Summary
- 6 years experience including editorial, online, radio and photography in various capacities.
- Content planning and streamlining, including creating and execution of processes for 40 channels of varied music and culture on www.worldspace.in, daily morning show RJ on Spin, Edited the monthly magazine, The Voice, sent to 2 lakh subscribers. In house photographer.
- Sub Editor, writer, photographer, Reviews editor, content manager at Rave Magazine
- Creative consultancy and writing for the One Billion Votes Campaign in India
- Artistic photography under the categories of music, travel, abstract and journalistic
Specialties
Content planning and execution, editorial management, photojournalism, music journalism, music photography, travel photography, creative concepts, larger pictures, Non-profits, developmental journalism. wedding photography
About me
The Kaleidoscope Unfolds
The rainbow is free
I was born over seven leap years ago. Music, writing and photography occupy a large wedge in my circle of life.
Music forms the centre, whether on stage in a manic fit of singing (acapella, rock or musical theatre) or at home in a manic fit of air-guitaring. I pay constant homage to the shrine of musical greats with no boundaries. From The Beatles to Dexter Gordon, The Chemical Brothers to Pandit Kumar Gandharva, with deviations through the land of Bonobo, Weather Report and Nick Drake I listen with a keen ear, open heart and an unbiased mind. For me, music is the ultimate mindbend.
Writing forms the basis of my creative expression. It has also been my bread and butter. From the early days of freelance for peanuts to a more streamlined and dare I say, more mature approach at my yearlong stint at Rave magazine, I developed a deep-rooted affection for words, in all their hues and textures.
I exercised my jaw for three years hosting a morning show, The Big Bang and a theme based weekend show, Radio Revolution on Spin, WorldSpace India’s 24-hr International music station. I also served as a content manager (web & voice), juggling writers, illustrators, designers and programme directors of around 30 channels on the network. I gathered and streamlined content and established content flows among other editorial duties for the myriad pages of www.worldspace.in and Worldspace’s magazine for its 2 lakh subscribers, The Voice. I rounded off my duties at WorldSpace as an in-house photographer of concerts and personalities that took me from Big Chill in Goa to the Monterey Jazz Festival in California and a host of international and Indian acts, from Zakir Hussain and Vikku Vinayakaram to Beyonce and Aerosmith with deviations through a 100 shows in between.
There were also forays into stirring up the voting millions through Janaagraha’s Jaago Re Campaign where I had an opportunity to plan their communication in terms of words and larger pictures, using tool kits, among other methods of disseminating information.
Surrounded by so many words, it is not surprising that I was captivated by the wordless. Seeing life through a lens often sharpens one’s understanding of human nature and of oneself. With little or no use of digital manipulation, I strive to get it right with the camera rather than on photoshop and am not a technical studio photographer, being mostly self taught. My photography, like my life, is work in progress.
For the last two years I have travelled and had many adventures and wonderful experiences in India, Nepal and both coasts of the USA. I have contributed words and pictures to Hindustan Times and the Jet Wings group of magazines (Jet Wings, Jet Wings International and JetLite) besides an assignment with Greenpeace India tracking energy injustice in Karnatka and accompanying a conflict economist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology tracing the economics of the Naxal Belt across Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. I have also photographed the wonderful travelling folk music festival through the Malwa Heartland on a bus of sublime constantly jamming musicians in MP for the Kabir Project.
I believe in love, light, spirituality, energy, karma, offering a helping hand, laughing, chivalry, romance, the universe, experiencing life and learning all the time.
I frown upon hatred, injustice, cockroaches and hypocrites.
I play cricket, basketball and devil sticks (ask for demo).
I read incessantly, have a thirst for nature and travel, watch movies with the fervour of a fanatic, love torturing people with wordwit and fancy myself a poet.
That’s me, for better or for verse.