“My Hero” Project (TEJI TOKO, A Drummer from our School)
*Your full name: Dr. Kuljeet Singh and Mrs. Tamanna Seth
*Name of your group: mhm1
*Name of your school: The Assam valley school
*Class that worked on the project (optional): Grade 8
*City, state/region, and country: Balipara, Assam, INDIA
Projects and URL addresses can be sent to bskramer@ftschool.org or
bskramer48@hotmail.com.
Our hero is Teji Toko. He is a student of our school. He is studying in class 12.He
joined our school when he was in class 5, 2003. He is a drummer. He was born on 6th
June. His father’s name is Toko Jyoti and Mother’s name is Toko Yazo. He has five
siblings, out of which 3 are in our school. He is the oldest of all. He started playing
drums from the time when he was quite young; he started it when he was in class 9.
He got motivated by his friends and by the YouTube videos. He used to constantly
keep tapping his feet and play drums with his pencils and pens during the class hours
which used to irritate his teachers and they would stop him and even ask him to
leave the class. But he continued what he loved doing and he believed it would pay
off. Initially when he started playing drums, he did not get the proper support that
he needed. His parents were totally against it because they felt that it was
affecting his studies. He had recently participated in a reality Show called “India’s
got Talent.” where he managed to get the first runner up trophy contested panIndian. He never thought that he could go so far in the show because he thought
that the judges would not appreciate his drumming as it was something new in an
Indian talent show. However, after his audition they seemed really impressed. This
show has brought many changes in his life. To start off with, his parents who were
not so supportive in the beginning, after viewing his first performances in IGT, they
were initially surprised to see his passion and talent for drumming and later became
his strongest pillar of support.
Through this show he has learnt about his strengths and his weaknesses in the field
of drumming and has really learnt to push himself beyond the limits. During the semi
– finals and the finals he had a lot of problems like, performing with only one day of
practice, and he performed in ‘The Finale’ without any dry run. (He was the only
western musician left in the finale.) There were 3 judges in the show, Sajid Khan,
Sonali Bindre and Kirron Kher. Many people believed that Sajid Khan had something
against him, (As he used to keep criticizing him) but Teji felt that Sajid Khan
expected more from him and he truly respected his opinion. Sonali was very logical in
her statements which helped him improve his performances even more. Kirron Kher
was his constant supporter and one of the main reasons that kept him going. Though
he was not well acquainted with the other contestants, he has really learnt from
them that “One should believe in oneself even in the darkest of times.”
His hero is Mike Tortnoy who is also a drummer. He defines “A hero as a person who
inspires influences and is a role model for people.”
His ambition is to be a world renowned drummer.
The reasons which make him our hero are as follows:
 He was a runners-up in a reality show called ‘India’s got Talent’ where he had
to go through many obstacles to reach the top and this bought a lot of pride
to our school and we are proud of him.
 Despite being criticized by one of the ‘India’s Got Talent’ judge every time, he
never gave up and that’s what makes him so special to be our hero.
 He is a very talented, smart and an ambitious boy, and we look up to him. He is
a very down-to-earth person and he does not look down upon us.
 He says that he has not really won. He still has a long way to go with his
drums.
 Even though he faced many criticisms, he continued his struggle towards
victory.
 He is follows his dreams despite the many hardships, criticisms and lack of
support at the beginning, he followed what he loved doing and therefore all
these qualities of his make us choose him as our hero.
Contributed By: Radhika Jalan and Anushka Barman, Grade Eight, Teachers: Dr.
Kuljeet Singh and Mrs. Tamanna Seth, THE ASSAM VALLEY SCHOOL, BALIPARA,
INDIA
Credit: Teji Toko, The Assam Valley School, Assam, INDIA