Chat with Actors of SETU for Shah Jahan

Transcribed by : Divya Mendiratta

Gauri :  Welcome to Foundations TV everyone. We have a whole group of talented people here tonight. These are the most talented people in town, who have been handpicked for special roles in Shah Jahan, which is coming up on Sept 27^th through 29^th . I’m personally extremely excited about that show. I have watched SETU’s Mahabharat before. And most of you, actually all 4 of you were part of that show. And I’ve seen you perform. I’m really excited to see how contrasting this one is going to be from Mahabharat. Lets talk about the main character of Shah Jahan, the main role being portrayed by Anurag Jain. I’d like to welcome you to Foundations TV and would love to hear from you how different your roles are in Mahabharat and Shah Jahan.

Anurag :  Thank you Gauri. The roles are very different. I was very scared, in fact, to jump into these roles. And I thank director Subrata Das for having confidence in me. This is something I’ve been saying all across. The Duryodhan was mighty, screaming loud. And this role requires a lot of variations of an older person. So there’s definitely a lot of a variety. And I think that’s what makes it challenging and very interesting.

Gauri :  Excellent, I have seen you perform in Mahabharat . And I’m looking forward to seeing you perform as Shah Jahan here as well. Our next guest is Jayanti. Jayanti is playing the role of the daughter of Shah Jahan. Shah Jahan , just by the name of the drama seems to be a very male dominate sort of a drama. What I want to hear from you is how significant is the role of the daughter of Shah Jahan. And did you have to do some research to educate yourself about the role.

Jayanti :  Thank you Gauri. First of all I did want to echo Aunrag, that Subrata’s direction is superb. He really lets you do your own research, find out about the character. So it’s a free reign in many ways,  while making sure everything is ok. I’m doing the role of Jahannara. In a very male dominated world, this play however has a significant character Jahannara, she spends a lot of time with her father Shah Jahan being in-prisoned. But at the same time she even goes to Aurangzeb’s court to challenge him. The character has a lot of different emotions, frustrations, anger, sadness because she was kind of a mother to all the siblings because their mother passed away very young.  I’m very excited about doing this show. I’ve read Jahannara’s diary. It’s quite a challenging role, and I’m looking forward to it.

Gauri :  Excellent, we are also looking forward to it. Before I move on to the other side I have one more question for our Shah Jahan here. Shah Jahan is known to be a very romantic person of course since he built Taj Mahal. Are you a romantic person in real life?

Aunrag :  As most men like to believe, I am. If you ask my wife, it’s a zero I score in that department. There’s always a romance, I mean, if you take romance out from the male female, there’s always romance of the arts. I’m a Romantic of the arts, I’m a romantic of expression, and I’m a romantic of talent and art and creativity. So yes, I think I’m a romantic person that way.

Gauri :  Thank you so much. This is such a beautiful answer. Alright, so moving on to my right hand side, we have.. Monty, Sridhar, Arjun. You’ve played different roles, of course Sridhar is his original self. I’ve seen him in different roles before and totally different get ups, and looks and feels with wigs on and make up as completely different characters. This is a whole new character for you, and I want to hear from you, Sridhar, is this exciting for you, and how it is different from what you’ve done before.

Sridhar :  Yes, this is very exciting. When Subrata da was looking at who to cast in the script , I couldn’t wait. So I called him, and asked him, “So, are you thinking for something for me or not?” He said, “Yes, I’m thinking. It’s a very important role.” He didn’t tell me what it was. So I called him again, and then he told me it was Dara what he was giving me. I read through Dara, and it felt very much like Arjun to me. As I had played Arjun in Mahabharat, I wanted to do something negative this time and I wanted to do something different. I was really looking to do this role, so I asked him if he would consider me. And when he gave it to me, I was happy. Although Aurangzeb really doesn’t come out negative when I actually look at that role, but yes I’m really looking forward to showing that subtle negativity, actually it’s in the result. Also being somehow normal and doing negative things. So let’s see how is comes out.

Gauri :  I like what you touched upon on a little bit. He was not really a bad

person. But he was doing certain things…..

Sridhar :  …..For a purpose.

Gauri :  And he did end up doing some bad deeds. Which is how life is as well. Sometimes good people will end up doing some bad things in their lives. Not to get too philosophical but did you want to talk anything more about your role?

Sridhar :  I’m enjoying this, a lot, because there are lot of characters, and there’s a lot of history out there. The thing I like about SETU is the kind of themes that they pick. It’s wonderful, because with Mahabharat I didn’t have to do anything to teach Mahabharat to my kids. All they had to do is watch me practice speak through the doors and see what papa is doing. So it was fun. They got the whole jist of Mahabharat. In fact I got it better than what I knew. And I think the same is going to happen with Shah Jahan. I think in that sense it is a double win for me. It’s a pleasure of actually doing the role, it’s a pleasure of making new friends, as well as creating something and my kids learn too.

Gauri : That’s a very good point that you’ve just made. It’s a way to share our history and culture and tradition with next generation. And we do invite all the kids to watch the show, because it’s going to be very educative. Something they can learn from. I think drama has such a deep impact on people. Watching Mahabharat was,as I call it, once-in-a-lifetime kind of an experience for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I was completely mesmerized by the sets, the costumes, the acting and the whole effect. And Shah Jahan is a character or a person in history, who I don’t know much about. I hope to learn a lot from this too.
So that takes us to introducing next guest here Ravi. Ravi, I actually met you for the first time today. I have seen your work before, but I’ve met you for the first time today. And my first impression of you I have to say is very positive, very composed, very calm kind of a person. That’s my question to you, how does your personality, as you, relate to the role that you are playing in Shah Jahan.

Ravi :  Thank you Gauri, I’m so humbled by your introduction and I hope I can answer your question. It’s totally a contrast, my Character vs myself.

Gauri:  Oh Really.!!

Ravi :  But it’s a tough job to do. I’m trying my level best.

Gauri:  From what I hear your best is going to be really good, because of what you did in Mahabharat. You actually jumped in and you took up a role, just 3 days before the show went on.

Ravi: I understand, about 5 days to do the character. Yes, I did it, I hope it came out good.

Gauri:  It did. It did. I watched it. So it was easier to jump in 5 days ago, or is it easier to do it now, that you have enough time to rehearse.

Ravi :  No, I have enough time now. I’ve been practicing pretty good now and, hope it comes out pretty good and hope everyone likes it.

Gauri: Excellent. Are there any characteristics of this particular role, Dara that come to you as it relates to his emotions, or any specific characteristics as a person.

Ravi :  It’s more of an emotional character. Most of the time, he is emotional with his family, dying, seeing them die. And finally assassinated or killed I would say, executed.

Gauri: Getting a glimpse of all the roles that each one of you are playing, it has been a journey for each one of you to learn a lot about our history. It’s going to be a great experience for each one of the persons who come and watch you, to learn about the history as well as feel the emotions, the drama and the effects of this wonderful play. Thank you all for joining us at Foundations TV today.

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Chat with the actors of upcoming show Shah Jahan

Transcribed by : Sunayana Kachroo

Gauri: Welcome to The Foundations TV. We have a group of talented actors who are going to be performing in “Shah Jahan” which is an upcoming show from Sept 27^th through 29^th.  We hope to see all of you there and to get that excitement going we have with us, some youthful energy of some young actors who are performing in the show. We will start by welcoming Priya to our interview today. Priya I would love to hear from  you what role you are playing in Shah Jahan and what is exciting to you about acting.

Priya: I am playing the role of Nadira, who is wife of Dara Shikoh, who is the eldest son of Shah Jahan. What I love about acting.: So, I got introduced to acting a year back when I started to volunteer for SETU. When you are in college you do so many things. I used to dance, I would do other things but I never attempted to act even though I had the desire to. So with this opportunity I had the platform to portray this side of me, sort of hone this side which I always wanted to.It just brings out a lot in me,  just remembering the dialogues, delivering it on stage. There is lot of stage fright I used to have and it sort of has helped me conquer that. Then I did a little part in Mahabharat last year and now I am doing this role. I am really excited about it. Its really a contrasting role. It is contrasting to my personality because Nadira is a very loving wife, very devoted and she has this sense of helplessness in the entire play. She wants something but she cannot get it. I feel it’s a matter of that time, that period as men were supposed to lead, they would be warriors, they would make decisions and now its all so different so its challenging that way because I have to think differently.

