You must have rented a car, a house, or any piece of technology atleast once in your life. But have you ever rented art?

Believe it or not but now you can bring art into your home on rent. Better yet, you can even buy a piece on installment. Think of it like this; just like you sample the flavors before you buy just the right ice cream, you’re going to get to try out the piece of art that you want to bring into your home permanently.

How?

Ardizen, helps you do just this. They believe that artists shouldn’t have to struggle to have their artwork showcased, moreover, patrons shouldn’t have to let go of their favourite piece just because it’s too expensive.

The Viewspaper had a word with Shravani Vatti, the woman behind Ardizen and found out her take on art and the difficulty that comes with being an art lover.

What made you start Ardizen?

What we observed before starting off was that art was a rich man’s game. But that old adage has changed now. If anything the art world has slowly started evening the highly uneven playground.

Today, people are steering clear of buying art.  We want to create an environment where people will crave for art, bring back that unique awe that surrounded it. Towards that goal, the first step we have taken is that of art rentals. To allow people to explore the world of art. To make people understand art better, and why it is worth paying for. At the end of the day, we want to create more art lovers so the artist can be at peace.

An artist no longer needs to stash away his artwork for a rare gallery opening. Budding artists no longer have to cringe at the thought of selling Art. We believe art serves its purposes if it delights the world it is meant for.

As an art patron, there is no need to balk at the cost of art that this high-demand, low-supply market has resulted in. We want to create a new market, a new generation of art lovers, as well as tap into the existing market.

But do you think this kind of a model is sustainable?

Art rentals is not removed from sales. We would like it as well, if someone flat out purchases art. But people are reluctant to acquire art in today’s market. People want to acquire art after experiencing it for a while. And having more options.

To us, both rentals and sales are symbiotic. Who rents can buy art later at a discount. Who buys art, can explore a few more options through rentals before taking a final call.

So has it been difficult to bring in people to buy art on an installment basis or rent it for that matter?

The idea of rentals has been received with a slight hesitation. People couldn’t believe it. Initially, they wanted to know if there was a catch. There has to be some cash. Truth is there is no catch to rentals; it is no money-making scheme. The whole idea is to lower the barrier of entry for art lovers to step in and enjoy a little bit of art.

Installment has been relatively easier, I must admit. A rental is still a very new concept and it takes time for people to absorb or understand it fully.

Now tell us, what is it that you hope to achieve?

We want to be the most affordable place to get art. We want people to simply get art. Understand it, appreciate it. Increase the base market size. And then encourage more people to buy art as well.

So leave your apprehensions and go ahead and browse. You could soon be the proud owner of some exquisite art work!

Aishwarya Dravid

Image Source [http://blog402.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/art-exhibition.jpg]

“It’s your life, so why not be intentional about it?”

Did you nod your head while reading this? Did you let out an enthusiastic “Yeah!”? Did you feel shaken, inspired, awoken?

Chris Guillebeau said that. And who is Chris Guillebeau?

He is the author of the popular blog, The Art of Non-Conformity, and a book of the same name; chronicling his travel adventures across the world, empowering and encouraging personal development along the way. He has visited almost every country in the world (with only three left!) and he’s touring India these days to promote his new book, The $100 Startup.

If you are unhappy with your current job, this for you.

If you feel that you are capable of so much more than what you are doing right now, this is for you.

And if you are completely satisfied and sorted with life, this is still for you. Because we all need a little nudge every now and then.

Since you are touring India, do you find a good market here for your book, or the ideology that you are putting forward?

I think I found a good market here for my book, but more importantly, I think there are already a lot of people here who are self-starting and doing all kinds of things on their own.

This book is about micro-entrepreneurship andIndiais a nation of micro-entrepreneurs. There are all kinds of people starting all kinds of projects. Like even on the streets, the rickshaw-pullers, people starting little food projects, etc.; and these people are responsible for their own well-being. It’s not that I’m coming to an audience that is receptive to the book; I’m coming to an audience that is reading a lot about taking action.

In India, we have a lot of small entrepreneurs, traders, and self-employed shopkeepers. Do you think an internet revolution – because millions here don’t have access to the internet – and proper training in managing business on your own is going to greatly affect these people?

Well, yes, a lot of them don’t have some of the advantages that you and I have, because they grew up in a different way. They don’t have as much education, but they are very enterprising. So the rickshaw driver and people like him, it’s good that they can work on their own, but they have a limited customer base. They only market to people they know in their small community. But, we also have a situation wherein lots of young people are using the internet. They have online friends; they know how to connect with people around the world, so the internet is definitely changing things. And that’s what The $100 Setup is about, connecting with people not only in your village and city but all over the place.

From your books and previous interviews, I’ve gathered that you feel that a business school, or an MBA degree doesn’t really benefit, or isn’t entirely indispensable. Yet, the idea that business is a profession that can be taught is uniquely American. So would you say that these schools are teaching the wrong thing or are they teaching in the wrong manner?

It’s not so much that they are teaching in the wrong way, they are actually teaching people to do something different. They are teaching people to be a manager in someone else’s business. They are teaching people how to go and work in a multi-national company, and how to get a job in CyberCity. In business schools these days, they teach you how to move your spreadsheet around, write a report, or think about new lines for new markets. It’s not bad, but it has nothing to do with starting a business, or starting your own project, and these are very different skills. If you want to do something on your own, I don’t see how a business school will help you.

Fair enough. So would you say that B-Schools, instead of enhancing creativity and unconventionality, quash these qualities, and make people learn to adopt the tried and tested, sure-shot ways guaranteed to give maximum success, at the cost of creativity, freedom and risk-taking?

Yes, that’s absolutely what I think. Maybe it’s changing, and even I have learned about some new entrepreneurship programs as I go about, but the old way is about teaching people how to follow a very specific path. The path that you have to decide at a young age, what you’re going to do, and excel in that area. Especially inIndia, you see that a lot right? You take these specific placement tests, and you excel in those by giving certain answers. And then when you go to the University, you learn about conformity. You learn how to be the best, but by someone else’s standards. So if you judge success based on that, then yes, some people will be successful. But people are thinking differently about what success is – a lot of people believe success to being able to do what they want. They say that I want to be able to travel. I want to be able to wake up in the morning and work on my stuff, making something valuable. These skills are best learned by experience, and not education.

But how about the people who are looking for stability and security in a job – should they go for something like this?

