Academically, I was a decent student, it was just a bonus that none of my friends had the surname 'Sharma'. So I managed to keep most of my academic years free of comparison. When it came to extra curricular activities, I now realize that my parents put me into classes which, if done well, would have been the best way for the all round development of any child. Be it sports, be it music, I had the opportunity to do it all inspite of all the financial burden it brought on my parents. But as usual my biggest enemy kept me from reaching my true potential. That enemy is "LAZINESS".
My family had quite early on discovered that I had a knack for singing. Of course like all the great superstars it started with bathroom singing, however, one day they put forward the option to learn singing professionally, yes Indian classical singing, the one where you learn to do 'harkats' with your voice. It somehow caused anxiety within me and that's when I realized I didn't want an audience for my songs. Strange, I know. They were insistent but I was in no mood to agree to it. Finally just to do away with the 'singing in front of others' fear we came to a compromise, I agreed to learn an instrument. I learnt it for five years before my biggest enemy and boredom took over and defeated me.
Now when I have lived more than 30 years in this world, have sung multiple times in front of live audiences and on YouTube, I realize my limitations. My singing is decent, but I could have been good, I could have been way better than I am right now if I had just paid heed to what my parents suggested. Now when I am a parent myself and make plans for my child's future, I realize that this is exactly what my parents must have thought and how right they were. Life would have been slightly different if I had listened.
My singing voice and its limitations remind me daily of my biggest regret, 'Not Learning to Sing'.
Listen to your parents, 'sometimes' they know better😉
However, if you still want to listen to a decent voice 😜
This is where you will find me.