Gauri: I am sure. Looks like it’s been quite a journey for you, coming from no acting experience to coming on stage and learning so much not just about acting but also about the character as well as growing as a person. That’s excellent. So that leads us right into what I would like to hear from Vihangi who is also a new actress. This is the first time I believe you are acting.

Vihangi: The Very first time

Gauri: Oh my God, are you excited?

Vihangi: I am excited, I am nervous but I am hoping all my stage fright goes away because I always wanted to do this. I got this chance thank to Subrata and SETU. I am really excited and I really love the character that I am playing because it is kind of my personality too. I am shown to be pretty strong-willed  throughout the play and that’s the kind of person I am , so thankfully I didn’t have to do what she is doing (Priya playing Nadira). So that makes it easier for me to act.

Gauri: What role are you playing?

Vihangi: I am playing the role of Jaharat Unnisa who is the daughter of Dara and Nadira and grand daughter of Shah Jahan

Gauri: So are you excited about the costumes and the glory and glamour associated with this role?

Vihangi: Absolutely! It was my dream to be a princess.

Gauri: Wonderful. We also have Aaditya on my left hand side who has performed before with SETU in Mahabharat . He was Karan and now if you can share with us what role you are playing and how different is that from what you have done before?

Aaditya: I got associated with SETU last year and I got the role that I really liked to play that is “Karna” and that is one character in Mahabharat that’s really intriguing. Here I am playing the role of Suleman who is Dara Shikoh and Nadira’s elder son, and Shah Jahan’s eldest grandson. There are similarities in both the characters, both Karna and Suleman. The way I read about it is :- both are people who blindly follow ideologies. They are both extremely principled people which, apparently in Mahabharat as well as here, doesn’t really benefit them. They are at the losing end. That was one particular attribute that was very similar between both the characters.

Gauri: I love the depth with which you are analyzing both the characters. And of course there is a fun aspect to it which I have seen in the rehearsal where all the beautiful women are dancing in front of you. So share something about that. How exciting is that for you?

Aaditya: Interestingly that is the only scene that relaxed for me in the entire play. I am either in the war field or I am trapped in the Jail.

Gauri: I just happened to see that one scene.

Aaditya: I think it is at the rehearsal stage right now so its very hilarious. As you know I am supposed to be mesmerized by these women which I am, because our  troupe is doing a wonderful job with dance and choreography and we have this scene where I am trying to repel one of the dancers. It is funny when you are doing this because there are long dialogues and things that we typically have not said. It is funny because that’s the only part where we get to have a chuckle at the end of it. At least for my role.

Gauri: Wonderful , so there is lot of fun associated with rehearsing for such a serious theme. Thank you. Now lets welcome Yusuf. He is youngest artist in the team and that I am sure, is very very inspiring to anybody who is going to watch this video , who is of your age and children who are going to come and watch the play as well. So my question you is ….what role are you playing and how is it working with all these grownups?

Yusuf: I play the role of Sipar Shikoh , son of Dara and grandson of Shah Jahan. First of all working with these people was really bad, they are terrible ( Laughter)…No no not really.. I am just kidding. These guys are awesome, they are so nice to me and working with them is great . I have done school plays and school musicals and working with kids of my age and then with these guys, it’s a huge maturity level difference. I mean I can talk to different people and I can learn to talk to adults and interact with them and make new friends . Its amazing here and to all you kids out there I sincerely suggest you come here and sign up because it’s a great opportunity.

Gauri:  I love that, I love that aspect of what you just said. Is there an interesting incident that you would like to share with us that happened during rehearsals.

Yusuf: There was  one scene (laughter)..

Yusuf: He  ( Suleman) looks in the distance and says “Sipar” my brother and I do this ( the sign of brotherhood in US..crossing the heart and flying a kiss ).

Aaditya: We are trying to introduce that into the play. But I don’t know how Subrata is going to take it.

Yusuf: Hopefully !

Dhanashree: Looks pretty cool

Gauri : You might able to convince him. Ok great. Thank you so much for sharing all that and Dhanashree I think I will let you take the lead now and add something to having Yusuf in the team what does that mean and how interesting that is?

Dhanashree: Of course its been very interesting. It i not like having a kid around because he can carry on a conversation on anything under the sun and just like adults. So its just wonderful knowing him and some of us have a plan, whenever we have kids to send them to his mom.

Yusuf: No no do not send kids to my mom, that’s a nightmare. (laughter) I am just kidding.

Gauri: Alright,  coming to your role specifically, I have seen you perform as Draupadi in Mahabharat. That was  such a serious and an impactful role and very beautifully portrayed ,of course. Tell us something about your role in Shah Jahan and how it relates to what your previous role was?

Dhanashree : I am playing the role of Queen Mahamaya. She is  wife of king Jaswant Singh. I think this role is very much similar to the role of Draupadi that I played before in Mahabharat. They both had similar challenges in front of them, they both loved their husband very much  but they had this huge responsibility to make their husband aware of what mistakes they are making and at the same time inspire them and motivate them to do the right thing. All this time there is this underlying expression of unconditional love. I think that was very complicated for me to learn at the time of Mahabharat and it was great growth for me as person and the growth continues with this role.

Gauri: Beautiful! Beautiful! So from what I hear by talking to each one of you, this journey has been a give and take. You are putting in so much energy , your youthful energy, into this whole process and you are also getting lot of learnings from this. You are maturing from this process and you are learning a lot about different characters. There is depth in each and every character so looks like each one of you have put time and effort  to learn and somehow will be able to implement it in your lives later on. It has been great chatting with all of you. Thank you so much for being here.

Chat with directing team and actors of SBAGD

Transcribed by :
Divya Mendiratta
Gauri:  Welcome everybody to Foundations TV. We are so excited to be here today at Jawed ji’s studio, with a fantastic team of actors as well as the direction team of Sahib, Bibi aur Guru Dutt show, which is going to be on Sept 7^th. So we are very excited first of all to start with Meena who is going to introduce some of the cast here.

Meena: Thank you Gauri, and thank you Foundations TV for another opportunity to speak to all of you. So as you know Sahib, Bibi aur Guru Dutt the musical is an event that’s coming at Keefe Tech school auditorium on Sept 7^th. We have tried to put posters, fliers and Facebook messages everywhere so please check it out, and please do come and enjoy the show. I’m so happy to be working with this great team of members, including the directorial team today and the actors. There are many people, all of whom are not present today. So this is just a jhalak (glimpse) of what you will be seeing in the upcoming event. So what would you like to know about the event Gauri?

Gauri:  I would actually like to know a little bit about our director Ram. I know there is a story behind how you know him, and how he is the right choice for being the director of this fantastic show. So please do introduce him, and please do let us know how you found him.

Meena:  Actually, Ram is relatively new to this audience in terms of musical or music based shows. But he has a long association with drama and acting. I’ve know him for over 20 years, I think Ram. We met in a Tamil drama scene where he was a director and I was apparently an actress. That’s what he says, I told him I had a non-speaking role, he said no I had few lines.

Ram: Some funny lines.

Meena:  When this event came up, obviously we were deciding how to proceed, and what our team members need to be. One thing really attracted me to Ram in terms of doing this…. I should actually goes back, we did work on a project in 2008 which was called Meera Bai the Musical, which was music on the life of Meera Bai which was directed by Ram, with lot of children acting. So, to come back to now, he is a music buff and a movie buff, and he just loves and we’ve had long discussions about movies and directions and different classes of movies. Since this musical is about the movie director, and it had lot of movie trivia and clips, scene, Ram really came to mind. And when I spoke to him, he was enthusiastic, he sort of knew about this project past few years peripherally, but then he got more involved as we got closer. Here he is, our director, Ram Rama Krishnan. 

