A Tourist’s Guide to avant-garde

It always starts with a sound.

Sound is accompanied by initiation.

Always, always a sound.

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“There’s no passion in his music. I don’t even get what he’s trying to say.”

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I cock my head at my friend with whom I’m currently on a video call (Quarantine!!). Being too invested in reading WhatsApp messages, I am completely clueless as to what the aforementioned friend is talking about. Hence, I reply: “Yeah, I know right?”

Said friend nods vigorously and goes on, “ I mean, *insert name of over-rated vocal artist* is just making music. He doesn’t get any message across in his songs!”

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Funny. That reminds me of something. Or rather, someone.

Rachit Srivastava.

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For Rachit, it wasn’t just one sound. It was the whole lot of them. Something which opened his eyes to the road less taken.

You know those moments when you feel like you’ve been given a chance to glance over someone else's life? Take a look at how they think? How they visualize things? It’s an odd feeling, I’ll tell you that. Much like walking into a new world. Its one of those very walks I’m reminiscing about at the moment.

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Looking at the man who managed to pull so many strings together and not get entangled in them, is surreal. What we know about him already is testimony to his persistent passion and sincerity. He has produced several songs, some on solo ventures and others with collaborations, which stream on various music platforms such as Spotify. His YouTube channel has ensnared 1.08 K subscribers as of now. Not to mention the several followers who's attention he grabbed on social media.

Vocal artist. Rapper. Song writer. Music producer.All of that, while being an engineering student.

Rachit opens the gate to allow entry into his very own city. Walking on the pavement, he leads the way in. We find ourselves in a plethora of buildings and skyscrapers. Some concrete. Some yet to be constructed. Pointing at one of the most concrete and resilient of them all, I ask about the structure in detail.

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Tourist: That building. How tall and large it is! It looks glamorous and well-furnished. Even some posters of Jcole, the rapper, can be seen on looking in.The stature’s so tough. Yet it’s beginning to get old. Did you build it? What for and why?

Rachit: I did build it, it was the foundation of my music career. It’s a vital part of my city and has been there for as long as I can remember, but I only started to work on it when I was in school.

It started in class 8th. I used to listen to Lil Wayne, Rakim, Eminem, Snoop Dogg , Akon,etc. I somehow found a way to memorize poems by rapping them, which lead me to writing my own poems and rapping them.

I would borrow a friend's headphone which had a mic and record the poem on some random beat downloaded from internet.

That's how it began. And slowly, I started building the foundation of a dream I saw becoming reality in future. I wanted to be self dependent from the start, so I started learning to make music through YouTube. I produced a few songs for my rapper friends and then started getting paid projects too.

I haven't taken any money from home for my regular expenses during the past four years of college. It’s all been taken care of with the money I earned through music. I even built a small studio for myself from the same money.

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Tourist: (Peering at the buildings around me) I see a few faces which adorn every building’s walls. Who are they?

Rachit: My inspirations. The artists who did it for me. The ones who made me want to start doing music too. They include Rakim, J Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Joey Badass, Jay Z, Tupac Notorious BIG and a lot more.

Slowly, we walk on. I’m still dumbfounded by the newness of this situation.

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Tourist: There is a unique style to your songs. Your city reflects that. What else do you like to listen to?

Rachit: I actually consume a lot of music from various genres. I listen to Hip Hop, RnB, Jazz, Blues, Hindustani Classical, Bollywood, Rock and what not. So, my music has bits and pieces of a lot of genres.

But Jcole, Kendrick, Rakim these have been the most influential in my music.

I believe an artist shouldn’t be bounded.He should make sure that he gets a message across to the listener through his song.

We start walking on the asphalt roads towards the heart of the city. It doesn’t take long. Just a few lefts and a few rights. Soon, we stand before a cluster of smaller buildings. Rachit looks towards them with something a lot like nostalgia in his eyes.

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Rachit: These are my college days.

Tourist: (silently egging him to go on).

Touching the white washed cement wall of a stadium- resembling building, he starts.

Rachit: The time I spent in college was the best that I could ask for. A lot happened for me there.

My first solo performance in IGT in first year and winning the first prize in it.

Getting into Auroras, the western music team which opened doors for me in terms of music.

Being the coordinator for Auroras and the trip to IIT Roorkee with the team.

All the parties with friends and the great conversations we had.

