Amit Paul's modest home in Shillong is festooned with posters, banners and cards. One of them on the gate in an orange magic marker says simply: 'Amit's House'.

One month after this sprightly 24-year-old Bengali from Meghalaya came second in the Indian Idol the euphoria over the event that gripped the Indian northeast has subsided a bit, but Amit is still mobbed everywhere he goes in his hometown.

Last week, Amit was here to give a big thank you concert for the benefit of all those who texted to try to make him win.

Amit is a better singer than a speech-giver, and he read nervously from a piece of paper. Coming from a region with diverse autonomy-minded ethnic groups speeches have to be carefully worded.

But it was when he started singing that the mainly young and mainly female crowd went wild all over again. Amit' s father is from Meghalaya, his mother from Assam, and the family considers itself to be Bengali Hindu.

"Amit has been singing from age three and is self-made, he never got any voice training," says Amit's father Deepak Paul. After Indian idol catapulted him to fame, the Meghalaya government bestowed on him the title of 'Brand Ambassador of the State of Meghalaya for Peace, Communal Harmony and Excellence'.

Amit took time to speak to us after his concert and came across as a modest and mature young man who is comfortable with the fame that has come with the singing contest and hasn't let the hype get into his head.

"When I came home I was amazed," he said, "it was mind-blowing actually to see people supporting me so much." Even as we spoke to him, there were crowds thronging the Paul house and stretching for about two blocks in either direction.

"I've seen hard times, very hard times," he said, "but I dream a lot. Some people say dreaming is bad, but I dreamt that someday I would do something big. Dreaming is good."

Despite his dreams, this is a realistic young man. "I don't know how much I'll be able to bring peace," he said. "I just want people to understand each other's feelings. They should stop fighting and help each other."

Now as an Ambassador of Peace, Communal Harmony and Excellence, Amit faces the dual challenge of responding to dreams for autonomy of India's northeast with the larger Indian state.

When told his profile was being printed in a Kathmandu newspaper, Amit said he loves Nepali folk songs. "It's my favourite type of music and I'll try to see if I can record Nepali numbers in future," he adds.

Amit admits he doesn't follow Nepali politics that closely, but hopes that Nepal will get over its present troubles. He and Prashant get along well, and Amit became popular when he also sang a Nepali song at a concert. He says he wants to work with Prashant to bring the message of peace through music to a broader audience.

Amit Paul holds a contract with Sony and intends to enter a career in Mumbai as a playback singer in Bollywood. He will be visiting Nepal later this month.