Tara Deshpande speaks with The Foundations TV

Transcribed by : Divya Mendiratta

Gauri :  Welcome everyone to the Foundations TV. Our guest today is Tara Deshpande, who is a celebrity from India visiting Boston right now. She is an actress; I’m sure you’ve seen some of her movies. She has been a lead actress in movies like, Iss raat ki subah nahi, Bombay Boys, Style, Bada Din and many others. And she also been a VJ in MTV, is that right? She has authored a few books. Her recent book just came out. Welcome Tara to Foundations TV. It’s a pleasure to have you here.

Tara :  Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Gauri :  Thank you for taking out the time. You do so many different things, you have authored three books, you have played lead actress role in so many wonderful movies, you’ve VJ’d, you’ve modeled, you teach, you do cooking shows and workshops. Just listening to all that, it’s just amazing to know how much one person can do. What I want to know is, what’s closest to your heart?

Tara :  That’s a tough one. You know when you are creative you look for interesting ways to express that creativity. And different mediums give you different kinds of satisfaction. So it’s very hard to choose what you like best. For instance I’m very comfortable in the kitchen, because I’ve been cooking since I was a very little girl. At the same time acting is something I did for many years, I started on stage, and I love it. And writing is something that binds everything together; words bind everything together. I’m afraid I can’t answer your question exactly.

Gauri :  So you love every single thing that you’ve done so far?

Tara :  I do things that I really enjoy. Otherwise I don’t do them.

Gauri :  Now by background you have a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, which is completely different from what you’ve done and accomplished. Writing is not at all related to economics, cooking is not related to it, and acting is not related to it at all. Can you tell us, if you felt a disconnect somewhere, your education was something that you chose, or you got into somehow and then you moved on?

Tara :  My parents gave me a lot of freedom in life to do different things, but one of the thing my dad said to me was that, you have to graduate. That is something you must do, because no matter what you do in life your education will always be there to support. And that’s very important today, especially in India, girls need to have an education, and I cannot tell you how important that is at so many different levels. Moreover education is not just a degree; there’s a lot more to it than that. I’ve always been very interested in what’s happening in the world, and I think knowing about political affairs in the world, knowing about how things are working from an economic point of view, it widens your horizon. I would’ve actually like to study writing, but that wasn’t a subject that you could do a bachelor’s degree in; so I took what was available, and I enjoyed it.

Gauri :  That’s amazing, that you created your own path regardless of what background you had. That’s an inspiration for a lot of people, that you are not really limited by your background, or what you’ve learned through the traditional system education systems, and you can just go with what your heart wants.

Tara :  Confucius said that, “if you do something that you enjoy, you never work a single day in your life”, and it’s really true, that you will find, when you start doing something that you love or you believe in, everything in your life changes. You wake up with a smile on your face, you go to sleep with your smile on your face; well mostly not all the time. But it’s really important to at least have one thing in your life that you really love to do, you don’t do just for money, which is also important, but because it’s your passion.

Gauri :  Now one of the special things we have here today at Foundations TV is some of your fans are here with us. And they definitely want to ask you some questions. So we want to open up the floor to all of those people. But before I do that I want to ask you quickly about the book that you have written. Can you speak about the topic, and what inspired you, and how you got into Konkani food, how does that relate to your life?

Tara :  Well the book is called Sense of Spice, recipes and stories from a Konkan kitchen. I conceived the idea in Boston Common. My grandmother, on my previous trip to India, gave me a collection of cook books, all hand written, and in really bad condition to the point that I couldn’t even scan them; they were falling apart. So I started transcribing them on to word; so I can save them for posterity. And as I started typing them, the story started to emerge. Some of them were my great grandmother’s recipe; the book date back to 1861. And I started asking myself, why do they eat this way, why do they cook this way? So many questions came to my mind. And many of them were in different languages, so they had to be translated. And I became very interested in the culture of why people eat the way they do. And why a certain recipe, or a certain kind of cuisine represent people or a geography? For instance, you take a simple recipe like ‘Varan’, which is basically cooked ‘Toor Dal’. And you break down the ingredient in that recipe, and you’ll be able to tell how old that recipe is. For instance, ‘Varan’ is ‘Toor Dal’, which is indigenous to India, it has ‘Hing’ in it; which came with the Greeks to India, and so you can take that. And turmeric which is again indigenous to the subcontinent, and ‘Gurd’ which is indigenous to the subcontinent. On the other hand you take a dish that has ‘Tomatoes’ in it, you know this dish came after the Portuguese; because the Portuguese brought ‘Tomatoes’ to the Konkan Coast. So that’s how the interest developed, and I sort of became a food detective.

