Pujaa.R
Age: 17
School: Jawahar Higher Secondary
It is hard to be a single girl child. At an age when we are expected to behave like adults yet are treated like kids, all of us yearn for the company of a person our age. Unfortunately, providence has not been very kind to me in that aspect. I don’t have a sibling for company and so, I do a lot of things to keep myself busy that I don’t miss out on not having one.
I learn Carnatic music and play the violin; I’m three kucheris old. I listen to a lot of music. Blessed with a father who is equally interested in it, we collect CDs and rare recordings of veterans like Ramnad Krishnan, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and Madurai Somu. Since I learn the violin, people might find me being partial towards violinists like Lalgudi Jayaraman, Chandrasekar, M. S. Anantharaman and A. Kanyakumari. I go to sabhas with my dad to listen to kutcheris whenever I get a chance. As far as Hindustani music is concerned, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi is my favourite.
I also listen to other genres like pop, hip-hop, jazz, indie-rock and even rap. Film music also takes its place in my playlist and A. R. Rahman’s tunes always turn me on. My other interests apart from music include writing and reading. I love writing. It is blissful in its own way and gives me a lot of pleasure. I’ve also sent a couple of articles to The Hindu Metroplus and I’m glad they have been published. The sheer delight of looking at my name in print is immense.
Something that people don’t know about me is that I’m a lot into scrapbooking. I maintain a scrapbook and collect anything interesting that comes my way, like interesting articles in newspapers. I also collect stamps, rare photographs and even celebrity photographs sometimes. I like to look at it once in a while and secretly feel proud of my collections.
Reading Enid Blyton’s books in my pre-teens greatly influenced my writing style. I am a big fan of Mary Higgins Clark and R. K. Narayan. I’m a cricket buff and a big fan of M. S. Dhoni…it has been ‘Whistle Podu’ all the way for me this season. Apart from cricket, I follow tennis — Nadal is my favourite player. Indian mythology also greatly interests me. I spend a lot of time reading ancient stories. All these interests and hobbies ensure that there’s very little time to lament over not having a sibling.