Would there be a backlash? Would it affect her career? In all the scenarios playing in her head, she never once entertained a sudden rise to fame. “They offered me a chance to record a song for them.” A few days after the song was released, she learned that it had been picked up by Times Music.Īs a senior IAS officer- and, a woman-Gupta was initially worried about public perception. She was “humming some tunes at a party” and caught the attention of a guest who was from the music industry. Her introduction to the professional world of music was by happenstance. “It can get creative too,” he adds.įor Rakhee Gupta, who studied at Lady Shri Ram College and Delhi School of Economics, music is a stress buster. “But ever since I have included music in my life, no matter how difficult the work is, it gets done with humming.” Even the most mind-boggling tasks don’t weigh him down. “If we are collectors or officers of any department, if you consider it a burden, then both the work and the employees working with you will feel like a burden,” Hari Om says. The proverbial stiff upper lip is part of the calling and eventually becomes them. There is no room for letting your hair down for creative pursuits. The work of an IAS officer – whether as a district magistrate or in the secretariat – is a break-less, breathless, and often thankless, 24×7 life. A few days later, her song even made it to the Times Music list where it remained for two months.Īlso read: Art, dogs and music: the ‘treatment’ you didn’t know you needed to recover from illnesses “Covid taught us to live life to the fullest, and then one day I took out time and recorded the song,” she says. After recovering from Covid, the first thing she did was sing ‘ Ratungi Radha Naam,’ which trended on social media for many days. Music comes naturally to her and her mother is a gifted singer too. Follow whatever hobby you have,” says Gupta, who is from the UP cadre, 1997 batch. “Now, I tell everyone that you get to live only once. While doctors administered Remdesivir and oxygen, the words ‘ Zindagi na milegi dobara’ kept playing inside her head. But then she got a bad attack of Covid, one that saw her hospitalised. File photo of Rakhee Gupta | Twitter | Hari Om, IAS officer Rakhee Gupta, too, had limited her audience to friends and family for 25 years. Business-as-usual was just not going to cut it anymore. soulful voice.really heart touching,” writes one commentator.įor many of these officers, the Covid pandemic came as a carpe diem moment. His small army of fans is mesmerised by the “purity” of his voice. He releases a song a month on his YouTube channel, which has over 8,000 subscribers. And he still calls himself a part-time artist. His initial albums were cassettes, then CDs and now, he releases them on YouTube. Hari Om has brought out six albums in 17 years in sync with tides of technology. But after 10 successful years as an IAS officer, it was time. He sang in school, college and even in the IAS academy, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA). Music was a neglected hobby and over time, it had become an itch that he just couldn’t wish away anymore. Ever since I was a child, people would praise my voice, but due to the lack of time I never got a chance to develop my hobby,” he says. “I’ve always wanted to do something different. The IAS officer takes more pleasure in seeing his music clips being shared on social media. But Hari Om presented his book, Kailash Mansarovar Yatra to Yogi, and that photo went viral. When Yogi became the CM of UP, many feared that he would ‘not spare’ the IAS officer. In 2007, when Hariom was posted in Gorakhpur, which is Yogi’s constituency and the seat of his mutth, Hari Om even arrested then BJP MP Adityanath and sent him to jail for 11 days. This is not his first brush with viralling social media fame. IAS officer presents his book to UP CM Yogi Adityanath | Dr Hari Om/ Twitter He routinely sings ghazals by Jagjit Singh, Ghulam Ali, Talat Mahmood and many more. “ Main tere pyaar ka mara hua, Sikander hoon magar hara hua hoon,” UP’s principal secretary, Dr Hari Om sang the song he had written. But a lovelorn song of loss and longing by an Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer serving in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s government doesn’t get shared on WhatsApp groups every day. The last time people sang romantic songs on Dal Lake was in Bollywood movies and music videos.
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