Gauri :  Wow, that’s sounds really intriguing. And very interesting to see that how history and science and creativity can be combined and produce something so beautiful. Great! So let me now invite some of our viewers here today, some of the live audience that we have for a question.

Prathibha Shah:  Hi Tara, it’s a pleasure meeting you, I’ve seen some of your movies Iss Raat ki Subah Nahi and couple others, really enjoyed your acting. I just want to start by making a comment, ‘Hing’ is mentioned in detail in ‘Ayurveda’, which is 4000-5000 years old; so I’m very intrigued that you mentioned that Greeks brought it to India, that’s a very interesting fact for me. The question I had, I think you pretty much answered which was, what was the inspiration for your book? So I think I’ll go ahead and ask you another question, what is your favorite cuisine; from which part of India?

Tara :  That’s a really good question Prathibha. When I talk about the Greeks bringing asafetida to India, it was in Promethean’s time; that more than 4500 years ago. Actually it was Saffron that came in earlier times, when Alexander came to India and planted in valleys of Kashmir. Also if I’m not mistaken I think the ‘Ayurveda’ is among the last ‘Vedas’ written of the five. So it wasn’t really written in 4000-5000 B.C., I think it’s more like 3000 B.C. My favorite cuisine, let’s see, that’s a good one, in India my favorite cuisine, and people are going to kill me for saying this, is actually Andhara Food; I love Andhara Food. ‘Uluvacharu’ is one of my favorite things to eat, I call it the Molehe of the south. With a little bit of warm rice and cream, it’s just yummy. And in international cuisines, I think I like Italian food a great deal. Because it adapts very well for the vegetarian pallet. Some cuisines are little harder, but with pastas you can do a lot as vegetarians. So in India it works really well.

Diky Patel:  Hi Tara, it’s so very nice to meet you, again I’m a big fan of yours. I was a very little girl when I saw you for the first time on Shekhar Suman Show. And that time your three movies where about to be released, right one after the other. And during the interview you brought up your book that you were going to be and publishing; your very first book. And so I’d like to know how did you keep your head strong, in terms of your drives and what you wanted to do next and not to be taken away by the glitz and glams, and everything you had going on at that time. You could’ve just ridden the wave. But for you to be so dedicated towards something you truly wanted and how you focused onto that?

Tara :  I’m so glad that you could be here Diky. I hope I can answer your question. As I said earlier the most important thing in life is to do what you love doing. And writing is something that you can continue to do no matter where in the world you are, no matter what phase of life you are going through. Or how old you are or where you’re living, it doesn’t matter; you can write about experiences in any country. And writing has always been the link for me between all the other mediums that I’m interested in. Of course you know I fell in love in 1999, and I got married and moved to the US. Of course there’s is no Bollywood in Boston, so one of the thing that I enjoyed doing was collecting all the past experiences that I had and putting them down on paper. And this book is actually a result of a lot of the work that I did while I lived here in Boston. It was easy to do what I wanted to do because I loved it so much.   

Sunayana Kachroo :  Hi Tara, welcome to Boston. I’ve been a big fan of your movies and your acting for a very long time. I just have a question, I know you shuttle a lot between Boston, New York and Mumbai. So do you have something about Boston that you want to tell us that attracted you to the city, and you made this city your home?

Tara :  I’m so glad you asked about Boston Sunayana, thank you. Boston is a very beautiful city. Culturally and historically it is very important in the United States. And it’s a great place to live in, because you can have a very middle of the road existence. You can do exciting things, and then you can go home and have an easy relaxed life. Academically this is an extremely important city. It is very rich in Universities. I came here initially because my husband was going to Business school here, and also because have some family here. Boston is a city that Indians really love, they are very comfortably here. They love the food, they love the Red Sox. I’ve really enjoyed my time in Boston. When I’m not here I miss it.

Rohini Iris Pola :  Hi Tara, it’s a pleasure to meet you in person. I just have a simple question, are you currently working on any project for a movie?

Tara :  Hi Rohini, I’m not working on any film at the moment. I’m focusing on the Book. But I am going to start working on the stage play very soon. That’s how I actually began my career, before I got into the movies and into TV, I was a stage actress, where I learned the craft of acting. Nasseruddin Shah once told me, “Whenever you feel your acting machine is getting rusty, go back to the stage, it’s like throwing yourself into the fire”. It’s live, you have to really know your lines, you have to be ready and prepared, because there are no retakes. So I’m actually going to begin work on a production soon and oil my machine. You’ll know very soon if there’s a film in line.

