Part 1 - They shot me !!!

I got shot; nearly 24 times and that too in three days; 21st, 23rd and 24th of July this year.

Life was pretty normal for me until July 6th. I never knew there would be a lot of unpredictable twists and turns awaiting me. I tried my best to come out of the situation; I could not. Even without my knowledge, I became a part of it. Everyone whom I knew promised that they would pray for me. I was helpless; my only wish was not to let anyone down. Wait, let me get into the flashback mode now and split the incidents; day wise (that would bring in a lot more clarity and also increase my number of posts !)

Day One – July 6th

I was at my friend and sister, Priyas place in the morning and she had asked me to get ready for an audition for Raagamaalika; a song based show that Jaya TV (Tamil channel) had been airing continuously for the last 6 years. For people who don’t know, Raagamaalika is not the typical reality show that comes on every channel these days. It’s a very serious show and the results are only based on the judges decision and not on votes. I was actually disinterested, as I have never sung for any competitions and was not sure if I could take rejections in the right spirit. Moreover, it’s one show where musical training is a must, which I do not have of any kind. But I couldn’t stand her persuasion; and together we left for the audition. There were almost 1000 of them there and that sight itself sent shivers down my spine. Approached a lady and got hold of the registration form. The only easy portions to fill up were my name and address. The rest were questions like “how many years of musical training do you have” and “mention other competitions/prizes/certifications” and I still had no idea what I was doing amongst those people; my ‘competitors’! I told Priya that if we leave now, we still have a chance to get away without getting humiliated. She grrr-ed at me and snatched the registration form from my trembling hands to fill it herself. After filling up the form, all that we were supposed to do was wait until they called my number - 649. Till the last moment, I wasn’t sure about the song that I should sing. I had a couple of them in my mind, finally 5 mins. before entering the audition room, narrowed down my choices to Shakthi Kodu and gave my best effort during the audition. Thankfully, there werent any cameras to shoot the audition. That would have made me even more tensed. They made me render only 4 lines and said that the results would be out by 4pm the same day.

Priya alone was anxiously for the results as I had lost all hope. At about 4.30, there was a huge crowd near the gate; boy oh boy, the results are out. I sat on my bike itself and made Priya go up to the gate and check. In less than two minutes, she ran towards me shouting “U r through ! U r through!” That was one of the biggest surprises in my life. I mean, there were people who were trained for years and I was one person who had been trained only by myself in various bathrooms. How could I? Or rather how could they? She came back with the second auditions’ criteria - learn one classical / semi classical song and 5 other songs from movies that released before 1990. The second audition was scheduled at 2pm the next day and that’s like only half a day left (subtracting 7 hrs of sleep and the 3 hrs which I was supposed to spend at Love story 2050 that night). Though I am aware of songs that released before 1990, I wasn’t sure how I would learn them and then render it in such a short time. To top it all, the classical/semi classical; how am I going to escape from that one now? For crying out loud, I have never been trained in any kind of music at alllllllll !!!!!

Trailer for next week- July 7th; the second audition :
Me : I am afraid, I am not well versed in any Tamil song that released before 1990, I need to look at the lyrics to sing.
Judge : Why do you have answers for all the questions that I ask (grunts) ??