Opportunity

Music, I think, is lifeline of every young person these days. I am no different. My life has been surrounded with music right from childhood days. Father sings more often, friends are musical enough. But before everything else, I myself am a passionate music lover and singer. My voice might not be really wonderful but I have always taken my hobby quite seriously. Since primary school days I would be a key member in every group song, holding the position right in front of mike. My teachers used to appreciate my voice quality saying that little bit of polishing would make it sound even better. I would be at cloud nine hearing all that. I would also be expected to sing at the family get-togethers and my relatives would be pleased hearing me and said I could turn into a great singer if undertook training. Singing with friends all day long is a common practice.

But one thing that I always wished for was one opportunity to sing alone in front of a huge audience, at least one chance. And in class 11^th, though pretty late, this opportunity knocked my door. But as they say, you never get EVERYTHING you wish for. In view of that, I was incapable of participating in that solo-singing competition as my throat was in a seriously terrible condition. I wasn’t able to talk properly, leave alone singing! I was unquestionably disheartened for this was one thing I desperately wanted to do but I also knew that this wasn’t my call. But friends are friends; my friends Neha and Nisha were constantly compelling me to go for it and I was constantly negating. It was the last day for name-registration and next morning competition was to be held. It was the last period and we had no class; both of them went straight to my House-Master to put my name in the list. Two students had to participate from each of the four Houses and coincidentally no second entry from my house was enlisted till now. And when the House-Master got to know about my singing hobby, she too started to convince me to participate and after a long talk and encouragement I had to say yes.

I came home thinking which song would be appropriate for the occasion. Those were the days when we had just shifted to our new house and didn’t have a computer. Also the tape- recorder was not working so I rushed to my cousins’ place to browse their ‘song- folder’ to choose the one. I finally selected the famous mesmerizing bhajan, ‘Payoji maine’ and wrote the lyrics on a paper and heard the bhajan repeatedly to catch the tune and rhythm properly. I went back home and took all the precautions, did gargles with salt + turmeric water frequently and was continuously practicing my song and now my throat was also in a better condition.

It was the ‘competition-day’, I reached school, and all my friends wished me luck. Everyone was singing very well and I was enjoying every performance. My turn came; my throat was feeling choked but somehow keeping my tone low I sang the bhajan and was glad that I managed to finish it without coughing in between (haha).When I came back after performing, my co- contestants appreciated me and that was pleasing. Results were announced; both the 1^st and 2^nd position holders were my classmates. I didn’t get any position and I already knew I won’t be getting any but for me the fact that I got this chance and courageously sang in a bad condition before huge number of people was something more important. When I came back to our classroom my friends and classmates appreciated my effort and my voice and that, for me, is something more important than winning any prize. One of my classmates remarked that if my throat was in a proper condition, I could easily grab a position, this was encouraging.

I have always followed one principle – ‘trying is more important than winning’. I was happy that this opportunity finally came my way. I was thanking God for this. I am also thankful to my friends for compelling me and for making me Optimistic.

( P.S - We have just one life so do everything you want to. Don’t bother what people would say. Grab the opportunities that you get, it might be the last one. Winning and losing don’t matter; the only thing that matters is your effort and your passion for something. This is the only way to make dreams come true. Be optimistic…… :) )