Vir Das recalls being broke, 'barely making rent' in the US: 'I went there through scholarship'

Comedian Vir Das has recalled the time when he used to earn money while singing at US' Harvard Square.

On Tuesday, comedian Vir Das shared a video of himself on Instagram in which he revealed his favourite song and the story behind it. Vir said that the story behind the song is that he used to sing it near Harvard Square in US' Massachusetts, where he went through a scholarship.

Vir Das remembers his college days in the US in new video.

In the video, Vir said, “My favourite song on guitar is Knockin' On Heaven's Door's The Guns And Roses Version. I know it's cheesy but it has a story attached to it. It takes me back to the Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where I used to busk. I used to sing for 2.5 hours a day with my guitar case open just to make money because I was in a theatre program that gave me a full scholarship but I was staying in South Boston, which was two buses away. And I was broke as f***, barely making rent.”

He added, “So I used to take two buses go to the Harvard Square the co-op and at 7 AM used to start singing while Harvard students went to their class with their coffees and their bagels and I just sing Knockin' On Heaven's Door full of resentment. I'd make like 2-3 bucks and that was bus money and also I used to buy 10 samosas and used to eat them through the day and then again I used to go back singing with resentment looking at the Harvard kids and then make some bus fare. I used to look at them and think that someday you are going to spend money to see me Knockin' On Heaven's Door.”

One fan commented, “Success came knocking finally!! Inspired af.” Another one praised Vir and wrote, “What an inspirational story. That's one of my all-time fav. tracks always liked it more than the original. Now there's mine. Fav stand-up comedian's story added to it. Woah.”

After studying in Nigeria and Noida in India, Vir studied for 18 months at Sri Venkateswara College and later obtained a bachelor's degree from Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois in Economics and Theatre, where he went through Richter Scholarship for Theatre.

Apart from doing standup comedy, Vir has acted in several films such as Namastey London, Mumbai Salsa, Love Aaj Kal, and Go Goa Gone. He also starred in the Netflix dark comedy Hasmukh, which released last year.