If taken in the right spirit, failures could prove to be gateways to success.
Nothing substantiates this cliché more than the story of Ananya Shritam Nanda, who had three failed attempts before she finally emerged as the winner of the second season of reality show Indian Idol.
“I was actually shocked when they announced me as the winner. That was probably because I had no expectations of winning. I just wanted to test waters and gain experience from my failures,” she says.
A resident of Bhubaneswar, Ananya for the first time participated in a reality music show (Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs) when she was just 10. The next was for the first season of Indian Idol Junior in 2013 where she was selected in the top 88, but got disqualified in the Mumbai auditions. She had managed to get into the top 32 when she participated in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs in 2014 before giving a final try for Indian Idol Junior in 2015.
“The failures never bogged me down because every time I lost, I learned a new lesson, a new technique and that gave me confidence to keep going. So, what if I didn’t make it? I tried,” she says.
“The funny thing was my family who is immensely supportive wasn’t very excited when I told them about my decision to participate in Indian Idol Junior 2. Maybe they didn’t want me to face another failure, but something within told me that I should give it a final try,” Ananya adds.
The 14-year-old who is learning classical music under the tutelage of Guru Chittaranjan Pani for the past six years, says while classical music lays the foundation for a vocalist, reality shows like Indian Idol give talented singers the right platform to show it to the world.
“It is okay if you don’t win. You always learn. During my Indian Idol days, we all (participants) were taught small nuances of music and life lessons which didn’t learn anywhere else. They teach you things like voice exercises and tell you what song suits your voice, how to face the camera and perform,” she says.
And you get to know celebrities! Ananya has fondest memories with judges Sonakshi Sinha, KK and her trainer Anand Sharma. “Sonakshi ma’am called me her ‘rockstar’ because I used to pepper rock based songs with a dose of classical ‘chalan’. Anand sir on the other hand was someone who was working with us behind the scenes, training and guiding us and one word of appreciation from him post performance used to make my day,” she adds.
A Class XII student of DAV Public School, Ananya aspires to become a space scientist apart from nurturing a dream to become a playback singer. “I want to take life as it comes.” A solo sung by Ananya was recently released by Sony Entertainment as part of her two-year contract with the company.
Ask her how life has changed after Idol and Ananya giggles “Nothing. I still get scolded by my mother and sister and it’s not that I have become a better singer in a span of months. It is just how people look at you. There are a lot more singers better than me, waiting to be heard,” she adds.