Ram:  Hello, I’m a little nervous. So I’m going to stumble a little. Forgive me, I’m the director not an actor. When Meena approached me about this project, I was little hesitant in the beginning for two reasons. One I was an outsider like Meena said, and I wasn’t sure what her vision was in the beginning. But when she told me that she is looking for more than a musical. She was looking for drama with music in it, and that got me little excited. I think the challenge of bringing his life down to stage, and still keep intact all the 19 to 20 songs that going to be sung live and bring all of them seamlessly together, I thought was a good challenge, and I was excited to be part of that. Another thing was I was inspired by the movie Amadeus, which was originally a Broadway play. It was made into an Oscar winning movie, about the life of another musical genius, Mozart. Who passed away at the age of 31. And the movie showed his life through his music. And I felt this is, in a way a good way to do that, bring Guru Dutt’s life through his movies and his music. It’s been a very rewarding experience for me already, because coming in as an outsider like I said it’s been a great experience. I have been working with very dedicated talented people. So I’m looking forward to successful completion of this project, so to speak.

Speaking of making new friends I would like to introduce Kumkum. I’ve got to know her already and view her as a friend already. She is the stage director for the play. She and I are already working close together.

Kumkum:  Thank you Ram. What would you like to know Gauri?

Gauri:  I would like to know, what is unique about this particular show for you. I have personally worked with you on other shows. You are such a brilliant person behind stage.  I have seen the effects of that brilliance show on stage. And all the rehearsals your inputs are very - very specific, very clear, and to the point and so effective. So I’ve had a great journey with you all through different shows, but what I want to hear from you, of course you bring all the talent and skill with you, what is it that is unique to you in this particular show.

Kumkum:  Well this is a very unique show. We are fortunate to be in an area, where we have a glut of shows. But what is unique to me about this show, is the vision behind this show. I’ve have known Meena for a very long time, and this has been something that has been dear to her heart. What’s become very unique in my role in this, is the involvement with so many aspects, so many details to pull together, so usually as stage director, people usually know me as a MC but I’m shifting into stage direction, you pretty much are responsible for making sure that what the audience seems in front of them is a seamless coordination. But when you have a show which has singing, acting, and I won’t give too much away some other stuff too, then it becomes very important to understand the vision of the director and do stage direction in a way where that is pulled in too. And Ram is really inspiring. He has been very inspiring and he has made me remember long lost acting days, college days. And it has been a pleasure so far, I’ve enjoyed working with you.

Gauri: That is such a sweet and special thing to say. I think at this time we will take a short break.

Interlude

Gauri:  Welcome back everybody, Meena, I’ll actually hand over the mic to you to introduce the actors.

Meena:  Thanks again Gauri. Nice to be back. So, our acting team is a very large one and constitutes a lot people playing roles of people that you’ve seen on screen and behind the screen all of whom were associated with Guru Dutt ji and his films. So I want to actually start with Shekhar ji, Shekhar Shastri. Who is an extremely erudite, I would say scholarly, though he might not like it, personality in this area. He is a poet, he is an actor, he is writer and there is more to him than even I know. So I’ll have him speak a little bit about his experience and role in Sahib, Bibi and Guru Dutt, The Musical.

Shekhar:  Thank you Meena. When Meena brought up this ideas of doing this show, I was already contemplating doing one on Guru Dutt. I’ve been obsessed with Guru Dutt for the longest time, as far I can remember from my childhood. And as I was growing up and became interested in literature and writing, The Vijay of Pyasa was always, the arc type poet. So I have been singing the songs from Guru Dutt movies for a long time. And the role of the poet in the society has never been brought up as well as was brought up in Pyasa by Guru Dutt. And subsequently, there is another aspect of Guru Dutt which attracted me to becoming interested in this particular show and performing in this very exciting show, is that Guru Dutt was a master of presenting relationships that were never consummated, yet profound and immensely beautiful. And so this is quite a privilege to belong to this fabulous team. And thank you Meena, Ram, Kumkum and rest of the team.

Meena: Great, you are so welcome. And please come and watch Shekhar in action on Sept 7^th. I’m going to move on now to Pallavi, Pallavi Nagesha, who is a dancer, she’s an actor, and has many other talents. She is also a choreographer. She helped in direction of many events. She is an interesting lady, because I don’t know her very well, but we did meet and participate in couple of shows actually with Shekhar Shastri Ji. She really strikes me as a very intense person, I would really say a woman of substance. So she got a role that is quite interesting and I think you will really again enjoy watching her in our event.

Pallavi: Thank you Meena, I’m awfully humbled by that introduction. I should first thank you for giving me this opportunity and I really appreciate it. I know we’ve had long conversations about this, and I’m glad it came to be this way. It’s a wonderful team, I think the singers are amazing, all the acting and directing that I’ve seen thus far has been really good. So it’s going to be a very-very good show. And.. My sort of affair, romance with Guru Dutt began when I was really very young, about 7-8 when I saw Pyasa. I instantly fell in love with this man, even today tell my husband, had I the chance he would be the one. But what was interesting, which also later became a paper for my film appreciation class, was his use of light and darkness. And I was always amazed by the shadows he created and how he use the light to not just portray mood and emotion but the character themselves. And it’s not the different characters are light or darkness, it’s the same character, it’s the same person can be light and darkness. And he expertly used his light to portray that, and I’m always amazed how well he does that. And the roles I’m performing are again both light and darkness and I’m really excited to switch from one to another , and in fact in some of them switch in between from one to another. And it’s a great challenge, and everybody guiding me, Ram has been amazing telling me what to do and how to do it. And Shekhar also has been helping me out. And it will be an amazing show and I’m sure all of will come and will have a great grand time. And we will learn that it’s not just the movie, it’s everything that goes in between. It’s just like a book, you read between the lines and that’s what you get.

Meena:  Great!! Thanks Pallavi. And now to our dear friend Gauri. Gauri has played a very big role not only on stage, probably a bigger role off stage. She’s been such a huge help as you know with Foundations TV assisting our event, supporting our event. We do appreciate all you have done and continuing to do for us. On stage Gauri is playing a very interesting role, she’s got a great personality I think people have seen her before on stage in Madhubala etc. and I’ll ask her what she thinks about the event and her role in the event.

Gauri:  I, for one, besides what you just said Meena, about the back stage and the Foundations TV association which is a whole long story, but I won’t go over there yet. Of course that has been a lot of fun. But I think I’m super excited to be on stage for this one, especially because the character that I’m portraying is of a girl who is very bubbly, full of herself, full of  life kind of a person, and I can actually relate to her in some ways in some phases of my life, and she seems to be a little naïve and little spoilt. So it’s a character where you can never over do the expression, as much as u put into it, will always fall in the right place. So, I think that’s what makes it so much fun performing on stage for this particular character and I’m really-really looking forward to do this, and seeing how everybody else enjoys me on the stage. And this whole show is coming together beautifully. Really excited for it.

Meena :  Thank you so much Gauri! And again as I mentioned there are many actors in our event who are not able to here today. Please check out their names on the flier you’ll see many familiar and friendly faces and names there, so you can find out what roles they are playing as well.

Gauri:  Switching my hat now over as the host of this show from Foundations TV. I would like to thank the entire team, the directions team and as well as the actors who are present here. And Meena, Jawed ji and the camera person Ansh for this particular show, for making this happen. I think this has been one of the best shows of Foundations TV so far. Thank you so much all of you. Thank you so much for coming. We wish you all the best for the show.

Chat with Rajeev Kumar

Transcribed by: Sunayana Kachroo

Gauri : Welcome to the foundations Tv. Our guest is Rajeev Kumar who is the founding member of an organization Snehalaya , which has been working for few decades for women and children  in distress

My interaction with Rajeev was at Meena Sundarama’s house when we met for the first time during a meeting for Sahab Bibi aur Guru Dutt. Before I even Welcome Rajiv, I have to say that one of the things that he did really well there was the way he presented Snehlaya to us. He captivated the audience and it almost felt like a conversation with each one of us. He walked us though the growth of the organization, how it was founded, and how well it has evolved. I think it is such an interesting story.

