How a Kolkata security guard's voice became the cause of his rise and fall and rise

A trained music teacher based in Kolkata, Shovon Chakraborty was forced to take up a job as a security guard in 2023 after he lost most of his students during the coronavirus pandemic. However, in July, he was fired from his job after a video of him singing Rabindra Sangeet went viral on social media.

In Short

• Shovon Chakraborty was forced to become security guard
• In July, he was fired after a video of him singing went viral
• Society supervisors cited his singing and sweat smell as reasons for dismissal

What do you do when life keeps surprising you with one blow after the other? You can hide at home, turn your face away from the world and wait for divine intervention. You can even give up. After all, that is often the first thought that comes to a person when life is being relentlessly cruel. But Shovon Chakraborty refused to bow down to life.

A trained music teacher based in Kolkata, Shovon, 40, was forced to take up a job as a security guard in 2023 after he lost most of his students during the coronavirus pandemic. However, in July, he was fired from his job after a video of him singing Rabindra Sangeet went viral on social media. That was sort of his second blow within a span of a few years - students gone, and then he lost his job as well. But was that it? Absolutely not. The same voice that cost him his job is now helping him rebuild, bit by bit.

Shovon’s story went viral on social media last month and now, he has elaborately explained what led to him losing his job and how he is rebuilding his life in an interview with India Today Digital.

“I am a trained Rabindra Sangeet singer and have also learnt to play the tabla. Before the lockdown, I had several students. I taught music to some and all subjects to some Madhyamik students. I had some Uchya Madhyamik students too. I have taught some students for free as well who couldn’t afford to pay the fees. However, I lost almost all my students during the pandemic,” Shovon told India Today Digital.

Times were tough. And by now, it is well established that desperate times call for desperate measures. Shovon was forced to take up a job as a night security guard at a residential society three years ago to make ends meet. Shovon was already familiar with the society because he used to teach students there earlier.

“The supervisors of the housing society knew me very well and often addressed me as ‘master’,” Shovon said, referring to the term commonly used to address teachers.

All was well until July, when one day Shovon was approached by an acquaintance who wanted to record a video of him singing Rabindra Sangeet. Shovon obliged. He met the person somewhere away from the residential society and sang while his video was recorded. It was his off day but he was in his uniform.

However, all hell broke loose after the video went viral. The authorities of the housing society objected to it and fired him.

“The supervisors were always so nice to me. But I don’t know what happened after my video went viral. They told me that they did not like the fact that I was singing while being employed with them. Moreover, they told me that the smell of sweat comes from my body, which was a problem. My duty is so cumbersome. I will, of course, sweat. I don’t know what the problem was, but I was told that I wasn’t required to report to work from the following day onwards,” Shovon said.

Dejected, Shovon returned home but did not have the courage to tell his mother that he had been laid off. The next day, he told his mother that he was not going to work. Of course, Shovon’s mother was surprised.

“I am very sincere when it comes to work. Often, I worked whenever I was called in during my off days as well, and I did report. My mother knows this, which is why she was surprised when I said that I would not be going to work,” he said.

Eventually, Shovon had to tell his mother, who encouraged him to keep going. In the meantime, Shovon’s story and video went viral on social media, leading to a barrage of support from people online.

“I am thankful to the people who supported me because it is only because of them that I have now got around six students. I cycle all the way from my house to theirs in order to teach them,” he said.

Meanwhile, Shovon claimed that the supervisors of the same housing society that fired him approached him later and said they wanted to help.

“But I refused because I don’t know what their ultimate motive behind this was,” he said.

Before Covid, Shovon was earning around Rs 20,000 by teaching students, but that eventually dropped to Rs 5,000 after he lost students during the pandemic. From his job as a security guard, he used to earn Rs 15,000. Now, he has lost his job. Times are tough, but with the help of social media, Shovon is just about managing to stay afloat.

“I don’t want financial support from anybody. I just want people to send me students. I would also request people not to bargain with fees. If my fee is Rs 2,000, people often bargain and tell me that they want to pay Rs 200. Is that fair? If they cannot afford it, I will teach them for free. But for those who can afford everything else, they shouldn’t bargain with a teacher over his fees,” Shovon said while requesting people to refer students to him.

Shovon Chakraborty, thus, is a testament to the fact that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. But most certainly, he has not been able to forget that a video of him singing cost him his job.

“I still don’t know what went wrong. Gaan gaawa ta ki amar onnai (Is singing a crime)?”

- Ends