I was beginning to feel I could make it to top 5!

It was a birthday that Tia Kar will certainly not want to remember. Amidst much sobbing the 20-year-old Indian Idol contestant was eliminated from the reality show.

The general perception of Tia has been that she only looked good and that her singing abilities were in serious doubt.

So it wasn't entirely surprising to watch Tia Kar being shown the door this week. Kar speaks with Rajul Hegde soon after the eliminations

I am sure you didn't expect this to happen on your birthday

(Still sobbing). This was an unexpected gift. For the last few weeks Swaroop Khan has been in danger zone so I expected him to go out. Though I am not a trained singer, with time I was beginning to feel I could still make it to the top five.

But the judges never really appreciated your singing. And you have managed to reach top six with mediocre performances

(Honestly) I never even expected that I would reach the top 10. The judges had appreciated my performances in auditions and theatre rounds. But the moment the voting started my performances started deteriorating. (Thankfully) the janata supported me because I guess they sensed a scope of improvement in me. I am grateful to them. 

People are of the opinion that you survived in the show only because of your looks and costumes and not singing. What do you have to say?

Actually during auditions of Indian idol 4 Sonali Bendre (one of the judges) had asked me 'Do you think you can be featured on the cover page of Indian Idol?'

I was confused because I wasn't sure if it was a compliment or not. After that I took it up as a challenge and decided to dress up well for the show. I wanted to show that I could sing well and look good too. It was my bad luck that despite working hard, my performance was not that great. 

What have you learnt from the show?

I've learnt to be patient. I will take the judges' advice and work hard on my sur. I am planning take lessons in Indian classical music.

Did you make friends?

Yes. Sreeram, Swaroop Khan and Shivam Pathak are my best friends. Of course, I also became close to Bhoomi Trivedi too. I have known Shivam for quite sometime because we have been going to a lot of auditions together.

What about the judges?

Sunidhi Chauhan is my idol and favourite judge. Salim Merchant always thought of me as a kid and gave good comments. Anu Malik always supported me and even after elimination said nice things to me.

Tell us about your background.

My father is a singer and mostly travels. So I never got chance to learn music from him. I have a younger brother and I lost my mother when I was three-and-a-half years old. I am studying fashion designing and law from Amity University, Pune.

I developed an interest in singing because of my father but otherwise I always aspired to become a dancer. I've even learnt classical dancing for about four years. Even though I am not a trained singer I feel I have the potential to learn more.

What next?

I would like to be a singer. That is the first and the last thing in my life.