helped me keeping the song from drowning into the music. I found myself tapping the stage floor with the beats, along with the audience clapping and both the judges immensely enjoying. I easily made into the second round. When I returned for the second round the auditorium was packed with the students and the faculty members. The competition got tough as we had to sing two songs, one that of audience choice and another that of judges. Audience gave me another Shaan song ‘kuch to hua hai’. Judges handed me two songs, the first one which I couldn’t sing and the second one was ‘Dil tote tote ho gaya’ of which I could sing only two lines. But it didn’t matter much. I was placed 2nd along with a senior who had performed well in both the rounds. Even today I feel that my first song actually made the difference. ‘Woh pehli bar’ made the hearts of the judges go ‘Tote Tote’.