ROI 14: Armaan ke Aasmaan...

We were having our last few practice sessions with the band members before the Piano rounds. All of us were busy rehearsing when we get news from Rittika (one of the associate producers) that we have to write & compose a song to be sung for the kids of Shiksha- an NGO for underprivileged children. Wow! Finally a real challenge! Ankita quickly jotted down some lyrics…and our man Shantanu was busy putting tune to those words…and finally we created our piece “Armaanon ke Asmaan”



All of us were so glad with this project given to us…that we forgot about our piano songs for sometime…all of us were busy singing this song…our song! We even practiced with the instruments of the Band members… Sui brought out his flute and started with a small piece…Emon on the Keyboard…Abhi on the congo…Bharat on the Dholak…Amit on the rhythm pad..and Shan on the Guitar…it was lovely when all of us sang to their music…what a feel!


Here are the lyrics:


Armaanon ke aasmaan ko liye…
Chalte hain apne sapnon ke liye…


Kwaahishoon ke paar chal…
Mushkilon se kabhi na daar…
Apne bhi honge sapne kabhi…
Aaye jo milne hua yeh yakeen…


La la…la la…la la la la…la la…la la…la la la la…

Armaan ke asmaan ko liye…
Chalte hain apne sapnon ke liye…



The next day morning we were taken to a park near by and only after a long time did we get to know that Renuka Shahane was coming to meet us. Were we thrilled or what!!!! I have always loved her right from her Surabhi days!! What a wonderful actress she is…no no…what a wonderful lady she is! So beautiful…so intelligent…with such a pretty smile! Talking about smiles…as soon as she came we sang her the song and she was so surprised that we had done such a lovely thing for the kids of Shiksha…sad they couldn’t be there though! Then we all told her how we love that smile of hers…then suddenly Chang from behind me told her.. “ma’am…aapki tarah we have someone here who smiles so beautifully…molar to molar…” and everyone turns towards me…if I was wearing a red dress that day my face would have been camouflaged that instant! Hehe!!

(gosh I look horrendous in it!!)

Here’s a very amateur shoot of what we sang for her… (just avoid my extensive hand shaking…since all of us were swinging to the tune...I couldn’t hold the cam steady..sorry!) And by the way...the only instrument you can hear is Emon’s guitar coz we could obviously not carry everything to the park!

After shooting this about 5-6 times we all sat down under the cool shade of the Jamun trees in that park and began talking to Renuka ji. We slowly brought her to the topic of music..and then la..we made her sing for us…it was a really nice moment…here…have a peek at it!

We even made our maestro Shan strum his baby for her…take a look at this too…sorry only a 3/4th of the piece is there in this video…that is ‘cause my cam’s charge got over by then :(

In the end after all the various bytes for the show…we took our final parting shot with Renuka ji…and bid her adieu! That is one day we had loads of fun together…outside hotel Savoy where we were on house arrest!! Hehehe!

I’m glad we had such fun-filled moments for me to cherish when I’m a little down or when ever I miss all of them too much…three cheers to all 28 of us for that lovely song we created!!! Hip hip…HURRAY! Hip hip HURRAY!!! Hip Hip HURRAY!!

ROI 13: The nautankies of 210 !!

I loved being in those guys room…oh no no please don’t go thinking I’m crazy or something…it’s just that their room had the most beautiful sight form their window….mountains…trees…far away buildings…green…mud-brown…and cement here and there..



Ok before you guys get confused let me tell you which room I’m talking about here…210…the residents of which were: Amit, Bhavin and Prashant. Bhavin I knew from Dubai, a good friend of mine…but Amit and Prashant were still on my get-to-know-them list! After my frequent visits to their room for our sessions with Shan in the evening, and after watching Prashant, Abhishek, Shan and Bhavin take their turns to get into the bathroom after every 15 minutes…I got accustomed to these guys! By the way those four were trying to smoke in a no-smoking hotel!



I used to watch Prashant and Abhi fight over that last pack of cigarettes which Prashant “with loads of difficulty” (as he states it) hid it from Alfe (our contestant manager if you people remember my earlier posts)…God!!! Can’t they just give it up if they find it so difficult hiding their precious possessions!! Guys!!! There was no way anyone could stop Prashant from quitting…but I did try my level best to make Machar (that’s what Vani & I called Abhi! Heheh) quit. Everyday, when to others I’d ask how many songs they prepared and practiced…to Abhi I’d ask how many he fagged! And if I heard more than 2…I vowed not to speak to him till he brought that down to one!! Yea people….that’s the other side of me…I can get stubborn if it means getting my friends back on track!!! LIKE IT OR NOT!! HMPH!!



Ok chill I just got into the mood….heheh!



Well…about Amit…he’s a real genuine guy, an awesome singer and a loyal friend. Harshi and he were pretty close friends…he was so sweet he promised that he would help her with her pronunciation once she got the tune of the song right…and yes like most of you would have also guessed …people talked about this friendship behind their backs and then Amit would come to me and start discussing how narrow-minded the others were…to doubt such a simple friendship that Harshi and he shared… he did use hi now-famous line.. “Ek bath bolu…dukh hota hai yaar!”



Ah… never mind all of them Amit…I trust you and so does Harshi…we’ll still continue to freak you out like we used to…remember the Awesome foursome?? Hehehe… CHEERS!!! Really hoping you or Emon become the Idols!!! Keep rocking the stage buddy!!!! We are with you! :)

ROI 12: She completes the Awesome 4some!!!

She was a darling…tall beauty with a lot of brains. I’ve never met a person more humble and down to earth especially hailing from the UK…a powerful voice…a playful mind…and a persistent learner (when it comes to speaking and singing Hindi)…Harshida Madhaparia!



My first proper acquaintance with her was when she was my roomie at Sahil during the theatre rounds. Damn sweet this girl is I tell you. All these thoughts about how girls from UK/US are born snooty just vanished when I met Harshi. Then at Savoy she was put up with Priyanka and Charu in 301. But most of the time she would be with us (Vani, Aish and me) in 308. I used to adore her sense of humour…how she used to come up with wacky Hindi dialogues for the video bytes especially the Agnisakshi one…”ek machar saala admi ko hijda bana detha hai” [CHPAK!! That was me maarofying the machar that just flew past my eyes!]



She had nicknames for almost all 28 of us…lemme see if I remember them all…umm Vannita (stress on the double ‘n’)…Ashmi (note: the ‘a’ should be squeaked at a higher pitch than ‘shmi’…and this one was for me! Hehe)…”pur…pur…pur…purrrrrrrr” (for Parleen…remember the starting tune of Bunty aur Bubli?...that’s it!)…Chang wang…Var’tikka’ Masala (Hehehe!!)…yea I guess that’s it…no no “sui”(again high pitched…and with her finger in the air portraying a needle…for suhit!) God!! She is the limit!!!! Hehe!



I enjoyed our riyaaz sessions…Harshi would come up and plonk herself on our bed when Vani & I would be doing our riyaaz. She would follow us very religiously because she didn’t understand what her roomies sang! I remember this once she came running to our room in the morning ans went “MAN!!!! I was woken up by Priyanka…and then when I tried to get into the bathroom Charo was in there singing… my room is full of Riyaaz!!!!” Hehe! Wasn’t that a classic line?!!



She was the official “hair-straightener” for everyone who wanted to style their hair. Seriously! Her most ardent customers were Aisha, Vani and Puja…every second day they’d want her to straighten their hair. And she would patiently draw aside strands of hair and straighten them with her straightener (sounds like a tongue twister doesn’t it? Strands…Straighten…Straightener.. PHEW!). Once Emon and Parleen also straightened their hair…Parleen’s looked fine…but Emon…must say it looked damn cute on him…but not suitable for public viewing!! Hehe! Even Chang wanted to straighten his hair…Chang of all the people!!! He has naturally straight hair…and he wants them “straightened”….Hah! She didn’t do it obviously!! :)

The guys used to be terrified of the four of us together (Vani,Harshi,Aish&me)…they called us a foursome! Why? ‘Cause we used to scare them with our showing off how much love and affection flowed between the four of us...don’t go thinking now you guys… we just hugged each other that’s all! But even that scared the guys if it were more than one hug per minute….hehehe!! And boy! Did we enjoy doing this to them!! Especially Amit…his face is worth watching every time we call him to catch a glimpse of us hugging each other!! Hehe!

Awesome foursome…that’s what we were…together always…singing…pulling each other’s legs…dancing…masti maarofying…always! Miss all of it like crazy sometimes!!! Hope this bond of ours lasts forever babes!!! Harshi…when you’re off to London don’t you forget your “Ashmi” ok?? Hope you do well sweety…get someone to (in Harshi’s style) “riyaaz” you up and you’ll ROCK!!!



Adios Amigo!

ROI 11: Entertaining...Mischievous...and Often Naughty...that's EMON for you!

With that specs on him and that naughty look on his face 24/7…he reminds you of the kid brother in your family. At least for me he did resemble my 11 year old cousin bother a lot! Not only does he look like a miniature version of Sonu Nigam…he sings like him too!! A bundle of talent…mischief…and innocence…the chatterbox of Idol…my little shonu…Emon Chatterjee…



It took less than a few minutes for him to start talking to me when we first interacted at Sahil Hotel. Then at Savoy we were neighbours…Chang, Rehan and himself were in 309. We had loads of fun with this fellow keeping us entertained. Whenever Vani & I began conversing in Tamil or Malayalam he began talking in Bengali to us just to irritate us! And then he’d bring in Puja and Sachi (one of the cameramen who was also a Bengali) to join him in this act of his.



