FROM THE HILLS TO STARDOM

India has always been said to be a unique country because of the amalgamation of various people on the same soil. People of different cultures have lived together over many centuries. For this reason India is said to be a country where there is “Unity in Diversity”. In recent times there hasn’t been much opportunity to really witness the true meaning of this phrase. Every other day, there is a report of communal violence in some corner of the country. North east is specially a victim of violence in its various forms. Over the years, the region has just managed to earn a distorted name for itself in the form of a region where there are more militant outfits than ordinary people. Our own Shillong hasn’t been any exclusion to this. For more than two decades, there has always been a tension among the people here. Though this tension has somewhat taken a backseat nowadays, nevertheless it is still there. The tribals and non-tribals seemingly cannot tolerate each other. There is hardly any friendship seen among these two kinds of people.

This year, Shillong saw a kind of revolution, rather a “different” kind of revolution. There was no politician making fake promises nor were there any religious sector uniting people or the likes. There was just the rebirth of the word “music” in the place. Shillong has always been known to be the music centre of North East. Be it the only place celebrating the birthday of Bob Dylan, or international bands like Micheal Learns to Rock, Petra coming here to perform. But somehow music seemed to be dying here. But one person got it alive, Amit Paul.

Amit Paul, a contestant in Indian Idol 3, did not seem to be the best among the contestants in the beginning of the show. One of the judges, Alisha Chinai, was hardly impressed by his voice but other judges like Anu Malik and Javed Akhtar backed him right from the auditions. When he was voted out in the piano rounds that seemed to be the end of his journey in Indian Idol. But after making a terrific come back in the wild card round, there was no looking back for the Shillong Boy. Since then he became a real competitor to the rest. When the gala rounds started his performance stayed consistent and the judges were always impressed by him.
After reaching into the final three of the music show, he came back to Shillong. The response then was phenomenal. Hardly have any other person been welcomed in a similar manner earlier. Old and young, people from different castes and communities came together to catch a glimpse of their “idol”. There wasn’t any difference between a Khasi or a Bengali when they were listening to him sing.

It is said that music knows no boundary and Shillong proved it. Music, in every sense made the people here come together. The years of distrust was washed away in an instance. Hindi songs could be heard in every nook and corner of the city. The Khasi version of “Yaad Aa rahi hai”, sung by Amit became a kind of an anthem here. Everyone, right from a toddler to an eighty year old knew the song by heart. Not only this song, but any song sung by him was immediately learnt by everyone.

Before this, Shillong had never had any one going to the national level in such a big way. Thus Amit has become an icon who symbolises similar dreams dreamt by many. He has made youngsters believe in them and in the fact that they too can do it. People have realised that music has the power to make dreams come true and also to bind people together. Amit Paul has symbolised the aspirations of the people here that the North East
neglected for years, they be to call someone their own. Today any Shillongite going outside proudly says that “I too live in Shillong, where Amit lives”.