Reality show winner Siddhant Sharma says he's a man made of failure

Its painfully humiliating for a 12yearold to stand before his class during an extempore speech and fumble over words The derision that one might invite can cripple an adolescents confidence But it can also teach the child to face his demons participate again in the same competition the next year and then go on to win the district finals for three straight years representing his institution which in Siddhant Sharmas case was a boarding school in KurseongSiddhant SharmaTen years after that incident Sharma has emerged as this seasons winner of The Stage a reality show that promotes western musical talent in India This though was his second shot at the title after he was unable to get past the auditions last year Failure in other words seems to have been the singers constant companion only for him to climb every mountain that crops up in his path I am actually a man made of failure so it doesnt scare me he tells us over the phone having just landed in Mumbai from Kolkata He adds Even in life a lot of things that I have expected havent happened Not all of us grow up in the greatest of situations but the worst thing a rocker can do is give up Rock music is about fighting failures So if I can do it in life music and competitions are nothing for me to handleThose are strong words for a 22yearold to utter But Sharma comes across as someone who has truly internalised the rock n roll philosophy of facing adversity with a showmewhatyouvegot swagger He gives us an example of what that means when he says I have a friend who would party all the time and only listen to electronic music She would never attend live concerts After a bad phase she started listening to Pink Floyd and now she is more of a rocker in persona than I am with all her locks chopped off I mean there was a guy who cheated on her and shes like You think I am going to cry No I dont give a fck about you or your existence Thats rockOne of the biggest adversities that Sharma himself faced was when his parents separated over a decade ago a fact he had revealed in one of the later episodes of the competition Talking about that difficult phase he says Im not a guy who speaks a lot and I anyway didnt want to trouble my mother with all of that So I ended up keeping things inside me which wasnt a good thing since I developed serious anger issues But art has always helped me I was a painter and then I got into music and that just let me be who I amWho he is now having won the show involves signing a contract with MTV and being flown around the country for concerts The limelight is well and truly on him and yet he keeps emphasising how failure is the clay that moulds a persons character Do you consider the people who have not got the trophy to be losers he asks us before answering No they are not You never know tomorrow they might be working in much bigger places and doing way better stuff than I am The thing is you have to be satisfied with doing what youre doing and yet keep trying to be better than who you are Thats really allCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news current affairs from Mumbai local news crime news and breaking headlines hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go