It used to be fun to see how both Emon and Shan played their favourite instruments…their babies…their guitars. Emon’s face is worth looking at when he used t admiringly look up at Shan while he played his classical guitar numbers. And Shan used to give him tips to play and we used to look at this teacher-student duo in awe… heheh!



Although I haven’t spent much time with Emon on a personal level there were two incidents which I will never forget in my life…both showed Emon’s naughtiness personified!



There was this one day when we heard loud music being played outside Savoy. It appeared to be coming from the flat opposite to the hotel. After dinner Harshi, Parleen and myself, we went to see what was happening. The flat tenants were having some kind of a party in their parking lot and they were blasting awesome Punjabi numbers after hearing which we couldn’t stay still for even a second! The three of us started dancing right there on the parking lot!! Soon we were joined by Emon, Abhishek , Chang and Rehan. We danced like crazy for a full 45 minutes. Then when the DJ started playing sad songs Emon bent forward and screamed out to them “Oye!! Music change kar Oye!!” we freaked out!! As it is the security guard at Savoy was beginning to look at all of us suspiciously since we were dancing in the middle of the night like some crazy kids! On top of that our fellow screams out loudly to that DJ …thank god the music was loud and hence drained his voice!! Hehe…



Then the second incident happened the night before our first Piano shoot. In the evening Vani and Emon were busy listening to Shan relate some horror stories and by the time Vani came back to our room it was almost 11 in the night. Moreover it was raining heavily that day…Mumbai was having it’s first rains that night! Now Vani had her back towards the window and she was relating the stories she heard to me while I was lying on the bed. All of a sudden we saw someone jump from the window into our room! It was Emon! God that fellow took the life out us! The thing is his room window and our room window are adjacent and there is this platform on which one can travel from one room to another safely…he used this to jump in and scare us!! God seriously we freaked out! And after we gave our dose of “what would have happened if he fell down” he went off to his room to sleep! Naughty to the core that little guy is I tell you!



But he’s a darling what ever said and done…no body can hate this dude…he has a charming personality which attracts everyone! And he gets away with all his mischief giving cute and innocent smiles! Trust me our trip would have been a bore without people like Emon and Sui (Suhit) to keep cracking us up into bits with their cheesy jokes!! I miss all the pranks Emon played on all of us and the crew members…ah..those were the days!



I am happy to see him still going strong on the show…Rock on Emon!!! And whatever whoever says about this dude (you know that he is overconfident and crap) he is what I told you earlier…a bundle of talent with energy gushing out him all the time in the form of mischief! Best of luck l’il fella!!

ROI 10: Pur..pur..pur..purrrrrrrrrrrrr

He had a CD player of his own…but he had to borrow mine! He had an awesome sony erricson K750i but he had to listen to the songs on my Creative Zen all the time!! He had a room and room mates but he would always be with us in 308!!! He’s the person who irritated me the most at Savoy and managed to go scott free each time…Parleen the great!


He only looks mature guys…I have never met a more immature guy than this young lad!! Trust me...he is so very easily distracted from his goal…just like small children…so very easily dejected…so very easily hurt! God sometimes when I used to have these ‘pep-talks’ with him it was as though he was the girl and I was the guy! Sheesh!


He’s a good friend…irritating yes…annoying yes…immature yes…but nevertheless fun!


There was a time when almost all the girls on Idol (except 308) had a crush on this dude and he always came to me to express his utmost disgust on that matter, although I knew within he was jumping joyfully at the attention he got unasked! These boys I tell you!

Although I have heard from reliable sources that boys seldom clean their rooms, I fail to agree in Parleen’s case. I can say he was the ‘Aisha’ of 206 (his room) with his roommates Shan and Roshan. He was cleanliness raised to a 103. Whenever he felt even a spick of sweat/dirt on him he would dash for a bath! Yes a full fledged half-hour bath! Even if it was 12 in the night! Have you heard of such insanity? I think he used to have it thrice or four times a day!

Apart from his irritating urge to keep attacking my tickle-sensitive spots (this disease which soon transferred to Chang), even though his weakness was the same too, his weird table manners irked me. He used to eat with both his hands! Yes…tear a chappati with two hands…my two year old cousin does it single handedly with ease! When I told him that we normal human beings use only one hand, and after a lot of coaxing…he started using one hand. Phew! I told him his parents would be glad that he found a friend on Idol who transformed him from a naughty boy to a well-behaved man!!



He loved posing for pictures. And if the photographer (like mua) was really serious about what he/she was doing then the pictures came out brilliantly. If not singing…after Idol I’m sure Parleen a.k.a Pinni is gonna get loads of modeling offers!! Among all my pictures half would be filled with both Parleen and Vani posing extensively!! They loved being shot…and sometimes I really did wish my cam could shoot them down! Hehe!


Check this one picture I took of his, first I experimented the Beckham hairstyle on him and then wanted to try out the low-lighting technique in my room and the result is…

So…? Wha’dya guys think of my photography huh?


Since I am in the mood of displaying my skills here’s another one with Suhit and Chang (the posing idea was Suhit’s while I was the hand behind the cam!)

Hmm I know I know… multi-talented…well…that’s me!! Hehehe!…Puh-leez I am just a Jack of all trades and Master of known seriously!!!


Back to pur..pur..pur…purrrrrrrrleen!! That’s the nick name Harshi gave him!


He loved talking about…no no I’m sorry…he Loves talking about bikes!! Given a chance he could spend days telling you his adventurous (boring to me) biking trips! Or even car swerving tricks would do!! Gosh!! Why do all boys have some-sort of magnetic craze to these metallic wheeled vehicles??

Well I know Vani & Aish always asked me why I never reacted to the pranks and irritating things he did to me or why I never got pissed off at him…probably that’s because under all that naughtiness and immaturity I saw a pure-heart and a genuine friend…he was more like a brother I never had...a younger one though in age he is elder to me by two months! Like that matters!!

If you end up becoming the Idol dude…don’t forget old folks like me…atleast I know I did try hard to get you to focus on your singing when you were busy thinking of “other things”!Hehe! And if you don’t well…don’t give up faith in your talent…keep trying…and like you told me once..I might see you in those army uniforms like your dad one day!! All the best for everything buddy!

ROI 9: Damsel from Dubai...

I had known her from Dubai. Known her in the sense…we used to meet annually at every single singing competition, inter-school, solo or group that was held in the country. We used to regularly compete with each other for the classical vocal category to be more precise. It was always like this…She used to come first, then another girl from my school second and then me with the third prize. No jokes... this happened every single time!! After a point I began telling my parents the minute I saw her at a competition…”why are we even here…she’s gonna bag first and im gonna be stagnant at 3rd! Hmph!” According to me she was snobbish, had a big time attitude written in capital letters all over her face and thought of herself as the most prettiest thing on earth!! WHAT EVER!!!



But then…we met again at another singing contest, this time we were singing English songs…and I got second in it while she bagged third!! I couldn’t believe it!!! The first time I was ahead of her!! Then she came and congratulated me and said that I really sang like Christina Aguillera ( I had sung Genie in a bottle!)…I felt elated and my opinion about her slightly changed. After a gap of a year or so we met again for Zee Tv’s SRGMP Middle-east Muqabala 2006. This was hosted by Shaan and had eminent Judges like Kumar Sanu, Adesh Srivastav, Ismail Darbar and Jatin and Lalit Pandit who judged us ( we were 32 contestants from the middle east) and while she got out at the Quarter final stage, I went up to the finals and came second. Coincidently we both lost to the same singer…that lady was horrible anyway!! Coming back to this person…by the time SRGMP was over we both had gotten to know each other a little better. Not just us but our parents too. I was invited to her place once and we bumped into each other at our college campus too if I am not mistaken. So my initial conception of her was changing with these un-planned frequent meetings.



Then we met again for another competition held by a radio station in Dubai called ‘Radio Star’ where the contestants sang over the Radio, and the listeners voted for their favorites. In that both of us were singing with different duet partners. My duet partner Karan (with whom there is a pic I have on Orkut) and I won the first prize while she and her duet partner got third. By this time we had become good friends. But the time I have most cherished with her is when we both got selected not just at the auditions but right upto the top 28 stage of Indian Idol 3…



Even though I haven’t told you guys who she is…I’m sure my readers are smart enough to have guessed who this “she” was in the above paragraphs…no??? C’mon…. how can you forget my dearest friend and oh-so-messy roomie….Panni… I mean.. .Vani!!! :-) Heheh!



The minute we both found out that we were roomies at Savoy we were the happiest creatures alive!!! For the first two days the two of us were always muttering something or the other in tam-alyalam (that’s Tamil and Malayalam alternatively) and didn’t know or rather didn’t bother to worry about what out third roomie Aisha would think about us…until the time she went…”There you go with your ‘Enna Pa…Enna Pi…Enna Po…’“ and the two of us were rolling on the floor laughing! That is was nothing of that sort in Tamil or Malayalam! Hehe!



