HYDERABAD: Music has brought light in Shravya’s life. Though she was born blind and no school would accept her, her parents found hope when they discovered her interest in music. “My parents didn’t know what to do as awareness was low in Vizag at that point of time. When they noticed that I was keen on music, they took me to a teacher Dr. Padmini,” she recalls. Now, at her home in Attapur, the youngster is a picture of confidence as she shares how music has played a big role in shaping her life . Winner of Black Flowers of Music , a talent show for the visually-challenged singers on ETV, Shravya now works at Uber in Madhapur as a community operation specialist.
Music has been a constant factor in her life and her initial Carnatic classes were not easy. “I barely understood anything; I felt like I was going to some place and listening,” she says with a smile. In Hyderabad, she learnt Carnatic music under Pratima Shashidhar and took light music training under Ramachary. “I would earlier just imitate the songs. He (Ramachary) told us that one should be able to emote the songs (‘You should get into the skin of what you are singing,’). Maybe I was too young to understand. Later, whatever he advised actually made sense.”
Her ‘reality’ journey began nine years ago when she took part in Zee Telugu’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa . “I managed to go up till the top 10 but didn’t make any impact. I had horrendous stage fright and if I knew that someone is watching me I would get intimidated,” she reminisces. However, she made an impact in her first appearance in the music show Black Flowers of music . “I sang the difficult song ‘Anatineeyara’ and everyone appreciated. My psychologist and mentor John Hemanth Kumar helped me overcome my stage fear. He helped me meditate and constantly motivated me.” The motivation sessions played a role in her voice training. “I understood what the lyrics meant. I listened to a lot of Shreya Ghosal and Abhijeet Singh and understood how they practiced for so long. I realised if you understand the song well, then you will be able to sing it also,” she observes and adds, “My close friend Manogyna Rajgopal also gave inputs which helped me.” Later when she took part in the second season of Black…, she turned a winner.
While she sang Bollywood numbers at the recent International Music Day celebrations at Goethe Zentrum, she uses software called NVDA (Non-Visual Desktop Access), an audio visual software which reads out whatever one types on screen. From Carnatic, she has shifted gears and is now learning Hindustani music from Aradhana Karade Shastry. “Learning Hindustani doesn’t mean that I have mastered Carnatic. It is just my interest to try different genres of music.”
She has now cleared the auditions of Padutha Theeyaga. O n a concluding note, she says, “I am grateful to my gurus as I was the first visually-challenged disciple for most of them. They did not hesitate even a minute to enrol me as their student. They knew singing has nothing to do with one’s seeing capabilities.”
