Puja is calm, composed and only too glad to be speaking in Bengali, something she misses terribly out here with the Idol gang. Once she does get started, though, the experienced performer talks nineteen to the dozen, enthusiastically and candidly detailing her versatile repertoire of stage shows -- she began learning singing at the age of four, has won several awards and performed alongside many a celeb.

"Just not with Lataji," she sighs. "Lataji is my idol. I had a programme in Netaji Indoor Stadium [in Kolkata] and Lataji was supposed to come but she couldn't make it."

Her background is dazzling, as she proudly talks about her cricketing family -- her father plays State Level, uncle plays Ranji Trophy, cousin is the vice captain of Jharkhand, and "my brother's just in Class IX, but he'll play State now too," she smiles.

There's a lot she gushes about, and one can't help but wonder: with all this behind her, doesn't a mere reality TV show feel like just another event? "Well," she admits, "a lot has happened in life."

Despite spending weekends learning music in Kolkata, Puja's yet another Dhanbad candidate, visiting home once during the Idol break to see her grandma. And, far from the cocoon Idol creates, cutting off its contestants from the hype-filled world at large, she has tasted the hysteria.

"The crowds went crazy! It was amazing," she trills, before settling herself down again. "Dhanbad is a very small place, and it feels so good to have other people from Dhanbad here, competing with me. Dhanbad was an industrial town, you know. Now that the industries have closed down, I want people to know that town at least through talent. Be it me or the other two, it'll feel good to have an Indian Idol from Dhanbad."

There is a gender issue overshadowing the Idol voting currently, with evidently deserving women candidates being ousted while the men-folk stay. "It was a shock to see Jolly Das leave. Or Smita, who was of my level, as a singer," admits Puja. "The voting is getting unfair. The Idol should be about talent, not about men or women. The results are just proving that Indian people still think women should sit at home, settle down. We've had a woman queen, a PM, a president. I hope a woman can be Indian Idol too."

She loves her Idol peers, but has just one complaint. "I'm the most experienced in the lot in terms of singing, so everyone comes to me to help them out," she sighs. "'Puja, teach me this notation,' 'Puja, how does this harkat go?' I don't mind and I love them all. But I'm also learning, just like them. I'm young. And I'm nervous."

Also Read: 'Things can go against Karunya'

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