We all have our own tools to keep depression at bay. For me,it was music. At my darkest hours, it was my violin that comforted me. I translated my despair and sorrow in the music of the violin. As my melancholy turned into melody, I could feel the grip that depression had on me loosening. It helped me to turn my abstract feelings into a somewhat concrete form which I could listen to.
My musical career is rather short. It was not until I came to DMC that I played a violin for the first time. I was in my first year and heard from a friend that violin lessons were given at TSC. I always had a fascination about instrumental music and thought of giving it a try. So I took the classes and excelled rather quickly. I would say that it was my passion for the instrument that made me a quick learner. I continued the course for about 4 months and then had to drop out as my first professional exams were drawing nearer. After that I carried on my own.
To that point I had played for my own amusement. But as that year's annual DMC day event got nearer, I thought of trying my luck on stage. I performed a solo that was to be my first ever stage performance and to my surprise I was widely praised. Nothing can be compared to the feeling of your first stage performance. It was like I had been born again and now possessed two different aspects of myself. One a doctor,the other an artist. The following year the organisers put me up with some seniors to form an orchestra of some sort. This is how our instrumental band "Oikotan" was formed. A performance like this was unheard of on DMC day stage but the audience loved our performance.
Another achievement of mine as an artist is that I have been blessed with the opportunity of sharing my knowledge with my juniors. I have tried my best to give them guidance in their journeys in music. Undoubtedly DMC has many talented violinists in its ranks at present. I don't know how many will agree with me but in my opinion a violin can be in many cases a better companion than a human being. It's a friend you can trust,you can rely on and it comes with one of the greatest gifts of life- the magic of music.