My question to them would be – what is security? What makes you think that this traditional job is going to be stable? All over the world, you are saying that industries are changing, and what used to be, is not now. So if you were trained for a particular job 10 years ago, it probably doesn’t exist now. So why would you place all your trust in one company? Why not consider doing something on your own? There’s always risk. If you’re really concerned with security, no one else is going to better look out for your interests than you are.

In another interview with Forbes, you said that you are not interested in the “work-life” balance because your whole life is aligned with what you are interested in. But, as of now, in this world, we see exaggerated manifestations of the French idea of relaxation. So you work hard for five days, and relax during the weekend.

So work automatically becomes something that you have to “get through”, to reach the “weekend”, when you can actually have fun. Would you say that, by following the book, and pursuing what you love, this doesn’t remain a problem anymore?

I think it will be less of a problem. There are some things in life that you don’t want to do, but you still have to. However, my concern is how you spend the majority of your time. So if I want to come to India, it’s a long travel and I have to face hardships along the way, but it’s worth it because I know that I am going to meet interesting people and have good conversations with them. If you spend the majority of your time doing something other than what you want to do, it just doesn’t make sense to me.

Are there no limitations to this style of living? One can earn comfortable money, but the scope of greater success, in terms of money, is toned down, unless you’re one of the lucky few whose business really takes off.

Everyone whom we studied (in the book) earns up to at least 50,000 dollars a year. Maybe it’s not fantastically wealthy, but it’s a lot of money, much more than adequate, and you can do so much with it. That’s just the baseline, as a lot of them did go beyond that. But the main thing is, if you had the money, what would you use the money for?

I think I would spend it on travel. Oh, but if my job already allows me to do that, I won’t really need all that extra money. Oh, I think I just answered my own question.

Yes! So you have to look for a purpose for all that money, because otherwise, you may spend your life trying to earn so much money, when maybe what you actually want to do is travel.

Is that like chasing an illusion?

Yes, they are chasing an illusion of their own design, because they have bought into it.

Bought into the “Big American Dream”?

Sure, and also the “Big Indian Dream” now; it’s the world’s dream. Everybody wants the big house and the other little things, but then they have a mortgage, and they are paying a debt. And then they feel that they can’t leave their work, because they spend their time at work paying for the debt.

Is it possible for everyone to make a living out of what they love doing? After all, it is said that “Your dream job does not exist, you must create it.”

Well, you have to focus on the thing you love that other people also love. So the book is about your passions, and you being able to convert them into something useful. You have to find a way to make your hobby useful to other people.  The kinds of people that I connect with are people who are motivated, and not lazy. India is perfect for those kinds of people.

Your whole philosophy, of the art of non-conformity, seems to be about empowerment. So does this empowerment only work out for the youth, who have just started off with their careers, or can this also be applied to middle-aged people who are in a secure job but are dissatisfied with their lives?

Of course, and I hear from them all the time. Maybe the middle aged people have a slight disadvantage, because they have families and societal ties. But they have advantages too, making them more likely to succeed – they have learned more, and they have more experience. So maybe when you ask them “What are you good at?” they can name more things. Perhaps they could even have an edge over the young people!

How can we bring about freedom, non-conformity and uniqueness in the work that we are already doing, as opposed to leaving it altogether? How do we remain true to our values, but yet manage to finish our job?

I think you somehow have to do it in an authentic way. If you are authentic, it means that you have a strong personality as you recognise what you like or do not like. It’s tricky because it’s not always possible to do it when you are reporting to someone else. But I do think there are ways in which you can manage this, by thinking creatively. So if you have to put forward this thing you are not really excited about, and you have an outcome to produce, maybe you can change the process? Or do it in a way that’s more fun and meaningful. Ultimately, you will become a better employee as a result of that. You have to be really crafty about it.

Tell us a bit about your World Domination Summit.

Oh, you should come. We do it every year, in Portland, Oregon and it’s a gathering of unconventional people, all interested in doing things differently. We have students, entrepreneurs, artists, travellers, lots of people. We have some speakers, and some smaller sessions to learn specific skills like blogging or photography. But most importantly, we believe in connecting people who come there, so we have lots of informal meet ups, lots of parties, lots of fun.

As Told To Srishti Chaudhary

Image Source [http://liveyourlegend.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/chris-guillebeau-100-startup.png]

It wasn’t anything serious and formal. I met up with Chayan Adhikari at a nice little café and we talked over a nice cup of coffee. It didn’t feel like I was sitting with the western vocalist for one of Delhi’s most famous bands.

I’m sure you’ve all heard of Advaita, seen them live and on TV, maybe even been influenced by their music. What I wanted to know was what goes on behind the scenes. Here’s what he had to say…

It’s been eight years since Advaita first broke through the music scene but let’s go back to the beginning. How did you guys know each other?

Chayan Adhikari – I joined the band about seven years ago, so Advaita was already one year into it. I believe the story was that some of these guys were already into bands before Advaita and I think they were all sort of breaking up their bands at the same time. So some of these guys like Abhishek (Mathur), Anindo (Bose), Aditya (Malani), Tarun and Suhail (Yusuf Khan) formed it, and at the time the band was small; I mean smaller than it is now. So, everybody knew each other and they just decided to jam together and sort of just came up with this band. I only joined the band a year later, when we had our first outdoor performance; I think it was at the Dhanaulti Festival.

During practice sessions, does it take you guys a while before you tune in and start making some music?

Chayan Adhikari – The only thing that takes time is set up. I mean, we have a really complicated set up. We love complicating things for ourselves. Buying new equipment or trying out something which has just hit the market. Especially Anindo, he’s very obsessed with technology in general, so he always makes sure to complicate the set up even more every time we meet. Yeah, set up takes really long. So if we have practice at four, effectively it means that we’ll start by five.

How do you guys manage to synchronize your music into one harmony? Especially in terms of your transitions, from the Hindustani vocals to Western.

Chayan Adhikari – I guess the answer to that is in what you’ve said yourself.  In the sense that, the day we start concentrating on how much weightage to give to what part is when we’ll screw up. We never try to force fit something. There’s no real formula for us. Generally a song begins with a riff, or somebody comes with an idea to practice, so there’s nothing that is forcefully fit into any part of the song. We’ve also been accused of having a formula-based song writing process, but to be very honest, it’s never been a conscious effort to do something like that. When a song is written, each of the eight members generally finds their own place in the song. We do have interactions about placing, but usually they find their own place, it’s not dude you sing here, this isn’t working here, etc. We just try and keep it as honest as possible.