And lastly, growing. Growing from a child to an adult in terms of mindset

We start walking around the campus for a bit. It’s clean and well-maintained. A lot like the rest of the city. But it’s clearly one of the more cherished parts. Gesturing around to the campus and then to the music foundational building I asked about, I stand a bit rattled.

Tourist: How did you do it? From what I know, you got pretty decent grades throughout college. Still, you managed to do pursue a passion you had. Something you knew not everyone would understand. Wasn’t this balancing act between college and music hard?

Rachit: Well, I really didn't have to put a lot of thought in balancing everything. For me,it just happened. I did things when they were required to be done.

I actually get worried when things are not done on time. But I get them done within the time limit somehow, even though I might cross it a little.

There’s a saying that you shouldn’t put your legs in more than one boat. But I never agreed with that. All the idols are doing more than one thing. Why can’t I?

We start to leave the campus now and head towards a skyscraper. I’m panting by the time we reach it, but Rachit just has a determined expression as we walk inside.

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Tourist: There are days when you are stressed. Days when you don’t like the sound of your own voice. But say, you have to practice for something or maybe produce music in a certain deadline. How do you find the motivation to go on?

Rachit: Well it’s always ok to step back and accept that you are a normal human being.

No one is perfect.

In my case, when I’m on a deadline, things just happen out of pressure and luckily result has always been good. Self motivation is something which you can attain only when you actually have control over yourself.

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Personally, I think it’s all about knowing the importance of time. If I lose it, it’s gone. If I have exams next week and I don’t study now, I won’t be able to secure good marks. If I told my client that I’ll deliver a song in two days and I don’t, then I’ll break his/her trust. It’s a cycle of consequences which you must consider. If you learn to predict the impact of the outcomes of what you do, you can master yourself.

So understanding the importance of time is what motivates me to do anything.

We now have reached the top of the building. All those stair cases were tiring. But reaching the top, I realize it was completely worth it. The view is amazing. You can see the whole city from here. Every piece of the chain. Everything. It’s as if I’ve been given a brief window into the mind of another, which literally speaking, is exactly what has happened..

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Tourist: So, if we talk about you as a person, how has your journey in the sense of expanding your personality been? Your outlook on life, your perception of how we should live it, how have these things all been defined?

Rachit: Life is something which we can only experience. Just like emotions. It can't be touched but only felt. This is the theme of the new EP I’ve been working on as well.

I know we have goals and aspirations to chase, and we should. But we must take some time out to appreciate the so-called imperfections too.

As Jcole said, "There's no such thing like a life that's better than yours, love yours"

Also, if you start appreciating life rather than crying about it, it suddenly becomes beautiful.

That's how I live. That’s what matters to me.

Turning to go back down we make our way down the steps. It’s much easier this time. The way down is always much easier. It’s the coming upwards which tests you.

We turn a corner and now find ourselves in front of yet another road. This one seems endless. It stretches out as far as the eye can see. It meets the sky somewhere. Or does it? No one ever really knows.

Tourist: Tell me a bit about the atmosphere for artists like you in India. Like, what you think the scope is for your genre of music, what hurdles you might face, and the benefits that are sure to come along with it.

Rachit: Well there's always a scope for everything. You just need to be smart enough to make it. Rap in particular has been on the rise in India since the start. When I started there was barely any rap in Bollywood. Then, Honey Singh came, the Badshah, Raftaar etc.

But the real hip hop really started to be accepted when rappers like Divine and Naezy started to pop.

There’s a lot more to unravel though.

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Nothing is easy, nothing is difficult either. It all depends on the mindset. That's what I believe. Again, like Cole said "There's beauty in the struggle, ugliness in the success.” We gotta appreciate what we have and know what we are capable of and then execute it.

That’s all that there is to it really.

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We find ourselves once more in front of the gates. Me, feeling slightly wiser than I was before walking in.

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Tourist: What are the plans for the future?

Rachit: I want to be fully involved in music. I know I have a long way to go. But I'll be there in some time.

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And just like that, I snap out of my rather long reverie. Conversations, walks. What’s the difference? They all guide you.

We learn in school about the periodic table. How all the elements are classified into groups having the same characteristic properties, but there are always anomalies. The exceptions. Similar to the others, yet, different.

As I am thinking this through, the friend on my phone is beginning to look really mad. It seems I pressed the mute button to enjoy my reverie in peace.