Anish Nadh’s Blog

We moved to #911, Holy Cross! Music was religion here. I was still in school, and I noticed that the older youth hung out at church on Saturdays playing the guitar and singing together. I was still a noob on the guitar but amongst the kids I was the only one who could play ur guitar!  There was Haniel, Nikhil and Andrew Stringer who played the guitar. They could also tune the guitar by ear! Jayanth uncle was teaching them guitar! 

It was time for us to leave UTC after my parents graduated. My dad joined KCD and was posted in HCC.  UTC had a lot of space to play, kids, trees to climb, I was not very comfortable with the move to Jalahalli. I did adieu to my music teacher Rev. Santosh who I learnt a lot from. He was a treasure trove of Indian classical music. My dad bought a gold ring, to be offered to him. He did not collect fees. His lessons were done free of cost. So I took his blessings and packed my bags to Jalahalli.  I knew Jalahalli was far from school. It would be a struggle travelling. The bags were packed, and we moved. 

I attended Sunday School at UTC. I was introduced to classic songs, a collection of gospel popular songs. I listened and sang these songs that were composed well. My sister and I sang these songs in harmony. The Sunday School was later taken over by Heseti’s dad (I don’t remember his name). He was from Samoa! He strummed the guitar and introduced us to Jacob’s ladder! The UTC kids loved it and sang with much involvement. This was the first place where I saw all of us kids enjoying singing and really getting into it.  The Sunday School happened in the evening on Sundays and my dad decided to take us all to the Malayalam church in Jalahalli. I found it really boring here, the kids were not very musical. My dad asked (commanded) me to teach them some songs. I had some experience teaching songs to church kids from a very young age when my parents did VBS, in some churches in Kerala. I had no choice but to do this, half heartedly.  I missed the UTC Sunday School and hated my dad for ruining

At school, there were a few kids so started learning the guitar with private tutors. They learnt a few choruses. There was Johnson, Stephen, Reuben from my class. They all played guitar but Johnson started showing off with his newly learnt Barre chords. He ended up playing for the school because he could barre the F# minor.  He finally ended up being the front man of Slain after Judah, because he could sing as well.  Barre chords were not easy for me. I worked hard, after Johnson showed me how it’s done. It took me about 2 years to get the barre. 

My violin/singing teacher Rev. Santosh started project, in order to Indianise Christian worship! Enter Bhajans. UTC Bhajans were a hit and they wanted another one. Volume 2. I had the opportunity to sing on the track.  I went to the studio, sat through the recording procedure. Judah and Jared’s dad Simon Augustine Sandhy ran a studio. I saw sitar, tablas, voices, violin, flute being recorded. I visually absorbed everything I saw, without asking too many questions. I also saw them composing music.Rev. Santosh would play the notes on the harmonium and Mr sandy would immediately change it into staff notation! He could just do that by ear! The song I sang had the violin intro played by Mr Sandhy! He was a kind and patient man, very busy with his work. Later I learnt he recorded Thermal and a Quarter’s first album!  When it was my turn to sing in the end, i was nervous hearing my own voice on the headphones. That was my first headphone experience, after a lot of corrections and pulling back

I could sing quite decently, I decided to be in the school choir. I loved it, learning harmony and all. It was fun, because my school crush Natasha was also in the choir! I went regularly but, the practice time became a problem. I had to choose between playing during recess or going to sing right after lunch.  I chose to play, Leg cricket it was. Also singing got a little monotonous, I didn’t give it my all and got myself kicked out.  No more early morning assembly and singing, no more practices during recess. I was free!  In the assembly there was a senior Tony Das, who played the guitar. He later became my music teacher years later. That will be another blog post. 

Mr. Linus joined my school as a music teacher. He was this virtuosic performer, who could sight read anything and even play difficult pieces. He played “The Entertainer” and all the pop songs for the school choir! He was just amazing!  I also got into acting for a bit in school, and Linus played the background score for us. And he played the  “Puck” song from my music book. Watching and listening him play made me realise what I was missing being stuck with a bad teacher. I’m still looking for Linus, he just disappeared with no social media presence anywhere. Wherever he is now, he must be playing some kickass piano!