Considering it’s an eight member band, and you’re all so different in terms of your musical style, are there any ego clashes that ever happen? Or does your music flow so well because you guys don’t have any ego issues?

Chayan Adhikari – Till date I don’t think an ego issue has come up as such. I think one thing I can say blindly is that everybody respects everybody else’s art. I guess one big reason why Advaita has survived for so long is because it’s a band where everybody plays to each other’s strengths. Individually we may not be pioneers or the greatest instrumentalists or singers, but it’s because we complement each other and bring each other’s positive side out I think that’s why we’ve survived for so long.

The kind of music Advaita is known for, a Hindustani mixed with psychedelic, Indian fusion sound, was it always something you wanted? Or did you guys start off with something completely different and adapt to this?

Chayan Adhikari – I mean as an individual musician, I don’t think I had any such thing in mind because I was only doing what I could do you know, play the acoustic (guitar) and sing. And I mostly sang in English, except for when I was in school. But in a different perspective, think of it as eight musicians; it could have been anywhere in the world. Eight people who have eight instruments, it could have been anything, not just a sarangi or a tabla, it could have been a violin a horn; it could have been anything else. I think it just started off as a medium of expression for eight musicians to sort of jam together and see what comes out of whatever instrument they have. I don’t think it was ever intentional because it would be profitable.

In today’s time, the music scene seems to have come full circle. From Indian classical we switched to western bands, and now with shows like Coke Studio and The Dewarists, we’re back to strong Indian influences in instruments and vocals. And there is a clear divide now between the two. What is your take on this new music scene?

Chayan Adhikari –I think all over, in general, the perception about music as changed, even in the industry. The concept of writing your own music I think that started coming about in the last ten years and that’s increased very rapidly. Count the number of bands doing covers, hardly any more, I mean now you have cover bands which are doing tributes, which is another thing altogether. But other than that, every new artist that is coming up is writing their own music, which is the first step towards what this is about. And I think at some level there has been a shift in terms of people now appreciating other forms of music. I also attribute it to the internet, because you can access any music any time on the internet. You’ve heard bands from different parts of the world which you wouldn’t have twenty years ago because there was no access. And you really see unique stuff online, which I think has contributed to how people perceive music in general. It’s become very experimental, like the lines between genres are fading. The general popular music out there is all the same. In terms of that the definitions of genres are sort of gone. And this isn’t something new in our country we’ve had bands like Pentagram and Parikrama around. I just think now it’s just more accessible. People are more open, the audience’s perception has changed about new material.

Is it also because of how the music fraternity is within Delhi or Bombay, and with all the music festivals, there’s a lot less competition I guess and everybody’s a lot more open, and supportive of each other’s music?

Chayan Adhikari – It’s possible. I think one big factor in all of this has been the establishment of all these music festivals because they’re providing an environment where everybody’s just hanging out with everybody else. Forget musicians hanging out with each other, the audience is also as close to the artist as anybody else. People like Karsh Kale, we’ve been listening to him for ages, but now he’s just so much more accessible like when you’ve been on the same stage as him. Something like that is wonderful. In terms of competition, I don’t know if I would say “competition”, but there is a certain sense of unity in the independent music industry because Bollywood has always been a big part of the music scene and it always will be. I’ve grown up listening to it, so I don’t see a reason to fight it because it already is popular, it’s fun, it’s entertaining. I’d say leave that alone, and with the independent scene rising it wants to carve its own way rather than go at loggerheads with Bollywood. Which is why there is such a great unity in all the people who are a part of this indie music industry, they all want to do their part in the rise of it. Everybody is doing their bit.

Now that you’ve been featured on MTV Coke Studio and The Dewarists, has there been a significant change in the way you guys conduct yourselves and the way the audience perceives you?

Chayan Adhikari – I think MTV Coke Studio was the first big boom for us. The amount of viewership you get on TV and how people treat you after you’re on TV, it really changes the way you are perceived. It pushed us to another level. Afterwards, MTV Unplugged happened and recently The Dewarists happened so we’ve definitely found more of a fan base and an audience that took in our music the way we hoped they would, we’ve found fans in places we never thought we would, especially small cities.

The TV angle really helped us out. And, like, now that you know there are so many people following you, it’s scary because there are so many people watching your every move, but at the same time it’s so overwhelming that it drives you more.

Any songs which are completely different, in terms of music and thought process?  

Chayan Adhikari – It’s a difficult question to answer from my perspective as such but there are definitely songs that, when heard independently, you might not instantly relate to as an “Advaita song” and they’re interesting because they’re different. Especially songs like Hamsadhwani and Why.

What about when you’re composing your music, are there any tracks where you decide to do something completely different?

Chayan Adhikari – You always start every track with this thought in mind, “Let’s try something new”, but at the end of the day you’re kind of conformed, so you drift towards a certain sound. So you might start off with something really different. But at the end of the day if everybody from Advaita is jamming on it, it’ll end up sounding like an “Advaita song”.

(Giggles) What’s an “Advaita song”?

Chayan Adhikari – It’s difficult to define. If you’ve heard the two albums, you’d know what an “Advaita song” is. It just sounds like a genre on its own. We’ve tried to categorise it under fusion, world music, but it’s really difficult you know. Fusion is sort of a selling point but it can be just about anything. We, however, have more of an Indian influence than an average fusion track.

Do you guys have a favourite city?

Chayan Adhikari – Delhi.

You don’t get the same kind of response in, say, Bangalore?

Chayan Adhikari – You get ardent fans and people who are really into your music, but the kind of “home-ground advantage” you have, in terms of no matter where you play at least fifty people would turn up whether it’s a holiday or not is in Delhi. Something like that is difficult to recreate in a different city.

So what’s next for you guys?

Chayan Adhikari –There’s a lot on the wish list; especially international tours. We’re just hoping to find the right kind of people to take us there because honestly it’s not possible for us to fund an international tour. We’d probably go for an all-India tour; we’ve done that before, maybe either later this year or next year some time. This year we hadn’t really planned for Maldives or South Africa but they just came along, so hopefully something like that will come around. I honestly don’t see another album for another two years at least. We might come out with singles and all, but not an album as such.

