As soon as I was done with II3, I had to rush back home to sit for my exams. Can you believe it I landed the morning I had my very first 4th end semester exam! I studied in the flight…no jokes!!God alone knows how I did that paper…when I walked into the examination hall I had all my classmates staring at me with the same expression on their face… “WHAT IS SHE DOING HERE …AND HOW IS SHE GONNA WRITE??” yea …well have to admit…no matter how busy I get with my extra-curricular activities I’m always on time to attend my exams!! And so far God has been kind to me and has giving me a helping hand through all my exams! Thank you God!! I love you for that!:-)
So like I was saying…I was just barely out of my Indian Idol hang over when my friend Nasreen tells me about “Super Star Global” and that they are holding auditions in Dubai for the 1st time and all that. Dad & Mom also re-iterated the same. Even though my instinct told me a “no more of theses!” I still wanted to go for it ‘cause I had always wished I was on that stage after seeing the super stars perform with Stephen Devassy….now Stephen Chettan on Amrita TV!
I decided to give it a shot. 22nd June were the auditions. I went in and saw George Sir & Gayathri Chechi smile at me. I sang “Dekh le” first…and after that laughter bit George sir asked me …”my dear…what did you just drink?”.. Hehehe!!! Then immediately I sang “Ennu varum nee” and Gayathri chechi looked impressed and within seconds I got the yellow card (I mean white & pink in this case!! Hehe). Well people please don’t think I am boasting or anything but I had kind of anticipated that I would at least clear the first round Auditions. And yea… when that happened I was kind of happy! :-)
Next stop was Trivandrum. Kovallam Beach Resort, 24th of July. And what a CROWD!!!!! Everyone there, were with mp3 players plugged to their ears and doing their “riyaaz” extensively. For the first time in my life…I got so scared! Not because I thought that I would not get selected (yea that was what came to my mind when I saw them itself!) but the fact that by chance…if God thought me worthwhile to deserve such an opportunity…then I would have to deal with these serious people??????!!! Oh My God!!!
The first day of the 2nd audition went off quickly. Dubai contestants went in first so I finished off pretty early. They had asked how many of us would be having trouble staying over for 3 months during the shoot of the show in Trivandrum itself, and the 1st hand to shoot up was mine. I told them I had college from September so it would be difficult to constantly be present. And they put a mark against my name on the list. That time itself I had thought to myself that they would not be selecting me. Simple!
Oh and how can I forget…my first ever friend on SSG was a person whom I had met and interacted for 5 minutes in Mumbai during Indian Idol… Jitendra Nath….yea most of you would have forgotten that’s his name… hehe!! Jeetu!! He came up to me and we spoke to each other and wished one another good luck. Apparently he felt I didn’t deserve to be out of Idol….but well..that’s another story!! Hehe!
Coming back… yea after my auditions (which most of you would have seen on TV…the one where Shyam sir, Shan Chettan, George Sir & Jyolsna were the judges) I came down and by then my mom had already gotten friendly with this very sweet aunty, named Sujata. Her daughter was also taking part. And once we got talking we had a few common friends in the family. They were settled in Trivandrum and her daughter had just finished 12th and was at that time planning to do Civil Engineering. Can you guess who that could have been? :-) ……Sruthi Jayaprakash! Once we began talking she seemed to be a very nice girl. Her audition was postponed to the next day so we wished her luck and bid farewell.
Another friend that I had made…well we just smiled at each other on day 1 and I told her that she sang really well for her 1st auditions…her Malayalam accent would never let out that she studies in America! A very sweet looking and ever-smiling girl… Swathy!
The next day I came just to have some fun. Seriously! I was so prepared not to be selected I brought my “HP & the Deathly Hallows” so as not to get bored. We waited all day for the results. Meanwhile I saw the camera guys and Shyama chechi following different contestants to get their bites for the show. They even came to where Swathy & I were talking and asked us what our anticipations about the result were. And yea we gave the usual… hoping for the best…(although I had already assumed and was sure of what “best” laid before me!)
Finally it was time for the results and trust me when I say this all of us contestants and our family members were squeezed together in a small area (actually huge but small for the enormous number that we were!) trying to get a peek at what’s happening at the centre. I’m sure some of you remember that scene where Shyama chechi was making all of us sing and dance…remember?
Sudhakar sir, CEO of Amrita TV, Shyam sir, George sir, Shan Chettan & Jyolsana came down after their 3 hour long discussion to select 20 contestants from around 170! They began calling their names and I was eagerly looking at who all were being selected. ‘Cause if any of my friends got selected then I could proudly say “I know her/him”!! Just then they announced Jeetu’s name. Boy!!! Did I make the people standing next to me deaf or what with my scream!!!!! I was clapping so hard for him…he deserved every bit of it!!! Cool….that’s friend number one!
They had called around 4-5 other names and then they called out Registration number 12… and I was like..”why does that number sound familiar?”… And then I heard my name…!!!! “Shit!!! I got selected????” I went and stood next to Jeetu and he was sooo happy that there was someone whom he knew among the 20! Hehe!