As the days flew by Vani and I really got close. We both confessed to each what we thought of the other when we were in Dubai…and we both laughed at the others confession!! But now our opinions are no where near to what we originally had in mind…She’s worse than worse could be!!!! Hehehe!! I bet Vani’s face would be red if she was reading this!!



There were only two irritating things…no three…no actually there are a lot of irritating things she does…but I’d be inviting all of you to my funeral if she finds out I am disclosing all of it online…for Public Viewing! Any way coming back to my point…whenever she gets a new song the first thing that bothers her is the damn ‘Pitch’ of the song. Which in most cases should not and is not a problem in the first place. Pitch or Scale of the song is something we decide. It is the singer who decides what pitch to sing his/her song in. But No…Miss Vanita Subramanium has to make sure her pitch is right even before having the very first practice with the orchestra!! I can’t even count the number of times I have consoled her that she doesn’t sound as though she is screeching or that she can fix her pitch with the band members. But some things just don’t change.



The other very irritating thing about her is this nagging question she asked me from time to time whenever my facial expression changed from a wide smile to an ok-I’m-not-so-excited-now smile. “ What’s wrong Rashu? Did I do something? I know something’s not right…tell me..is it me? Huh?” GOD!!! Even if it was a buzzing fly I was angry with she had to make sure I was not pissed off with her and had to reassure her that it would in no way affect our friendship. Can you believe that?? I don’t remember how many “You are now one of my close friends and I don’t want anything to spoil that rashu” from her!! She got soo paranoid with me sometimes for nothing absolutely! Well that’s the part of friendship one doesn’t mind facing!! She couldn’t beat Aishu’s irritating “Maain”ing anyway!!



One thing’s for sure…in the one month that I spent with her at Savoy…I can truly count Vani as one of my closest friends now. We shared so many of our problems and helped each other understand others better. I am sure I would have been lost and I’m sure she would agree with me if either of us weren’t there with the other during Idol! Seriously. We had gotten so used to eachother there that we completely forgot that this was just a temporary phase and that one day we would have to go back to our normal routines in Dubai. And trust me when I say this…even though we are just about 10 minutes from each others places, meeting up never really happens, planned! That’s how it is in Dubai.



I miss getting up before she did…

I miss trying a zillion methods to wake her up…

I miss scolding her for acting like a kid at times (though she’s a year older to me)…

I miss how annoyed she looked when Aish used to call me the achi bachi…

I miss screaming at her to clear up her things…

I miss telling her to stand straight (I have never met anyone slouching the way she does!)…

I miss the warm and loving goodnight hugs and kisses we gave each other like siblings each night…

I miss the excellent leg massage both Vani and Aish gave me once… (not to forget the oh-so-relaxing hair massage both Vani & I received from Aish!! Damn…she’s god at it!!!)


I miss hearing her loving “Rashuuuuuuuuu you piece-a-shit!!!!” and calling her a “Panniii” in return…


I miss doing our riyaaz together…


And I miss our frequent fights over Shan and Chang… (Don’t looked confused folks I’ll be explaining this part soon…)



Well Vani…I hope we remain this way for ages to come and hope you do well in life…which I’m sure you will, hanging out with smart mallu friends like me!! Hehe! Luv you girl!!

Sorry for the interruption...

Hey guys!!


This ain’t another entry about my Idol experience...but just a small note to let you know that I would be out of “comp-reach” for another week…and wouldn’t be able to post any updates till then!!


Sorry folks!


Moreover the reason I am not giving you guys one entry per day is ‘cause then my blog would come to it’s end very fast…I wasn’t there for that long on Idol you see!!! :-) So hang in there…I know a lot of you have really become addicted to this blog and as horrible as you feel about not being able to read any updates, I feel the same not being able to write!!:(



So until next week…Adios Amigo!! :)

ROI 8: Mummy of 308

Sultry eyes…pretty face…beautiful smile…and a different voice…that’s the Aisha you know. But people…let me tell you guys…no one knows her better than her poor roomies (Vani & I) and Harshi too (she was partly our roomie)!!



Early in the morning she would start off with her Kharaj in Raag Yeman at 5:30-6’ish….”Sa Ni Sa ni Sa Da Sa da Sa pa Sa… Sa Ni Sa ni Sa Da Sa da Sa pa Sa…” and then she would increase her pace and go all the way till upar ka ‘Pa’ and come back and neeche ka “ma’ and go up and so on and so forth!!! Phew one really gets tired (not bored but literally sweating tired) listening to it…wonder how she manages to do this every single day!!!



And then came D-day…when she got her very first song for the very first Piano rounds…”namak Isq ka”…Oh Boy!!!!! She would start practicing this song right after her morning riyaaz…through breakfast (at the table mind you while the rest of us are eating)…back in 308 (while Vani & I are doing our bit of Riyaaz)…through lunch (same place again)…back in 308 (this time Vani & I would be dozing off like pigs…its afternoon rey…and how much can we talk.. we need rest too!!)…through tea…back in 308…through the evening walk…back in 308…through dinner…back in 308…and she wouldn’t stop till she feels every note of the song came out right!! No..what am I saying…the first day was not perfecting the whole song but just the “Maaaaiiinnnn” portion right at the very beginning of the song!!


She would start off “Maaaa..aaaain” and then stop and ask whoever is there at the room at that time (either Vani or me or Harshi..or Pinky), “Sahin tha na…barabar lag raha tha na sur”… initially we politely told her.. “of course yaar.. theek hi to aa raha hai”.. then by the tmie it was a day before the piano’s we went “AISHA…YOU…ARE…GETTING…IT…PERFECTLY…RIGHT…STOP…”maaaaaaaaaaiiinnn’ing” THIS…INSTANT…WE…ARE…GOING…CRAAAAZZZZYYYYYY!!!!ahhhhhhhhh”

And then she would stop to show her teeth and make her eyes small and laugh!!!! God Woman!!!!!


Oh...there was this one time when she really scared the wits out of me. We were all just relaxing in the afternoon…Vani with her cd-player’s headphones on…Me reading or writing…and meimsaab Aishu was for a change lying down on the bed…phew…what a relief. But then all of a sudden she just raises her head and along with hand movements sings just the “maaaaaainnnn...chaaand...nigalll...gayi” and lies back down on the bed! I went “OMG aish!!!! You really got me there!” and wackhed her with the pillow!!! God!!! What fun we had pulling her leg on this song of hers every other time after the first piano!! I remember once Pinky said ki “aaj ke baad har raat Savoy mein ammavasya hoga kyun yeh (Aisha) Chand ko puri nigal chuki hai!!” Heheheh…good one Pinky!!!



That was the singer Aisha…but there’s more to this damsel from Mumbai…her passion for cleanliness and hygiene. This only we roomies knew about! Rather had to go through with I should say.


Any time any our stuff is not arranged in the room she will start… “WHY IS THE ROOM UNTIDY???HUH?HUH?HUH?!!!” and we’ll both “sorry” her and quickly clean up the mess we created. Both of us called her the ‘mom’ of the room and we were her (in Aishu’s terms) “Naalaayak” kids! Hehehe! Of the two of us, Vani was just the opposite of Aisha…her box would always be…well never mind the details… you get the point right! And I was in the middle…I don’t like messy things but when we are not in the room for days like when we go for studio practices, I don’t get to clean up my stuff so that’s when the room looks shabby. But otherwise I’m Aishu’s achi beti! This is to Vani: “Nananapoopoo” *tongue sticking out and palms stretched out with the thumbs on my ears*



Oh and even in the middle of the night when either of us gets stomach aches or gas problems she would jump right out of her bed dig into her box and bring out the famous “Kaali meeri” bottle. She would give it with some salt (the tasty salt…not the normal kinds which we use for cooking), and o’la…our pains vanish. Once Vani had put it in her mouth and she drank water to make it go inside ‘cause it gives burning sensations. And then Aishu took some more…gave it in her hand…put on a small light near the door…made Vani stand right under that…and asked to swallow the whole thing in front of her. “I want to see you eat it!!! Not wash it down to your stomach with water….kya bache mile hain mujhe!!awaara lafange dono…raat ko 11 baje aatein hain son eke liye…ek ko tho 10 baar bathroom jana padtha hai sone se pehle (Vani)…or doosri likhti rehti hai kuch na kuch apne book mein…Hump!! I tell you…I must have done some great sins in my past janam to get kids like you!...aur phir kisi ek ko tho har rooz mujhe kaali meeri dena padtha hai….kya karoge tum dono mere bina huh???” Hehehe you know we love you for this na ‘Ma’!!!!! Muah!



Initially during the theatre rounds I thought she was a very reserved person, an introvert basically ‘cause she didn’t interact with anyone much. But after becoming her roomie…we know who she “truly” is!!Hehehe! Apart from an awesome singer…she would make a really good home-maker and a mother trust me!! I only pity her future family and in-laws ‘cause they would have to suffer her…

“Maaaaaiiinnnnn….chhaaaand…nigall…gayi”


Rock on girl!!!!No matter what…you’ll always be a very dear friend of mine…and I miss staying with you...hope this bond of ours would go on for years!!! Best of luck for all your future projects!

ROI 7: Strings+Strumming=Shantanu

All through the theatre round I hadn’t interacted with him much but I was already a fan of his talent of playing the guitar. It was only in Savoy that I learnt, how immensely he knew what he was playing…its history…all the small nuances…every minute detail of the piece he played...now that’s what I call dedication! And I love the way he passionately plays his guitar…I call it his baby…seriously! The way he holds it…no..holds her is like she is soo precious to him. I used to look forward every day to these little sessions we used to have in his room.