Ilina Shah :  You’ve accomplished so much in your life, but do you have any more future ambitions that we don’t know about?

Tara :  That’s a very good question Ilina. I’ve always had the dream of living on a farm. I love animals very much. I have two dogs. I’ve always wanted to live on a farm where I can grow things; I love to garden. Where I can also have a sort of hospice for animals, especially working animals who are retired or who nobody wants. A place where animals can heal. It’s a pretty big dream because it means you have to devote a large part of your life to that. So I’m working on it, and I’m hoping that it comes true; that’s the future ambition.

Praveen Sahay :  Hello Tara, Boston is a very vibrant expanded Indian community. Given the fact that you have done so much, do you have any plans surrounding any activity in Boston itself?

Tara :  Thanks for the question Preveen. I’m always really happy to come back to Boston. I miss it when I’m not here. I’m hoping that I can do some kind of live cooking show here in Boston. Because I taught almost three to four thousand students when I lived here. Because I did 3-4 classes a week. And I know there’s a great deal of interest in Indian food in Boston. So I would love to come here and do more of those sessions, and may be tape them and put them online or something. Or actually the best part is working hands on with people, because you learn from them and you teach them a little bit at the same time. So I’d love to come back to Boston and do something like that.

Gauri :  Excellent. These are all wonderful questions. Thank you to our audience for being here today, and for asking these wonderful questions. And, these are great answers. They just kind of told the whole story. You did great. Before we end the interview I do want to just tell you the sense that I got from knowing you, and for a little bit of time that I did really interact with you. You have a very positive and a very composed aura around you.

Tara :  It’s Jet lag. J

Gauri :  I’m sure I’m not the first person telling you that. I feel like you are very sincere to whatever you do. And you have passions in life, you have dreams, and you follow them. And you have a very positive energy that keeps you going. That’s my interpretation. But what I want to hear from you, and if there’s a message to our audience and our viewers. Any inspirational message or anything that you would like to convey to them. If they have a dream what should they do about it?

Tara :  I learned a lot while researching this book, about India. One of the things that I learned is that, really our beauty lies in our diversity. We have so many wonderful cuisines in India, and they are all created by people. And just as we can sit across the table, with so many different kinds of people and eat different kinds of food, I think its diversity we should respect, value and cherish. And the other thing that I also learnt, that we are among the few food cultures, left globally, that cook at home more than we eat out. And that’s a very important quality because it keeps the family together. Eating around a table, cooking at home, even if it’s not every day, but maybe once or twice a week, cooking for your family is a great sign of love. You share that with your families. In many cultures today people don’t do that anymore. And I know that women are going out and working in the work force today, and may be men should start cooking a little bit more. But we should really, I think, keep our families together by cooking together, and eating around that table together, it’s something that I really got a lot out of while growing up.

Gauri :  Absolutely. That’s a very valuable thing. And in today’s world where everybody is surrounded with electronic gadgets, and most of the time family time includes texting to each other. But I think this has its own value, which we all need to hold on to. So that’s a beautiful message indeed. So before we end our video I would like to thank a few people. The beautiful set that you see which has been created by Rohini from M A R I G O L D !!!!, she has designed and set this up. And the outfit that I’m wearing is from ‘Smita’s Boutique’. So we do have two sponsors for this videos, thank you very much to our sponsors. Thank you audience. And thank you Tara for being with us.

Manick Sorcar speaks to The Foundations TV

Transcribed by Divya Mendiratta

Gauri :  Welcome everyone to Foundations TV. Our guest today is Mr. Manick Sorcar; who is a very honorable person. All over the world he has been honored by so many different universities and so many different organizations. He has a firm of his own. And he’s a world renowned Laserist himself. And we are sitting here backstage with him getting ready for a laser show in Boston; expecting close to 500 people to come and watch a show on Swami Vivekananda today.

So welcome to Foundations TV Mr. Sorcar. It’s such a pleasure to have you here and to talk to you, and hear all about your accomplishments. It’s just so inspirational just to be sitting next to you.

Manik :  Thank you.

Gauri :  Of course you are such an accomplished person yourself; I’ve been reading about you. You have so many things in your name; you’ve authored books, you own a company, and your have started courses in laser engineering in Universities, and you are doing these phenomenal laser shows all over the world. Of course you are very accomplished yourself, but people always will still associate your name with your father’s name Mr. P.C. Sorcar, the famous magician, so why don’t we start off with that. I would like to hear a little bit about your childhood or a special memory that you have with him.

