Trust the timings in your life Take a leap of faith
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
i
[Music]
dreaming
[Music]
it is always said that one should dream
big
because until you do you do not realize
your true potential
in my childhood i had also dreamt
of becoming a doctor
yes as a child i was always passionate
about the medical profession
my only aim in life was to become a
doctor like my father
and save lives in fact
i never wanted to be a singer
how then did music become my passion
what was that one moment of realization
or epiphany as we say
which changed my life and made me who i
am today
my mother always tells me an interesting
memory of how i was
first introduced to the world of music i
was just one and a half years old and
playing with my punji my great
grandmother
leela sardesai who was a renowned singer
of a times
while my mother was busy with her daily
riyaz
she was practicing raga purya dhanashri
and i while playing
started imitating her i was singing the
notes of kuriya dhanashri
perfectly in pitch my great grandmother
was ecstatic she immediately told this
to my grandmother
by the way as luck would have it i am
born in a musical family
my grandmother varsham baker is a
classical vocalist
a lyricist writer and a composer my
grandfather anantam baker was
a banker by profession but also plays
good harmonium
my mother mr shruti ambakar who is also
my guru
is a classical vocalist of jaipur atrawi
gharana herself and a celebrated guru
and my father dr samiram baker is a
doctor by profession
but is also a passionate tabla player so
as soon as my great grandmother noticed
my musical talent
my grandmother immediately started my
music lessons
but teaching music to someone
who was too little to know how to read
and write
was indeed a difficult task my
grandmother then came up with an
ingenious method
she started drawing pictures pertaining
to the lyrics of the song
for example if she were to teach me
natsureimura
she would draw a more a peacock on one
page then for the next line dhagan
shivara zunzelari
she would draw dhab or clouds on the
other and so on
so this is how by the time i was three
i could sing and i had memorized
almost 25 to 30 songs
gradually my mother started teaching me
classical music on a regular basis
and i appeared for my first music exam
when i was six
this is how you can say my musical
journey started
i was too young to understand the
meaning
or the depth of music so
thinking of pursuing a career in music
was way beyond my understanding
capacities
now as i mentioned earlier my father is
a doctor by profession
so when i was small i remember i used to
visit hospitals with him
i would see the surgeons in their white
coats and stethoscopes around their
necks
and i would wish to be like them
observing the way the doctors worked for
the society
was so encouraging that i gradually
started developing an interest
in the medical profession and i was a
pretty bright student in school i used
to
love science and i used to love studying
and understanding different subjects
as a result my academic years saw me
studying hard and working towards
achieving my aim of becoming a doctor
and topping my school examinations
while also simultaneously learning and
practicing music
appearing for music exams participating
and winning several inter-school music
competitions
and occasionally recording for albums
films and performing in small music
concerts
i remember in 2007 i was in eighth
standard
and i had participated in a state level
music competition for the very first
time
it had three rounds and all were pretty
difficult it was a tough competition
and i bagged first prize in it the same
year
i stood first in my school examinations
too
that year it was pretty hard for me to
achieve laurels on both the fronts music
and studies
and it was quite stressful and
exhausting too
at that age because
i am the kind of person who never
compromises on one thing to achieve
another
i generally try to give my best and be
only the best in whatever i do so it was
quite stressful
but i feel that sometimes
destiny offers you hardships only to
make you stronger
and i say this because immediately the
following year that is in 2008
a tv channel announced a singing reality
show for kids
it was the first of its kind many of our
relatives and family friends persuaded
me to give it a try
so i decided to and i was pretty sure i
did not want to pursue a career in music
i wanted to become a doctor
so as casually as i could i went for the
auditions
but little did i know
that this would turn out to be
a life-changing decision for me and
would mark the beginning of a whole new
chapter in my life
because ours was the highest rated
television show of the year
with a record-breaking trp it went on
for
eight long months often people would
meet us and tell us that
you know what even streets go silent
when your show airs it was that popular
i received unwavering support from the
entire marathi audience at that time
and endless abundant love was showered
on my music
and before i could realize what was
going on in my life
i was already one of the top five
finalists of the show
luckily considering my good academic
records my school had granted me
permission to miss the lectures for as
long as the show went on
on one condition that i appear for every
exam
so after my show got over and when i
returned to pune after my eight months
long stay in mumbai
i was greeted with two conditions two
options
to either appear for my final exams
which were to start
in just 18 days or if that wasn’t
possible
to repeat the entire year which came as
a huge shock considering my consistent
first ranks until 8th standard
so that was the time i thanked the
destiny for
the perfect experience as well as
confidence it had given me
just the earlier year of managing as
well as exhaling in both
music and studies so without losing any
courage
and of course with the support of my
family i appeared for my examinations
and on the results declaration day i saw
my name
written on the board once again as the
topper of the final exams
i was so happy because i was back to my
old academic love
with a bang and this confidence was
pretty much needed at that time because
the next year was academically very
significant for me
it was my 10th standard the ssc
examinations
and i had planned to dedicate as much
time possible
to my studies but i was unable to
because i was under a contract by the tv
channel
where it was mandatory for me to perform
at different places
in and out of maharashtra and india plus
this time the responsibility was even
bigger because people were looking at me
as a performer and not just a contestant
but fortunately by now i had got enough
practice of switching on and off between
music and studies
