I grew up listening to the radio for many hours a day, because my mother liked to do so, and we didn't have the distraction of having a TV till i turned 18. We acquired a cassette player around the same time, and my exposure to Western rock began then. My brother would bring in music from college. If you were part of the hip in India, you knew western rock musicians. You had to know who Led Zeppelin, Dire Straits, Jethro Tull, etc. were. My knowledge of such music was limited to whatever the sibling brought home, and while i liked most of this music, i really didn't like others such as Peter Frampton. God, what jarring cacophony!

"Good evening, Namaskar, Assalaam Malekoum, Sat Sri Akal and Vannakam! Welcome to Sounds of the Subcontinent. It is 4 pm and you are tuned to 88.3 WCBN-FM, Ann Arbor. As always, bringing you music of all genres from the Indian Subcontinent and world music inspired by these countries. My name is sukumari and my number down here is 763-3500 - give me a call if you have a request. I am going to start off today's show with...." -- this is how i usually start my show

It was decided that nothing should distract the kids from studies, and so i was given no chance to learn music. In the Christian English-medium school where i studied, we had an hour of singing every week where we sang such wonderful songs as "Row, Row, Row your boat..." and other songs in English which made as much sense. Though i cannot for the life of me remember even one of the songs we learned in that class, i can remember several hymns we sang in school. Every morning we had Service in a large hall where the entire school filed in class by class, sang from our Hymn Books and then listened to soul-numbing, mind-shattering moral lectures from the different Christian teachers of the school. I somehow remember these hymns with pleasure and to this day, love singing the Christmas carols we learned then. Maybe this is because during the Christmas season, there was a special treat - records were played in the Assembly Hall as we filed in to celebrate the special time of the year. I don't know who the singer was, but i know he was American, and he had the deepest voice i had ever heard. O sing, all ye angels, joyful and triumphant.......

As soon as i had control of my life decisions (when i started my undergraduate studies), i started learning to sing in the South Indian classical (Carnatic) tradition. In the meantime, for some reason, I got obsessed with the radio, and would spend many nights fiddling around with the radio, trying to catch foreign radio stations. I had started learning a couple of foreign languages, and thought that it would be totally cool and exciting to listen to some foreign stations. I managed to catch some French, German and American shows, but more often than not, i would be riveted by unknown languages. Any sound that didn't make any sense to me would be enough to catch my attention, I would listen carefully as if just by doing so i would be magically able to close the communication circle. :-)

The first Western music concert that i ever attended was in New Delhi, a French group called Charlelie Couture. Believe it or not, that was the only (paid) rock concert i have ever been to - i don't why i have never been to others. During my stay in Delhi, I was secretly amused by the 'hip' guys who drove us back home from discotheques. As soon we all piled into the car, they would put on "imported" tapes of the top 10 from the US. To this day, Casey Casem's voice takes me back to luxurious air-conditioned cars in Delhi with the overpowering perfume and aftershave of the hip and rich. I later went to other rock concerts, but nothing i ever paid for. Just the free concerts on the streets during the Fête de la Musique which the French government decided to have once a year (usually the end of June) on all the streets of all villages, towns and cities of France.

I get to the US, and listen to the radio and am amazed at how fast Americans can speak on the radio without making mistakes. I learned later when i became a DJ that commercial radio DJs are given scripts that they read out, and sometimes they even had certain time limits. I still don't understand why they speak so fast; i guess it is because most commercial radio has the same kind of announcements that they don't need to speak slower - the audience is already familiar with what they have to say.

I soon tired of American commercial radio, it was too repetitive and fast for me. Having discovered WCBN-FM, Ann Arbor of course i have learned other things. I ask people around me what ska, funk, etc. mean exactly. While i have vague notions of what they are, i cannot really explain them to others, and i am reassured when people are unsure too! But eventually i do get good definitions from my colleagues that help me better understand. My knowledge of music has expanded and i have discovered that i like almost all genres of music. The only type of music that i can do without absolutely is heavy metal - i don't understand or like it and i don't even want to try, it is just nerve-racking and annoying to me. If you want to, check out my current list of fave music.

When i started doing Sounds of the Subcontinent, i asked the DJs that i knew to tell me if they knew of any music that i could use for my show. I was also reading any music literature that i could find and scouring it for information or leads. I made a list of musicians and albums i should check out. Sometimes, i would just wander around the station, find these albums, read the liner notes and make note of the production assistants and all the musicians.

I try to be organized and know what i am going to play for a show. If you take a look at the playlists you will see the notes i make to choose my music; for example, if there is a festival coming up, an event on campus and so on. But i think there is an element of spontaneity which also makes for the success of some shows. There are days when i am doing the show, and another DJ walks in and says, 'Hey, do you know this music? I thought you could use it for your show.' I always get terribly enthusiastic about new music, so i immediately read the liner notes and check the instruments used on the album (These two are the quickest methods of finding out if the music is relevant to the show or not.) I'll immediately play it on the air for the first time, introducing it to my audience and myself at the same time. I don't think i am supposed to be as unprofessional as this, but what the hell... the thought of a new discovery is too exciting to wait.