While I welcome you to foundations TV, that’s what I would like to start with. I would love to hear from you about Snehalaya. I would like to know why was it started , when was it started and where is it today.

Rajeev:  Thank You Gauri ,first of all I thank you for giving me an opportunity to be here at Foundations studio. You guys are doing an amazing job.  As far as Snehalaya goes , it goes back to 1989, when a school going kid Girish Kulkarni had the desire to do something for the children of commercial sex workers. He had his own inspiration, he had his own vision about it . We were a group of friends who met with him and Snehalaya was born in his house and his heart. We started working with a few children at Chitragali…which is a red light area in Ahmednagar. The purpose was to break nexus and the cycle in which these children are caught.  These children have been conceived to be either commercial sex workers or to be pimps. That’s why their mothers conceive them. We wanted to break that cycle. It was very hard to penetrate in those red light areas. It took us many months, I would say years  to win the trust and confidence of the mothers of the pimps and goons and of the gurus and underworlds who operate from red light areas. We were young, I was completing my engineering and Girish was finishing his graduation from college, so I think it was very challenging for us. We never thought that we will be doing so many things. When I look back I don’t think we had a grand vision but I think over period of time, the need made us grow and do different things. So today, when we look back we see Snehalaya as a very powerful force in the society. We have been working for various groups and maybe I can walk you thought some of the key projects if you want. So we started Snehalaya for Children of commercial sex workers. We realized that we were not being able to make a significant difference in their lives by just giving them some interaction and exposure because they ultimately went back home to their mother’s house. So, we thought we will build a home for them. We had no money , we had no land , all we had was a desire. There was one gentle man Mr. Mutha, he was very kind and he said that you guys are young and if you guys do a good job, I will give you more land here is an acre of land. That’s where we started and we got our first bunch  of 6-7 kids in 1997,  in this home. It was constructed in 45,000 Rupees which is like $1000 today  or less than that probably. Then, very soon we started getting children that were HIV positive and we decided that we should create a separate section for HIV infected children and women. So, one of the first hospital or care centre for HIV affected patients was created. Quickly, we saw that a lot of people were calling us that this child is being abused , trafficked,  exploited  and can you do something. So we set up 24/7 help line which is like 911 here in America. Unfortunately, we don’t have something like that in India. So, we started helpline and started rescuing children. It has been an  amazing journey. Today we get almost 200-250 calls , and our people go and rescue them. It is full of action. A lot of our young volunteers want to be part of such projects. Later on It was I think late 2000, when we started getting calls that “we have found a baby in a dumpster, we have found baby at a police station, we have found baby wrapped in a news  paper, 2-4 days old babies. Would you guys come and help?” We didn’t know what to do with them. Then  we decided to set up an adoption centre. You will be glad to know that over 300 children  have been given new set of parents and a family and a home across the world and I have some of those children here in  America. Some are in India and some in other parts of the world. Somewhere in 2004, if I am not wrong, we thought that urbanization is really changing the demographics of the country and too many slums were coming up. In 2020-25 almost 20- 25% of India’s population will be living in slums. So we decided that we should do something in the slums because slums make the real recruitment ground for women who were going in for commercial sex, for pimps, for underworld, for terrorism and for many vices of the society. So, we have now started something called as Balbhavan which operates in 5 different  slums in Ahmednagar and also one in Pune where we groom and take care of the entire family on aspects of education , health ,literacy, then de-addiction, and saving patterns.  We have built some self help groups and vocational training for women. That was Bal-Bhavan.

After Bal Bhavan we have seen that more and more cases of the demand and need for women training,  is coming up. Lot of women want to come out of that trade. So we are focusing on skills and are providing them new skills. I think we have a long way to go. We are trying to create a Himmatgram which is another 20 acres of campus which will be one of its kind. This will be an integrated campus for HIV infected people. Lastly, which was done this year, we have created a platform to help women who have been raped which is called Spraha . We did that launch just few months back where we try to provide counseling, legal help and medical help to women who unfortunately have gone through this trauma.

So that’s the story of Snehalaya . It can go on forever, but I will like to stop here.

Gauri: This is indeed very-very touching. You know, it is very easy listening to success stories but anytime I have heard you before and I am hearing you today, I feel like this is something that is so close to the ground. I have seen some videos of women who gone through so much. It requires a lot of courage and a lot of persistence , dedication and lot of sincerity to believe in a cause like this and to continue to work towards the betterment of women and children. These are areas that most of us would shy away from because we are happy in our lives. We are doing things that keep us happy and getting what we want from our lives and to come out of that mode, to be able to feel how those people might  be feeling and do something about that, I think it is such a touching journey.  So, kudos to you and your team,  definitely for coming where you are today.

Gauri: Rajeev, from what I understand, you have also written a book about Snehalya and its work . Could you tell us a little bit about it .

Rajeev : Yes , we just launched a book titled “Defying Destinies”. It is actually a compilation of all the case studies, of  the rescues that we have done in last 7-8 years, best practices, learnings that we have had, what we did right , and what we didn’t do right. May be, it will be a great guide for other NGO’s who are working in this field. One very interesting judgment is there in that book which was given by high court –to life imprisonment for almost 20 people in trafficking case of two minor girls. Please read it and I would love to give it to you.

Gauri: I would certainly love to read it myself and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking to work in an NGO or has any desire to learn from this process. So, how would they get hold of this  book?

Rajeev:  We did not have any publisher. Snehalaya is the publisher. It is on our website and we would love to ship it to you. If you want it, you can send an email to info@snehalaya.org , we will send it you.

Gauri : I have watched the first episode of Satyamay Vijayate which was the TV serial by Aamir khan and the first episode itself was on female feticide and Aamir Khan had endorsed your organization Snehalaya, which is pretty commendable. I want to understand from you, what that endorsement means to you. Of course,  it means a whole lot for someone who is looking into organization but being inside the organization what does it mean to you?

Rajeev: Very good question. I will say that it was really a turning point for Snehalaya, being endorsed by Satyamay ViJayate. For almost two decades we have been working in this area and Aamir khan production team  - Swati Bhatkar  Satyajit Bhatkar, the directors of that program , they identified Snehalaya. Not only that, Aamir and his team visited Snehalaya twice. Our children have been so happy seeing them in the campus. He came with his entire team. They performed for our children and he launched Satyamay Vijayate DVD. On May 1^st we had an event, a workshop on Trafficking and Natural Calamity because of the drought condition in Maharashtra. Both Aamir khan and Anna Hazare were there for that workshop. You will be surprised to know every 22 minutes there is woman or a girl child being raped in the world, every 10 minutes there is girl who is being trafficked. Trafficking is the third largest organized crime after drug and weapons and it’s a very serious problem. It is around 800 billion dollar industry and we really want to work and motivate people against human trafficking. So, Satyamay Vijayate and Aamir khan’s endorsement meant a lot to us both financially as well as being known in the society. We are thankful to them.

Gauri: Wonderful and you have also shared some of the pictures with us which are part of this presentation,. We would also put together a powerpoint presentation or a slide show to share with  our audiences all the phenomenal work that has been endorsed by Aamir Khan that you do at Snehalaya.

Gauri: Now that we have heard so much about the organization and everybody who has heard this interview feels connected and wants to contribute, somehow towards this organization and towards this cause. I would like to share with everybody that one way to do that is by coming to the Sahib Bibi Aur Guru Dutt show , a musical evening which is being  organized on Sep 7^th , which is actually a fund raiser for this wonderful organization run by extremely sincere people. We can all be very assured that this cause is a genuine cause. We can be assured that the efforts that the team of Sahib Bibi Aur Guru Dutt are putting , all those efforts are going to go towards this cause. We are all very excited actually and it adds to the excitement of the organizing committee as well. My question to you though is, how does this benefit the organization?