As told to Aishwarya Dravid

Image Source [http://blogspot.in/2010/08/advaita.html]

I was very curious to interview this person, about whom I had always heard the nicest things. Dhruv Visvanath, the name would come up and everybody present would suddenly smile cheerily, look more interested and just…appear brighter, for some reason. Dhruv Visvanath, they would say, nodding and beaming, very nice guy, very, very sweet.

So when I set out to interview him, I already had an idea about what to expect, and Dhruv Visvanath lives up to his reputation, even exceeding it!

He greeted me with the sunniest of smiles, and I was already agreeing with everybody else in my head. With his cheerful disposition and an easy-going manner, he would look at you with warm eyes and we immediately fell into an affable conversation and good thing too, since there was so much to talk about.

As of now, he’s one of the most gifted musicians in the country- a self-taught guitarist, drummer, bassist, vocalist and a trained pianist.

And? His style of percussive guitar playing is extremely rare in the Indian music scene.

And? He’s opened for Swarathma and played in the Siri Fort Auditorium.

And? He’s got thousands and thousands of views on his Youtube videos from people across the world.

And? He has his own EP, titled Chronicles.

And? He recently performed at the Bacardi NH7 weekender, Delhi chapter, alongside artists and bands like Anoushka Shankar, Megadeath, Indian Ocean, Raghu Dixit and Them Clones, to name a few.

And? He’s only 21.

So we got together with “the” Dhruv Visvanath and asked him about music, the NH7 Weekender and most importantly, himself. Here’s what he had to say:

How was the NH7 Weekender? Was it everything you hoped it would be?

“It was probably the highlight of my musical career so far,” he starts off, grinning. “I’m a college student, and performing in front of an audience of 250 to 300 people, I was nervous as hell, my legs were shaking! But I got such a great response, my friends were there, cheering for me, the crowd was great, young and into world music and thankfully English-speaking, because me speaking in Hindi is, well, it’s not good. But the best was that the audience there appreciated all type of music, and it was the most humbling experience, really.”

So how did you come into the whole music scene?

“I’ve only been performing like this for the past two years,” he says “and since then, everything’s just been snowballing. I was a pianist first, and somewhere in my piano playing days, I picked up the guitar. I still remember the date, the 21^st of December 2004, I was 13 years old, and since then, I haven’t been able to keep my hands off it.”

And any midnight complaints from the neighbours?

“Neighbours were actually more annoyed with the piano!”

So tell us about the first time you laid hands on a guitar?  We’re sure you have a name for it!

“My first acoustic guitar, I call her Sophie, the one I had to use at my first performance. Now she’s a guitar that I use to compose sometimes, I get very nice ideas. Later, I became a fanatic for acoustic guitars and stopped playing the electric. And…voila!”

So how is it before a performance? Are you sh****** bricks?

“The thing is that, two hours before a performance, I feel nothing. I binge eat, or drink four bottles of water, drink lots of Coke, I’ll be fine. But two minutes before I get on the stage, I’m like, ‘Oh man. I’ve to play in front of so many people’.”

And once you’ve started off…?

“Then it’s all good. I mean, I PLAY for that feeling, there’s nothing like it.”

So let’s go back to the beginning…We hear you’ve grown up in lots of places…

“Yes, I spent most of my childhood living in England, Hong Kong, Zambia…Bombay. I spent most of my schooling years in Hong Kong, maybe that’s why my Hindi’s such a disgrace.”

Noted. But since you’ve spent so much time moving around, you must have noticed differences in the music cultures of these cities.

“Yes, definitely. There’s a big difference. There’s a reason why I’ve been able to perform my music here better than I would have had there. The sense of competition in the other countries is horrible. In England, everyone wants the big show and wants to get to the top. The sense of rivalry is very high. Maybe it’s because the number of bands that exist there is so much larger as compared to India, but it’s there all the same. In Hong Kong, the music scene is very underground. The city flourishes on having international performers- you get your Coldplay, and Muse and Linkin Park. But what happens is that it discourages the little acts to perform because everybody wants to go see the big act. “

And how is it in India?

“In India, this is not the issue. Here, in Delhi especially, we have a sort of brethren. All the musicians know each other, are friends, and will actually support you if you’re stuck. There aren’t any boundaries here and the sense of promoting each other is very strong, because we know that none of us will get anywhere without each other’s help. There’s a solid feeling of brotherhood here, and I really like that. I try to propagate the same philosophy as well, as much as I can. Plus the Indian audience has a lot of capacity to absorb. At the Weekender, there were 7000 people for Megadeath, and around 5000 for Indian Ocean, and at the same time.”

That’s a very fair point. So when did you realize that you wanted to make a career out of music, as opposed to just pursuing it as a hobby-if that is the case?!

“I’m afraid to tell my mum that I want to make a career out of music!’ he answers with a playful chuckle.

“See, I love studying; I’m a geek and I love reading up. But I love music just as much. I feel that I’m in a position right now where I’m very close to making a career as a musician. But it’s a prospect, because I’m still a college student, and I want to take advantage of this time to learn. And I feel that I owe it to myself to be well-educated because my parents put me through very good schools, and I need to take advantage of that. But as far as music concerned, I’ve seen the lives of musicians, and the joy they get out of what they do, it’s unparalleled and I want that.”

But how has it been so far?

“Performing for the last two years, it’s taught a bit more about being a man, about being more responsible. And obviously, just do what I enjoy and earn from it as well.”

Your characteristic feature, the one which makes Dhruv Visvanath distinct, is your usage of the guitar as a percussion instrument, a style which is extremely unusual in India. How did you ever come to develop that sort of style?

“This style is very prominent across the Atlantic. Guitarists like Andy McKee are big influences on my music style. I would watch videos of these artists, staying up at night, sacrificing on my sleep, assignments and homework, just to learn how these guys do what they do. This style is unique in India is because no one’s really tried, except for Benny Prasad, one of the most travelled musicians in the world. I got bored of the electric guitar and gave this a shot.”

It seems to have worked out pretty well for you. When you describe making music, you do it with thoroughness and you are also, uncannily so, very visual with your instrumental music. So how do you compose your music?

“The way I write music is very strange. I will come up with a new tuning on the guitar and I will sit with the tuning and keep trying to figure out what’s unique about it. After writing the piece of music and then when I listen to it, I get images in my head. It’s different while writing lyrics and instrumental pieces.”

Like in your original compositions like “Father”, “He Said She Said”, “The Journey” or “Meteor”, one can clearly see that there is a lot of honesty and sincerity instilled in your music. The kind of diligence with which you work, comes out beautifully. How do you manage to retain such genuineness, keep your music free from any pretense, and not give in to trends that might tax your music?

