On the 3rd of July 2021, we at Mushtifund Aryaans Higher Secondary School, yet again, had the privilege of being graced by the presence of one of the foremost singers and lyricists of our time – Ma’am Hemaa Sardesai, in an online interactive session. Ma’am, who is now the face of many a hit chart-toppers like ‘Badal pe paonhai’ from ‘Chak de’ and ‘Awara Bhavren’ from ‘Sapnay,’ had a very humble beginning. She rose to fame and paved her way through to stand out in the industry on the sole basis of merit, and is a source of unending inspiration and pride for us Goans.
She was an alumnus of Sharda Mandir School, and was born and brought upin Boca de vaca, a locality in Panjim. At the age of 6, late Mrs. Sequiera, her school teacher,recognized her gifted voice, and at the tender age of 8, Ma’am made her first stage debut at a Navratri festival. Indeed, true talent cannot remain hidden! Throughout her childhood, Ma’am won several music competitions, and completed her Sangeet Vishaarad in Indian Classical music. However, Ma’am wasalways very passionate about Western pop as well, and went ahead to bring laurels to our country by becoming the only Indian singer to win the Grand Prix at the International pop song music festival, Germany, and many more prestigious awards.
The session was held on a pleasant Saturday morning, with over 100 students joining to become a part of this virtual gathering, and begun with Sir VPD introducing the legend herself. I had the privilege to welcome Ma’am with a Sanskrit swagatgeet on behalf of all of us. Ma’am brought life to the session within seconds, with her energetic, beautiful and full-of-life nature.
She begun by telling us about her journey in music, debuting in Bollywood and the like, and soon, we were lost in her stories. Ma’am also narrated to us some of her most cherishable incidences and moments from childhood. For instance, as a small girl of five, she would go out into the verandah during the afternoons, and “sing her heart out, as though the whole world was hearing her sing,” as she described it. Her parents were always worried that the neighbours would get disturbed, since this is a time generally reserved for naps in Goan households, but the neighbours too affectionately asserted that they loved hearing her sing. Little did they know, that this very little girl would go on to make the entire country proud, by virtue of her gifted voice and fervour for music! We further got to hear her first-hand accounts of working in the singing industry. Upon winning the Grand Prix, it was natural for one to assume that finding a good singing role in Bollywood would be easy; however, this was not the case.We learnt that the industry favoured those who were willing to compromise their values and virtues in order to achieve fame and success without hardwork, and Ma’am was among the extremely few that stood her ground, and put her virtues above superficial things like money and fame. Throughout her career, she has never been attracted to this false glory and her words and down-to-earth nature are a clear reflection of this.Undoubtedly, sincerity and pure dedication towards your art always wins in the end. Within a few days Ma’am received a call from none other than the famous Indian singer-composer, Sir AR Rahman, who invited her to Chennai to sing “AawaraBhawren Jo Hole HoleGaaye” which later came to be known as one of her most loved works.
When asked how many number of hours she practiced singing or did ‘riyaaz,’ as it is called,we were surprised to know that Ma’am didn’t do a particular number of hours of riyaaz every day, but later learnt that she was always immersed in her music, constantly thinking of new compositions and writing new pieces of music, and then all of it made sense to us! To her, music was her pooja, she said. Ma’am further emphasized that it was most important to make your dream a part of your life, to be extremely focussed towards achieving it, and then ‘certain number of hours of practice’ wouldn’t come into picture at all. She also encouraged the young generation to pursue music, and her warm words – “I can always help these young singers; (addressing us)- I will always be with you’ll right in front, guiding the way, or behind you’ll, as you’ll please, to take up music as a career and voice out against unethical practices that have ruined the music industry today” truly won our hearts!
The next question asked was how ma’am had overcome the difficult phases of her life or dealt with criticism, to which she replied that she had been privileged to have never been criticised for her work as a singer/lyricist. She mentioned that the media and news, especially the Goan media, had always had only tremendous amount of love to offer, for which she was very grateful. Albeit, she did receive criticism in other aspects, and on such occasions, she had taken a strong stand for herself. Ma’am is a social activist and has actively participated in many social causes like women empowerment and the like. She impressed upon us heavily, the following words- “The divine is inside of you, around you, everywhere wherever you go; and if you believe so, nobody can defame you and you will always be the lotus in the pond.”
Ma’am was next asked about whether people had been welcoming to her as a ‘Goan’ singer, and regarding any major competition she faced in the industry. To this, Ma’am said, with a glow of pride on her face, that she was very proud of the image of Goa that she had maintained in the industry. She said they described her as ‘a lady who has respect beyond spectrums.’ She also said that all her colleagues and co-singers had always been welcoming to her and said “Wo alaghai,” (She is different, and indeed, that is what makes ma’am stand out). She recalled a lovely instance with Shreya Ghoshal ma’am. In one of the reality shows, a contestant had sung ‘Awarabhavren,’ and Shreya Ghoshal Ma’am had said “Aapkaunsabhigaanagaaiye, par Hema ji ka gaana mat gaana, wo wahigaasaktihai” (Please prefer not singing Hema Ji’s songs, as only she does them justice) Ofcourse, ma’am does not believe so and is encouraging towards anyone singing her songs, but this was a perfect illustration of the amount of love and respect our very own Goan artist had received from the industry, and well deserved too!
Later, a parent fondly recalled a college incident, about back in the day when the film ‘Sapnay’ had released. She complimented Hemaa ma’am for her immeasurable contribution, which has made all Goans proud. Ma’am was humbled by the compliments and expressed her gratitude to all the participants.
Lastly, Hemaa ma’am drove home a very important message, that beyond knowledge, what truly matters is what you believe in or what you surrender to. As she has learned from her Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji, Ma’am told us that in tough times we have to surrender to The Divine. She also said that irrespective of one’s status, everyone goes through ups and downs in life. We should therefore learn to be happy with what we have, and strive to be better. No matter what we achieve, we must always be humble. She concluded with the golden words -never let money, fame and power control you. But it didn’t end there! We also had the incredible fortune of hearing ma’am sing live for us.
It was indeed a memorable session, and we will always carry a part of it with us. Getting the golden opportunity to interact with an eminent personality such as Hemaa Ma’am was a dream-come-true moment, which was only possible due to Sir VPD’s tireless efforts to pushing all of us to becoming the best versions of ourselves, and giving us the privilege to interact with such world class personalities like Ma’am, who are unparelled in their respective fields. On behalf of all of us, I would like to profusely thank you Sir, for keeping the spark in us alive with your constant efforts.
Written by:
Nidhi Thakur,
Class 11