Episode 2: Arundathi

Photo: Hanna Koek

I’ve always been the baby of the family. I have a brother and sister who are 10 and 13 years older. Especially when I was younger, they were always my role models and it’s actually my brother who inspired me to start playing the drums. I remember that as a little girl, I would run up to his room whenever he was playing. I would sit there on his bed and just watch him in awe. Sometimes, I would try to copy him and just hit, tap and slap everything around me, trying to make my own beats, which I can’t imagine being any good since I was only five years old or so.

When I was about seven years old, I asked him to teach me something. It was actually my brother who gave me my first drum lesson. Didn’t go too well. He made me play the hi hat, which, in my opinion, was very difficult. I couldn’t do it, so then he kind of stood on my foot and said: “no, you have to keep It shut”. I started crying and we got into a huge fight so I said: I’d never play the drums again. But about a week later, my brother old my dad, who is also a drummer, that I wanted to play the drums. And of course, he was excited to put me on drum lessons. That same week I had my first real drum lesson from an actual, certified teacher and I’ve been playing ever since.

I believe that’s about 12 years ago now and my brother and I are finally on speaking terms again. I’ve been in a few different bands and had a few cool gigs like the opening act of a small festival. But when I moved to Rotterdam, I kind of let go for a while. Whenever I went back home, I just wanted to spend time with my family, so I hadn’t played in ages, but now I’m slowly picking it up again.

I think it’s something that people don’t really expect when they meet me or when they talk to me. When I told my friends back in primary school that I was having my first drum lesson, they laughed at the idea of me behind a huge drum set, because, yeah.. I’m not the biggest person.

I know very cheesy but I miss it and even talking about it now is making me smile. As I said, I really want to get into it again, play more and hopefully also with other people. I feel like I learnt most from my band experiences, from all the different influences and styles each person shares and values. I think it’s a really cool experience, although sometimes I also just love playing by myself for hours in my room.