“It’s a lesson I learned from my father. My father was the kind of person who would never try to bend to others’ expectations, and would always make his own. I try to use the values that he imparted in me. Maintaining that honesty and sincerity is a very vital part of who I am, and it’s not just in the music, it’s there in the way I conduct myself. My father always said that when you die, the two things that remain intact are your character and your reputation, and I’d like to keep that.”

And what about your mother?

“Out of all the people in the world, all of them, I owe it to my mum. She actually cares. She’s my only parent now, and it’s very important for me to have her as a part of my life, and this journey. I need her support and she pays attention. I’m a mamma’s boy.”

So, tell us about your upcoming gig…

“Yes it’s on Thursday, the 17^th of October, in Hard Rock Cafe. It’s the first time I’m playing with a trio, and we’ve been practicing a lot. We are a good group of musicians. My bassist is Hemant Chona and my drummer is Ishaan Gandhi. I think it’s a very good opportunity to test waters, and I’m even back to the electric guitar. I really hope this show turns out to be positively different.”

So we are approaching the end of our interview and as one last question; I would like to ask you something that I personally am very curious about. What is the story behind the hat?

“Oh the hat…I was living in England at the time, and my family had this surprise thing of going to France for the holidays. So we went to Paris during Christmas, and we went to the Gallery la Fayette, and I saw a hat. A black, corduroy hat. It was insane, because I thought, ohh you get these cool hats here, I really wanted it. Having the hat made me feel like the cool musician because at that time, I never did all this stuff. As I grew, I just held on to that hat to so that I could identify myself with it. In my first show, I wore my hat; every show that I’ve done since then, I’ve worn the hat. I have bought more hats now, when I went to Istanbul and Goa. Thankfully!”

The time was ticking and Dhruv Visvanath was continually being summoned for his college Music Society practice. We finally decided to conclude our meeting, and exited the park in his college, where other students practiced their street play, in the background.

As he walked me to the main gate, I could not help but think that he is the sort of person, who, when you meet him, reinstates your belief just a little more in people. In their amenity, their kindness, and most of all, their fresh and optimistic take towards all aspects of life. Someone whom you would not like to miss out on, surely.

As told to Srishti Chaudhary

Image Courtesy [Dhruv Visvanath]

Pooja Dhingra is a young, renowned pastry chef and the owner and Executive Chef of Le15 Patisserie, a dessert paradise in Mumbai for every person with a sweet tooth.

Her passion for food began at a tender age. Not giving up on her “baking” dream, Pooja, trained at Le Cordon Bleu, a prestigious French culinary school in Paris. Being a die-hard dessert aficionado, Pooja wanted to do something about the huge gap in the pastry industry in Mumbai. That’s when the inspiration from French cuisine gave birth to the idea for Le15, a boutique bakery.

“Macaroon Lady”, Pooja, talks about her unique life experiences and lessons learnt as a budding entrepreneur in this candid interview:

Tell us about your culinary beginnings in baking. What inspired you to bake?

I grew up in a family that is obsessed with food. My father owned a Mexican restaurant when I was growing up and I spent all my summer holidays at the restaurant. My mother is a home baker and watching her bake rubbed off on me.

What do you think are the key personality traits for a chef?

For a pastry chef – Creativity, patience and stamina

What were your most memorable childhood experiences in the kitchen?

Baking brownies with my aunt when I was six years old. Learning how baking requires patience and simple ingredients like butter, sugar, eggs and flour and create absolute magic.

Describe that turning point in your life when you decided to give up law to pursue hotel management?

I didn’t study law for too long. I was a month into the course and realized it wasn’t for me. Hotels have always intrigued me and when I had the opportunity to move to Switzerland, I just grabbed it!

How have your experiences at the University Center Cesar Ritz and Le Cordon Bleu helped in preparing you for the role of Executive Chef at Le15 Patisserie?

I believe the two experiences have complimented each other beautifully. At UCCR, it was a business and hospitality degree so I learnt the basics of management and setting up my own business. I also got the opportunity to live, work and study with people from 60 different nationalities which opens the mind like nothing else can.

LCB taught me the basic techniques of French baking and I got to live in the most beautiful city in the world, Paris, which is my inspiration for everything at Le15.

Any food disasters as a student? Tell us about one such experience and how you tackled it?

I once dropped a chocolate cake 3 floors down at LCB. The walls were freshly painted for a culinary competition and there were chefs from all around the world at school. I finished my class and slipped on the stairs. I fell down a flight of stairs while the cake flew out of my hands and painted the white walls brown.

Le15 Patisserie is your brainchild. How did the idea for Le15 come about?

I have always wanted to run my own cafe or restaurant. While living in Paris and studying French baking, I realized that a lot of what I was learning is not available in India. I fell in love with a macaroon and decided that I needed to make these when I returned home. It started with a simple macaroon.

Are you a dessert-junkie?

Yes, the worst kind of dessert-junkie!

The desserts business is competitive. Were there any challenges you faced while setting up Le15?

Any business is competitive and one faces challenges while setting anything up. I started working on the idea of Le15 at 22 and started it at 23. Being so young and naive, I learnt several important life lessons which I am extremely grateful for.

So, then what kept you going to fulfill your dream? Who has been your role model for pursuing a career in baking?

Pierre Herme. He is a French pastry chef who I greatly admire.

How do you go about creating new flavors and recipes?

It’s all about technique. Once you know basic techniques creating recipes is very simple. All you need is an open mind. I get a lot of my ideas and inspiration from basic things around me.

Any favorite recipes?

Chocolate ganache fascinates me. It’s simple, easy and so versatile.

So has “Macaroon Lady” stuck?

Haha. Everywhere I go people invariably introduce me as “Le15, macaroon lady or cupcake”.

What are your future plans for Le15 Patisserie?

More stores and lots of exciting collaborations!

For the youth who are considering a career in the culinary arts, what would your advice be?

It is a difficult industry, so be warned. But, it’s also the most exciting, fun and rewarding thing you could do for a living. If you’re sure that this is what you love – try getting some experience in a hotel or restaurant and if you still love it – go for it!

Kritika Pramod Kulshrestha

Image Source [http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_hTdtPtWcQI/TenVWrssbOI/AAAAAAAAARo/MBd8WVFLmNc/s1600/IMG_3087.JPG]

We were at the Porter Prize event at Leela Kempinski Gurgaon, where we couldn’t help but be in awe of the success stories of some companies.