Manik :  Of course. All that you have mentioned about the things that you’ve liked, the little accomplishment that I’ve achieved, are all because of the hands-on experience I had backstage at my father’s magic show. I was very young when my father noticed I was interested in art, as well as in lighting. He inspired me to paint backdrops of his magic shows; and that’s how it started. When he found out that my art was good, he inspired me to do more. When I saw my own art being appreciated by the audience, I wanted to enhance that with lighting and marry art with science. Dad noticed my efforts, one lead to another, and eventually I found myself doing all the lighting design for his intriguing magic items. So, it was my father who was the inspiration behind all and I learned the basics of lighting and art from, which later of course, I took to different fields.

Gauri :  Wonderful. So it started off as an inspiration from within the family and then you went on to do electrical engineering yourself. And how did the laser part come in, was it some inspiration that suddenly came in, or you watched something, how did you come to USA; tell us about that journey.

Manick :  Absolutely. Being so much attracted to lighting as well as art, I knew that this is the field where I was going to pursue and build my own world of magic. So, I took my father’s blessings and set off on my own. First, I took admission at Banaras Hindu University, which is known as IIT Varanasi now. I studied electrical engineering and got my bachelors’ degree there. I wanted to study more, so I came to the USA after getting admission at University of Washington in Seattle, and a tuition scholarship there. I continued in electrical engineering and earned a Master’s degree, emphasizing on lighting. Along with studies, I was also practicing and displaying my art shows, as art was in my blood and I could never separate myself from it. Things started from there. I remember I ran across an ad in the newspaper by Howard Butterweck & Co, that had published the need for a fresh electrical engineer with artistic lighting background, and I just couldn’t believe it! You see, at the time I was in a Greyhound bus in Denver, going towards New York to look for a job. When I saw that ad, I called them. They asked me if I could come for a quick interview, which I did and I landed the job. Howard Butterweck & Co. eventually became Butterweck-Sorcar Engineering Company a few years later.

Gauri :  Wonderful.

Manick :  At the company, we were using laser and prescribing laser, for multipurpose in the industries. One thing lead to another, and then one day I discovered myself trying to use laser for artistic purposes. I tamed the intensely bright beam of light to a harmless paintbrush; the result now speaks for itself. 

Gauri :  Beautiful. And when did Swami Vivekananda’s idea, creating a whole laser show on Swami Vivekananda’s life, when did that come in to your mind?

Manick:  I’ll mention one more step then I’ll be able to get to that.

Gauri :  Yaa, please go ahead.

Manick :  So what I did was, I took laser and came up with the idea how to do animation with it. My goal in the first project was to combine or marry laser animation with live action. ‘Dancing with my Soul’ was my first laser-live animation show, a short three minutes program, where my daughter would dance.

Gauri :  Lovely.

Manick :  Here the story was, a skilled dancer has lost her confidence just before her actually show and she is sitting very sad on the stage, my daughter was acting this.  When she is sitting sad on the stage, out of her comes the laser soul of her. The dancer sees her reflection in the soul and is stunned, wondering where did it come from – finally realizing it came from within her!

Gauri :  Beautiful so almost like manifestation of inspiration itself

Manick:  Yes the inspiration, which is the soul, actually trying to teach her like ‘here are the steps that you forgot’. It animates the steps and movements to teach her, they become friends enjoying teasing and pushing each other, a true live and laser combination.

Gauri :  That’s just so beautiful. I hear there’s going to be a dance show today as well. Is it close to what we are talking about here or is it completely different?

Manick :  Not exactly, the program we will see is on Swamiji, and I’m coming to that. After ‘Dancing with my Soul’ program, I did several other shows, which were the step stones for a bigger and more challenging project.  Today you will witness the world’s longest laser animated documentary on a human being, which is on Swami Vivekananda.

Gauri :  And he has a such a lovely message to give to the world. So I think this is just absolutely perfect.

Manick :  Just very timely. I was always inspired by him. His messages really have been a huge source of inspiration in my life. In 2006 to be exact, I took my wife to Chicago in Art Institute, where in 1893 Swami Vivekananda had delivered his famous speech. I wanted to see the spot where he stood, gave the speech, and hypnotized the whole world. When I found the spot, it was a thrilling experience just to be standing there. My research on Swamiji basically started from then; I knew that I was going to do a documentary on him with laser. The research had been going on since then. About 2 years ago, when the Art the Institute of Ramakrishna Mission in Golpark, Kolkata contacted me to do a laser animation - a laser documentary on Swamiji, I just couldn’t believe it!