Rajeev: Well, the obvious answer is that it financially benefits the organization but more than that you may look towards these events as an embracement of our team ,our work and we feel that more and more people are part of Snehalaya family. I would welcome all the people who are coming for that event to Snehalaya. If you are coming to India, please visit Snehalaya at Ahmednagar. It is around 180 kms from Mumbai. We would love to have you there. Our children would love to have you there. We run a radio that is Snehalaya radio. It is an FM channel. We would love to play that event for our children and for people there at Ahmednagar to show how much love and affection we are getting in Boston. Thank you to Meena Sundaram , to you and to the entire team. It is a very big team that’s trying to put together this show. Thank you very much.

Gauri: Thank you so much . That really makes us feel very special. All the effort becomes really really authentic by listening to everything that you have shared with us today . So, thank you so much for coming and I would personally like to wish you good luck. I know after spending 10 years in this country, you are moving back to India only for this cause and your dedication towards this cause. We are very proud of you as a community and we wish you all the very best from The Foundations TV.

chat with Jawed Wahid

Gauri: Foundations TV is extremely excited tonight to be actually coming out of our own studio and visiting a different studio. If you’ve ever organized an event or even participated in an event in the New England area, you’ve already probably visited this studio. Our guest tonight is Mr Jawed Wahid. Welcome.
Jawed:  My pleasure. I enjoy being here. (smiling) It is my place.
Gauri: Of course. So as you can see, we’ve managed to bring him in front of the camera. He is barely ever seen in the front. He is not only the back bone of all shows, he is also a perfectionist. Most of the times I have seen hi tweaking the ports and knobs, trying to fine tune the sound for hours at a stretch just to make sure that the sound for every event is just right, just the way he would like to hear it. He is a very very dedicated person.
Jawed: It is a lot of work

Gauri: Absolutely it is a lot of work. It requires a lot of dedication and passion to be doing something like this.

Jawed: It is a labor of love

Gauri: I can see that you are in love with music and that actually brings us to our first question. Talking of love for music, I want to understand what was your motivation is dedicating this whole room to musical events? There are not only events that you participate in or help out with as a sound engineer, but you also host a lot of events here in this studio.

Jawed: Music has always been a passion for me. Though I was never formally trained for music as a child, I always found that music stirred something within me, a passion, and tremendous sense of peace. In my opinion, the joy of music is really multiplied as you share with people. I think music is something that should be shared. It is a group activity. Listening to music alone can be interesting but the pleasure comes with sharing. Hence I built this studio so I can share with many people.

Gauri: Excellent. I couldn’t agree more with what you said that the joy of music comes from sharing. It is truly ‘The more the merrier’.

Gauri: So, Jawed ji is not only the most sought after sound engineer in the area, he is also a very compassionate, sensitive and a very respectful human being and I think that is what differentiates him and makes him the most sought after sound engineer for most events here. Tell us a little bit about your evolution into reaching here where everyone wants to involve you in the events.

Jawed: Before getting into sound engineering, I had attended many programs that were disasters due to the poor quality of the sound engineering. It ended up being a waste of time for the audience and for the artists on stage. Those days they used to come from India. There were very few local artists who would perform. So being an electrical engineer with a specialization is signal processing, and naturally analytical being an engineer, I could easily understand what the factors were that were causing the bad sound to happen and I knew what would be necessary to fix the sound. So, I then went about getting top of the line expensive equipment that provided me with the tools that I needed to produce good quality sound. Contrary to what people may think, a mic is not just any mic and a speaker is not just any speaker. A high quality mic and a high quality speakers only would give you  high quality sound. So if you buy cheap mics and cheap speakers, you are actually going to get a very poor sound. And people just don’t seem to understand that fact. So, apart from my engineering background which helped me understand that, I have also extensively read about sound engineering techniques. I read articles on the internet all the time about good mixing techniques and poor mixing techniques. I am constantly learning and incorporating that in my work. So, every event I go to, I do something differently based on what I have learnt. I think life is always about learning and I am always learning sound engineering.
Gauri: Excellent. So, you’ve definitely shared the technical aspects of it that you have to go with the high quality equipment and you have to have a good knowledge about it. But I think there is something else to it which is the magic wand that you hold.
Jawed: (laughing) Yes, there is a little bit of black magic. If you give three people the same ingredients to cook, the output is going to very different. Somebody would produce a very tasty dish and on the other hand another person may produce a disastrous dish. I do agree, there is a ‘black’ art to it.

Gauri: Yes, there is a personal touch and I think you touched about it a little bit that every event you do something slightly different and you keep learning. It is an experience and it is an evolution in itself. It is a process that continues to evolve.

Gauri: So, speaking of events, how soon do you recommend that people contact you if they are trying to organize and event?

Jawed: Actually many event organizers first contact me for my available dates, and check the venue for their available dates and then the pick the dates based on when we are both available at the same time. Basically I get involved when the event is still a concept. If they plan the event and if I am not available, then that could be problem for them.
Gauri: So here’s a cue for everybody who is thinking of organizing and event in this area, get him involved early.

Gauri: Could you please share something about your association with SBAGD, which is coming up on September 7th?

Jawed: Sahib bibi Aur Guru Dutt is being organized by a friend of mine, Meena Sundaram. I have known Meena for about 4 years now ( my memory is kind of bad that way). We were introduced by our common teacher Warren Senders. When Meena was looking to do an event back then, she needed somebody for sound. Warren know I do sound, so he said, ”If you want to do sound, contact Jawed” and that’s how we got to know each other and we’ve been doing programs ever since. So, when Meena said, “I am planning an event based on the life of Guru Dutt”, so I told her that the fact that I am going to do your sound is given, but since this is such an intriguing project, I would like to get involved in something just more than sound. I am now helping out with some of the AV and a lot of the technical infrastructure. When you come to the event, you will see that there are a lot of interesting things happening, that don’t usually happen on a lot of other events. She needs a lot of technical support to make that happen. You’ll find it out when you come to the event.

Gauri: Alright! So looks like we have some surprises put in place for September 7^th . this is actually a good time to invite everybody who is listening to save the date for September 7^th. I know it is a few months in advance, but this is the time you should reserve that date for an excellent event which has some surprises in it.

Jawed: It is really going to be an interesting program and you’re really going to enjoy the new things we are going to present and the way we are going to present some of the material too.

Gauri: Excellent. Looking forward to it.

Gauri: Working with various people, at different locations, at various auditoriums, with different sound systems, and with all the different set ups, I’m sure there’s a lot of different challenges that you have faced. We would like to hear about those.

Jawed: Well, one of the things that I never do, or very rarely do is use the in house sound system because I don’t know what the quality is going to be like and if there is a problem with it, then I don’t know how to fix it. Whereas, with my own equipment, I know exactly how to manage it, control it , and if there is an issue, I can resolve it. I have been doing a lot of programs in most of these auditoriums, and in some of them, like in Keefe tech, I’ve done many programs. The staff there knows me very well by first name. they are very helpful. They’ll help me unload stuff and help me load stuff at the end of the day. Even if I am a little late, they don’t mind, or even if I stay a little beyond the time. They are usually a friendly bunch. The only real challenge I have is if I go to a new venue, where I’ve never done an event before. The staff invariably is very helpful, so that’s never a problem. I’ve never run into staff that is not helpful but in a new auditorium there is always a challenge of how to optimally lay out my sound equipment i.e. the placement of my mixer, placement of the speakers, how I run the wiring. Most importantly every auditorium has a unique sound profile, and I need to equalize the sound profile for  that auditorium and that takes a little while. For the auditorium that I have already done, I know what the sound profile is and it is easy for me to dial in my mixer for that auditorium. For a new one, it takes me a little longer, but I can manage that. Now I have a lot of high tech tools to help me.

Gauri: So, in two words, he’s the expert.

Gauri: How does it usually take you to set up the sound on the day of the event?