Here we are, in conversation with some candid CEOs, about their clever company strategies and their advice to today’s youth on chasing their dreams:

Here’s what the CEO of Zensar Technologies, Ltd., Dr. Ganesh Natarajan shared with us about innovation in his company:

“Our strategy is entirely built on two pillars: flexibility and innovation. The whole idea of innovation, whether it is getting new people on board or getting people to think differently is about making sure that there are different points of view to a problem or a challenge, or to get something done. We are probably number 13 today, and that is because we compete with the best, and get ahead only because of constant innovation.

When we got our first big client (that’s CISCO), the leap was a giant one for us, but we never looked back since then. We have consistently pushed our limits, and that’s how we have expanded our clientele (which includes some of the Fortune 500 companies today).

We are an intrapreneurial company, within the big company- we heavily encourage our employees to come up with new ideas, and we spot one with potential, we follow that idea till the end.

To the youth, think out of the box, don’t follow the treaded path, do something different, fail, and then brush yourself up for the next challenge.”

Bharat Singh, CFO, Redbus shared with us that customer satisfaction is of the utmost importance to their company. He revealed that the company came into existence because of a customer problem only.

“The funny thing is that our CEO, Phanindra Sama, was a frustrated customer one Diwali eve; he could not reach home, because of lack of co-ordination by his agent. Despite calling several bus operators, he couldn’t get a single bus that night. It forced him to ponder that the customer’s requirement was not fulfilled, because of lack of coordination of information amongst different actors.That’s when the whole idea of setting up this company came up.

Today, we are India’s largest and leading bus ticketing company. Right now, all the (thousands of) bus operators can be accessed and viewed by customers at one click only. One agent can get in touch with all the operators at a single platform.”

We asked him what his message to today’s ambitious youth is, and here’s the advice- “If you have an idea, and if you completely believe in it, then don’t leave it, pursue it till the end. If you are convinced of it, you can convince others as well. Don’t shy away from taking a plunge, even though, there will be hardships and challenges, even though, in the short term, the grass may seem greener on the other side, chase your dream till the end, till it’s accomplished.”

Then, we spotted Amitabh Chaudhry, HDFC standard life, who was also one of the panelists for the day. Here are his insights:

What are your views on platforms for recognition of innovative practices and business strategies, such as the Porter Prize awards, which is happening for the first time in India?

Well, recognition is always valued and appreciated. It adds to an organisation’s credibility. It’s great that unique business strategies are being felicitated by such awards. That we at HDFC Life welcome it is plain, as we applied for it.

(And later, won the prize as well! Congrats for that!)

What business strategies and innovations of your company differentiate your company from your competitors?

There is no single strategy that I can point out. I think, for the last three years, we have been constantly innovating and reinventing ourselves. We take huge leaps ahead of other companies, so, we always ahead of them.

Your message to the youth?

To the youth, I would say, have clear, concise goals, and stop at nothing to achieve them. Nothing beats hard work and perseverance to success.
Then we met a woman at the top, Dr. Rupali Basu, CEO of Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals Kolkata. She shared her beliefs and ideas with us:

“Being in healthcare, we create shared values because you are reaching out to the masses.For us at Apollo Gleneagles, I think we chose our price bracket well, we chose our clientele, which include all levels of the society, we were very very focused on our area of work, that is tertiary super-speciality care, bringing in amplification, chronic focus on good quality outcomes, and sustaining relationships with our customers helped our business.”

She encouraged the youth to make wise and holistic decisions. “Many-a-times, strategy gets a lot negative connotation. But, that is not true. A good strategist also brings out a well-organised human being. You need to have strategy and excel in whatever area of work you choose. Today so many areas of work are available. Choose your forte, and create shared values, to help build your own life, and for your own company, but, also for the benefit of people at large,” she said.

As told to Abhiruchi Chatterjee

Image Source [The Viewspaper]

It was the Porter Prize ceremony 2012 held at the Leela Kempinski, Gurgaon. I met him for the first time, Mr. Sukumar Ranganathan, Editor for Mint.

Mr. Ranganathan is one of the founding members of Mint and has worked in various other business related media companies.

Starting his career with The Hindu Business Line, he went on to become the Marketing Editor. He also worked as the Associate Editor, and later as Managing Editor, for Business Today.

Not only is Mr. Ranganathan an eminent individual in the media today, he is also a published author. His book, The New Age Entrepreneurs talks about how entrepreneurs today work, and what goes on in their minds.

I got a quick hold of him at the Porter Prize, and asked him what his thoughts were on business, entrepreneurship and the youth of today. Here’s what he had to say:
What is entrepreneurship all about?

Entrepreneurship is about taking chances and risks.

How can India become more competitive in the field of economy?

India can become more competitive by become disciplined. It is a very exception driven society; we don’t follow rules. Just look at the government.

What should today’s youth focus on?

I think today’s youth is still figuring out what it wants. They need to read more, today, youth is really ill informed. I know it sounds really insulting. But today’s youth excels only in one field and do not know about other fields. There is a lack of awareness.

As told to Shraddha Jandial

Image Source [The Viewspaper]

Before the ceremony started we got hold of some of the big guys and asked them what their thoughts were on business, entrepreneurship and the youth of today. Here’s what they had to say:

Anil Gupta

    (CEO, HCL Technologies)

What is entrepreneurship all about?

Entrepreneurship is doing something new; innovative not just for profit. You have to add value, to add value in terms of revenue, profit maybe everything.

What should be the focus of entrepreneurship?

Right now there is a change in youth, they are coming from different institutions. They are going towards different ideas. They should focus towards the country. They should decide for themselves what is the right thing to do.

What would you like to say to the youth?

Follow your heart and do your best.

       Anurag Batra

       (CEO, Exchange4Media) 

What is entrepreneurship all about?

Being a car without a wheel but still running fast.

What is your message for today’s youth?

Don’t lose hair, don’t lose speed, lose bad thoughts.

Ashwani Singla

    (CEO, Penn Schoen Berland)

What is entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneur is a French word. It is about taking an opportunity and turning it into something new, value creating. It is about youth, there are tones of opportunities to explore and turn it into something new.

What should be the focus of entrepreneurship?