Gauri :  They say if you have a strong passion within you the whole universe will conspire to make it happen. So looks like that’s what happened with you. You had a dream, you had a passion, something you really believe in.

Manick :  Something you really love, you put your heart and soul in it, put so much of hard work especially for a good reason, and I know the God sees all that. This offer from Ramakishna Mission was the biggest reward I could get, I was humbled by it. There was no looking back. I put my heart and soul in it, developed the storyboard, and each and every step in doing the animation and 3-D effects. I’m immensely thankful to the Library of Art Institute, which gave me a lot of help in research. The State of Illinois was also of great help to me. All these, together with my personal research, today we have the show - and in God’s grace, the project has taken off like a rocket.

Gauri :  It’s true that anybody in this whole world can be as successful as they want in the worldly terms, but what touches from heart is actually true success. And what you are doing right now is coming from within, I can see that. I can definitely feel that.

Manick :  We’ve got two U.S. born daughters and seeing them growing up, we realized they needed to learn about our roots and culture. But in the name of teaching the last thing my wife and me wanted was to force them to do something against their will. We realized, it had to be done in a way in which they would be attracted on their own.

Gauri :  Yes, they would want to be part of it.

Manick :  Absolutely, they have to be in love with it from within. That’s the best way we could teach them.

Gauri :  And you have no idea what your are doing to do the rest world, your daughters are feeling it and so many other people who are flowing with it. Because they are also feeling that energy that you are projecting out.

Manick :  Every parent feels the same way. So what I did then was, I made some animation shorts where I had them perform. This was shown in local TVs in Colorado - which was another source of inspiration for all of us. That lead to ‘Deepa and Rupa: A fairytale from India’, based on a children’s story from Bengal and produced in English. What made it special is that this was the very first Indian animation in which live action was integrated, combination of the two, first time ever in Indian history. It received a host of awards including the ‘Gold Plaque’ at ‘Chicago International film festival’.

Gauri :  Excellent.

Manick :  So that was a beginning and it was a huge source of inspiration for my daughters. The film had a national telecast by Doordarshan in India. In the U.S., ‘Deepa and Rupa’ and other animations of mine have been telecast on the PBS channels for the last 20 years in a row. These were the stepping stones of inspirations that are effective even now.

Gauri :  Yes, that its very motivational and very stimulating for all of us to hear as well. All our viewers I’m sure will really appreciate listening to this story a lot. You have in every sense of the word, with every aspect of the word ‘success’. you have achieved it. From within and from a worldly perspective with all the titles, and with all the different accomplishments that you have to your credit. Now my question is, where do you go from here, where are you headed?

Manick :  Actually I feel, since US is my home and I live here, my solemn duty is to bring all the good things that I have learned in my life, and present them in a media and language in which the youth will be attracted. I mean, not only the Indian youth, but also the youth of the whole world. The fables that I use for my animation such as ‘Deep and Rupa’ and others from ‘Panchtantra Katha’, are beautiful, simple stories each with a subtle moral message in it. So, the youth are not only entertained, they also get a message to make it useful in their life. Swamiji’s story is even more fascinating.

Gauri :  Ya, I’m looking forward to seeing it today.

Manick :  As you know Swamiji came in 1893 at the ‘Parliament of World’s Religions’ in Chicago Art Institute where he had given the famous speech. His message was on religious harmony and brotherly love that must exist to be able to enjoy and appreciate each other’s culture. The message is powerful and I felt, in this era of unrest, it is more applicable now than ever. So, that was one of the reasons why I built this show now. The adults perhaps already know or heard of him, but it is their children and other generations who would get the maximum benefit out of it.

Gauri :  That’s beautiful. And what I understand, I did speak to some people from SEWA international; so this is completely in resonance with the guidelines that they are following as an organization. So before we end our interview, would you like to give our viewers a message?

Manick :  Absolutely, first of all I would like to thank SEWA International for giving me this opportunity - not only to do the show in Boston, but around the country in 17 cities. Their motto as you know is ‘to serve humans is to serve God’, and that basically is the moral of my show as well. My message to the public, to the whole world, particularly the youngsters will be to remind what Swami Vivekananda has said in one of his messages,”Arise, Awake and Stop not till the goal is reached”.

Gauri :  Beautiful, Fantastic, thank you so much for being with us today.