Prateek Kuhad recalls how getting ‘fired’ from a job got him into music

With bated breath, Mumbaikars waited for Prateek Kuhad to get on stage as the musician was in the city to kickstart his The way that lovers do tour. This is the “largest show” Kuhad has played since 2019, he reveals in an interview with us, which he jests to be like therapy for him. With the passage of three years, the singer feels it’s a duck soup for him to tour.

“The load on me is a lot less. I get time to de-stress before a show and it’s not as hectic as it used to be. Also, my team has gotten bigger, and my attitude has changed a little. Before the pandemic, I was touring a lot and by the end of it, I was burned out. I was just trying to get through shows. After 18 months of not playing at any show, you kind of realise what you have been missing. So, I am just very grateful for this tour,” Kuhad elaborates.

Kuhad started learning guitar at the age of 16, and it’s been 16 years since that musical journey started. “I think the younger me would be very thrilled to see where I am today,” he gushes. He divulges that it was only when he was 23 that he took music seriously as a career. Before that, Kuhad had his own journey as he was on the track of getting into economics. The 32-year-old worked “at a consulting firm in New York” and it was only when he was fired from that job that he decided to pursue music.

The songwriter recalls, “I got fired from my job and I was wondering what I could do now. Eventually, I decided to take a year off and try this (music) out. I never liked doing that (job) anyway so I was fine and actually, I was happy that I was done with it. I was very frustrated with the job and I think I was pretty much done. I was anyway thinking of quitting because it was not worth it and you know you can tell when somebody is not fully into what they are doing. It was pretty intense. It also didn’t make sense for me to be there.”

Kuhad also performed in Pune and will be doing shows in Delhi and other cities as a part of his tour.