Shakti Sankar Pati

In the 80s, our society wasn’t progressive enough to accept the idea of a woman from a middle class family pursuing a career in singing. My mother is a great singer, she used to take classes and learn various types of music. But she was asked to take a step back from her dreams . Although she stopped singing, she did pass me on this trait when I was born. Since childhood , I was very much into Odia and Hindi music. I used to perform at various events during school days. When I went to college, the opportunities to showcase my talent widened. I wanted to learn guitar but I had no money back then and my father wouldn’t buy me one because he wanted me to focus more on studies. Then one of my friends lent me his guitar so that I could practice and learn, I still owe him for what he did for me.  I was a terrible guitar player, my roommates used to tease me everyday because instead of creating music, I was creating noise. Slowly and gradually I learned how to play guitar. By the end of final year, I was able to sing and play the guitar at the same time.

I then got placed in a small startup in Bangalore. I started focusing on my career and I completely forgot about music for a year. After one year in startup, I started applying for jobs in MNCs and luckily got a call back from Infosys. It was a turning point for me and my music. This organization offered me endless opportunities to go back and follow my passion for singing. I joined clubs, sang at various events and eventually became a recognized face in the campus. After 6 whole years since college, I was finally able to buy guitar on my own. I never had a professional coach in my life, all I had was YouTube and a handful of friends who were there to teach and guide me.

I met a friend here at the organization through music and we eventually became best buddies. We started doing a lot of concerts together. We have performed for various hotels, pubs, cafés and around many kinds of roadside food trucks. One day I decided that I should record myself singing and soon I uploaded it on YouTube. I was shocked when I saw my video reaching 38,000+ views in a matter of days. When my family saw the video, they were extremely proud of me. They started supporting me for my passion. My dad started calling out my relatives to showcase my accomplishments with respect to singing. These small moments make me really happy. As far as my future is concerned, I want to continue making music because it makes me happy. Maybe my mother was never able to accomplish her dreams, but I want to accomplish mine Infront of her eyes and make her proud.

Total Work Experience : 6.8 Years (Infosys, Knowledge flex)