After 2 more names Swathy was called out and then Shruthi too! Wow! How cool was that!! All my friends got selected! And then I looked around if there was anyone else who got selected from dubai. You know familiar faces. But no. Again I was like!! “Shit!! I’m the only one from dubai?” God knows why I felt this huge sense of responsibility at that time. Among all 18 of us who got selected from Dubai, only two people seemed happy about my selection, Mithun & Vijay. The reason why I said this was none of the others came and wished me luck. And when I tried to look for some of them they had vanished. So well…that was the first ‘hit’ I got. I thought to my self… “Hmm all of their friends and families chances of supporting me (votes) on this journey are very less…ah well who really cares?! Dad n mom is enough for me!”
All 20 of us were briefed about the journey we were about to begin and asked to appear for our first grooming sessions about 2 weeks from then. We had a very brief interaction with the selected contestants. But I really can’t call it an interaction since the only other person I interacted apart from the people I knew was Anand Narayan from Bangalore. A smart young lad indeed.
Well we wound up and then I began passing this news of me getting to the final 20 of SSG to all my friends and family members! I was soooooo excited!!! Seriously even for Indian Idol I wasn’t so excited. I guess it was the fact that the stage I dreamt singing on last year was actually going to happen for real!
So that was my first step to this journey…. Hope you guys were with me entirely….and I hope my “bragging” didn’t bore any of you!! Do tell me if I did! Hehe!!:-)
Coming up next: Interaction with the top 21….yea there was an addition…who and what will be uncovered in my next entry…
Till then … keep smiling and keep browsing!:-)
Adios!
SSG (space)Rashmi
So like I was saying…I was just barely out of my Indian Idol hang over when my friend Nasreen tells me about “Super Star Global” and that they are holding auditions in Dubai for the 1st time and all that. Dad & Mom also re-iterated the same. Even though my instinct told me a “no more of theses!” I still wanted to go for it ‘cause I had always wished I was on that stage after seeing the super stars perform with Stephen Devassy….now Stephen Chettan on Amrita TV!
I decided to give it a shot. 22nd June were the auditions. I went in and saw George Sir & Gayathri Chechi smile at me. I sang “Dekh le” first…and after that laughter bit George sir asked me …”my dear…what did you just drink?”.. Hehehe!!! Then immediately I sang “Ennu varum nee” and Gayathri chechi looked impressed and within seconds I got the yellow card (I mean white & pink in this case!! Hehe). Well people please don’t think I am boasting or anything but I had kind of anticipated that I would at least clear the first round Auditions. And yea… when that happened I was kind of happy! :-)
Next stop was Trivandrum. Kovallam Beach Resort, 24th of July. And what a CROWD!!!!! Everyone there, were with mp3 players plugged to their ears and doing their “riyaaz” extensively. For the first time in my life…I got so scared! Not because I thought that I would not get selected (yea that was what came to my mind when I saw them itself!) but the fact that by chance…if God thought me worthwhile to deserve such an opportunity…then I would have to deal with these serious people??????!!! Oh My God!!!
The first day of the 2nd audition went off quickly. Dubai contestants went in first so I finished off pretty early. They had asked how many of us would be having trouble staying over for 3 months during the shoot of the show in Trivandrum itself, and the 1st hand to shoot up was mine. I told them I had college from September so it would be difficult to constantly be present. And they put a mark against my name on the list. That time itself I had thought to myself that they would not be selecting me. Simple!
Oh and how can I forget…my first ever friend on SSG was a person whom I had met and interacted for 5 minutes in Mumbai during Indian Idol… Jitendra Nath….yea most of you would have forgotten that’s his name… hehe!! Jeetu!! He came up to me and we spoke to each other and wished one another good luck. Apparently he felt I didn’t deserve to be out of Idol….but well..that’s another story!! Hehe!
Coming back… yea after my auditions (which most of you would have seen on TV…the one where Shyam sir, Shan Chettan, George Sir & Jyolsna were the judges) I came down and by then my mom had already gotten friendly with this very sweet aunty, named Sujata. Her daughter was also taking part. And once we got talking we had a few common friends in the family. They were settled in Trivandrum and her daughter had just finished 12th and was at that time planning to do Civil Engineering. Can you guess who that could have been? :-) ……Sruthi Jayaprakash! Once we began talking she seemed to be a very nice girl. Her audition was postponed to the next day so we wished her luck and bid farewell.
Another friend that I had made…well we just smiled at each other on day 1 and I told her that she sang really well for her 1st auditions…her Malayalam accent would never let out that she studies in America! A very sweet looking and ever-smiling girl… Swathy!
The next day I came just to have some fun. Seriously! I was so prepared not to be selected I brought my “HP & the Deathly Hallows” so as not to get bored. We waited all day for the results. Meanwhile I saw the camera guys and Shyama chechi following different contestants to get their bites for the show. They even came to where Swathy & I were talking and asked us what our anticipations about the result were. And yea we gave the usual… hoping for the best…(although I had already assumed and was sure of what “best” laid before me!)