Jawed: Well, that has a two part answer. If it is a new venue where I’ve never set up the sound before then, I will require a site visit sometime ahead of the event. I talk to the event organizer and I meet them there and ask them for the venue technical person to be there. I like to do the site survey ahead of time so that there are no surprises. I like to know where do I load the equipment from. I don’t want to find out that day ,” oh you gotta climb up 4 stairs to get your equipment in”. That’s not gonna work. So, I find out where the loading is going to be from, how far the loading doors are from the stage etc. I need to know that all ahead of time so I can plan accordingly. If it is right next to the auditorium, I can load very fast. If it is at the other end of the school, then you have to walk 10 minutes for each load. So, that’s the first part. The second part is on the actual day of the event. That is dependent on what’s being performed. If it is going to be large group as we did for YJMH, that takes me many hours to do, coz you have to set close to 30 lines. For a small event, with a couple of singers, it can be less. YJMH was 5 – 6 hours spread over two days, including a sound check with the artists. Typically, for a smaller event, 2 – 3 hours should be more than enough to do sound check. I am usually there a minimum of 2 hours before the event, more commonly 3 hours, and another 2 hours after the event cause I have to pack up all my equipment and load up the van. So, I am always the first to arrive and the last to leave.

Gauri: So it’s  really not as easy as it looks. We kind of assume when we go to a good show, we enjoy it and come right out, we take the sound for granted. The sound was excellent as long as it didn’t bother our ears and everything went fine, what we don’t realize is that to create a sound that not only doesn’t bother the ears but actually brings out the beauty of music, there is so much dedication and so much sincerity of work that goes in behind the scenes as well.

Gauri: Speaking of sincerity and dedication and so much hard work, I’m sure there’s a lot of people who are listening to you and looking upto you and thinking…hmmm…what can I do to be where he is today. Can you share some advice/tips for people who are looking to follow your footsteps?

Jawed: First of all I should let everyone know that sound engineering is not for everyone. Contrary to what people believe that it is as easy as turning a couple of mics on, it’s not that simple. Just like thinking if everybody can  be a good cook or everybody can be a good singer. No, you can’t. You might learn the verse of the song, but if you don’t have that vocal quality, you can’t be a good singer. Similarly with sound engineering, you require a knack for understanding of how things work. If you don’t have that knack, don’t try. All you’re going to do is destroy someone’s program. So, no point trying cause that poor person is on stage and you’re giving them optimal sound. But if you feel that you have a knack for sound engineering, then first and foremost, you should invest in good equipment. Don’t cut corners on equipment. The equipment really makes the difference in the quality of the sound coming out. In fact I would say that the quality of sound coming out is directly proportional to the quality of the equipment. There’s no two ways about it. I have cycled through a lot of equipment over the last few years. Every time I find something slightly better, I go for it, even if I get a 3% improvement. People don’t perceive it, but I perceive it. And the second thing is that no one is born with the knowledge of sound engineering, so by all means pursue knowledge. I have read many books, I continue to read books. I go on the internet and I do searches on specific areas of sound where I think there might be a weakness and I find out tips that can help me overcome those weaknesses. So, I am always learning better sound engineering techniques. That’s the only way you’re going to get it. 

Gauri: excellent advice.

Gauri: Since this is an interview conducted by The Foundations TV, our listeners are looking to hear from you what your motivational and inspirational message for our listeners is?

Jawed: You asked the wrong guy that question. The reason is that, if life permits, follow your passion. Live for your passions. They give us true joy and satisfaction. I live for my passions. I am a passionate sound engineer, am a passionate skier. I ski 2 or 3 times a week during the season. I go out west to ski. I follow my passions. I passionate bicycle rider, I am a passionate motor cycle rider, I am a passionate sports car person. And I follow my passions but you have to balance that off with the realities of life. So, you have to make sure that your life is under control and you have over your head. Balance it off but don’t drop your passions. People tend to drop it off very early and they become workaholics. I am on the other side. I am a passion-a-holic and I work just enough to keep my passions going. That’s my advice.

Gauri: This is all surprise to me. I did not even know all the things you do. You live by the words that you believe in and that’s the whole essence of life. To be able to maintain that balance where you do what you need to do but you also are able to find the time to do what you want to do. That is an excellent message for our listeners to take away from this interview. And I am definitely going to walk out thinking what am I going to do tomorrow, is it going to be what I need to do or things that I want to do. So, I’m going to try and balance that out and I’m sure everybody will enjoy this interview as much as we enjoyed doing it. Thank you so much for your time and for hosting us here in your studio.

Jawed: My pleasure and best of luck to you on your new venture The Foundations TV.

Gauri: thank you so much, and on our way out we are actually going to take some of your advice on the sound. 

Chat with Siraj Khan

Gauri: Hello everyone, Welcome to The Foundations TV. Our guest today is Siraj Khan or should I say, THE Siraj Khan. Having worked with him on various projects for the last year and half, I have not only gotten to know him better as a person, but also observed how inspired and energized others get when he is in the room. At times he may be the most significant voice in a room, directing those around him, suggesting ways of improvising and narrating inspiring anecdotes and at other times he may be sitting quietly in a corner absorbing all talents in a room and figuring out how to unveil the potential of a person or a situation at hand. He is certainly a person who takes genuine interest in the talent display around him and is eager to showcase them through numerous cultural projects that he is personally involved in. And that Siraj Ji brings me to our first question.

Gauri: Welcome to The Foundations TV. Such a pleasure to have you here. You are a well known personality in New England. Most people have seen you either on stage, or back stage managing and directing. I know you have been very active in the community for the last few years, but I would like to trace it a little back to know what was your first ever interaction with the stage? How did you start , evolve and get where you are today.

Siraj: (laughing) You called me a ‘stage personality’. That is so amusing. I am no great stage personality but my association with stage goes back to my school days, singing on stage, participating in various  student dramas. Whenever I was asked to participate in something, I used to jump into it and felt very comfortable. And then through college and growing up , and got married, but I think, if I have to look back, it was music which was what really got me on stage. I was really at my best sharing the music, presenting the best possible to the people and sharing my joys with the others. Music really, I thought,  was the best way to do it.

Gauri: Wonderful. So, this is really nice as I have seen you enjoying music during the shows here in the last one and a half years. Most of the shows that we have worked together on, I have observed you sitting and enjoying the music even during the rehearsals. I can see that is the closest to your heart. So, certainly that is very nice to hear from you as well.

Gauri: Now I would like to hear a little bit more about the shows that you have been involved in recently and what different roles have you played in all these shows that we see your name listed in.

Siraj: Well, something very close to my heart, as most people know, are the O P Nayyar nights that I have been doing since the great man passed away. From 2007 upto last year, every year, religiously, we have been doing this, and it is very moving that so many people have joined this journey with such passion. And then one of my fondest memories is doing the Geeta Dutt show in 2011. It was called Hawaon ke Taraane and it had a black and white theme. Can you imagine 70% of the audience was wearing black and white attire at my request. I mean, it was most incredible. So, I produced and directed that included the entire music and the whole nine yards. Last year Rooh-e-Sahir that I co-produced with Harish Dang and Razia Mashkhoor. I was the creative director for that and that was a huge hit where we projected a poet. Normally it is a music director or a singer. We had Melodies and Memories. I remember Shankar Jai Kishan night with Sharda. I produced and directed that. More recently, we had Madhubala show and you were part of it as well. I was the program manager for Adnan Sami show. So, I was not on stage for that one, but I managed everything back stage. And I have very fond memories of the Din Check show, in which again I was with you. So, the role that I had has been different namely back stage, front stage, creative, music, and I have enjoyed everything that I have done.

Gauri: This is wonderful. Playing different roles is absolutely an enriching experience not just for you, but also for the audiences as they get to see all the different talents that you bring along with you. So, that actually brings us to the next show that you are involved with which is Sahib Bibi aur Guru Dutt and I would love to hear from you what role you are playing in that show.

