Alterbeat - #OneOfUs Blog

Breaking the Language Barrier with Pallavi Singh

28/6/2017

It was 12:30 p.m. on a hot, summer day in Delhi when we met Pallavi Singh at one of Delhi’s oldest coffee houses, close to Delhi University. She took us to the table where she usually gave Hindi lessons to her international classmates in the university while she was pursuing a degree in Engineering in 2011.

Pallavi started teaching Hindi purely as a hobby at the age of 20 and, through the course of time, the teaching profession ended up choosing her rather than her choosing the profession.

'I teach Hindi’ usually translates to her being a teacher, associated with an education board, dressed in cotton khadi and carrying a jhola or wearing a big bindi.

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The Art of Law with Bahaar Dhawan Rohtagi

31/5/2017

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Bahaar at her studio in New Delhi

Bahaar Dhawan Rohtagi was often recognized as a ‘Lawyer by day, artist by night’. For five years, she juggled both professions until one day she decided to merge both her passions into one career. Recognized as one of Delhi NCR’s top 10 artists and awarded by ASSOCHAM at the SAARC Women Economic Forum, Bahaar talks to us about her love for art and law.

What led you down the road of becoming a lawyer and then an artist?
I was always good at academics and what was predominantly my family's choice became my own career choice. By my second year at law school, I realised that I loved the idea of being a lawyer. I thoroughly enjoyed drafting, mooting, researching and analysing. I admired the courage of all the advocates in the Court of law and fancied that soon, I would be the one on top of things. That sense of control and ability to display presence of mind was very fascinating. Art had however, always remained an alter-ego.

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Having Conviction with Pavithra Chari

8/5/2017

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At 22, Pavithra Chari is the co-creator of the contemporary classical duo Shadow and Light, a student of Hindustani Classical Music under Smt. Shubha Mudgal, a music educator at Music Basti, a Bharatanatyam dancer trained under Ms. Kanaka Srinivasan and a UNESCO-certified expressive arts therapist. Inspired by the art she creates and children she teaches, Pavithra decided to pursue the performing arts full-time after her undergraduate studies in Psychology from Lady Shri Ram College.

Despite the numerous challenges faced in the competitive music industry, Pavithra has held her own.

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Saying 'Yes' with Bennett McClellan

28/2/2017

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Actor, educationist, entrepreneur, filmmaker, chef, media consultant, writer — Dr. Bennett McClellan has explored various professions and the one thing that underscores all of his work is a sense of curiosity, driven by the same thing which is, “Hey, this is interesting”.

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Eating the Elephant with Aarzoo Batra (One Bite at a Time)

16/1/2017

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Aarzoo Batra — an entrepreneur, brand manager and fashion enthusiast — left Facebook in Hyderabad, India to ignite her entrepreneurial spirit at a tech startup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. But, she took her 'passion for fashion' with her and is now also an avid fashion blogger and entrepreneur.

Through a series of photographs, Aarzoo, or Zubeau, as you might recognize her on social media, tells us how each one of her parallel lives wouldn't be the same without the other.

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Acting Like a Sport with Naren Weiss

4/1/2017

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A basketball player turned actor, playwright and model, Naren Weiss is currently based in Brooklyn, New York pursuing his passion in the creative arts. He is best known for his work in Kamal Hassan's film, Vishwaroopam and at the age of 25, has acted in over a dozen plays and widely acclaimed films while writing plays that have been enacted across various countries.

"If you're not uncomfortable or challenging yourself, you're not learning."

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First-Generation Graduate to a Rural Entrepreneur

16/5/2016

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For our readers, could you briefly tell us about your background.
I grew up in a very small village, Mukkudal, which is in the Tirunalveli district of Tamil Nadu. I have two siblings, my sister and brother, and my parents are beedi rollers. Growing up, I was a very normal kid, a very average student in school but I started going to the library at a very young age.

I was in sixth standard when my Tamil teacher took me to a library - that’s how I got interested in reading books. But in my village, girls are generally not allowed to go to the library because the library is mostly where the boys sit and study. I’ve always been a rebel so I wanted to go just because I wasn’t allowed to. Initially, I started reading novels and then I moved on to reading magazines. I got really excited about what was happening around the world and outside my village. I read about Barkha Datta and Irom Sharmila, people who have really pushed me to think about what I want to do with my life. And I knew for a fact that education would help me achieve this. Seeing problems around me such as neighbours beating their wives, I knew I needed to do something. That’s how I pushed myself to go to school and then college. I am now a first-generation graduate in my family.

"Will you be happy with yourself 50 years from now, doing what you're doing now?"

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Laxmi Kanwar Chundawat on literally taking the road less traveled

14/4/2016

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Laxmi Chundawat Chundawat - One of Us Blog

Laxmi Kanwar Chundawat is a post-graduate in Human Development and Family Studies from Maharaja Sayjirao University of Baroda, Vadodara (Gujarat). Unlike most others in her hometown, she has traveled extensively around India, since her father was in the army. After working in the media industry for a short while, she took a sabbatical to travel. She returned to work as an elementary school teacher but soon realised all she really just wanted to do was travel. It was not long after her realisation that she packed her bags to explore the Himalayan Region and many more remote parts of India on her own; she did this for about 2 years.

Laxmi has now taken up traveling as a full-time profession. While she is based out of Vadodara, Gujarat, she travels most of the year, and in the time that isn't, she is planning trips to take other women along with her to explore places most of us only dream of.

"I want every woman to experience the amazing feeling I get when I travel."

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Shireesh Joshi on hitting the right notes in the corporate world and on stage

10/3/2016

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Shireesh Joshi - Chief Operating Officer, Strategic Marketing Group at Godrej and an active member of two bands based in Singapore and Gurgaon.

How has your musical journey evolved alongside your corporate career?

They have both continued to flourish independently though occasionally intersecting. In the initial years post college, playing music was mostly limited to parties but after acquiring my first sequencer keyboard, I began working on song covers with detailed orchestrations. This actually created my first crossover opportunity when I did the music arrangements for a launch AV for a brand I was relaunching and the singers were agency’s budding singers. Though such opportunities have been few. The real sustained connection has been corporate career funding my instruments over the years. My musical journey took off with formation of two groups – Bandwidth in Singapore in 2004 and Sur Shanghai in Shanghai the same year. Bandwidth has been playing a concert every year since 2004 with a couple of exceptions. Sur Shanghai wound down after I (and many others) left Shanghai but now I am delighted to be part of a passionate musical bunch in Gurgaon called Gurgaon Music Café. These have also been the years when I moved from middle to senior management roles.

"I would attribute my success to understanding the nuts and bolts of what each requires and working with great people and learning from great masters"

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Professional Bharatanatyam dancer Tanya Saxena on how nothing matters more than loving your craft

3/3/2016

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"I have been dancing ever since I was born. Back then what I presented was a far cry from the codified style I practice today. I remember my mother recalling happy instances when she had to control her laughter over the phone while my teacher from nursery called to complain that I was instructing the other girls in the steps of Karishma Kapoor's latest Bollywood number. Or when my mother was sprouting tears of happiness as I led my kindergarten class in the Michael Jackson 'Black and White' song. These things seemed like mere anecdotes until, some 18 years later, I put aside my notions of responsibility and duty to do what made me truly happy.

"I was a star kid - school topper, did well in college. But I wanted independence, not just financially but creatively and mentally"

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