Finally it was time for the results and trust me when I say this all of us contestants and our family members were squeezed together in a small area (actually huge but small for the enormous number that we were!) trying to get a peek at what’s happening at the centre. I’m sure some of you remember that scene where Shyama chechi was making all of us sing and dance…remember?
Sudhakar sir, CEO of Amrita TV, Shyam sir, George sir, Shan Chettan & Jyolsana came down after their 3 hour long discussion to select 20 contestants from around 170! They began calling their names and I was eagerly looking at who all were being selected. ‘Cause if any of my friends got selected then I could proudly say “I know her/him”!! Just then they announced Jeetu’s name. Boy!!! Did I make the people standing next to me deaf or what with my scream!!!!! I was clapping so hard for him…he deserved every bit of it!!! Cool….that’s friend number one!
They had called around 4-5 other names and then they called out Registration number 12… and I was like..”why does that number sound familiar?”… And then I heard my name…!!!! “Shit!!! I got selected????” I went and stood next to Jeetu and he was sooo happy that there was someone whom he knew among the 20! Hehe!
After 2 more names Swathy was called out and then Shruthi too! Wow! How cool was that!! All my friends got selected! And then I looked around if there was anyone else who got selected from dubai. You know familiar faces. But no. Again I was like!! “Shit!! I’m the only one from dubai?” God knows why I felt this huge sense of responsibility at that time. Among all 18 of us who got selected from Dubai, only two people seemed happy about my selection, Mithun & Vijay. The reason why I said this was none of the others came and wished me luck. And when I tried to look for some of them they had vanished. So well…that was the first ‘hit’ I got. I thought to my self… “Hmm all of their friends and families chances of supporting me (votes) on this journey are very less…ah well who really cares?! Dad n mom is enough for me!”
All 20 of us were briefed about the journey we were about to begin and asked to appear for our first grooming sessions about 2 weeks from then. We had a very brief interaction with the selected contestants. But I really can’t call it an interaction since the only other person I interacted apart from the people I knew was Anand Narayan from Bangalore. A smart young lad indeed.
Well we wound up and then I began passing this news of me getting to the final 20 of SSG to all my friends and family members! I was soooooo excited!!! Seriously even for Indian Idol I wasn’t so excited. I guess it was the fact that the stage I dreamt singing on last year was actually going to happen for real!
So that was my first step to this journey…. Hope you guys were with me entirely….and I hope my “bragging” didn’t bore any of you!! Do tell me if I did! Hehe!!:-)
Coming up next: Interaction with the top 21….yea there was an addition…who and what will be uncovered in my next entry…
Till then … keep smiling and keep browsing!:-)
Adios!
SSG (space)
10 comments:
Quite interesting, Rashmi. Nice to see your view point. It's indeed shocking to know that none of your other Dubai friends came forward to congratulate you... I'm sure they would've felt ashamed of not doing so after seeing your performances later :) All the best with your blog - Biju
when I started reading this.. I thought ... hmmm this i going to be really long one... I may stop half they way and leave some comments.. hmmm I stopped at the bottom yaar.. after second post... World Space Radio aired welcome's title song when I was reading that welcome post lol... it was all good.. waiting for more :)
I felt its like a very interesting one..specially the two Quotes below..
1) "They had called around 4-5 other names and then they called out Registration number 12… and I was like..”why does that number sound familiar?”… And then I heard my name…!!!! “Shit!!! I got selected????”
2) "looked around if there was anyone else who got selected from dubai. You know familiar faces. But no. Again I was like!! “Shit!! I’m the only one from dubai?”
The most exciting moments can be describes without that "Shit" ..that's the only suggestion...:)
Go on Rashmi..we are all ears...
Me too agree with it-you can very well do without those four letter words
Rashmi, are you just going to give us this much every day??? That would be excruciating....and ...are you going to be really really honest and spill the beans and tell us 'aaaaall' the juicy bits?????
I am really sorry if I 've hurt anyone's sentiments by my language Anonymous & Jalathatharangam, was totally unintentional! But seriously... that moment was one of mixed emotions and I couldn't think of another way to express what I felt!! Hehe.. But yea.. you're right.. this is a blog for my readers and what they say is what matters to me...so no more "Shits!" in any of my other entries I promise! :)
Thanks for visiting my blog... and don't stop reading!
Regards!
SSG (space) Rashmi
Rashmi,your posts are extremely interesting except that one word, happy that you had already corrected it.
Here too expecting the same energy and spirit that you created in SSG.
As a viewer of SSG i found there is great bond of friendship among contestants and it gives an
excellent grace for the whole show ,so it is good that you decided to write about it. Go ahead and good luck for you
Hi Rashmi,
It was nice seeing your performance on screen. Missing you a lot... Waiting to read more blogs....love you
Regards
Bichoo
Yeaa..rashmi, tat was an interesting read..:) it makes one want to read more and more and its straight from the heart....expressed ur emotions so very well...keep going....:)
Sree
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