The first time we had a sing-along with him was I think the second day at Savoy. I could hear the strummings of guitars coming from the other end of the corridor. I knew it would either be Emon or Shan. And what more treat could my ears have asked for than to hear them both happily jamming! Bhavin, Richa, Harshi and I joined them with the vocals. Man!! That day was beautiful…we sang so many old Hindi numbers. It was a kind of a medly….so many songs… and I thank raimama (my very dear uncle) for having gifted me my Creative Zen last year!!!! I recorded that whole session (audio) in it!! I’ll surely find a way of making you people listen to it.



Shan really gave me a lot of knowledge about his style of playing. It was the classical guitar form. He told us that through Idol he wanted to bring this guitar form to notice to a lot of young budding guitarist in the country. Not many people are aware of this style…and mind you people….it involves the combined movement of all the fingers…your mind…and most importantly your soul to give it a never-felt-before feel!! (I have no idea what I just said…but I’m sure you guys must have guessed by now that I am in awe of this guy’s passion and dedication to what he does!hee!)



He played a lot of Spanish numbers for us and used to always tell us the story behind it before playing. Certain tunes evoked certain moods and he would ask me what I felt after the song…for example when he played Romanza I told him that the piece was so romantic and he went “Precisely!!! It’s meant to be!!”. There was this other tune…can’t recollect the name of the piece…he said that it was a tune that depicted war…and believe me…I could literally see people being shot and killed when I closed my eyes while listening to it!! Other pieces that he played made me choke…and I once even told him he was soo lucky to have something to emote himself…the mood he is in…at any time!!!



The minute his fingers go on that guitar…and the minute he starts strumming one can immediately tell what kind of a mood that song creates…beautiful…simply BEAUTIFUL!!



Shan….whatever you do in life yaar I hope…wish…and pray that a talented, true-to-his-heart, genuine, passionate and dedicated artist like you would go far…and reach all your goals! Love your attitude to life buddy! Rock on!!

ROI 6: Welcome to Sayoy Suites!!

Not blogged for a week……Ahhhhhh… I feel TERRIBLE!!!!!! But kya kare yaar….lot of visits had to be done…relatives place…temples and so on…so it was one week of ‘off-the-comp’ for me!! Sorry for keeping you guys waiting… but since I haven’t written in a week.. I am giving all of my ardent blog readers a bonus…two entries today!!! Now isn’t that a fair deal??!! Hehe!



So…after the theatre rounds all the top 28 contestants could go back to their homes and we were called back in May. Most of us (including mua) could see our first audition rounds on tv before we left for Mumbai. And just the next day after my audition was telelcasted, on the 12th of May 2007, I received a scrap on orkut from my first unknown appreciater from Hyderabad. His name’s Jagminder who also plays the guitar and loves music, he noticed me during the auditions and wished me all the very best for my next rounds. Although we weren’t supposed to disclose to anyone outside our family the fact that we guys were chosen as the top 28 contestants, I still told this newly made friend of mine. I really felt soo good getting those blessings.




Coming back…both Vani & I reached Mumbai on 13th May, at 10 pm. We were greeted by Sheenu (a new face among the crew for us), who is another one of the associate producers along with Samrat and another cameraman too. Oh.. and Harshi was there too…she had stayed back in Mumbai to get some training, while all of us left for home. So they brought her there to the aiport to shoot an entry shot …to make it look like she just came from London and all three of us were asked all sorts of questions like how it feels to be back…and what our plans are…and bla and bla…




By the time we reached our hotel (we were now going to be at Savoy Suites) it was about 11-12’ish. After all the entering-the-hotel shots, and taking-the-keys shots..we were free to go to our rooms. That’s when Aisha came down and told us that we (Vani & I) were going to be her roomies. Boy!! Were we excited and thankful or what!! We also met Alphreda urf Alfy , our second contestant manager (apart from Samrat). She too, like sheenu and Thomas was a Mallu! We then took our keys and went off to our room, the corridor was pretty silent…everyone else seemed to be in bed already. The room was… WOW…pretty neat and spacious…and wide…and ….just perfect man!!! Once Aisha also came in after her interview shots, the three of us decided where each one would sleep. There was a double bed and a mattress on the floor too. First we thought of taking turns every day to sleep on the floor bed, but then Aisha was like she doesn’t mind and infact prefers sleeping on the floor as it would be easy for her prayers too. So that was that, Vani & I on top, and Aish on the floor. The next thing we did was…what? Sleep ….duh!!! Hehehe!!



Aisha was the first one to wake up at around 5:30. She borrowed my electronic tanpura and began her riyaaz. I thought ‘my God!! There’s tough competition here man…I have never in my life so far ever done early morning riyaaz..and here I have a roomie who’s bound to make me feel guilty every single day man!!!Damn!’ But the reason I don’t do my riyaaz early in the morning is cause I sound like a freg at that time. Seriously…I croak!! My throat opens up only after my morning chores and a good breakfast. Yea.. that’s me! And I was glad to find out that Vani also did the same!! Phew!



Alfy had asked us to be at the breakfast table by 7 and I was the first one from 308 (my room) to reach there at…7:30. Alfy gave me the glare and asked me why I was late…and second where my roomies were…both for which I answered with a HUGE smile…it always works in my favour…Hee Hee!! Everyone else was also there, I hadn’t seen them the previous night so it was a very nice warm welcome I got down there that morning from all my top 25 (excluding aish, vani and mua) Idol frends!!



After B-fast (too lazy to type out the whole word!) we were told to be at the conference room on the 1st floor at 8:45 sharp, for a session with our vocal trainer. It was one of the most fun sessions we had with him, Mr. Hridaynath Merchant. He had such a pleasing nature, so full of energy and he must be well over 50!! I was impressed with his teaching style from day 1…he told so many things that echoed my dad’s and my Shiva sir’s thoughts!! If you think I’m gonna share all those secret-to-success tips with all of you…DREAM ON!!!!!!!!!! Hehehehe…no the actually fact is…I have no bharosa on this net connection of mine…every time I sit to blog the damn thing starts acting weird…so I’d rather not diverge into the details of my training!!



After Merchant sir’s session we had another session with the music director of II3, Ram Shanker ji. We got our very first songs for the first piano round and we all had to individually go and check out our scales for the song with Ram Shanker ji , along with Swapnali di too (the music manager). I had got Pyaar ki yeh Kahaani from Honeymoon travels. It was chosen from my list of songs and I was happy to get that song, so were both of them (Shaker ji & Swapnali di) happy to see such a song on my list!


The following two weeks this was our daily routine:

7:00-7:30: B’fast

8:30-9:30: Session with Hridaynath Ji (sometimes we used to swap our session with the guys session at 10)

10-11:00: Session for the guys

11:30 onwards: Individual sessions with the M.D (music director)

12:30-1:00/2:00: Lunch session (and M.D sessions continue for those who haven’t finished yet)

Around 5:30-6:00: Tea time

6:30-8:00: Here’s where sometimes we used to walk outside in the parking lot, the guys would play football, or some days Aish, Vani and I used to be in Shantanu’s and Parleen’s room to hear Shan play his guitar….man he is plain awesome!!!!! And those one or two hours used to be heavenly for me!!! Shan you’re the best yaar!!!

8:30-10:00: Dinner


In between we used to spend time in interview shoots, bytes and VT shoots all done by our very dear and loving Idol crew!! Miss all of you!!! After dinner it was up-to us when we wanted to be in bed…although we were supposed to sleep immediately…hehehe!!!!



So that is that…from now on my entries would be random days at Savoy and extracts from my memory of some of the truly enjoyable moments I had there with my new pals!! So enjoy reading folks! And…although I can’t guarantee this statement…I’ll try to be more regular!!! Hehehe!….Cheers!!!

ROI 5: Finale of all the Theatrical Performances...

Hey guys!



Lissen….I’m extremely sorry about this delayed posting up of my entries. I can’t help it. I don’t get the time to access the net as frequent as I could back in Dubai. And moreover the network her is…wel…I’d rather not lose my cool speaking about it! J



Well… my third set of roomies were Vanita (yeaaaaaayy!!) and Priyanka (not Mukherjee…another Priyanka from Delhi). Vani tho I already knew from Dubai and Priyanka …well it’s sad that I didn’t get much time to interact with her, seemed like a nice girl to me! We reached Sahil at around 10:00 and believe in those three days…no actually in my entire college life…that night was the first time I slept before 12 o’clock…at 10:15 !!! Wow…now that is something for a nocturnal being like moi!!Hehe!



