 "Music Katha Ha"  "Music Pitae ha "  Lover Boy Amit |
“
Don't cry for me: Amit Paul
by Amit Roy
The hills of Meghalaya were on song until Sunday midnight, but it all went
out of tune when local singing sensation Amit Paul was edged out by Darjeeling
cop Prashant Tamang in the hugely popular television contest Indian Idol.
Thousands of people had been singing and dancing to the accompaniment of drums
and guitars in the streets of Shillong and most parts of Meghalaya since dusk
Sunday, eagerly waiting for Amit to win the Indian Idol title.
But when Bollywood macho star John Abraham raised the hand of Prashant declaring
him the Indian Idol - based on 70 million votes received on SMS or over the
phone lines - the music was abruptly stilled.
The Meghalaya fans rallied fast, however.
"We are really taken aback by the result, but for us Amit is the winner, having
won the hearts of millions of fans and more importantly, uniting the ethnically
polarized northeast through music," John F. Kharshiing, spokesperson of the
Federation of Khasi States, the apex body campaigning for legal status for the
durbars in Meghalaya, told.
It was pure hysteria in the whole of Meghalaya in the run-up to the grand finale
Sunday night telecast on Sony TV with Amit and Prashant vying for the coveted
crown.
"Let's accept the reality, don't cry for me. I am soon coming back to Shillong.
I really thank and love you all from the bottom of my heart for supporting me
throughout my musical journey on Indian Idol," Amit told by telephone from New
Delhi, the venue of the finals.
But people back home were in tears - hundreds of people, both young and old who
remained awake to celebrate a possible victory broke down, some of them even
wailing, unable to accept the verdict.
"For us Amit is the new role model, some sort of a youth icon for generation
next to emulate that music is one medium that unites the hearts cutting across
cultural and ethnic barriers," Meghalaya Education Minister R.G. Lyngdoh said.
Amit, 24, is a Bengali-speaking youth born and brought up in Shillong - a city
that was witness to a string of bloody ethnic riots in the mid-80s between
tribals and non-tribals. The growing schism in the northeast between the
indigenous population and "outsiders", a term broadly used for people speaking
other Indian languages, has become a matter of concern.
In this context, the euphoria and the support from people across the northeast
for Amit is heartening.
"We have conferred him the honorary title of Meghalaya's Brand Ambassador to
foster peace, communal harmony, and excellence," Meghalaya Chief Minister D.D.
Lapang said.
Lapang personally spearheaded the campaign to drum up support for Amit.
From government offices to the tribal king's durbars, the chief minister's
secretariat to the Raj Bhawan, and schools and colleges - the only topic of
discussion in the past few weeks in the northeastern state of Meghalaya was the
Indian Idol contest.
"The Amit phenomenon could very well unite the northeast, especially in states
like Nagaland and Manipur where the ethnic divide is so huge. We want more such
talents from the region to come up so that we can stand united without any
bloodshed," said Kishore Singh, a young college student in Manipur's capital
Imphal.
"The topic of discussion for the next few days would surely be Amit. Maybe
Prashant got lot of votes from Nepal because he is a Nepali boy. Maybe Nepal
came in the way of Amit's victory," said a dejected Paul Marbaniang, a college
student.
More News / Articles on Amit here
Indian Idol | Indian Idol News | Indian Idol Videos |
Indian Idol ...Official website of Indian Idol, musical reality show on SET,
Talent Hunt, Indian Pop Idol, Idol Images, Exclusive Videos, Indian Idol 3,
Indian Idol 3 News, Watch Indian idol on Daily motion Share Your Videos. Sony
Entertainment Television Asia (SET )INDIAN IDOL songs. Listen to INDIAN IDOL
songs. Artists songs from album INDIAN IDOL. INDIAN IDOL.Hindi music, Indian
songs, Bollywood Movie soundtracks Download Music Download mp3 music songs
hindi songs hindi music bengali music movie bollywood Shahrukh Khan Amitabh
Bacchan ash dvd hero heroin listen music songs north east india shillong
meghalaya assam hindi music hindi songs durga puja deepavali singer playback
singer acotr actress india mp3 music songs download online music