Talent is usually unpopular without success and success doesn’t come to anyone without hard work and stern determination. This is not necessarily the story of someone who’s known to the masses or has numerous achievements laden to his name. This is the story of an aspiring and rising talent of India who wishes to be remembered for nothing but his work and craft. Raahi Rana is a young singer from Haryana who has fought and braved failures to dream of becoming a singer. He comes from a humble background with no ancestral backings to the art and is purely motivated by his talent of penning down melodious songs in his soothing voice.

"If you are not willing to risk the usual you will have to settle for the ordinary." -Jim Rohn

The Shy Writer

Born in Jalouli village in Panchkula, Haryana to a middle-class family, Raahi was a simple yet notorious child since childhood. He switched schools between Barwala and Panchkula quite a few times before picking up the pen to explore the idea of writing poems in his 11th standard without disclosing it to anybody. With an aim to express himself, he would spend hours writing down his feelings. After completing school, when he got into an engineering college, things changed, and the burden of studies forced him to get rid of Raahi’s newfound love of writing. He was fighting an inner battle when, on the one hand, was his parents’ will to become an engineer and, on the other, his heart’s calling to write. 

Singing Along

Though he tried, the separation didn’t last long enough as he resumed the same during the third year of his college life. From writing poetries, he now also started composing them in the form of songs which led him to change his way of penning down, and he started focussing mainly on writing songs. He finished writing his first song in the 4th year of engineering and named it ‘BTECH’. His friends appreciated and motivated him to not only write, but also sing as he had a melodious voice. Gradually, Raahi started singing along with his buddies in college without having a thought of having a career in this field. The pressure of getting an engineering degree was so immense that it was difficult for him to prepare himself for singing. And, surprisingly, he accumulated around 20 supplementary exams to clear aggravating the situation further.

"Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value." -Albert Einstein

Boost-Up

After somehow managing the backlogs and graduating with an engineering degree, Raahi joined an internship at Panacea Biotec. Meanwhile, his love for writing had become more covert than it used to be earlier. He would prepare write-ups but won’t show them to anyone. It was in 2016 when he wrote a song called ‘Pyaar Nahi Karda’ that he showed to his friends who loved it and suggested him to prepare it further. Raahi began singing the melody at various places like mall events, restaurants, cafes, etc. and received positive feedback along the way. Everyone was appreciative of his work and encouraged him, and that was when he decided to complete the song and release it professionally. His family extended its full support to his decision and stood behind him like a wall, especially his father.

A real struggle

The next few months saw the gritty boy fully indulged in the process of creating his first full-fledged song.  He nourished the lyrics, arranged for the equipment, invested a bit in creating music and finally put his complete soul into singing the melody and finally, in January 2017, he released his debut song and officially stepped into the world of artists. The feedback kept him motivated to work further and create more songs that could entertain and lighten the moods of the audience. However, it was tough to get studios on board since no one wanted to take the risk of getting a newcomer on board. He would switch between his night shift job and singing and work day in and day out to create and plan his content while continuing to contemplate about the future. Raahi began on a high note doing events around his locality and singing round the clock but, there came a time when he would feel low over not getting expected results and even think about giving up. After an arousing start, the phase of stagnation made it difficult for him to manage things making him feel that the end of his career was near. He knew that success takes time, but some people around him used to demotivate him and bully him over his career choice. The appreciations had dropped, and his mind was scattered as he was unable to decide whether to stop or continue making a move.

"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him." --David Brinkley

Positive Punch

Fighting inner battles and ignoring all the negative comments suggestions, Raahi came back from a downslide to gain a place in the field of music. The grit and determination were sturdier this time and his perseverance was solid too for he knew all he had to take care was his skills. If he took care of his craft, the craft would take care of him. He made it his better half and showered all his love onto it to create some fabulous compositions. To better the time management, a lot more of his quality time to music, and mitigate overburdening, he left his job. He did not only focus on national but also regional songs that introduced him to both the masses and the classes. Soon, he was ruling the platforms like Instagram and YouTube by generating good engagement and views on his songs. 

Conclusion

Every journey has its own twists and turns but when a newcomer steps on a road full of established and experienced counterparts, the challenges see a spike in numbers. Raahi’s family was not at all related to music in any way nor did he have relatives or friends who could get him a shortcut to the industry. He had to find a way on his own and walk over it completely on the basis of his talent. He struggled a lot to get studios to listen to his creations and had to deal with a lot of mental stress due to the workload since he was a single man on a big mission. People like him deserve huge support from the audiences if India has to see more of local talents getting into the music industry.