The next day as usual we left at 7, reached NCPA at 8 and well as usual…waited…and waited…and waited for hours till my turn!! (Why am I always so lucky to go LAST??? Hmph!) No actually before the wait we had rehearsals with the band, that was fun. (we had rehearsals even for the duo/trio rounds but that wasn’t as fun as this). The song that I chose, 8 other girls also chose that, and trust me all of us sounded heavenly when we sang together! All the other 8 were singing the mukhda and the 1st anthra, while I chose the 2nd anthra…yea..that’s me…I’m always Different! ;-)




Oh before that let me tell you something interesting about Aisha. While all of us were on our way to NCPA that day, there was hardly any place for all of us to sit in the bus. I sat next to Vartika Vani was adjacent to me on the other two seats, while Aisha was standing. Before we the bus started off she began humming her song and Vani over-heard her hum an interesting tune which was not there in the original and by the way Aisha and Vani were roomies for the previous night. Vani was like “Hey Aisha, just sing that portion again na…sounded like a really nice improvisation for the song..” and then Aisha goes, “ Umm…actually…no.. I don’t want to sing it to again…don’t mind…”. Vani understood why and told her, “look rey..I won’t copy your tune or anything, I am anyway singing Aawaara Bhanware…”, a very flushed Aisha said, “ Sorry rey Vanita…didn’t meant to be rude but my previous roommate also said the same thing and she turned out to be a cheeky and copied my improvisations, while I conveniently forgot to do it on stage…so that’s why..i am.. a little…well no hassles.. here goes..” and she sang it again for Vani. Later when Vani had problems with the pitching of the song, Swapnali Di (the music manager) told her to change the song and she got to sing Sajna ji Vaari itself. And at that time Aisha’s face was worth taking a look at!!! Hehe. But Vani is not the kind who would copy other’s ideas…and again Aisha forgot to do the improvisation on stage…so there goes all the effort in vain! Hehe!!



Now back to the long wait…what all happened while that time now let me think..hmmm.. oh yea it was Vartika’s Bdya that day. One of the crew members kept her busy talking, while the other one told us to all gather around her quietly and sing and wish her. She was so deep in conversation with Thomas (another Associate Producer) that she didn’t see all of us creep up behind her and all of a sudden jolt her with our pretty loud, and harmonious “Happy B’day To You!!!” …after every one finished their versions, I sang for her in Arabic too and it goes “Sana Haaluaa Yajamee”! Everyone was behind my life after that asking me if that really was a genuine song or whether I just made it up!! Heheh!! Especially Jatin from Kanpur…as it is that guy was soooo funny, on top of it he kept asking me the right way of saying those words in that song! “Sana…halwa…allergy?....Sahin gaya na maine?” Hehehe!!!



My turn came and went, sang …umm…OK! The rhythm of the song went much slower than the original and that kinda lost the spakr of the song. But I somehow managed and yea came out of the hall pretty satisfied with my performance.


Oh …miss Richa again cried that day..this time for not being able to remember the lyrics for her song. And again she was caught by the cams and was being comforted by her two Delhi ‘Bhaiyas’, Amit Sharma, and Parleen Gill. Never Mind!! Hehe


Parleen’s fav pastime was going around clicking weird pics of all the contestants either sleeping or in deep conversation with others…God!! Seriously…he was irritating all the crew members when they were trying to shoot our video diaries, by making all of laugh showing us those pics!! Stupid Fellow..I told him I’ll catch him once when he’s asleep!!



By then I had become familiar with a lot more people, Amit Paul (the guy who had a cd full of different south Indian songs, and he just learnt them blankly without knowing which one is what language. He kept singing Telugu , thinking it was Tamil and vice-versa…I told him I’ll help him recognize the languages if he gets me the cd…if he got thru that was! J ), then. Jatin ( funny guy from Kanpur) , Abhiskek (another one from Dhanbaad..always wearing an ulti topi!), Rajsee (Vani’s and Bhavin’s Trio partner) , Shahid (Oh this dude from Mumbai was the funniest of the lot…he used to tell jokes with such a straight face…that I just laughed looking at his face! Hehe!), then Amit from Delhi (man.. all the guys I kept meeting turn out to be damn funny yaar!!), Shantanu (te amazing guitarist), Vartika (the sweet little girl!), and others like, Harshi, Aisha, Bhavin & Vani..whom I don’t have to specially mention!


You people must be wondering why I have more guys in the list than girls yea? One simple reason, theses guys were carefree and bindaas and not chui-muee and bitchy like some other girls…other wise also I hate gossip mongrels! And as this journey of mine kept advancing, I could only confirm the fact that I mingle better with guys, than girls…no wonder why my parents keep telling me I am tom-boyish! Hehe!



Hmm after all this…all 46 of us were made to sit on neatly arranged sofas, and Mini and Hussain told us about how our results would be announced. They said that since there were a lot of good singers among us, for the first time in Idol history they were going to select 14 girls and guys each instead of 12…so that’s how it became 28 from 24!



We were to walk a loooong walkway , through a long corridor, up the stairs and through another passage to reach were the judges were seated with one single chair placed in front of them , our judgment chair..or whatever they called it! This looong walkway was termed… “Faisle ka safar”


I kinda knew what it would be like, ‘cause I had seen a similar thing being done with the American Idol contestants and there it was called…well.. I don’t really remember the term..ah.. forget it! Back to all of us being seated…


One by one we were shown the way…and all of us had to go alone to the judges. First one to be selected was Chang and we knew it the minute we heard him howl!!! Even here my turn came towards the end. I went up…smiling at all the cameras that kept following me and then when I finally saw the 4 judges at the end of the ‘safar’, my heart slowly started pounding….lub-dub….lub-dub…..


Sat on that chair…looked at all four of them…Annu ji said “ Javed ji ne hi aapko chune the Dubai se..so Javed Ji…please …do the honours” (with a very glum face!)

‘Rashmi…be ready to face the worst..’ I thought to myself…


Javed Ji began…”Aapko humne Dubai se…saw logon mein se chuna…yeh badi baat thi…uske baad phir aap theatre rounds me ab taka age pahunchti gayee..yeh bhi badi baat hai…lekin…aage agar…yahan…aapko phir selection mil jaayega tho yeh sabse badhi baat hai…”… pause…and he smiles…!


“aap Piano rounds ke liye selected hain!!”


I actually let out a sigh of relief and screamed “lightly” according to Annu Ji. I got up and before I left I shook all of their hands, and while I was leaving Annu ji said “you didn’t scream al lthat much…” and I told him..i wanted to surprise my friends waiting downstairs..and don’t want to let them know whether I am in or out with my scream! And to that Annu ji was like..”aah.. you want to something different and unique..as always!”. .and I agreed…



I walked back down…quietly…no reaction at all..and when I reached the waiting arena…they were not ready for me..infact Hussain was shooting a byte with ..Amit (the next one to go after me) I think…He saw me coming with a glum face…I was sooo serious…and Mini goes “Nahin yaar…yeh nahin ho sakta….it’s not possible.. how can you not be.. damn!!” ..I still continue looking serious…then even Pinky comes in front and begins “Your joking na Rashu….yeh sach nahin ho sakta.. your joking na…”.. and then till I was sure all of them had a shock. .I looked at my watch and said” theek hai yaar..april 1st nahin hai aaj.. main select ho gayee hoon!!!! Hussain was like..”waah Rashmi…singing ke saath saath tum acting bhi achi tarah karthi ho huh!! You really had us fooled for a minute there!!” Hehehe…that’s me !!!



I was taken immediately back into the auditorium where all of us were asked to wait for some shoots, we were made to dance individually on the stage (to shoot sign’s of happiness on winning the top 28 title) and yea.. if any of you have seen that really horrible picture of mine on sify, the one where I look like I have been possessed…yea.. that’s precisely when I was full into the dancing groove! Whoever put that embarrassing pic up there!! Sheesh!!!



Well after this we had a brief interaction with Annu ji, who made us right the lyrics down for Janne ke Jaane na.. to sing as a group. And believe me it was the most funniest sight ever to see him sing!!!! In that typical nasal tone of his!! Hehe… all of us went up back on the stage…and the now top 28 contestants of Indian Idol had a teeny-weeny sing & dance session to celebrate their victory!


Here’s presenting to you the then top 28:

Vani.. (yeaaa…both the Dubai Damsels were selected!!!!)

Parleen (Cool…my first friend on Idol also got in…!!!)

Vartika (Yeaayy!!!)

Bhavin (Awesome!!!)

Pinky (…umm….welll..ok…no hassels…she’s a good singer..and that’s all I care!)

Roshan (that quite guy, who was Bhavin’s roomie if I am not mistaken…didn’t know much about him..so.. yeay!!)

Aisha (hey..cool!!)

Bharat (didn’t even know he existed….so mean of me na!! tsk..tsk…)

Deepali (hmm…ok..Yea..Vani’s no-hassles roomie…nice!)

Padhmanabh (rolly polly..cuite..from Assam..I was really glad when he appreciated me for the long lecute I gave to all the contestans on the mic , the very first day of the theares…he said even he was one of the dejected contestants who re-gained their confidence only after hearing my ‘speech’!! ahem ..ahem!!! *raising collars* hehe)

Smita (seemed to be a sweet lady…nice!)

Anish (umm…oh yea..the guy who didn’t like it when Shantanu played his guitar to relax…hmm…didn’t like his attitude then!)

Shifa (ahh… one of the other sweet little girls..nice!)

Prashant ( oh.. yea. .that ‘paavum’ guy who had to suffer Richa’s torture! Great job buddy!)

Richa ( aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh WHT THE…..NAhinnnnnnnnn!!!)

Amit Paul (I could araam se help him sort those songs in that CD of his! Hehe!)

Priyanka Mukherjee ( hmm…seemed like a nice gal…didn’t know her!)

Chang ( oh.. that…HOTT…CUTE….chinese guy!!!! Cool!!!)

