Star Chat

The many transitions…

Musician Emil
talks to Maleeha Mazen Khan

Courtesy: Emil

I grew up in Saudi; I attended the International Indian School, Dammam. After seventeen years, I came to Bangladesh and joined North South University for undergraduation. Afterwards I joined IBA to complete my masters. At school I had a lot of Indian friends, Saudi friends and few Bangladeshi friends. I remember that we used to play a lot of football. We all were crazy for this sport but then we also started playing cricket since it became quite popular afterwards. The funny thing is, I used to be very shy, and so I would be a prime target to be picked on most of the time in school. But later as I started making friends, my sweet memories with them gathered up to be mostly of those countless football matches that we played after school.

I will mention two people who left a lasting impression on me; one was my friend, who would always come first or second in tests, and score more than I would. So once, after I scored less in a test, he came up to me and said that we tend to compete with friends, but rather we should compete with ourselves and try to improve from what we are now to be someone even better. His words back then did not really strike me, but today every time I think of it, I understand what he meant.

I grew an interest in music when I was still a school going student. My mom was one of my main inspirations. She would often teach my sister Elita, and later she would ask me to tag along. So yes, my mom had a major impact on me leading me to what I am today. I lacked self confidence and was quite the introvert person. But as I grew up and started performing, I was bound to let my guards down and be a more social person. It gave me an identity that I can be proud of, and personally I think having your own identity matters. It brings a sense of confidence in oneself.

When I moved to Bangladesh, NSU was a whole new experience. Since the curriculum is American we would always be moving from class to class. We never had one particular group of students and it would always be different subjects with different people in different class rooms. When I started my classes at IBA, it was like going back to school. For a change I had one classroom, with one batch of classmates together, and we weren't moving all the time. IBA, surely, was a good experience and I got to meet a lot of people from other renowned Universities like BUET.”

I remember one of the funniest things I did along with my friends in school. We formed a gang and named it DNA. Do Not Ask or DNA had no motive; it was just a fun thing we wanted to do. We would love painting graffiti on walls and anywhere possible. We got caught and were sent to see the authority. Even that made us happy because we knew that we were recognised. But that was when we were kids and now I realise that there are still other things more important in life before chasing our dreams. One thing I would want to share is that everyone will be what they want to be, but at the end of the day, what stays with us is our knowledge and whatever we have studied so far. And that is one of the assets that can never be taken away. So, I would like to tell all the young readers to study first, with the best of your efforts and then go ahead to chasing your dreams.