My first steps in music, were rather obviously (given my mother's interest) on the classical side. My brother and I learnt Carnatic classical vocal for about three years (singing strictly as a duo!) until his breaking voice put him out of the scene. I then switched to Carnatic classical violin when my voice also later started to fail on me. Somehow, hampered by increasing academic and literary indulgence, and a globe-trotting teacher, that too rested after a year. During these years, I also picked up a bit of Hindustani classical vocal in parallel while my parents were learning it. Now, more recently, I learnt Western classical violin in IIT for a few months, once again, stopping for want of a regular teacher. And I love mentioning that I use my grandmother's 1929 German-original violin, with an American bow younger by about 30 years!

I have, as it turns out, been singing only rock of late. This isn't to see rock as an inferior stand-in among my preferences (which would be as far from the truth as can be) but I hope I can return to Classical some day. IIT however, is where my typical audience grew considerably - from the first few days of seniors at the dining table, (where my excessive enthusiasm to break into a song often won me out of their clutches rather quickly) to the order of hundreds at the bigger events listed below.

I graduated from IIT Madras fully prepared to never have an opportunity to return to music even in private, far less perform again in public. As it turns out, my grad-student life at Washington University has allowed both to happen. I am now, once again, a student of Carnatic Classical Vocal, and have also officially made my return to singing on stage. The end, it appears, has no reason to be near.

An even greater surprise, I must admit as I speak from the future, is the tremendous opportunity Microsoft India Development Center has given me to bring back and keep music in my life. As if it weren't great enough to just be part of a band, the very grand scale on which all things Microsoft happen has afforded us the honour of opening for Euphoria and KK, and performing at venues and on sound systems beyond our wildest dreams. The end, it is now forever clear, has officially ceased to exist.

15th August 2000: Intra Hostel WM Solo
Bon Jovi - Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
no accompaniment

18th October 2000: Lit-Soc WM Solo
Richard Marx - Now And Forever
Accompaniment: Prasoon Joshi (rhythm)

13th April 2001: Hostel Nite
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
The Band: Rahul Pratap M. (lead vocals), Prasoon Joshi (bass), R. Prashanth (lead, rhythm), T.T.D. Sunil (drums)

20th September 2001: Intra Hostel WM Solo
Guns N' Roses - Patience
Accompaniment: Prasoon Joshi (rhythm and backing vocals)

24th September 2001: Lit-Soc WM Solo
Metallica - Mama Said
Guns N' Roses - Patience (non-competitive)
Accompaniment: R. Prashanth (rhythm - Mama Said); Prasoon Joshi (rhythm and backing vocals- Patience)

25th October 2001: Lit-Soc Fete
Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
Dire Straits - Walk Of Life
Collective Soul - Shine (backing vocals)
Van Halen - Jump
The Band (Seven Degrees Of Freedom): Rahul Pratap M. (lead and backing vocals), K. Vijay (lead and backing vocals), Ronnie Zachariah George (lead and backing vocals, rhythm), Abhishek Guru (bass, backing vocals), Dhiraj Catoor (lead, rhythm), Gautam Chandrashekaran (lead, rhythm), Bhaskar Deol (keyboards), Praveen Kumar (drums)

15th December 2001: Inter IIT Cultural Meet 2001: (IIT Kharagpur) WM Group
Alannah Myles - Black Velvet (backing vocals)
Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
Van Halen - Jump
Rush - Resist
The Band: Rahul Pratap M. (lead and backing vocals), K. Vijay (lead and backing vocals), Ronnie Zachariah George (lead and backing vocals, rhythm), Sreeja Gopal (lead and backing vocals), Abhishek Guru (bass, backing vocals), Dhiraj Catoor (lead, rhythm), Gautam Chandrashekaran (lead, rhythm), Bhaskar Deol (keyboards), Sameer Hasija (drums)

25th March 2002: Lit-Soc WM Group
Ugly Kid Joe - Everything About You
Metallica - Fade To Black
The Band: Rahul Pratap M. (lead vocals), Prasoon Joshi (rhythm), R. Prashanth (lead, rhythm), T.T.D. Sunil (drums)

20th April 2002: Hostel Nite
Guns N' Roses - Patience
Metallica - Mama Said
Accompaniment: Prasoon Joshi (rhythm), R. Prashanth (lead, rhythm)

2nd September 2002: Lit-Soc WM Solo
My Fair Lady OST - On The Street Where You Live
Accompaniment: Bhaskar Deol (keyboards)

28th March 2003: Lit-Soc WM Group
Aerosmith - Dream On
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
Deep Purple - Perfect Strangers
The Band: Rahul Pratap M. (lead vocals), R. Prashanth (lead, rhythm), N. Vinod (bass), T.T.D. Sunil (drums)

