From railway cleaner to singer: Mani Sahota talks to Disney Brar about his journey 

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Chandigarh, July 30

The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all the world needs dreamers who do-Sarah Ban Breathnach.

On any normal day, amidst the cacophony, which rules the roost in any Indian railway station, art can thrive and beautifully so! For creativity and talent need no pomp or show to exist and announce its presence to this world of fleeting existences, grease-painted faces and raucous glamour, literally thrown in your faces. Real talent shines out like beams of sunlight breaking through the clouds after a heavy downpour on an overcast day.

The historical Amritsar Railway station comes alive everyday when 26-year-old Mani Sahota, walks into the railway station every morning holding his modest broom in his hands, humming his favourite tune and hopping onto one of the trains stationed there. It is time for him to begin his long day of cleaning the incoming trains at the railway station which juxtaposes sikh architectural motifs alongside its mughal- inspired arches. 

Mani is a cleaner who works on a private contract with the Indian Railways. He has always dreamt of being a singer and his journey into singing started with him attending jagratas with his father on evenings someone from their neighbourhood would invite them to attend one. Mani, even as a child would sit glued to his seat transfixed, watching the whole jagrata with open eyes as if mentally soaking in every sur and taal of the bhajans being lilted out by the singer. 

As he grew up his dream of becoming a singer, briefly took a backseat as the practicalities of life took over. Worried about the economic condition of his house, Mani  started contributing to his household income by working  as a cleaner in the Indian Railways where he earns Rs 8000 per month.  Talking about his initial struggles, Mani says, “I belong to a very poor family. My father works as a cleaner at a petrol pump, while my mother is a domestic worker who earns her living by cleaning homes in a society. Ever since I have started working we all are able to collect around Rs 20,000 to run our household expenses.” Mani got married a year back and is now blessed with a son.   

Talking about realising his long set dream of becoming a singer, Mani shares, “one day I was helping my father in some work at home, when I started singing Satinder Sartaj’s-Paani paanja dariyanwan da..and my father was surprised to hear me sing so well. He advised me to take formal training in singing and also got me enrolled with a music teacher who used to sing at the city Jagratas. I learnt singing from him for a month and then left taking my classes there as I had to cycle all the way to my class everyday which was very far from my home. It was also difficult for me to make it there everyday after a hard day’s work at the Railway station.” 

Days passed by and Mani’s dream of becoming a singer kept simmering somewhere inside his being, never letting him go completely. Adding on a jovial note, Mani says, “in between all this struggle for existence, I had also thought of becoming a mimicry artist as I love copying the styles of popular celebrities and artistes.” 

And then one fine day, as destiny willed it, he went for his work at the railway station as usual, he was cleaning the coach of a train whilst humming a song when Harmeet Singh, a media professional, heard it and asked him to sing a complete song for him. An ecstatic Mani obliged and sung, Bir Singh’s-Jithe Malik Rakhda othe rehna painda. An apt song which was so well sung that Singh introduced him to the Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Academy, where he was offered his first live show that too in front of stalwarts from the Punjabi film and music industry including Hans Raj Hans, Muhammad Sadiq, Dolly Guleria, Pammi Bai, Gupreet Ghuggi amongst others eminent personalities. 

He sang Bol mitti Deya Baweya by Alam Lohar that day and the crowds applauded his soulful performance.Elaborating on his performance that day , Mani adds, “The Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Academy offered me my first ever chance to perform live in front of such a huge audience amongst whom were popular singers from the Punjabi Industry and legends like Hans Raj Hans and Muhammad Sadiq saheb whom I have grown up listening. My legs were literally shaking when I was singing in front of them because I had never thought I would perform in front of them one day.” 

Talking about getting trained to further hone his talent, Mani quips, “Sukhi Brar, Chairperson of the Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Academy has been gracious enough to fund my music training at the-Bawa Academy under the tutelage of Harkamal Bawa in Amrisar which is right opposite the Khalsa college there.” As the word spread about Mani’s talent, prominent music composers like Bunty Bains have offered to record songs with him now. 

We are happy to inform that opportunities have now started falling in Mani’s lap, he smiles, “now I am going to meet Mika Singh soon as he has invited me to Delhi because he wants to formally launch me and I am damn excited for that.” Talking about his inspiration and his favourite singers, Mani says, “I love the songs of G Khan, Kamal Khan, Manjit Sahota and Masha Ali. I also love to croon to Sukhwinder Singh’s songs and his Ramta Yogi is my all time favourite.” 

As I wind up this warm story of dreaming big and finding that little hope and courage inside to achieve them, I would like to quote, Langston Hughes who said-Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.