I’ve been writing songs for over 35 years and have over a
hundred finished songs. I also have hundreds of snippets of songs, lyrics, song
titles, and hooks on napkins, books, recorded on my phone, or rattling around in
my head somewhere. I enjoy a career in marketing which pays my mortgage, but songwriting is
what I enjoy doing the most. It is also what I believe I was born to do and a true reflection of who I am as a person.
I am not famous as a musician or songwriter. But in the small music circle
I hang out in, I am respected as a prolific songwriter. I perform at a few open
mics and small venues in the New York Hudson Valley region – mainly to road
test my songs. I have released a couple of CDs of my music which are available
in all the digital music stores worldwide.
I was about 17-years-old when I wrote my first song, “Distant
Thunder.” I made a demo recording of it last year which you can listen to on my
website. I grew up in Bangalore, India which is now considered the IT capital
of the world. In those days, it was known as the Pensioner’s Paradise for its
salubrious conditions. It’s crowded and polluted now because of expansion gone
amok. I wrote a song about it called “Bangalore."
I loved growing up in Bangalore. I went to Bishop Cotton
Boys’ School which was modeled after a British public school. People are
surprised by the fact that, until I graduated from high school, I only spoke
English. India is a land of many languages and it was just easier for everyone
to just use English all the time – at least in school. We only spoke English
at home as well. Many of my friends spoke in their mother tongue at home. But
when we were together, we only spoke in English. Kids who went to schools like
Bishop Cotton also shared a common culture – which comprised of a mixture of British, American
and Indian influences. We used American slang, aped British accents, watched
only Western movies, read British and American fiction, wore imitation blue
jeans, went to restaurants where they served steaks, chicken pot-pie, and
spaghetti Bolognese, and listened to folk, country, blues, and rock music. We
still enjoyed our Indian food, and for many of us that was the extent of our
Indian-ness.
My musical influences from a young age tended to be singer/songwriters
or bands who wrote their own music — Cat Stevens, Jackson Browne, The Beatles, The
Eagles, Dire Straits, Jethro Tull, Uriah Heep, ELO, Jim Croche, JJ Cale, Gordon
Lightfoot, The Grateful Dead… I was drawn to intelligent lyrics and good melodies.
I got into Dylan only in my early twenties. He was a bit too rough musically
for my ears before that. However, in the years since, he has become my biggest
influence as a songwriter.
To be continued...
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