Off the Beaten Path

Written by Satish Kolluru

The events in my life can broadly be divided into 4 large blocks (hence the 4 article series....:). Childhood and schooling were very different from what I was going to experience in Engineering College. Until now, I was safe and secure in my own little world, cut - off from the ruthless world out side.... but college exposed me to a different world, which, I didn't know existed parallels.

Engineering was a very significant phase in my life. During my Engineering, I was exposed to a completely different school of education and thought. Till I joined engineering in Andhra University, I had believed that studying subjects and scoring marks was a very straightforward thing. You study hard, know all the answers related to the subject, write well in the exam and automatically score good marks - Right?

Wrong.....!

As I said, I didn't realize that I was now a part of an education system which worked very differently from the way I had grown up learning. Some of the salient features and rule of this interesting system were:

The number of marks you are awarded is directly proportional to the number of times you say "Good Morning" to the lecturer.
Marks scored is inversely proportional to the amount of your interaction with girl students.
Additional marks were awarded to students of the same caste who flocked together.
Passing a subject was purely a factor of the lecturer's opinion on you. Writing the exam well had no importance. (It helped if you belonged to the same caste as that of the lecturer)

It was mind boggling to discover that such a crude school of thought existed outside my small, little world all this while. Initially, I rebelled at the though of having to be a part of this senseless system of education but soon, reality struck and I resigned myself to living with it.

For the very first time in my life, things like attendance, saying "Good Morning" to my lecturers out of fear than out of respect etc were on top of my daily existence. We studied (what seemed like) life saving theories like Terjahgi's equation, Kaplan's theory etc which I wondered were ever used in daily life....!

Classes started at 8 in the morning and went on till 4 in the evening! Mid - term examinations, surprise tests (?), practical tests, final examinations and a series of other things kept me occupied, allowing for very little time for me to breathe....The first year flew by before I could get back to my senses.

Perhaps one of the only things I treasure out of my engineering days is the group of very close friends I made during that time. We were like a closely - knit family out side home. It is virtually impossible for me to explain in words how much I treasure them till date.... We spent days and nights chatting and expressing our personal views about the stupid and beaurocratic education system that we were part of in college. Everybody talked about their dreams, ambitions and future plans with each other.

I think , it is by sheer fortune that we were a group of very close friends with such diverse backgrounds and tastes. I believe that in any relation, it is important for two people to be able to start off from where they left without fumbling to gain ground. It could be after 30 mins, 2 days or 2 years.....

By this time, everybody among my friends group knew about my extra curricular achievements in school. During one of our usual chats, I slowly started toying with the idea of becoming an accomplished music composer for a living. I was however, quite apprehensive of expressing my idea to everybody, fearing rejection. But, eventually when I expressed my desire to everybody, none of them seemed to be surprised. They believed it to be a natural progression for a person who has achieved so much in life at a young age. In a way, this encouragement proved to be a turning point for me....

At around the same time, I accidentally chanced upon a software called 'Anvil Studio'. It was an interesting software which had the capability to play out a musical piece in any instrument you wanted, by inserting musical notes into it with a mouse in western staff notations. This free software sowed the seed of curiosity in me to explore its capabilities further.

There was a problem though. While I totally understood the capacity of this software, I was handicapped by the fact that I didn't know staff notations (or any music theory for that matter). having never attended any formal music training, this was a severe handicap. More than my ignorance, it was my vision of what this software was capable of doing for me once it's potential is tapped, was what was making me frustrated. there was so much I could accomplish, if only I knew how to enter my musical ideas into this software through staff notations..... The sound that I heard in my mind all this while, can then be heard by the rest of the world....!!!!

Though I had failed to secure a seat in the IIT even after my rigorous preparation, the experience had turned me into a thorough self - learner by then.... So, I was determined to learn music theory and then, staff notations on my own, by studying books. I picked up a book - Fundamentals of Music, at a book shop and started reading it. Initially it didn't make sense but once I got the hang of it, there was no looking back. That's how I mastered the art of writing tunes in staff notations. So much that, I even started teaching keyboard at a local music institute, Vinayaka Musicals with this knowledge.

