I am in my late 40’s. A housemaker of a happy family consisting my husband and three children. I never thought that I will be able to play my favourite instrument – harmonium because of the family’s responsibility and lack of time.

Once, my husband went on long official trip abroad. I’m not regretting it that I was left here alone with my children. Rather it turned out to be a blessing for me. I requested my husband to buy me a harmonium and within few weeks I received one from Amazon. I felt so so happy. I started playing it randomly for few days but was getting frustrated because I did not know how to play it.

Then my children asked me to either stop playing it or learn to play it properly. I know they were right as my playing harmonium was a torture for them. I joined a class near our house, but after few days, I found it difficult to manage my home and my passion together. So, I left it. By then I learnt how to play Sa Re Ga Ma… at least. Then, I searched the internet to learn to play few songs. I am glad I did it. I found some YouTube videos that were teaching how to play harmonium. I started following those videos for many days. I would watch, learn and then play my harmonium. Well, soon enough, I was actually playing harmonium quite well. My children also told me so. It was about a year ago. And, now my fingers had started to move freely on the keys and I could play many many songs on harmonium.

When my husband returned after few months, he was also pleasingly surprised by my harmonium play, and he shot my videos and shared those in our groups. He said to me “I’m so proud of you. You have proved that if you wish you can learn anything.” It feels so good when you get praised for your efforts.

– Smriti Saxena