Saurav (third from right) with the St James’ team after the awards ceremony

Three thousand participants. More than 12 events. One champion of champions.

On Fridays, those who drop in at Trinca’s will see Saurav Ryan Ghosh playing with the band Three Left Feet. They may not exactly shriek “He’s the champ of champs”, or, “Hey, that’s the boy who bagged a date with superstar Shah Rukh Khan”. But that’s who Saurav is. And “being known”, feels the budding percussionist, would mean a lot to someone who plans to take up music for a career.

On Saturday, a crowd of thousands cheered as Saurav, a Class XI student of St James’ School, went on stage at Swabhumi to receive the Champion of Champions trophy of Sona Chandi The Great TTIS Challenge, the biggest school carnival in town.

“As soon as I stepped off the dais, people came up to congratulate me. It felt great,” the 17-year-old said, adding that meeting “the Don” would be the biggest prize.

The TTIS fest was a first for Saurav who amassed 50 points by topping 3 Mins to Fame, and being part of his school team in the Unconventional Orchestra and Western Group Music contests in the three-day fest-cum-carnival.

It was double celebrations as St James’ School emerged Champion School amongst the 123 institutions with 70 points. The school’s teams came first in Unconventional Orchestra and third in Western Group Music. The participating students and school teams in each event of the fest earned points on the basis of their performance.

The experience has convinced Saurav that he must return next year for more.

“I decided to take part in the events at the fest when someone casually asked me to go there and play. Honestly speaking, I had no idea that it would be such a big affair. The contests are interesting, especially Unconventional Orchestra. And students who win do get noticed. I really liked the band from The Frank Anthony Public School,” said the young musician, who plans to study music at the Berklee School of Music, Boston. Pink Floyd, Dream Theater, and drummers Virgil Donati, Dennis Chambers, Steve Gadd and Mike Portney feature on Saurav’s list of favourites.

At Sona Chandi The Great TTIS Challenge, Saurav and team presented PSP12, a song by a Mumbai-based band Zero. “That’s one of the Indian bands that I really admire. I heard them at Someplace Else, which is one of my favourite haunts. My elder brother has been an inspiration. He was the one who introduced me to percussion,” said the south Calcutta boy who freaks out on rock, alternative, blues and jazz.

Saurav’s friends give him full credit for helping their school make it to the top spot. “Saurav gave us the lead. Our school was the champion at the fest last year, too. And we have already won the best school award at The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence five times in a row from 2000 to 2005. Now what we are looking forward is to a hat-trick at the TTIS fest next year,” said classmate Sachin Goenka, who was part of the team in Unconventional Orchestra, Anatakshari and Tug of War. The school has been a regular at inter-school fests across the city over the past few years.

With a keen ear for music and a fetish for tattoos, this year’s Champion of Champions looks like a rock star in the making.