Charu (hmm.. the one who fought with Suhith…hmm.. ok…)

Suhith (not bad..I liked the guys attitude ..this is then… things changed later.. *wink* )

Pooja ( oh.. that girl who claimed that she deserves to be the Idol since she had done 24 hours of Riyaaz for almost a week before she came for the theatres…ok….seemed to be a girl with loads of “head-weight” )

Shantanu (Yes!!!!! I intended to make him play a lot for me!!! The guitar I meant!!)

Ankita ( ah…I liked this girls Kanpur auditions…liked her attitude…smart girl!)

Abhishek ( hey cool…topi wala joker!!)

Harshida (heyyyyyy awesome… two of my ex-roomies are in!! Vani & Harshi to refresh your memories!)

Rehan (ahh.. didn’t know much about him except that he was polio affected)

Rashmi ( ah…. Wonder who this female is!1 :P)

And last but not the least.. Emon (that cute little. .guy. .who also plays the guitar…sings damn well.. and yea.. that’s all I knew about him!)

All the above statements were ofcourse based on my first hand knowledge on meeting al of them for the first time, with not much interaction….my later entires will slowly let all of you take a peek at the wonderful..emotional…relaxing…and fun-filled moments I had with all 27 of them at our next Stop Hotel Savoy!!!


Oh and by the way…that night (and the night after that ‘cause it was a Sunday) Pooja became my roomie, she was a pretty bubbly girl I must say!! Not bad…


Then I got talking with Emon and Chang too… I finally got to know that Chang was 24!!!! And that he was a Dentist!!! Man!!!! Cool…I told him about the regular pain I kept having with my lower gum for the past 3 days…he took one look at it and said that when I go back to Dubai I have to get my tooth Surgically removed!!! OMG!!! I hate dentist visits…(ok..not if they are as cute and sweet as chang!!hehe!)


All this and more…..on my next entry!!! (wondering why this abrupt end??? Being called for dinner.. like a zillion times now!!!! Gotta go folks!!!! Ciao!!!)

ROI 4: Theatrical Performances...II

Ok people…after a long gap here I am once again!


So…where was I? Haan..yes..the second day of the theatre round at NCPA. Right.



We all left at the same time in the morning (again with our luggage) and reached NCPA earlier than the previous day. All of us got out and everybody startd practicing with their duos and trios. Pinky started getting really worried. She was like “Lets practice….we really have to perform well..” bla bla (like we didn’t already practice a zillion times!! Heheh)



Any ways so all of us after a brief practice session outside the hall went into the building. As usual we had to wait for hours before our turn. And meanwhile I was busy looking at all the other pairs…practice…fight…bitch about one another …again practice,….cry….being shot by the cameras…and so on!



Hmm…soo much happened that one day…where do I begin? Ahh…yes…the all time favourite Richa-Prashant Duo.


Ok let me give you a brief about what we thought about the two of them when we saw them getting paired for this round: “Awww soo cute…Richa is such a sweet and small little girl…and prashant..umm..well..dunno much about him..can’t say!”



Scene 1: The day before, just as they both stepped out of the auditorium after all of us found our pairs, she begins crying. Why?

1. She couldn’t find Prashant…(poor guy must have gone to take a leek)

2. She is a “well-trained-classical” singer, and he ain’t

3. She doesn’t feel comfortable with him (hello madam..how long have you been with him to know your comfort level? Two minutes?)


After I saw her crying and moaning about the same things to the camera more than once…I realized that a girl of SIXTEEN who is in the ELEVENTH standard…cannot be sooooooooo IMMATURE and KIDDISH!!! PUH-LEEZ!!


And on our way back to the hotel also she didn’t sit in the same bus as Prashant ’cause her dad thought he was a cannibal and was going to eat her!! GOD!!!


Anyways..back to day 2…yea..Ms.Richa Aneja was sitting next to me on a bench at NCPA (If you have seen the images given under my profile at sify.com you would know exactly which bench we were sitting!!! Hehe! I am too lazy to upload it here!). All of a sudden this lady starts crying. I was like…”ok..now what?” I saw Rithika (one of the associate producers) calling a cameraman through her headphones: “Papuli…come quick …we got a byte to catch!”


Rithika: (bends down towards Richa and asks) Kya hua Richa?...Kyun ro rahi ho? Kisine kuch kaha?


Richa: (still weeping): Nahin…main nahin bataoongi camera mujhe acha nahin lagta...*sniff*sniff*


Rithika: Theek hai..(turns towards Papuli sir) .camera bandh karo..


What does Papuli sir do? Just folds the screen of the camera and sits down with it….position is fixed…and camera is still on!


Rithika: (sitting down…asks sympathetically) Ab bathao mujhe …kya hua?...tumhaare saare problems batao mujhe…


Richa: (still weeping) Jo kuch bhi aapne kal shoot kiya…mujhe acha nahin laga….bla bla….Prashant ye….bla bla…Prashant wo..bla bla (and she went on!)


I got up from there thinking people should not see me laughing in that frame and I shouldn’t spoil that excellent reality byte!! Hehe!



After a little while Prashant also joined them and he was consoling her saying that he wouldn’t spoil their performance. So sweet of him. And what did she do? Shrug him off when he sympathetically put his palm on her head. Does she even have regard for the fact that he is very much elder to her? God..talking about her gives me goose bumps (the irritating kind) !



Then came this another interesting couple, Suhith and Charu. I saw Suhith come out in a huff and puff…swearing like crazy!!!! I didn’t dare go near him…I have heard it’s better to leave people alone in such cases rather than be slaughtered by their swearing! Later on I came to know from Aisha (‘cause Suhith had spoken to her) that Charu just put the blame of forgetting her lyrics on Suhith’s head. Wo ho! Talk about total co-operation. She blamed him for telling her to concentrate more on performance and not on singing. And he denied saying any such thing. Hmm…never mind!



Now I was walking around doing my vocal exercises and observing everyone else. So many of them were making formations and practicing their steps for their performance. I thought to myself ‘My!...They are actually choreographing for their performance..while I’m relying plainly on my innate talent for performing on the stage..!” Some of them were busy crying about how their performance was going to be, some were de-stressing with their guitars.



We all went one by one into the auditorium, finished our performances and came back to wait for our results. This is the worst part, we had to wait for hours!



We had our lunch, did some socializing with each other and the crew members. I was busy clicking away with my camera. The guys formed a group and started singing a medley of songs along with Shantanu playing the guitar. It sounded so heavenly especially since all of them were sitting at this dome-like area in NCPA and all their voices were echoing in synchrony. I didn’t miss the chance to shoot it with my Cybershot. Here’s the amateurish version of their group singing (don’t mind some of the ‘bumpy’ and ‘out-of-focus’ portions…I was trying hard not to let my shadow come into the frame of the shot, the Idol crew were trying to capture…and if your wondering why there are no gals there? Well..they were too busy brooding over their performances and bitching about one another…while the guys freaked out! Damn I wish I was a guy!)

Enjoy!




After all this we began going one by one to the stage and the judges were telling each of us how we fared, individually. It was a long wait till Pinky & I went on stage. We walked in and saw all the judges smiling. Annu ji asked Pinky what she thought of her performance, and lo..she started crying! I was like…"ok…what was this for?...umm…did I do anything unknowingly? ..was she going to do something like what Charu did to Suhith?..Ok..I’m so not prepared for this…” I began consoling her. She told them that she had not given her best that day, and that she is very sorry (she had forgotten her lyrics…not as much as some of the others..but we somehow managed and got back on track together!). But after all this crying they announced (boringly dramatically) that we were IN….phew! Relief!




Finally after everyone’s results were announced the now top 46 were called back into the auditorium for yet another ‘briefing’ by the judge maharshays. They now told all of us that the following day we would have to sing one of the three songs they had chosen for us, and that to solos this time. And out of the 46 of us only 24 lucky ones would go to the next round (yes..not 28…will tell you how it became 28 later!).



I chose “Sajna ji vaari varri” from Honeymoon travels and was very happy about that song being there in the list. ‘Cause I already knew it! Poor Vani…she was so upset with the fact that we couldn’t sing what we have already sung in the previous rounds or auditions. She also knew Sajna ji vaari very well, but since she had already performed it at her audition, she couldn’t sing it again. Instead she chose ‘Aawaara Bhawnre’ from the movie Sapney. It’s a beautiful song…and that Panni (umm…it means pig in Malayalam…that’s what we lovingly call each other! Hehe) was getting so annoyed thinking about the pitch in which she would have to sing. I told her a hundered…no…a thousand times not to worry about this teeny-weeny matter which would be solved once we have rehearsals with the two-piece band the next day!



Anyway …after that looooong and tiring day we sat in our buses and left for Sahil. I sat next to Aisha in the bus, that was the first time I was sitting/interacting with her. Come to think of it…I actually didn’t get a chance to ‘interact’ with her…’cause she was busy singing her song ‘sajna ji vaari’ on the phone to someone, all the way till we reached Sahil. Ok…now that’s a new way of practicing I have never seen before. Singing to someone on the phone!! How cool (and expensive) is that!! Weird….but nevertheless cool!! Hehe



Until next time… it’s me Rashmi signing off!!


Good night…Khudahfis…Shubhraathri!

ROI 3: Contd...(theatrical performances...I)

For those of you who are visiting this blog for the very first time...a very warm welcome! Please do read my earlier entries by scrolling down, before you start on this one. Or else you would not get te feel of continuity and might feel left out!! hehe!