Siraj: Well, there is a very interesting connection. I remember, I told you about O.P. Nayyar. O.P.Nayyar and Guru Dutt had a very strong connection in all the old movies like Aar Paar, CID, so that came in very naturally. I got at assignment of taking care of the music, the songs, and the sequence, who’s going to sing what, to develop the alignment with the characterization. I would really request the listeners who are watching this show to come and witness this very unusual event. It is brilliant combination of music, literature, acting, all looking at the fantastic personality that Guru Dutt was.

Gauri: That is extremely exciting for everyone I’m sure. Guru Dutt has a lot in his life that we can all get inspired by and this show seems to be coming together really well. With talent such as yours, I think there is no reason for anyone of us to miss that. Looking forward to seeing everybody on September 7^th, 2013, at the Keefe tech auditorium, starting at 5:30 p.m. . The tickets are already available on Lokvani as well as Boston Desi Connection. So, please go ahead and buy your tickets. Looking forward to seeing you all there.

Gauri: Lets talk about something really interesting. From what I hear and from what I understand, you have been a traveler and have travelled to over 70 countries. Now that is really intriguing to me. It is well known that the more you travel, the broader the experiences and the more enlightening it gets. I would love to hear about your experiences as a traveler and how that enriched your life.

Siraj: Yes, it is probably now 75 countries. Travel is very fascinating. Reason behind my travel has been work, pleasure, adventure, all combined. My wife Yasmin, also loves to travel. So that always helps. I consider myself to be a world citizen and live a life without boundaries. I think that has been the outcome of all my travel. A lot of people would think that these 70 or so countries are exotic places like Europe and all, but fortunately or unfortunately, I have been into terrible places too, to tough terrains like Sub Sahara Africa, and some of the Asian countries. But every country had a separate experience. Not sure if that answers your question.

Gauri: It does and I would like to go a little deeper here and would like to hear something funny, interesting or once-in-a-life-time kind of experiences. I am sure you have many, but I would love to hear one or two of them.

Siraj: Well, I was working for a company called Path Finder. I was setting up their office in Papua New Guinea interacting with all sorts of people there, including cannibals. Actually even slept one night at a cannibal village. My mother and my wife were praying for my safety, as they thought that the cannibals would consume me. I ended up there in the evening with no telephone, no pure water to drink and stuff like that, and no electricity. So that night, they were doing their own music around the fire, and I was asked to sing and I sang, ‘maang ke saath tumhaara maine maang liya sansaar’ . Now that was the time when Nayyar saab was alive, so when I met him, I told him that I sang his song while I was with cannibals. He just gave me hug. This is what I love about music that it is the only international and global language. Everyone understands that and I have come to be a great believer in that. I tend to do a lot of bridge building through music. I have made more friends through music than through anything else professionally.

Gauri: So three things I gathered while I was listening to you.
1. If I was in your place , I would be so scared sleeping in the same place as the tribal population . I truly would be very uneasy with that . So kudos to you for your bravery.

2. The other thing I would’ve probably loved to do, as you were describing how people were  running around the fire and doing their thing. I wish we had a means of sharing pictures at that time. I would’ve loved to see pictures of that.

Siraj: I do have pictures of that. That is something to be standing next to the cannibals and have a picture taken with them Infact the whole village was there and the chief was there as well.

3. The third thing that immediately struck me was what you said that music has no language and no matter where you are, any song you sing, or any melody that you can create just by being in the moment adds more beauty to the moment.
               Siraj: Absolutely, I couldn’t agree with you more

Gauri: Even though the flow of conversation has been so interesting, and we could go on for ever and ever listening to the stories and anecdotes you have to narrate to all of us, but in the interest of time, I would like to bring ourselves to the last question of this interview. Since we are here at The Foundations TV where our intent is to spread inspiration through awareness, what’s your inspiring message to the listeners of The Foundations TV?

Siraj: Well my message is something that we did not touch during the entire interview, and may be this is a good time to do it, is my passion for education and knowledge. I am not in the academia at all but this has been a great driver for me all along. My message is probably well contained in one of Mark Twain’s quotes “I’ve never let my schooling interfere with my education”. This is what it was all about for me, with all my experiences with tribal and all. It was all about broadening my horizon. Whatever way you choose to do it, there is really no end to seeking knowledge. This is something that I would like to pass onto not only just the kids but even to people older than me because it a very frustrating to see people take up retirement, just having chai, reading newspapers and watching TV. I would rather everyone goes out there and shares their knowledge and experiences that they have acquired.

Gauri: Wonderful message indeed. And my take away from this one and hopefully for the audiences as well is that you never stop learning in your life and you never stop growing in your life and the width of your experiences is what adds to your knowledge. So, definitely continue to widen your sphere, continue to learn whatever you can, and continue to grow in whichever direction your heart takes you. This is what we would like to end at, today. Thanks so much for being here at The Foundations TV

Siraj: Thank you for giving me the opportunity and I wish only the best for The Foundations TV . It is a good start and may it, just like a plant, flourish and cultivate into a big tree.             

Chat with Mr. Warren Senders

Gauri: Our guest today at The Foundations Tv is Mr. Warren Senders who is an internationally recognized vocalist, composer and performer who has studied and rendered Hindustani music for over 30 years. The leader of the indo-jazz ensemble Anti-Gravity, Senders is a member of the New England Conservatory faculty and a Learning Through Music specialist who applies a rich background in Indian, African, and Western music toward cross-cultural aspects of learning through music programs in public elementary schools. Mr. Senders has studied Hindustani vocal music since 1977 and has been performing professionally in India, Europe and America since 1991.

He considers his music journey began with the absorption of sounds that he heard even before he learnt how to speak. As a child, listening to Mozart being played in their home, singing Gilbert and Sullivan, to being impressioned by a guy who would occasionally walk up and down the suburban street playing Scottish tunes on his highland pipes, all ‘musical childhood exposures’ contributed to impacting his musical instinct which has now developed to a level that inspires so many around him. His first ineffective guitar lessons, or his short-lived associations with a garage band, or even his 4^th grade teacher telling him that he can’t sing, did not stop him from singing informally at summer camps. He slowly developed a liking for jazz music and fell in love with freedom of it. He believes that this exposure early on helps him take chances with music, in using his imagination and creativity. His next love was Hindustani classical music.  After learning for eight years in Boston under Smt. Kalpana Mazumder, he traveled to India hoping to become a disciple of the renowned Bhimsen Joshi. But despite his love for Joshi’s singing, Senders was dissatisfied, and continued his search for a teacher who would be able to  give him one-on-one lessons to satisfy his passion for learning Hindustani classical music. Once under the supervision of Pandit Shreeram Devasthali, his life took off as a Hindustani classical musician. Of course this involved devoting each and every minute of his life being spent, living and breathing his passion which is music. Staying true to his passion all along, and now decades later, he has numerous writings and recordings to his credit. He is a master mind for various unique musical concerts in the area for the last two years. Each concert focusses on a different aspect of music – voice, percussion, bowed strings, and plucked strings, to name a few. The common theme in all of these being “Playing for the Planet” . And The Foundations TV is honored today to have Mr. Warren Sanders here with us to talk about these concerts.

Gauri: Welcome to The Foundations TV. It’s a pleasure to have you here with us today. We would first like to begin with your association with the environmental causes

Warren: Thank you for having me here Gauri. I am a musician. I am a composer and my association with environmentalism really emerged at the time when my daughter was born in 2005. Watching the news of climate change gradually began to dominate my time. I began thinking about my daughter’s future and I realized that as a musician, I am part of a long human tradition that goes back hundreds of thousands of years, perhaps even to times before there were human beings. We’ve always sung, we’ve always danced. So, to be a musician, and to be as I am a music teacher, means that we are part of a tradition that stretches back to an unimaginably distant past, and if we don’t stretch forward into an unimaginably distant future, then the meaning of our work is diminished. This made me think that musicians needed to be in the forefront in the fight against climate change. This is what lead me to produce the series of benefit concerts and we now have one coming up in June.