It is easy to get carried away with ideas. Large part of entrepreneurship involves perseverance, chasing down what you want. It is about putting your blood sweat and tears into your work. Perseverance with ideas. And there will be dark days. Value is not created by itself. Believe in what you do. Choose the work that gives you happiness. It has to be something you are truly passionate about.

What kind of role models should today’s youth have?

There are no prescriptions for role models; my dad was my role model. Everybody has their own opportunities, however what I like about today’s youth is that they do not want any role model, they want to create their own path. I think the important thing is to have the right kind of values.

What would you like to say to the youth?

Enjoy! Love what you do and persevere with your heart.

Karl Arhedt

    (CEO, UPM Pharmaceuticals)

What is entrepreneurship all about?

Entrepreneurship is about creating new businesses in India. India is the future of world’s economy. It is the nexus for business growth, GDP growth for the next 25 years. The world may not understand this will be the United States of America by the middle of the century. Entrepreneurship in India is nothing less than building business foundation to ten times the present GDP.

How can India become more competitive in the field of economy?

Competition, competitive advantage is about one thing. The sustainable ability to concede more value added in its products and services to your customer or any other country or consistency; at a national level. India if not now; will be able to grow in next twenty years and bring human resources in the competitive world of economy.

How can today’s youth help in building India’s economy?

Every major economy suffers from the lack of youth. The population of all big countries is growing old. Indian youth will the source of world economy in next ten – fifteen years. India has a population of   1.22 billions, more than half of them are youth i.e. under twenty –five years old which are young. The job for the country is to find this young people jobs

What would you like to say to the youth?

No matter where you are, what state of life you are in, attain your education and build a skill to become a productive member of the Indian economy. Get an education, probably a technical education. So educate yourself.

As told to Shraddha Jandial

Image Courtesy  [The Viewspaper]

Bastab Chakraborty is the founder editor of the flourishing website, Between The Lines (http://betweenthelines.in/). Between The Lines is a website that provides book reviews and interviews of authors. Here, Bastab talks to us about Between The Lines, balancing his day job and his passions amongst other things.

Tell us a little about yourself as a book reviewer and a writer.

Books have always been a passion since my childhood, thanks to my mom. I started with Bengali novelists (Tagore, Sarat Chandra Chatterjee, etc.), when I was in the fourth standard, I moved to short stories (Satyajit Ray), while also balancing Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and R. L. Stevenson. With all the reading, reviewing came naturally. The birth of ‘Between The Lines’ (BTL) happened back at 2009, after keeping numerous personal blogs at numerous platforms with numerous catchy titles. BTL was a personal blog in the beginning. Since 2011, we are a full-fledged team. They say a reviewer is not a writer. They also say writing comes naturally to a reviewer. When it comes to writing, I am a fan of personal rants, poetries and short stories.

What do you think makes for a good book review?

Honesty. A book review is the view of a reviewer about a book. It must include personal views. I remember fighting with publishing house owners, for calling a spade a spade, more than once. But, book reviews are always the best when they are balanced and not too critical or dripping praises.

How did the whole idea of ‘Between The Lines’ come to you?

The idea of reviewing books comes naturally to you if you love to read. I won’t call myself a voracious reader, but above average maybe. When I grew tired of ranting about personal lives and abstract poetries and haikus, I wanted to give reviewing books a try. That seemed like the best possible way to do justice to my habit of reading. That was January, 2009. The transformation from the blog to a full-time website happened late last year, which was a collaborative team effort. One person inspired me to work on it and another provided the very necessary pushes. The latter is a proud team member now and handles the website’s administrative activities.

What are the challenges you face with BTL?

BTL now has a team of regular contributors across the country. One of the reviewers in the team is fromLondon, doing her post-graduation there. The major challenge is to run the team successfully. But I always try to ensure that no communication gap ever happens between members of the team, as I believe this is very important, when you run a virtual team over the internet. We have a virtual office, in the form of a group in the most known social networking website. We discuss books and beyond. Regular emailing and group hangouts help a lot to maintain the team integrity.

Tell us some interesting anecdotes about BTL since its inception.

BTL has always been fun. I started with reviewing books and interviewing authors all alone, when it was a personal blog. It was tough, handling all the responsibilities of website maintenance, attending to numerous emails on a daily basis, reading, reviewing books and interviewing authors – all at once, alone. Juggling college life, content writing and BTL was really tough.

Since we are the lovers of written words, our memories are in the form of written words as well. I especially remember the late night chats with the team members in our virtual office. We welcome new interns in the team with grand welcome chat threads, knowing each other and sharing passions. We are good friends with each other in the team, which really matters a lot.

What do you think about Indian fiction today?

The less it is spoken about, the better. But one positive thing that has come out of all this hullaballoo is the increase in reading habits among the masses. While you can see people going through a Chetan Bhagat or an Urban Shots, in the metro or the train these days, you could not have quite said the same about the scenario about five years back. This year has seen a steep rise in the quality of Indian fiction.

Tell us about the type of books you read.

I read everything, be it fiction, non-fiction, biographical. I started with my mother tongue Bengali when I was a kid. And now, I don’t even get time to grab a bangla novel and give it a go. But there are certain Bengali authors whose works I can go through any day, any time, like Sarat Chandra Chatterjee and Rabindranath Tagore from the long past, and more recently, the likes of Buddhadeb Guha and  Sunil Gangopadhyay. However, it’s quite sad that the quality of work coming out in Bengali has decreased manifold these days.

R. L. Stevenson and Mark Twain were my favourites as a kid. Growing up, Enid Blyton took over. Sidney Sheldon was a rage during teenage. What followed, in college, were a hotchpotch of works of numerous authors from various periods and genres. Amongst all of them, the writers who have been the all-time favourites are Haruki Murakami, Khaled Hosseini, Jhumpa Lahiri, Ernest Hemingway, Orhan Pamuk, Salman Rushdie, etc.

How do you balance your day job and BTL?

 It is a challenge I love. In a normal day, my routine includes ten hours of software slogging at office until 8.30 p.m., and working on BTL 10 pm onwards. I am grateful that my team mates at BTL have supported me all along.

What are the future plans for BTL? 

Well, the priority is to continue doing quality reviews, like we do now.  Till now, in 2012, a total of 105 book reviews and interviews have been published on BTL, on an average of 12 per month. It is the cumulative contribution of the team members. The BTL team has a core group of four to five members.  We hire the rest as interns on a temporary basis. Like most online ventures, we also thought of garnering economic profit from BTL at some point, but we are not quite sure whether we will move in that direction in the near future. I don’t call BTL an online ‘venture’ that way.