7th September 2003: Lit-Soc WM Solo
Bon Jovi - Always
Accompaniment: R. Prashanth (rhythm)

12th March 2004: Lit-Soc WM Group
Requiem for a Dream OST - Lux Aeterna (violin)
Ugly Kid Joe - Cats In The Cradle
Rainbow - Temple Of The King
The Band: Rahul Pratap M. (lead and backing vocals, violin), Niteesh Joshi (lead and backing vocals), Shankar S. (violin), Jasmine Shah (violin), R. Prashanth (lead, rhythm), Akash Sareen (rhythm), N. Vinod (bass), Krishna Raghavan (drums)

15th April 2004: 45th Institute Day
Metallica - Mama Said
Accompaniment: Hariharan G. (rhythm)

20th November 2005: Umang Diwali Night (Washington University in St Louis)
Euphoria - Dhoom Pichak Dhoom (A Cappella)
Mile Sur Mera Tumhara
The A Cappella Group: Rahul Pratap M. (lead vocals), Divya Venkataramani (lead and backing vocals), Vidya Venkataramani (backing vocals), Akansha Saxena (backing vocals), Kannan Ramaswamy (backing vocals), Hare Krishna (backing vocals), Poulomi Sengupta (backing vocals), Tara Dhakal (backing vocals), Mukund Vasudevan (lead beatbox), Debashish Pal (backing beatbox), Shrinivas Venkataraman (backing beatbox)
The Group: Rahul Pratap M. (vocals), Divya Venkataramani (vocals, keyboards), Vidya Venkataramani (vocals, keyboards), Mukund Vasudevan (vocals), Kannan Ramaswamy (vocals), Hare Krishna (vocals), Akansha Saxena (vocals, keyboards), Poulomi Sengupta (vocals, miscellaneous percussion), Tara Dhakal (vocals), Debashish Pal (tabla), Shrinivas Venkataraman (mridangam), Chetan Satyanarayana (keyboards)

19th August 2006: Microsoft IDC 8th Annual Day
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
Guns N' Roses - Knockin On Heaven's Door (backing vocals)
The Band (Version 2): Rahul Pratap M. (lead and backing vocals), Vishal Ramasubramanian (lead and backing vocals), Sravanth Aluru (lead, rhythm, drums), Devashish Bhattacharjee (lead, drums), Ranjit Viswanathan (rhythm), Jeba Swvigaradoss (bass)

17th October 2006: Microsoft Give Campaign
Metallica - Nothing Else Matters
Ozzy Osbourne - Mama I'm Coming Home
Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine (backing vocals)
Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
The Band (Version 2): Rahul Pratap M. (lead and backing vocals), Vishal Ramasubramanian (lead and backing vocals), Sravanth Aluru (lead, rhythm, drums), Devashish Bhattacharjee (drums), Ranjit Viswanathan (rhythm), Jeba Swvigaradoss (bass), Kaushik Srenevasan (keyboards)

20th June 2007: Microsoft New Hire Welcome
Eagles - Desperado
Metallica - Mama Said
Accompaniment: Kaushik Srenevasan (keyboards - Desperado), Ranjit Viswanathan (rhythm - Mama Said)

13th July 2007: Microsoft IDC All Hands Meeting
Metallica - Nothing Else Matters
Metallica - Mama Said
Accompaniment: Mohit Garg (lead - Nothing Else Matters), Ranjit Viswanathan (rhythm)

11th August 2007: Microsoft IDC 9th Annual Day
AR Rahman - Rasathi (A Cappella)
Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
The A Cappella Group: Rahul Pratap M. (lead vocals), Shalini Balasubramoniam (lead and backing vocals), Vaidehi V. (backing vocals), Shreedevi Padmasini (backing vocals), Anusha Dandapani (backing vocals), Shyam Sundar J. (backing vocals), Nikhil HR (backing vocals)
The Band (Regressions): Rahul Pratap M. (lead vocals), Mohit Garg (lead), Rajesh Kamath (rhythm, backing vocals), Ravichandra Ramineni (bass), Tito (drums)

25th February 2008: Microsoft India Women's Conference
Eagles - Desperado
Dream Theater - Wait For Sleep
Oasis - Wonderwall
Accompaniment: Kaushik Srenevasan (keyboards - Desperado, Wait For Sleep)
The Band: Rahul Pratap M. (lead vocals), Vasudha Chawla (rhythm), Srikanth Kalathil Manghat (bass), Kaushik Srenevasan (keyboards), Anand Mukkidipalli (drums)