Gauri: This is such a beautiful concept. Mr. Senders is doing fantastic work bringing music talent together for environmentalism through the “Playing for the planet” concerts. And that’s what I would like to hear about. How are your concerts helping the planet?
Warren: In 2009, I was involved with environmental blogging on a progressive daily quote website, and I asked one of the other members of that community, what I could do since I was not a climate scientist and he directed me to a website called 350.org. This is run by the environmental writer and activist Bill McKibben, for whom I have enormous respect. The number 350 in ppm denotes the maximum allowable level of Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As the climatologist James Hansen said, “Consistent with maintaining our planet in which our civilization evolved, to which all life on this earth is adapted”. We are now at 400 ppm and it’s climbing. That’s not good. The first ‘Playing for the planet concert took place on the ‘International day of climate action’ on October 24^th, 2009 and featured 6 different artists. I was one of them singing Indian classical music. The point of these concerts has always been, that we get artists that represent different world traditions and put them on the same stage, one after the other in order to demonstrate that the climate crisis is something that goes above national and cultural boundaries. As far as the climate is concerned, it does not matter whether you are Indian, or African, or American, or Canadian or you’re from Papua New Guinea, or Australia, or Germany. It does not matter. It is a common home and all human music which represents the same strand of unbroken tradition that goes back into that unimaginably distant past. I also found that my colleagues in the music world were very receptive to this. Once they understood the concept, I began getting calls from people, ”you know, I’d really like to be part of this,” because musicians are aware of the need to invest in the future. By teaching music, by performing, we hope to give inspiration to people, to let people know some of the things that we see and love in this world, and for us to contribute to environmental causes, then makes perfect sense, in the long term arc of our professions, of our livelihoods and our living. So, the concert that we have upcoming, is the first dance event. It is called “Dancing for the Planet”. It includes a contemporary American group , the Zoe Dance Company, the West African dance virtuosity of Nani Agbeli with the Agbekor drum and dance ensemble, and the extraordinary narrative theater of Aparna Sindhoor, the Navarasa Dance Theater. This will be in Boston on the 21^st of June. I hope that we will see you all there.

Gauri: Thank you so much. I think what I heard very clearly, is that music has no boundaries at all, and neither does this cause that you are playing for, which is our planet. Such a noble cause this is. For each one of us, this is our home and we all have a duty towards contributing to the betterment of it. The way you are doing it Warren, is extremely inspiring. You are bringing together all sorts of talents and amazing artists from around the world cultures to perform for the planet and raise funds for a cause that affects each one of us.

Gauri: We would love to hear more about your past concerts. We understand that has been a common theme which is playing for the planet, but each of the concerts I’m sure has been unique in it’s own way. So, we’d love to hear a little bit about each of them and more about this one coming up on June 21^st.Warren: Thank you. Well the first event that we put on was in a church in Cambridge, MA. It featured 6 artists, which was a little rich even for my blood. We had a Middle Eastern and Eastern European violinist, an African Drum ensemble, an Indian dance group, a classical Indian singer, that’s me, Japanese classical music for koto and shakuhachi as well as a group of women vocalists representing mostly Eastern European and Middle Eastern traditions. Subsequent concerts have included all vocal music including Indian classical music, Latin jazz, and contemporary jazz. We’ve done a concert called ‘Drumming for the Planet’ which featured a jazz master named Bob Moses playing drum set solo, along with a table solo and an African drum ensemble. We’ve had violins again climate change with Tara Bagalore and Mimi Rabson, a great jazz violinist and Beth Cohen, the Middle Eastern violinist. We’ve had ‘Strings Against Climate Change’ with the veena virtuosity of Durga Krishnan, the Turkish classical music of Mehmet Sanlikol  and extraordinary classical guitar duet by the great masters Eliot Fisk and Zaira Meneses. In the spring of 2012, we had ‘Flutes Against Climate Change’ featuring Japanese classical Shakuhachi flute and an Indian classical Bansuri virtuoso Steve Gorn and an extraordinary group of Renaissance musicians featuring some of the most incredible recorder playings. Around the fall of 2012, there were other things that were occupying our attention, so we chose not to put on a concert right around the election. In spring of 2013, we had another vocal music concert planned that was scheduled for April 19^th in Boston, when the lockdown happened due to the security situation. So that concert unfortunately was cancelled. That would’ve been concert # 7. However, I’d already booked the hall and arranged for the dancers to be dancing for the planet for June 21^st. So that is going to be number 7. Right now I have no idea what we will plan for the fall, but I am going to be booking the dates before summer and lining up musicians and we’re going to keep on presenting these concerts as long as we can, because people are still interested in joining. The more different kinds of music and the more different kinds of dance, or perhaps, as I used to have a lot of association with the storytelling community here in New England, so who knows we may be I’ll put together something for ‘Stories for the Planet’ as well. This is the kind of thing, the more people get involved, the more people start to understand what we have at stake and the fight against climate change. It’s not just a question of losing a few of our creature comforts, it’s a question of retaining the integrity, the meaning and the beauty of all that human beings have accomplished over these many thousands of years. One of the things that we’ve accomplished is this extraordinary heritage of music, dance and other expressive art forms. These really represent the highest accomplishments of human beings that we can come together in aesthetic unity and communion in shared our efforts of being part of something larger than ourselves. So this is really bigger than any one culture or any one tradition. I would encourage anyone who is listening and is interested to get involved in it in many different ways. Probably, the first thing that you can do is to educate yourself. Spend  some time following up on the news of climate change and go a little bit beyond what you get on television. There is a great deal of vested financial interest in downplaying the severity of the crisis because,, well, corporations that own our media have also heavily invested in fossil fuels. Educate yourself and find an area where you can feel comfortable expressing your own activism. If you love music, put up house concerts, invite people over, and collect the donations, find an environmental organization who’s principles you respect, that’s participating in the fight against climate change and help them out. Get involved. For myself, in addition to my daily life at work as a musician and as a music teacher, I write on the subject. Since January, 1^st, 2010, I’ve written a daily letter to the editor. It has been 1400 consecutive days of writing letters to the editor to newspapers and magazines all over the world. I’ve been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Time magazine, USA Today and in papers all over the place. And I don’t say that I am doing any one great thing, but the only way that this is going to be addressed is by 7 Billion of us doing small things. And in my life as a musician, this is something that informs every song that I sing, every student that I teach, anything that I write, or think or express about the musical traditions that I have been fortunate and honored enough to learn and study. If we don’t address this, none of that has any meaning, but I personally would like my life to have some meaning. How about you?

Gauri: That is such a significant message coming from such a renowned and inspiring person. If you have ever met him in your life, that’s certainly a privilege. I feel very privileged sitting next to you today and listening to all the meaningful thoughts that you shared with our audiences. Yes, each one of us is a human being playing multiple roles in our lives, being a mom or a dad, a friend and so many other relationships that we are managing in our lives. But then amongst all of these responsibilities, there is also something that we as an individual believe in. We find a cause, we believe in it and we merge our talents to benefit ourselves while we develop our talent, but more importantly using our talents towards something that we believe in. That itself is such a huge inspiration to see you living your life in such an exemplary manner, for everybody who is listening to this interview. You also laid out clearly what people can be doing if they want to do something about this particular cause or if they would like to get involved with a concert such as yours.  As we wrap up this interview, is there something else you would like to say to our listeners?

Warren: Pay Attention. Pay attention to one another. Be kind to one another. In the coming centuries, we’re going to need all the help we can get. We do have a chance to turn our story from the saddest story ever told to the greatest story ever told. It is only by working together we can do that. Music is important. I am not naïve. I don’t believe that music will save the world. People have sung going off to war. People have sung as they have slaughtered innocence. There is nothing intrinsically holy about music, but I do stand with great American folk musician Pete Seeger, “Music won’t save the world, but we’re not going to save the world, if we can’t learn to sing together”

Gauri: Thank you so much for being here today and thanks a lot for saying such lovely lines. I’m sure that each one of us listening today would benefit from it and take some valuable message from this inspiring interview. Thank you.