Not The Best Ending But Wouldn't Change A Thing

The questions this week from @ladiesofhive are:-

1️⃣ Are you who you want to be? Did you dream of being something else,
or settle down into a life that just took you along...?

Or

2️⃣ How have you improved as a result of experience over the years?
Were you driven by passion, a dream, or family who steered you?

So here goes...

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I have to say I have been lucky that my parents supported me in following my passion and that has given me so much over the years in terms of happiness. But let’s start at the beginning.

As far back as I can remember, music has been a big part of my life. As a child, I used to play my father’s records really loud, then run around the potted plants pretending I was starring in a Bollywood movie. Mum sewed me a costume to match and the neighbourhood kids would come out to watch and cheer me on. I loved it - until I tripped and fell that one time and they laughed so hard, it put an end to my Bollywood dreams.

When I went to live with my grandmother and aunties, we’d have these evenings where the 4 of us (my two aunties, my brother and I) would role-play songs. Two of our favourites were Copacabana by Barry Manillow and Spanish Train by Chris De Burgh

But it wasn’t till I hit my teens, that I got so hooked, I even stopped concentrating on my studies. Back then, radio stations broadcasting time was from 6 am to midnight. I would wake up at 5.45 am, wash up and get ready to listen like it was a job. All the free time I had, I sat at that table the radio was on and listened with pen, paper and a cassette in the player lest I "had" to record a song.

Then after my upper secondary education, I worked a boring factory job for about 3 months because I did not do well in my exams, did not want to resit or continue studying. This is when I came across an ad in the papers looking for a DJ.

At first, I thought it was the radio kind, the only kind I knew. I went for the interview got the job, and then found out there was another kind - the club kind. I was with them for about a year, when I had auditioned to be a cabaret dancer with a dance group called the Kit Kat Club (that image is from one of the shows, I was miming Gloria Estefan's Conga). From miming gigs, the group eventually went into getting some real dancers and choreographers and I learnt how to dance on the job, from contemporary jazz to Latin.

In the meantime, amongst other freelancing jobs, I started part-timing as a radio DJ (which seemed like a natural progression from club DJ). When the kids came, I took on contract terms, then full-time. From DJ I became music exec to programme manager.

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This was never a childhood dream or anything because you are only taught to be a doctor, lawyer or teacher. Everything else was only if you couldn't become the first three. And the things I did? Sacrilegious and an embarrassment to the family. My parents were supportive as in they did not scold or disown me but for many years they tried to guide me to take a course/diploma so I could get a real job. And I used to joke "hey music is paying my bills after all".

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So to answer that first question, life did take me along but I would not have had it any other way. I learnt to dance, host, I got on TV and stage, I visited different countries and met people I might not have otherwise, it has been an amazing journey.

I've had so much fun and learnt a lot(good and bad). It was an awesome journey until the radio station shut down about 5 years ago. I wonder if my family thinks… "if only she had gotten a real job" 😜 but I wouldn't change a thing.

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Please come join in the fun by clicking on THIS. Would love to read about your journey :D

I do appreciate your time & being part of my story <33