This was very important, as there was nobody else I knew who shared this passion with me. There was nobody to ask for guidance... I was all alone.... I was on my own.....

Alone in the vaccum if ignorance.... No where to go..

During my quest for knowledge, I chanced upon the concept of using mailing lists and newsgroups on the internet to find out more about the subject of music production and recording. They were my only sources of acquiring knowledge. These came like an oasis to a person desperately trying to quench his thirst in a vast desert....

I gathered all the information I could about the subject and slowly setup my own little music production setup at home. I used to discuss my experiments in music and technology with a few of my friends continually.....

At around the same time, the architecture department of my college was about to host a national level seminar for architecture students hailing from all over India. They were looking for someone to compose and produce a theme music specially for the event. Somebody told them that there is this guy in the Civil Engineering branch who does music using his computer and is very good at it.... So, they came to me with an offer to compose the theme music for the prestigious event.

I was not sure about this offer.... I had no clue why anybody would be interested in entrusting such an important job of composing a theme for a national event of such magnitude...and even more surprising.... Pay me for it..!!!

I still don't know what prompted me to take that offer.......

I composed, played, recorded and produced the theme music using my very primitive production setup and gave it to the organizers.... What happened next was the biggest shock of my life...!!! That theme went on to become the most memorable and popular original composition ever done by a student of the college for an event of such importance.....!!

That theme was on everybody's lips.... It was such a huge success that the organizers made copies of that 6 Min long music piece and sold it for Rs 500 per CD....!! (and this was in the year 2000...!!)

Now when I look back and listen to it, it sounds so basic... :-))

On a parallel scene, word spread from mouth to mouth and one day I got a call from a movie producer/director Mr. Murali Raju, who wanted to meet me, having heard a a lot about me... So, off I went to Hyderabad for a few days to meet him. I came to know that he was producing/directing a telugu movie called Karthik and wanted to introduce a fresh talent through it. He wanted to make news by introducing a college going kid as the music director of his new movie...! He gave me a few lyrics and asked me to come up with a few scratch tunes. The deal was set......

What followed was a very hectic schedule of travel between Vizag and Hyderabad having also to manage my engineering college in the meantime. I was suddenly the busiest student in class. While everybody else in my class was busy planning their studies for GRE and TOEFL, I was busy shuttling between Vizag and Hyderabad for my music sessions and studio recordings. I had very little time. I went to college in the mornings and composed/arranged songs all night. When the weekend or some festival holidays came, I was off to Hyderabad....

One thing led to the other and in the meantime I composed, arranged and produced a devotional album and a gospel album using mythen upgraded production setup.... At a relatively young age, I started earning money....

Once the movie and these albums released my name was in all the newspapers and Deccan Chronicle did a special interview with me in their newspaper....

All this experience and exposure enabled me to be an Associate Member in Audio Engineering Society (AES), through which I once got to meet H.Sridhar, the chief audio engineer for my idol, A.R.Rahman.

By this time, I had firmly made up my mind to pursue a career in sound/music production.... come what may..... So, much recognition in such a short span of time could not possibly have been an accident.... I was destined to follow it further..!!

I realized that all my knowledge was of no use to the outside world if didn't have a formal education in audio engineering.. So, I made up my mind to pursue a Diploma in Audio Engineering from SAE, Liverpool. I gathered all the information about the college and the course and applied for it. Having secured a score of 8/9 in IELTS and after going through my experience even before joining the course, I was offered admission immediately....

All through my entire engineering phase, my parents always supported me and encouraged me to keep doing the good work... They extended their full support to my goal of pursuing an audio engineering course overseas... I know I keep stressing the importance of my parents' support in shaping what I am right now..... but, no amount of mention can ever stress this fact enough.....!!

Well, all the formalities were done.... and I was finally ready to fly to my dream destination.... An overseas audio engineering school....!!

So, off I went... excited about being in the company of like minded people like me in an unknown country... but with a sense of inexplicable restlessness about going away from my parents.... not knowing, for how long.....!!!!