And for my other regular readers....hows the new look of my blog??? :)



Moving on...



Before I start on the second theatre round, let me tell you how ‘joyful’ my ride back to the hotel that day was. Pinky & I were selected, now we got our song to prepare “Janam Samjha Karo” from Asha Bhonsle’s album. Both of us knew the song so we were comfortable with it. We sat in the bus and for the next 20 minutes…oh my god…I had the ‘best’ time with her sitting right next to me.



She began practicing….no no…let me rephrase this…’Performing’ in the bus.. on the seat. Like proper performance…moving her hands and her body and all. And loudly too. She was telling me what portions to sing and what not to…how and how not to… bla bla. I realized that it was better to follow her than to lead…’coz she looked like she would pounce on me any minute. The other contestants around us were slowly getting a little irritated with her loud performances. They too were trying to listen to their songs for the next morning and softly hum the tunes. The couple sitting in front of us, the guy turned back suddenly and said “PLEASE…aap thoda dhere gaaenge? Hum bhi practice karne ki koshish kar rahe hain!” …Phew!! I didn’t know how to thank him, ‘coz immediately after that she stopped and went off to sleep. I thought I had peace now, but the very next minute she got up and told me to meet her when we reach Sahil to practice and prepare the song with performance in her room. Naaahiiiinnnnn!!!!




We reached Sahil, and the first thing all of us had to do was to find out our rooms for that day. Like I told you earlier we had left in the morning with our luggage na, so now we had to shift into new rooms with new roomies. I was praying to God that my roomie shouldn’t be…you know…and He heard!! J My new roomies were the babes from London, Harshida and Rekha. Damn sweet girls! Since all of us had only that one night to prepare our songs with our partners, every one was busy singing. In rooms, in the corridors or on the stairs. And yes..the reality crew were busy doing their job of capturing every single bit of what was happening.




Now, it was around 11 when we reached our rooms. I had to un-pack and re-pack a lot of stuff for the next day morning. Plus I had not even freshened up, before that Ms.Pinky arrives at my door and asks me to come for practice. Fine. I went. There was no one in her room and so according to her we could practice ‘peacefully’ while I had only one thing going on in my head…”HELPPPPP!!!”. She started off explaining how we should perform, and I was also giving my ideas. Now there came a point when she said,”you know rashmi…you do these moves to me and I’ll do the same to you (..umm..I am even embarrassed to say what those moves were!!)…it will look nice and sexy on stage!”….I was like..”umm..no way am I gonna do that pinky…’coz I don’t want people to doubt my ‘straightness’ …so…nope.. we ain’t gonna do those steps! Sorry!”. Then she says, “ no…it’s a love song so we have to act like you are the guy and I am the girl…”…I said “NO WAY!!!! We can act like two friends talking about our lovers…that’s much better!!” and she agreed to that…Phew!!!! Man that was some performance in her room!!



I was just going back to my room when the reality crew caught hold of me and said ..”Hey rashmi..we havn’t shot you practicing right”.. I hadn’t even changed my clothes man!!!! They said it was ok…and again Pinky & I did a little bit of our song (I looked soo tired singing…while she overtly performed!). And then they were still not satisfied, so they wanted to take my interview too.


Q: So Rashmi…tell me how do you feel the paring/grouping has been done for tomorrow? Is it fair?


A: I think it’s perfectly fair!!!


Q: Now tell us something about your partner Pinky…how is she? What’s her nature like and …


A: Oh…Pinky… she’s a wonderful person…got a great voice..and yea..I think we are gonna do a great job on stage tomorrow! (with a twinkle in my eye)



Hehehe…I knew they wanted some hot gossip out of my mouth…and then go and get the same from Pinky..but I wasn’t gonna let them spoil my image on screen!! :D Moreover…come to think of it Pinky ain’t all that bad…she has just got toooooooo much of energy within her which she releases all at once!!! And without notice too! Otherwise, she is a very genuine person with no hard-feelings for anyone, very religious, and pure from the heart. I felt bad when she told me that her previous roomies had told the camera behind her back that their roomie (pinky) looks like am ghost. C’mon I think that was very very rude on their behalf. No one ever has the right to comment about how anyone else looks. Poor thing she even over heard them say this…how horrible a feeling it would have been. But she was mature enough not to react on it and wished the two of them good luck for future (they didn’t get selected). Way to go Pinky!!




Back to my room. I came back at around 1:30 or so and Rekha, after her tiring session with Rehan, had already slept off. Harshida was still outside practicing with Padhmanabh. Their pair I felt was the cutest! She can’t speak Hindi all that well and his pronunciations are also worth listening to!! Still both of them did a jolly good job I must say!



So I fini…s..h..e..d my ..un/re-pac..k..i..n..g, *Yawn*, fresh..e..n..ed up a..n..d we..nt o..f..f to *yawn* s..l..e..e..p.
…
…zzz…
…zzz…
…
…
…zzz…
…zzz…
…
…
… Oh…oops…sorry…I really went to sleep! This afternoon heat in Dubai makes me drowsy…so while you people wonder what happened next….let me take a small nap!!! Oh! And one more thing, I am flying to Kerala tonight so you might not get another entry from me for a day or two…but don’t worry…yeh silsila jaari rahega…tab tak ke liye aap leejiye ek chota sa break!!


Next episode: Richa v/s Prashant…Charu v/s Suhith…and all the other fun moments I had on the second day of theatre rounds! ….Keep it locked to ‘Indian Idol…my way!!!”

ROI 2: Theatrical Performaces...I

Ok…D day number 1 (each day contestants will be eliminated). We had to check out (you heard it right…check out with our luggage) from Sahil at 6:30 in the morning, start off by 7:00, and reach the venue (NCPA auditorium, Nariman Point) by say 7:30-45ish. And the reason we had to carry our luggage? Who ever gets eliminated on that day, takes his/her luggage from the venue itself, and is taken away back to the hotel into different rooms. So we sat in our bus (a double decker!!!!!) and began our journey.



I saw marine drive on our way!!!!! Heard soo much about it…was thrilled to see it! You know my music master, Shiva sir told me “watch carefully…you might see my ghost sitting on the rocks doing my riyaz!” Hehe!



Finally we reached Nariman point, end of marine drive where NCPA is located. Now, the bus stopped, the venue we had reached, but still…no body was getting out…why?? Because they wanted to do some “reality” …YELLING..sorry…energetic shots of us putting our hands, heads…and (if possible) legs out…waving like lunatics!! They did this around 3-4 times till the reality crew were satisfied with our “energy” level!! Only then did they let us get out of that bus.




We get out of the bus and they go “Run …people run!!!! Show some excitement!!! You’re seeing NCPA for the first time in your lives…PEOPLE RUN!!!!” wo..wo..wo..chill.. ok …I’ll give you guys energy man!! yeeEAAAHHH!!! WOW…KYA JAGAH HAI YAAR!!!!




All of us sat down for a while, then, got into the auditorium where the auditions were held. We got a briefing from Nivedith Alva sir (Creative director, Miditech) about who’s in-charge of what, and how to position ourselves on stage in groups of 10, etc…etc. By the way, the auditorium was HUGE and BEAUTIFUL!!!! There is this huge chandelier right on top, it looked so pretty. And the set on the stage!!!! WOW!!! It was simply fantastic!! I was actually going to sing on that beautiful stage!




And we saw…there…right in the middle of the auditorium…4 familiar chairs. Two minutes later, the famous Indian music begins playing…and there…from behind the wings…4 familiar faces walk on to the stage, off it, and onto their chairs…Annu Malik, Alisha Chenoy, Udit Narayan and Javed Akhtar…the Idol judges!




We all gave them a standing ovation and then Annu ji, told us the rule for the days performances. We were going to be given around 30-40 seconds, and within this time we had to impress the judges with our singing. One song…30 secs…that’s it…you’re in…or out. We were 126 of us. Neither knew what the other had planned to sing. No one wanted to repeat the song. This and more ran through everyone else’s mind, except mine. I had decided that I would sing “Dekh le” from Munna Bhai, and would directly start off from the second verse to avoid repetition.




All of us went in batches…sang…and came back and sat, watched the others, waited for everyone to come back and then we had a 2 hour lunch break while the judges decided the results. Now during lunch itself there were soooo many gloomy faces among the crowd. “Maine acha nahin gaya”….”Mera gala theekh nahin tha!”…etc etc. Are yaar…jo ho gaya so ho gaya…uske bare mein baat karke tension kaiko lene ka?



So many were crying thinking about what the results were going to be. Oh God!!! This is not the end of the world people!!!! I tried rubbing some positive energy to who ever I saw crying or tensed, it did work a little…I guess.




After lunch we all went back into the auditorium and another Miditech official spoke to us. He said that the judges weren’t one bit happy with the performances. That we were all taking it too lightly. That we don’t realize how big it is to get selected from 50,000 people at the audtions. After this he asked us who all felt that their performances were not upto the mark and what they think were the reason for it. Three people spoke. Parleen, Bhargavi and another girl. All three of them said that they were very serious about that days performance, did a lot of riyaz, but somehow they couldn’t give it their best shot on the stage.




