Fans welcome Abhishek Kumar to Dhanbad on Monday. Picture by Gautam Dey

Dhanbad, Aug. 13: Indian Idol contender Abhishek Kumar, who was eliminated from the selected top eight in the contest, was treated as a celebrity today as he arrived in his hometown today.

Hordes of people, mainly students, flocked the Dhanbad railway station to receive the would-be-engineer turned singing sensation with flowers as he stepped out of the Dhanbad-Howrah Black Diamond Express this morning.

From Mumbai, Abhishek had flown to his college in Bangalore and then to Calcutta to catch the train for his hometown, where he received an affectionate welcome from residents.

Even though the number of bouquets and garlands were enough to overwhelm anyone, the budding singer looked poised. He quickly requested for more votes — this time to save Puja Chatterjee, the contender from Kumardhubi, Dhanbad. “Puja needs a lot of votes to go ahead,” said Abhishek, while talking to his fans and mediapersons gathered at his Gandhi Nagar residence in Purana bazaar area here.

Abhishek looked happy to have reached a position in the Indian Idol contest he had never thought possible. But regrets lingered. “I was not all that bad in the song Rang de basanti to get disqualified. I had worked hard but the judges’ comments and votes went against me,” he said.

Abhishek also blamed his missing cap and the choice of song for his elimination.

“Sonu Nigam had put the cap in a reversed way on my head during a programme in Bangalore. It became a lucky charm for me. On the day I was disqualified, incidentally I was wearing a turban and not the cap,” Abhishek said. On the choice of the song, he said superstitiously, a contestant chose the same song last year and was disqualified from the gala round.

Abhishek’s father B.P. Mishra, though a little disappointed, was not heartbroken. “We will concentrate on Abhishek’s music career now as he has many offers from the music industry,” he said, adding Abhishek would also complete his software engineering course he is pursuing at VIT, Bangalore. He would appear for his final examination next July.

In the interim, Abhishek plans to shift to Mumbai where music directors like Anu Malik, Preetam and Atul Ajay have offered him projects. “We have not talked about the projects in detail — whether it’s for an album or film — but I will find out once I am there,” he said.

During his stay in his hometown, Abhishek has planned some charity shows, one of which would be held in Dhanbad. The money raised would be donated to a medical camp or a trust for poor, he said.