Ritanjali Hastir, Keekli Reporter, February, 2015
Believing music to be magic that can transform lives we have a young aspiring musician Chirag Saraswati who is a fine example of passion for music amalgamate with a professional academic degree. He is a living exemplar that when one is determined then anything is possible.
Born and brought up in the luscious hills of Shimla, Chirag is an engineer by profession and musician by heart. He did his schooling from St. Edwards School, Shimla and completed his Bachelor’s in Technology in Electronics and Communications from Jaypee University of Information and Technology, Waknaghat.
“Since my early days I had been interested in music and always wanted to stay connected with it. I started learning guitar since my school days and in college I was the lead guitarist for my college band Hollow Souls which got split after graduation as all the members moved to different parts of the country. However, currently I am a solo musician”, shares Chirag.
While expressing his opinion on music he says, “Music to me has meant different things in different phases of my life. I am not even ashamed to admit that there are times when I have preferred silence, but if I was to pick a genre I have always liked, then it is the Blues. To quote a rather cheesy line from an old Blues song, ‘I looked down the road as far as I could see, a man had my woman, and the blues had me’.”
“Music has the ability to move the mountains. That’s why all our hymns are sung, why all our nursery rhymes are sung and why a petrol head loves the combined orchestra of his engine. It is simply magic”, he further adds.
“I have always had an inclination towards the Classic Rock genre. It feels normal to me, it feels like home. Indian Classical music is supremely exotic and it saddens me to realize that it doesn’t get recognition as the “default” music that Indians listen to. Our ears are often overcome by artists (if you can call them that) who depend on vulgarity for popularity. Of late, I find myself tuning to FM Channels to satisfy my craving for Indian Classical Music”, says Chirag while expressing his opinion on Western versus Indian Classical music.
While commenting on music as a profession he says, “I think it is still a rather daunting task to take up music as a profession in India, especially in smaller towns such as ours. I myself have a background in Engineering so I find it a bit easier to stay connected to the profession as an Audio Engineer. I do take up the odd project as a voiceover artist.”
Chirag draws a very close relationship between photography and music as he says, “Like our sense of hearing, our visual senses have an ability to evoke emotion. I think photography and music have an incredible connection, a combination that leads naturally to film and I draw my inspiration for music from it.”
As a humble musician he says, “I don’t think I’ve had my Epiphany yet as a musician. I’ve had really good moments on stage with my band mates, but my best moments have often involved me with my headphones jacked up behind closed doors. I think my best music has been written in isolation, so it makes more sense for me to continue my musical career as a solo musician”.
As per his future plans he shares, “I am currently in the process of relocating to Deutschland for my master’s degree, I never thought I’d decide to study again, but when the opportunity presented itself I said Yes. However, currently I am also learning cinematography. Exploring my possibilities is always an exciting approach that I have towards life, hopefully it all works out at the end.”
Picture credits: Samarth Mediratta