Fine. They said what they had to. Now what did the sir from Miditeck say after this? “You people don’t realize that this is a matter of life and death here…it’s a make or break situation…all your dreams, hopes and aspirations are at stake!” Hello!!! At this point I raised my hand, took the microphone and told the crowd that as much as I agree with him to be serisou about the purpose we are here for, I definitely do not agree with him about the “life or death” matter. I told him that I have seen with my own eyes people getting dejected at the audition and saying stuff like “I will never sing ever in my life again”. Making it through any such audition or any other contest for that matter, for a good singer, is all a matter of luck. I know that there must still be a hundred other much more deserving people out there who have not been given a chance to the next round, while we have been chosen. Yes we have to realize that this is not a small platform, Indian Idol is a huge national level competiton, but not the “end of all opportunities”. The most important thing is to keep a cool, and give it your best shot when needed. The things that we can take control of like, keeping our selves calm, we should. There are other things like luck and fate that are not in our hands and about which we should not think and work ourselves. Do your best…and leave the rest. We all were there for a purpose…agreed…but in that process we mustn’t forget to have a little bit of fun. After all what else can we take back with us apart from the good time we had with the newly made friends?




I heard applause from all 126 contestants as soon as I kept the microphone…like I have never heard before! I could even see Kunal from the back giving me the thumbs up sign. Hehe! As soon as I sat down, another girl got up and told the crowd that she practiced real hard, was perfectly well the previous day, but when she got up in the morning her throat just wasn’t on her side. What could she do? She went up on stage and was unable to give her best. She said that the minute she walked down the stage she thought to herself that she would never take the microphone to sing ever in her life, but…after listening to what I had said, she decided that even if she doesn’t get through this round, she will consider it hard luck and try again next year! That’s the spirit girl!!! Was I happy or what! J




Immediately after this the judges came, took their positions and told us that from 126 we would be reduced to a mere 66 and that some of us really really impressed them while others had them depressed!




Again all of us went through the same process of going and standing on the stage, 10 at a time. This time the judges too k more time ‘dramatizing’ the whole result announcing thing. Called a few of us to the front, and then created a bit of confusion in our minds as to which line (front or back) would get selected/rejected. God! It got irritating after a point and I just felt like screaming “GET ON WITH THE RESULT NOW WILL YOU!!!” anyways I did get selected (like duh…this blog entry is coming soo late ...everyone by now already knows what they are reading!! Hehe)




Among the Dubai contestants, only Vanita and I were taken to the next round. Sad. Among my friends, Bhavin, Parleen, Geetesh & Vanita gpt selected. My roomies, Appu and Bhoomi, Shilpa and Sheena they got rejected. And worst part was, I didn’t even take their contact details! I felt like an idiot!!I didn’t even get to see them! What stupid rules…eliminated aren’t supposed to meet the others!!! Bull!!! Can’t do much about it now can I!




So all the selected contestants came back into the hall, and the judges ‘briefed’ us about the next theatre rounds performances. They divided each of us into pairs (girl-guy/guy-guy) and trios. And my partner was…like most of you know…Ms.Pinky!!! (Oh I didn’t mention how she yelled “I love you ANNU ji…when she saw him the first time in the hall now did I? hehe!!! She even sang Whitney Houstan’s “I will always love you” with all the possible classical notes she could add!!! Hehe..we all had the time of our lives….now…gulp…she was paired with moi!! God…save me!!!!)

ROI (Rash on Idol) 1: First time ever...in the City of Dreams!

Hello Hi Namashkar!! Main hoon aapki dost Rashmi Vijayan...aur aap dekh rahen hai Indian Idol ...my way!!!!



24.04.07...02:00am...Chatrapati Shivaji Airport...Mumbai.



Mumbai...finally I was there!!!WOW!!! Too bad I landed so early in the morning I couldn't see the scenic beauty of the city (on second thoughts I have heard that every passenger landing in mumbai is greeted by the beautiful images of neatly clusterd slums!! HeHe!).


I reached Sahil hotel in Bombay central I was happy to see Kunal and Samrat standing opened armed to greet me. Kunal was soo happy to see me, after all the 'trouble' I went through trying to get to mumbai. Yea...loong story..I wasnt supposed to be there at Idol coz of some damn contract I had signed...took time to sort it out...and finally when things were ok and I got the green signal from SONY I packed my bags and left for mumbai!



I went up to my room and saw (actually no..I couldn't see them clearly coz the light wasn't switched on...c'mon the time read 3:30...the poor things were sleeping!!!) my roomies. The first two roomies I have ever had. Bhoomi Trivei from Baroda and Aparna from Bhubaneshwar. Real sweet girls. I have never stayed in a hostel or with anyone apart from family ever. And boy was I excited about this or what?? :)



Ok...fast forward al the minute deatails to the evening we were taken out(too bad I didn't have a comp access there to blog!!) We were told that there would be a boat party and stuff, so Aparna and I gave our names down for it. Bhoomi wasn't keeping well and also wanted to study for her exam so she didn't come with us. We (almost 50 contstants, which is not even half of the entire lot) were all crammed up in one 'excellent'...'luxurous'...NON A/C bus!!!!



Throughout the journey one of the associate producers, Rithika, kept making all of us give her energy and excitement shots for the camera!! "People...shout!!...scream!!...I want to see ..ENERGY...scream....INDIAN IDOL!!!!!!!AHHHHHH!!!" She actually made a few guys and gals put their heads out an scream "INDIAN IDOL!!!" .. hehhe!!! I wasn't a part of it and I'm glad about that.



We reached our destination…Gate-way of India! Finally..I saw at least one famous landmark in India. The crew members had a hard time trying to ‘tame’ us apart from being distracted by the glaring crowds that wanted to see what we were up to! I made friends with this other sweet girl from Bhubaneshwar, Shilpa, and found out that she was actually studying in Coimbatore (my hometown) in a college very close to my place! What a small world!



We all waited there by the GOI, clicked pictures of each other, and were slowly beginning to talk and get to know each other. I had known only the seven contestants from Dubai (Vani, Bhargavi, Karishma, Pooja, Prashant and Anna) and Bhavin from Mumbai, I had known him since last year when he too kpart for SRGMP, Middle east Muqabala with me.




So where were we….ah..clicking pics. Oh yes..Bhavin has this serious obsession to my darling little cybershot. He keeps wanting me to click pictures of his…or he clicks it himself…and also comes into the frame of every other pic I clicked!! God!! He was irritating me that day! Hehehe Moreover he kept saying…”kaise ghatiya chees detain hain yeh dubai ke log…ghatiya logon ke liye aise hi cheesen milti hai” …hehehe! Never mind!



After about an hour of waiting we finally got onto the boats, or what is known as in Dubai as the Dhow. It was prettily lit up with tiny lights around the corners, and was a double decked one (all dhows are double decked I suppose!). Any way, we made ourselves comfortable. I , as usual began socializing with everyone on top of the boat, then when I felt it was getting too boring I went down and that’s where the party started! Some one played a very horrible sounding deck, never the less we had MUSIC!!! And we started moving and grooving and shaking our legs like crazy!!! During the dancing I made friends with Sheena from Baroda, and excellent dancer and Geetesh from Nagpur, a sweet Iyer boy and not bad a dancer too! We had soooo much of fun I can’t tell you.



While we were dancing the reality producers were also having a blast shooting us, and then one of them asked us “what do you people wanna tell the guys who are back at the hotel and have not come here to enjoy with you’ll?” …all of us said they are missing out on something awesome and that we are having loads of fun blab la… but my answer to this next question was what the crew members loved…


Q: “Kya aapko lagta nahin hai ki wo log wahaan hotel mein practice kar rahe honge aur aap yahaan masti kar rahe hain ..to…kya kahenge aap iske bare mein?” (Don’t you think that the contestants who have stayed back at the hotel would be busy doing their ‘riyaz’ for tomorrow and you guys are having fun here…what do you have to say about this?)


A: “Hum log aapko achi-khasi masti walli footage dey rahen hain….wo log nahin!!” (we are the one’s giving you exciting and fun-filled reality footage…not them!! ;-)



I must say…that night I had fun like I have never had before…I danced like I never did before! Missed my friends in Dubai while dancing. Got reminded of how crazily we danced for one of our inter-college fests!!!




Any ways, after this masti I came back on top of the deck and people were busy eating this time. I was too tired to do anything so just sat on one side and admired the calm waters and the cool breeze going through my hair. Right across where I sat, infact directly opposite, there sat this cute guy, with a rather stern look on his face. He was gauging outside the boat and I guess he was admiring the waters too. But the look on his face was a one, a dejected and heart-broken lover would have. ‘Hmm…interesting’ I thought. This must be one interesting guy to talk to.



On our way out of the boat , I came to know that Bhavin was that ‘cute-guy’s roomie and he began talking to me about some wague topic, that was the first time he spoke to me. Then we got out, and al of us were walking towards the bus and I found out that Parleen Gill (that’s his name), was just 19!! (although he looked like he was in his early 20’s) And that he was doing Bsc. IT 2nd year at Delhi. Not bad, a good looking, smart, slightly introvert, intelligent boy…seemed like the person I would like to have as a friend.



So at the end of day one I had a ball of a time on the boat ride…and made 6 new friends! Aparna, Bhoomi, Shilpa, Sheena, Geetesh and Parleen (the last one still looked like he was in a shell...needed an ice-breaker session badly!) Not a bad start I must say…not a bad one at all!!!