Dipti Mishra is a banker by profession and a singer by passion. Having taken up singing and dancing at the age of four, Dipti has performed at concerts across the country and doesn’t find balancing her profession and passion difficult.
Born to Ashok Kumar and Sabita Mishra, Dipti spent her childhood in her uncle’s house in Paradip. “Both my aunt and my mother were good singers. They encouraged me a lot. I was initially more inclined towards singing. I hummed songs that used to be played on television. My parents noticed that and took me to RB Panda, a prominent music teacher. I learnt music from him till Class X,” she says.
Dipti was also popular in school as she was good in academics. Participating in school concerts and interschool competitions further increased her popularity. “After Class X, I started learning Hindustani classical music from Devendra Mohanty,” she says.
Singing took a backseat when Dipti enrolled for B Tech. However, she continued to practice whenever she got time and once her course was over, she resumed singing. She got a chance to perform at the All India Major Port Competition and emerged the winner. “Prominent singers from across the country perform at the competition. It was a big opportunity for me. I performed there twice and on, both occasions, sang Hindustani classical. I was the youngest performer,” says Dipti.
The singer also won the Voice of BPUT award in 2009, besides representing Odisha in the All India Kendriya Vidyalaya Social Science Exhibition, where she rendered patriotic songs.
“I am comfortable in all genres. However, given my training, I feel classical and patriotic songs suit my voice better. Two of my patriotic songs, Mun Saradha bali re chalibi and Tate kie dake jagata natha, drew a lot of attention and became a hit on YouTube. It was a great moment for me when my first bhajan was released on Bahuda Yatra,” she says.
Dipti got married in 2015 and stays with her husband Harish Parida in Bangalore. She says that she is grateful to have supportive in-laws. “My father-in-law also loves singing and everyone in my house respects creative talent. It’s because of their support that I manage to balance both my profession and passion. My husband too wanted to take up music and become an instrument player. His dreams never got realised but seeing me perform on stage gives him immense happiness and satisfaction,” she says.
Dipti has a band in Bangalore and regularly performs at concerts in the city. “We often get invitations to perform in other parts of the country. However, touring at times becomes difficult, as I can’t neglect my profession. But when I am not working, my entire time is devoted to music. I have plans of making my YouTube channel more up to date by adding professionally shot music videos. I also plan to recreate some classic songs and put the videos on YouTube,” says the singer, who also took to dancing at an early age.
“I learnt dancing from Guru Brajakishore. I had to discontinue when I joined the BTech course as singing too needed a lot of my time. However, after I shifted to Bangalore, I resumed training in music under the guidance of Guru Vidyutprava Sahoo,” says Dipti, who plans to launch her own dance institute in the future.
BRATATI BARAL, OP