Subin

I belong to Jaipur & am presently serving as a Captain in the Indian Army. Learning to play guitar was my childhood dream. After school I joined the National Defense Academy for 3 years followed by the Indian Military Academy for a year. For these 4 years I couldn’t even think of music or guitar. I rarely got time to even listen to my iPod.
When I got commissioned I was posted to one of the most remote places in the Kashmir Valley. Before moving to Kashmir I bought my first guitar thinking of learning on my own.
Everyone else at camp was either my senior or junior, no friends. I felt lonely most of the time. There was no electricity, no mobiles, no internet & no malls to hangout. Life gets really slow & boring out there when one is not working. That is when music came to my rescue. The generators fed electricity for a few hrs during which I charged my iPod & laptop. I had my guitar & laptop to learn something. With help of some videos, I learnt how to hold the guitar, pluck & some basic chords. In 2 years I could only shift between few open chords with basic strumming. For me this was like a failure.
From Kashmir I got posted to Dharamshala where I continued to learn on my own & at the end of a year I managed to learn 1 song. Most of the times, my peers used to laugh at my efforts & told me I would never be able to learn & that I was wasting time.
When I got posted to Pune, I luckily found Muziclub. My teacher Luke Sir has been a great inspiration for me & taught me in a phased manner which has given me great results. My improvement is drastic. Luke sir told me to take time to practice for at least 1 hr daily which I tried to follow with all my will.
My day starts at 5am in the morning with Physical training. I wake up 30 mins early to practice. Then again an hour post lunch. Some days I managed time in the evening after outdoors and even post dinner. On Sundays & holidays I devoted more time for practice.
One day, during a class Luke sir told me about western vocal classes at Muziclub & without a 2nd thought I enrolled. I found it very difficult in the beginning since I had no experience in singing. But my vocal teacher Kenneth sir was very patient & encouraging. I took classes for a few months & it was a great learning experience which inspired me to sing. I practice singing 15 mins everyday now.
I don’t wish to make a career in Music, but it has become an integral part of my life. I am grateful & heartily thank Muziclub, my Teachers & Shruti Mam for this great contribution.
Recently I performed at the Sunday Jam & received a lot of appreciation. Someone from the audience told me, “I never listen to English songs but I liked your song very much & understood every word of it.” That is when I realised that I am not a failure anymore. Just coz I kept trying & I got good teachers & mentors I could achieve this. I will continue learning. Also I will never be bored now!
Muziclub is a great & inspiring institution of its kind (like no other!). It paves the path to realize your dreams. This can happen only when “We accept failures, but do not accept not trying”.