so i used to practice as well as study
daily
a bit of extra studies were done during
the exams and a bit extra music was
practiced
before the concerts so this is how i
managed both
on one hand i scored 94 percent in my
ssc examinations
and on the other i performed in about
40 shows at several places throughout
the entire year
the same year marked my debut as a
playback singer
bal gandharva was the first film i sang
for and my first title song for the
serial suasini
also released that year
all this was so overwhelming
that it made it harder for me after my
tenth to take a decision
of whether to choose the science dream
and pursue my dream medical profession
and live a life i had always dreamt of
or choose arts and dedicate myself
entirely to music
at this moment probably it was
my inner voice which made me choose the
musical path
there definitely was a feeling of losing
something
but i was happy that i had found
my ikigai the purpose of my life
that was the moment i realized what i
had been blessed with
and that i would say was actually the
beginning of my musical journey
because it was after this realization
that i understood
what a long way i had to go and i
started taking music
seriously in 2014
my first solo music album diwali deva
got released
during its recording i got to see the
studio life more closely and i felt that
as a singer i must also know what all
goes into the recording mixing and
mastering of a song
so after i completed my graduation in
economics from ferguson college
i did a year and a half long certificate
course in sound engineering from a
renowned institute in mumbai
often people would tell me tula kaiba
but as they say knowledge never goes
waste
what happened is just the earlier year
due to lockdown when all the studios
were shut down i could still record and
mix
n number of songs professionally for
albums as well as
for my own youtube channel from my home
recording setup
so during my sound engineering course
one day director satish rajwadi sir
called me
and offered me a film
he wanted to sign me as the lead actress
for the film
teesaddyakai karte i had
absolutely no prior acting experience
yet i decided to give it a try
because this time i was pretty sure from
my past experiences
that sometimes it takes a wrong turn
to get you to the right place and today
i can proudly say that it was the best
decision of my life
i got to explore a different art form
that is acting
i got to work with a fabulous team i
learned the importance
of team efforts and i learned to share
my success
this advanced had a super head box of
his collection
it’s been four years now since it
released but i still get appreciative
messages for my acting
as well as singing the film has three
female songs all of which are sung by me
and the happiest part about the film is
i got to give playback
to myself moreover i got
almost all the best debut best playback
singer
natural performance and face of the year
awards
for the film for the year 2017.
what more could anyone ask for right
but being a singer i felt it
important to keep the learning process
going
so in order to gain a deeper insight
into music
i decided to appear for my sangeet
visharath exam
after my film and i decided to do my
post graduation in music
and in 2017 i completed my sangeet
vishaaradh
and secured second position in entire
india
and in 2019 i completed my post
graduation in music
and i was the university topper i
received seven prizes in addition to the
gold medal
but most importantly i got to experience
the multiple and diverse dimensions of
music
so during my journey so far i got to
lend my voice
to films like this
ready mix and many more which are yet to
release
i got to sing title songs for super hit
marathi serials like
i could take dildos and many more
all of which received overwhelming
response from the audience
i got to work with great music directors
who enriched me
and helped me grow as a singer as well
as a human being
with every great personality i observed
or interacted with
i learned the importance of humility i
got to learn
what it meant to be true to the art and
most importantly
i learned to completely surrender myself
to music
my concerts abroad taught me the
importance of prioritizing
responsibilities over leisure
like once when i was in australia my
entire team decided to visit the
melbourne stadium
but for me my next day’s concert
was so important that i had to give up
visiting it
a couple of years back i had an early
morning concert at
braham maharashtra mandara convention
usa
but my flight the earlier day got
delayed due to lightening
i did not get a proper sleep and there
was no way
i could crib about the jet lag because i
still had a responsibility to live up to
the expectations of
a full house audience who were eagerly
waiting to listen to me and had bought
tickets for my concert
so it is as they say that it is all
about the journey
where success is just a byproduct
you ought to have good as well as bad
experiences throughout your journey
and every experience counts it teaches
you something so it is not that i did
not have any bad experiences in my
journey
of course i did there were incidences
where people i trusted
turned their backs on me the ones i
called my friends
ditched me gossiped about me and did
everything they could to distract me and
demotivate me
i remember immediately after my reality
show
i and my entire group we were on a tour
abroad
and on reaching there i don’t know what
happened but
everyone teamed up against me
no one talked to me for all the 11 days
that we were on the tour
i was so small that initially i felt
left out and
i cried a lot but then one fine day i
decided
that i will not let my happiness depend
on others
i made new friends there who i am still
in contact with
so today i can surely say that my 26
years old self
thanks my 15 years old self for
choosing arts to pursue music
for standing strong and facing every
situation that came my way
for trusting the process no matter what
and for going with the flow
just the other day a lady called me and
thanked me
because she listened to my songs for all
the 14 days of a quarantine period
and my music helped her heal one of my
dad’s doctor friends once called him and
told him that
a patient during a knee replacement
surgery
requested him to play my songs because
it made him forget his
worries mothers often send me videos of
their cute crying babies
who are listening to my songs instantly
change their expressions and start
smiling
what more could a singer ask for
it was always my dream to save lives
to touch lives and it won’t be wrong
if even today i say that i am on the
right path to fulfill it
it is all about trusting the timings in
your life
and gathering the courage to take a leap
of faith
to see the miracles happening