“Good Singing, Shreeram!”

Backstory:

I got selected for singing the finale song on the annual day at my school, through a small audition. (It is to be followed by the Chief Guest’s entry on the stage and National Anthem and Rajyageet.) We have 2 music sirs: Deepak Sir, who is usually quiet, and the enthusiastic Rajat Sir. Rajat Sir asked us all to solo-sing the National Anthem on mic… I sang and I think it went pretty well. Because Rajat Sir said, “Acha gaa rahe ho” (which means you are singing well). It was a general comment, more or less, but I was the first to get it.

Slight Fast Forward:

As we called it a day, I was one of the last in the music room and was helping my friend (he had gotten in without an audition because he had performed earlier) pack his keyboard when Deepak Sir said, which I think was due to the solo singing part, “Good Singing, Shreeram”. And something else about competitions, but my mind was purely fazed because of the appreciation I had gotten from the almost-introvert Sir. Oooof… You should have seen me at that moment. I was very happy. So much that, I would have even jumped, if it wasn’t for my impression that I had built due to hard work.

Two minutes later, my friend and I came out. He said, “Teri toh bann gayi. Agli baar se tu bhi bina audition ke aajeyga.”  (It means now you are all set and won’t need an audition to get into the choir as well.) I suddenly remembered a song by Bhuvan Bam. It goes like ‘Bann gayi, Bann gayi ab meri zindagi. Bann gayi, Ruk na hai hargiz ab nahi…