Ritanjali Hastir (Freelance Writer)
A student of class five, this ten year old budding musician from St. Edwards School, Shimla perfectly fits into the saying quoted by Eric Anderson, ‘It is only by introducing the young to great literature, drama and music, and to the excitement of great science that we open to them the possibilities that lie within the human spirit—enable them to see visions and dream dreams’. Rijul has been among the few lucky ones for whom new avenue doors leading to his musical journey were flung open by his own parents.
As Geeta Sharma, his mother adds, “In school the strength of students is massive and for students who are not so extrovert fails to grab attention so I chose to provide my child with an opportunity on my own to develop as an individual and I will really recommend other parents too to take the initiative to provide their child with the opportunity to grow.” To this Rijul states that, “This is the third years since I have been learning guitar and my first performance was the song socha hai from the movie Rock On in the year 2008. I take music classes on Friday’s and Saturday’s and I practice daily for an hour during the rest of the week”.
“Apart from playing guitar I even like to play badminton and computer games such as GTA”, he further added.
Though the young musician is not into much of reading but he makes sure that he maintains a proper balance between his studies and his hobby. “I want become an engineer when I grow up but will continue to play guitar forever and if ever given an opportunity I would like to play keyboard as well”, he says.
Asshur Wilson, music teacher of Rijhul comments that “At such a tender age, Rijhul has shown great potential. If he continues playing music with such dedication he can definitely have a brilliant future ahead. The most memorable moment was his breath taking performance of the song ‘Sindhbaad the Sailor’ in an event organized by him especially for his students. I felt really proud to be his teacher on seeing his photographs all over Facebook with all the positive comments” he added.
Though music serves as a stress buster for Rijhul within a short span of three years he has had lots of moments to make his family and teacher proud. When it comes to opting music as a profession, Geeta adds, “would love to have it as his hobby but as a profession is not acceptable at the moment but cannot predict about ten years from now”.