Rashmi Rekha Das, OP
An avid writer and aspiring singer, the third year Electronics and Telecommunications student of KIIT University Santrupta Mishra wears many hats. From writing short stories to playing the guitar, he does everything with ease. Though he has not made his debut as a singer in the music industry, he actively participates in cultural events held in colleges across Bhubaneswar. As a short story writer, he has built up a fan following in the social media. His short stories like ‘Blood Red’ and ‘Metanoia’ are much appreciated pieces. Moreover, the short film titled “Ittar,” written and directed by him, earned accolades from film buffs when it was screened at KIIT Film Society.
Santrupta, who is a quiet guy in person, says music is his greatest joy. “I feel music is my first love. I am a trained Hindustani classical music singer. I was barely three when I started learning music under the tutelage of PanditBalakrushna Behera. Unfortunately, I had to quit formal training because of the pressure of academics when I was in Class VIII. But I never stopped singing. Now, I have made up my mind to make a career as an engineer first, as I have realised that it is difficult to carve a niche in the extremely competitive music industry as a singer when you have no godfather. So, I would like to be independent financially and then pursue my passion.”
Regarding his other passion, writing, he says, “When I was studying in Class VIII in the DAV Public School, one of our teachers asked us to write a short story. Like my friends, I too wrote one. After finishing it in just 10 minutes, I showed it to my teacher. She asked me to read it loudly. She appreciated my writing skill and advised my friends to learn the style of writing I had adopted. That’s not all. She told students of the higher classes also about my writing skill. I have been writing short stories since then. The story I had penned then was titled ‘The Fantasy World.’ The story was based on a person who finds himself in a fantasy world with elves and starts playing with them, but as soon he gets to their king, he realises he is in a dream and wakes up.”
Santrupta and some of his friends have a Facebook page called Wordsmith where he posts all his writings. Besides, he loves to narrate the stories that he writes.
The young writer-singer says, “Along with a few friends, I have formed a band named ‘Resolutions’ and we usually participate in cultural events. We had gone to perform at the annual fiesta ‘Spectrum’ of NIFT at Bhubaneswar. Though we had registered for the show, we had not prepared well for it. It was after we reached the venue we decided to perform the title song of the movie ‘Rock On.’ When we went on stage, there was too much noise all around. But when we started, silence fell and in just a few minutes, the audience started singing with us. We did not expect that our performance would be a grand hit and that we would bag the first prize.”
Recalling another interesting incident, Santrupta says, “I was performing at the Spoken Verse Poetry competition at KIIT campus. After listening to my recitation, one of the professors came to the stage and praised me a lot. It was a very memorable moment for me.”
He attributes his achievements to his mother. “My mother,Sabita Mishra, is a very big inspiration, and she supports me in all my endeavours,” he says.