Has any author ever asked you to rework on your reviews after you have been critical of their work?

Not the authors, but publishing houses have.

What is the best thing about BTL?

The best thing about BTL is working with the team. We have a virtual office with a tagline ‘What happens here, stays here’. We have fun there, but when it comes to work, we all deliver. Since BTL is an online venture, formation of a virtual team and being a part of it is totally based on trust. Few of us have met each other face to face, and yet we work together for a common goal. All it requires is sheer passion, and I see it in all the team members at BTL.

Hamsini  Hariharan

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Did you ever wonder what happened to “those guys”, the ones who were part of every school play that you can remember (even the one directed by the teacher in the third grade!)?

The guys who could burp-on-stage-and-have-the-audience-rolling-on-the-floor?

Well I did, and the real-life versions of the characters I just described went on to become co-founders of Free Parking.

A youth run theatre company (kudos to that! We have a little extra respect for young organizations), Free Parking was started by Pranay Manchanda, Arnav Nanduri and Kabir Nath.

But great plays and funny scripts aside, here’s what really put them on the map: Their entry at the 48-hour Film Project, Pen Chor, won Best Film, Best Direction, Best Editing and the Audience Pick awards, and was also selected for eight international film festivals.

For all of you who didn’t see it yet, here’s Pen Chor for you!

So, three years, three plays and one Pen Chor later, The Viewspaper got together with co-founder Arnav Nanduri, to talk about Free Parking, working with friends and the after-math of Pen Chor!

Take a look…

So how did it all start?

Well…Free Parking, the company itself, started by accident. When Pranay and I were in Hindu, we were in the dramatics society, which we left after the first year. In third year, Pranay, Kabir, Zen [Alkazi] and I decided to do a play and we asked Feisal [Alkazi] to direct us and he agreed.

Once that started, we also decided to produce the play ourselves. Along with this, we had already started this improvisation group, which we called Free Parking, with about 30 college students where we used to just play games and do exercises with these kids and that became popular.

So in trying to find a banner under which we could produce our play with Faizal, the Free Parking Theatre Company was set up.

So what’s it like working with friends? Any fights, awkward moments or ego hassles?

It’s awesome! It’s great! People say that you shouldn’t mix personal and professional relationships, but I am yet to find out why that is a problem. Because, personally, I think that it makes it easier; working with a person who you are comfortable with.

Was there support from the family considering there is a certain hesitation with regard to pursuing a career in the arts, in the society that we live in?

I think the reason we started off well was because we got support. We got sponsored by Punj Lloyd for our first play, which actually made us think that it’s quite easy to get sponsors.

So we started off quite comfortably, but now, as we are consistent, it’s quite tough to get sponsors.

So I don’t know if it’s about the society we live in. My parents are pretty chilled out with what I’m doing, as long as I’m happy and not asking them for money, they don’t care.

But for theatre, to sustain itself in Delhi, I don’t think we’re there yet. But I think that we’re getting to the stage where theatre can cater to the corporates.

Are you trying to break a sort-of stereotype that is associated with having a profession in a creative field like theatre, that it is not a feasible career path?

I don’t know what stereotype this is. Like I’m not thinking of theatre as a career based option.

I’m 22, I don’t even have a career right now. I don’t want to think of theatre as my career right now; for all I know, I could be making films or writing scripts for Ekta Kapoor in a year.

But, yes, I have determined what kind of field I am in. And I think, anyone who has figured out what field they want to be in, will find a way to make it feasible for himself or herself.

There are so many avenues and ways in which a person can incorporate what they want to do in their career. For example, recently we got into film making, it’s not something we had done before, but it’s another outlet for you to show what you’re doing.

So, sure you won’t find a steady 9 to 5 job if you’re a dancer or a writer, but that’s the reason why you chose your profession, because you want to explore it subjectively.

The kinds of plays that you perform are very contemporary and very young. So do you have a problem connecting with the audience or getting the right reaction from the audience?

No actually it’s surprising. I think, maybe because we have a closed group of audience; if you look at the total number of people we have catered to, it’s probably about 5000 by now.

The problem with theatre in Delhi is that it’s still pretty small, so you have the same people coming back to do the same plays.

But, in terms of audience response, it’s always been better than I expect. Maybe the audience is a lot smarter than we give them credit for. They react the way we want them to react; simple jokes get big laughs.

In terms of language, I think the fact that we try to make them contemporary and natural, that’s the style we’ve been going for, the audience finds that very relatable and the characters very relatable.

Do you think your plays work because you cater to a certain niche in society?

We cater to the youth. Young people see these plays and our last play was in English and in Hindi.

I don’t think it was economic zone or strata specific. It was about college kids who got into a fight with upper class and socialite people.

So basically, it was from the perspective of these college kids, who could be from any strata of society; who could have been any Delhi University kid. I think the age bracket we cater to enjoy our plays and find them relatable.

As long as you are comfortable with English as a language, there’s not something you’ll miss out on in our plays.

Have you got any more projects after Pen Chor?

No, nothing. After Pen Chor happened, we have been looking.

It’s not like we’ve been catapulted but yes, we’re now in the loop and we keep hearing about competitions.

What is it like being young entrepreneurs? Do you have problems with people taking you seriously?

No I wish corporates would pay us on time. But I don’t think that has anything to do with our age, but the fact that corporates are like that.

Right now, the scene is changing with a lot of young entrepreneurs coming up. I don’t think they take us as seriously as we would want them to take us but I think that’s changing as well, because I think that depends on how professionally you make your pitch.

Because I don’t think that they are used to dealing with people from theatre and the like. So we figured out that if you’re dealing with a corporate, you need to be dressed professionally and make your pitch professionally if you want to be taken seriously. Because they don’t have time for bullshit!

They do have time to not pay you, but they don’t have time for bullshit.

So what plans now?

Well, we’ve been working with schools, we do workshops with The Shri Ram School and we want to approach more schools. We also want to venture more into this film-making arena that we’ve gotten into and explore directing, acting etc.

We have spent a lot of time working on corporate ventures and with schools, but right now, we want to get into a more creative space. We want to enter a theatre competition and some film making competitions, and we will be performing Badass again. There is another script I’m working on so hopefully we’ll be able to perform that by November.

As told to Aishwarya Dravid

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