Every month, since the time she was 10 years old, Harshita Kalee would ask her father for two new cassettes. She’d plug in her walkman while she was working out complex maths problems and listen to them. She’d sing, dance and revel in her love for music. But never did the young girl from Patna think she could make a career out of it. “I come from a place where something like that was not accepted, or even, understood. That’s why this journey has been even more challenging,” says Kalee, who is also known as DJ Kaleekarma, when she’s behind the console.
In 2008, Kalee qualified as an instrumentation and control engineer. She worked as a software engineer in Mysore for a year, and then took to modelling. The fashion industry took her to Mumbai, and in 2010, the city opened her up to new music with all the gigs it hosted. In this atmosphere, she was always elated. “Music had that effect on me. So I thought, if I feel this good listening to it, how good I would feel if I could translate my own feelings through music.”
So one day, Kalee decided to do just that: she downloaded techno, tech-house and psychedelic tracks, and started experimenting with them. “I didn’t even understand the different genres then…” In 2012, she finally got behind the console at a friend’s party, after months of shying away from it. The response, she says, was incredible. “Everyone wanted me to play at their party after that. I was so happy.”
She has performed at many more parties since then, and at some popular venues across the country, including blueFROG in Pune, The Daily in Mumbai, Cloud 9 in Shillong, Henry’s in Kolkata, and most recently, The Leather Bar in Chennai. Through music, says Kalee, she is finding her karma, which is why her DJ moniker feels so apt.
Currently, she is travelling from city to city for gigs, and along the way, she hopes to find inspiration, meet collaborators and learn. “I am in a beautiful place right now; I can only be thankful. I want to create my own music at some point, so I’m trying to understand music theory and play instruments as well. I just want to learn everything I can about music.”
