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During the same time, I took to acting in plays, after being influenced by my cousin and the noted journalist, Ravi Belegere directed one such play. I enjoyed acting in plays as much as I liked music. In 1985, I received an individual prize for mono acting by the former Governor of Karnataka, Sri.A.N.Banerjee during the children’s day celebrations held at RajBhavan in Bangalore. Between 1985 & 1990, I received the first prize for six consecutive years in the mono-acting competition held as part of Talents day celebrations in Bellary. At about the same time, I realized that I also possessed the art of Cartooning and caricaturing.

I had to balance my interest in arts with my academics as well, and that led me to pursue Mechanical Engineering in U.B.D.T. College of engg, Davanagere. My music got more stimuli after grouping with likeminded friends who had a similar interest in the culture. Gradually, I came under the spell of Hindustani music & started experimentation on blending western style of music with Indian. Along with my friends, I gave quite a few programs in AIR, Chitradurga. In July 1995, my skills and performance fetched me the individual championship award in the annual cultural competition, “Chaitrashree”. Those days were real fun & rewarding! 'coz during the same year, I bagged the maximum number of prizes in the cultural festival “Davana” held at the adjoining academic institution, BIE&T. During the academic year 1996, I was nominated to the coveted post, Cultural secretary for the colleges’ Students Association. Further, I refrained from informing my parents about the new position I held in the college, as I feared their limited appreciation towards student associations. However, I took an opportunity to reveal to my parents at a later time, when I received the “Best outgoing student of the college” award during the same year.

In the midst of academics, music, acting and directing plays, my cartooning suffered for a while. This coupled with refusals from the magazines to publish my cartoons refrained me from drawing until I completed my Bachelor’s degree. At no point was I in a mood to give in. Also my sister Bhagyashree Sharath's inspiration, also a noted short story writer, strengthened my perseverance. One fine day in the early 97, "Sudha", a leading kannada weekly magazine published my cartoon for the first time. Drawing inspiration from this, I started drawing more and published them all in other kannada magazines as well, until I landed the English daily, DECCAN HERALD. It was my dream come true when, I started the column "BIT OF WIT", soon I was able to spread my wings across political sections, Sunday Spotlight, OFFTRACK, HERE N' THERE of the same daily. I soon initiated the column "That's Just the way it is" for the online portal www.firstindia.com. Yes, that's just the way it is...

After my graduation, I started working as a Software Engineer and as a non-professional cartoonist in Bangalore. During the same time, my interest and dedication towards Hindustani classical music finally started taking shape when I started learning under the renowned musician Pt.Parameshwar Hegde. I was involved with various organizations like “Abhiyantaranga”, “Karnataka Cartoonists Association”, “Spoorthisoudha”, to name few till my profession as a Software Engineer took me to Memphis, USA in 2000 which consequently shortened my training under Panditji.

Missing my family, friends, cartooning and music back home in India; I started to crave for music for first few months of my stay in the United States. However, my hard hunt for three months saw a virtual end when I started making friends again involved in music and similar cultural activities!! Yes, I started to breathe again.

We, as a group of like-minded friends felt the dearth of Kannada related activities in the region. Consequently, we started ‘Taranga Kannada Sangha of Memphis’ in 2001 to promote and create Kannada awareness, for which I was appointed as the Cultural Secretary. My musical journey got an impetus after I married Ashwini, an Electrical Engineer by profession in August of 2002.

Ashwini started her involvement in music right from the tender age. Her family was deeply involved in classical music, and needless to say, with her growing interest and vocabulary in music, took her to Smt. Mallika Kannan, wife of the eminent dancer of late Sri. Kannan. She then started learning Carnatic classical vocal at that age with a great interest.

Her father, himself being a Veena player and a connoisseur of music introduced her to Veena instrument at the age of 10. Later Smt. Manjula Gopinath at Manipal Academy of Music & Fine Arts trained her for almost 13 years during when she passed all the grade exams with a distinct ranking. Along with her younger sister, a Mridangam player she started rendering performances at different places in Karnataka. She also won several prizes in her school and college music competitions including the first prize awarded by the reputed "SPIC MACAY" for the Veena recital. Like me, she too went through the balancing act of music and academics for several years, including the time while studying Electrical Engineering in Manipal Institute of Technology. This continued until after getting married to me and she landed at the land of legendary Elvis Presley, Memphis.

Since our marriage, we have been working together to promote and develop interest in music and literature especially among the younger audience with the Indian origin in the United States. Being Cultural Secretary of the association, and also an active member of the ‘India Association of Memphis’, we started conducting several skits, mimes, group songs, fusion music, Dasa day, competitions etc.

Inspired by the huge response and success of our experiments in several concerts at major cities and other Kannada Kootas primarily in the United States, we decided to compose our Kannada musical album "Ghama Ghama". The songs were chosen to pack a wide variety of music, composed and revived with Indian and Western notes and rhythm to add a new fragrance to the rich Kannada literature. Having the music entirely composed, score, sung, recorded and mixed in our own music studio in Memphis itself is the important feat of the album. Noted poet Dr.N.S.Lakshminarayana Bhatta and my Guruji Pt. Hegde launched the album to the Kannada public in Bangalore on August 15, 2004. We launched the same album in Memphis on October 9, 2004 and were accepted with rave reviews. We are glad to share this effort of ours has generated sufficient interest amongst music lovers and the younger generation especially, the Kannada speaking families in the United States.

After her arrival last year, we started our new venture "Resurgence", a rare multi lingual album comprising of Hindustani & western music. This album makes an attempt to re-visit the roots of devotional music with a modern day or contemporary outlook. It was a marathon journey to complete this album, amidst our "Aarbhian" nights.

We both are engineers by profession, currently residing in Memphis, Tennessee; together making our journey amidst our regular work; need all your support in our exciting musical journey. We sincerely hope you will provide us with the much needed support and encouragement to continue in our efforts to create awareness and work tirelessly for the music, kannada and culture. Thank you.


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