he started off by entertaining hotel guests with his music however it gradually dawned on justin fernandez that there is more to life than just that and started travelling with his music a teteetete with the ponytailed singer from aleppey who has garnered appreciation from those including sonia gandhi and family besides paul mccartney himselfmeeting paul mccartney and sonia gandhi they remain one of the most memorable days of my life in 2004 i was playing and singing the famous beatles number yesterday in a shack at a resort in kochi when someone came in to listen i thought he looked familiar and then it dawned on me that he was paul mc cartney he was gracious enough to tell me that he liked my rendition and i was tongue tied it was in 2010 that i sang for sonia gandhi and her family when they came visiting i sang a few old italian and english numbers for them i got a chance to perform at a hotel in sputnik russiafor six months a couple who enjoyed my music at the resort once gave me a contract for their hotel in germany from where i learnt italian the ilaiyaraja effect an unforgettable episode in my life it happened about eight months ago while i was at a hotel in kumarakom the legendary musician was there for a holiday and i got a chance to spend some time with him i got to chat with him and even sang annies song and dedicated it to him he is a very quiet and humble person and all i wanted was to hug him and get his blessings baby steps into music as a little boy my first love was break dance while listening to songs as i practised i also developed an interest towards music my brother who worked in the merchant navy used to bring audio cassettes of english songs with the lyrics george michael billy ocean and more i trained myself listening to those tracks i did my graduation in hotel management though i hardly enjoyed it in 1998 while i was at one of the prominent hotels in kochi for training i got a chance to sing with the band 2b3c the guidance i received from them was invaluable their drummer david and pianist antony are wellknown trainers now i took music seriously after a chance encounter with musician dakshinamoorthy i got a glimpse of him at a hotel lobby and rushed to get his blessings post that music grew to be my biggest passion in life after a performance at a resort in 2001 i realised that you need to know one or two instruments to be a good musician and that is why i started training in guitar i am a completely selftrained guitarist globetrotting training composing i work for a hotel in switzerland for three months a year and it is an annual affair for me i am also getting trained from a pianist called