In a story that will certainly inspire countless others to put the cart before the horse, 23-year-old Diya Sands has never touched an instrument in her life, and yet she knows exactly what she’d leave as a souvenir after her NPR Tiny Desk Concert.
“It’s so important to be prepared for situations that might feel out of reach,” Diya told reporters gathered at the scene, perhaps not grasping how out of reach this situation truly is. “Am I a musician? No. Do I plan on being one in the future? Not one bit. But that doesn’t mean I can’t plan.”
Diya has told anyone who will listen that if she were ever to have her own tiny desk concert, she would leave a talisman that “really says it all.”
“My grandfather gave me this bolo tie as a child right before he passed away 22 years later,” Diya continued, holding up the ugliest bolo tie reporters had ever seen. “It’s the perfect token to say, ‘Thank you so much for having me, NPR, and I hope to be invited back soon.’”
Diya is determined to be prepared for her Tiny Desk Concert in every single way except for learning how to write and perform music in any sense.
“I honestly have a terrible voice,” she continued. “But if the bolo tie thing doesn’t work, I might leave a Pez dispenser that I got when I was five.”
Reporters were unsure why the Pez dispenser would warrant such a place of honor, but then they thought about it for a couple more seconds and remembered none of this matters because Diya is not a musician.
“I tried to get her to take up guitar when she was younger, but she hated every second of it,” Diya’s mom, Maya, told reporters. “She really loved picking out different colored guitar picks, though. I think for her it was always about ‘design’ and ‘color coordination,’ and less so about ‘composition’ or ‘passion for creating.’”
Diya hasn’t been shy about her Tiny Desk aspirations, sharing far and wide that she intends to leave the perfect tchotchke and sprinkle her performance with some well-timed jokes.
“I’ve put a lot of thought into the little quips I’ll make between songs,” she continued. “Now, what those songs are, that remains to be seen.”
As of press time, Diya decided she would take up guitar again, sat down to practice, immediately got bored, and decided to return to watching compilations of “the moment musicians realize they’ve made it.”
