Global IndianstoryVineet Singh Hukmani – How this multi-Grammy submitted artist spreads hope

Vineet Singh Hukmani – How this multi-Grammy submitted artist spreads hope

Written by: Vikram Sharma

(November 24, 2021) In early 2021, as people were hopelessly locked down aching for an infusion of light, singer-songwriter Vineet Singh Hukmani became a beacon of positivity. Inside his home studio in Noida, Hukmani created music imbued with optimism. Released on global radio in 2021, his nine singles in multiple genres became vaccines of sorts, spreading waves of hope.

The former CEO of Radio One is unafraid to unlearn, and learn. Today, the multi-Grammy submitted artist has three singles making it to the Grammy ballots. “My lyrics are colloquial and conversational. They are simple words that represent universal thoughts to connect with any radio listener,” smiles Vineet Singh Hukmani.

In an exclusive conversation with Global Indian, the singer-songwriter explores his song-making. “I create the chorus first, and then work the rest of the song around it. Once the song groove and genre are defined, its mood is upbeat and optimistic, I write lyrics that fit the melody,” shares the singer whose track Jab the World — a fun and synth-based rock number became one of the top 20 songs most played on rock radio in the US in 2021.

Vineet Singh Hukmani

“It is an out and out rock song that imagines a vaccination for hate and disaffection. It has a happy optimistic dance rock vibe” he adds. With this track, he became the first Asian Indian to enter the Digital Radio Tracker Rock Top 50 chart and his song peaked at number 8 in the top 50 alongside rock legends AC/DC, Green Day, Kings of Leon, Papa Roach, Imagine Dragons, among others.

His multi-radio genre approach rings out loud and clear – his first release Dreaming out Loud was synth-pop, Can I go Now was kidz pop (which he sang with his twins Avni and Vir, tenth graders), it was rock for Jab the World, synth-rock with So New, melodic rap with i Pray, electronic pop with Turning Back Time, funk with WTF – Where’s the fun. The adult contemporary Hurry came next with Latino pop PFH – Party From Home which released on November 11, 2021.

Born in the Gulf, he schooled at New Indian School in Kuwait, and had parents who encouraged music. His favourite pastime was listening to 80s pop and chart shows on FM, and songs from Duran Duran, The Police, Depeche Mode, Phil Collins, etc.

Thank you to all the #radio stations in #Europe and the #World and to their wonderful listeners for voting my #single #Hurry to the top of the #music #charts 🙏🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/aGXSboL0Mk

— Vineet Singh Hukmani (@vineethukmani) November 6, 2021

Engineering from Bengaluru, Vineet recalls his rocker days, “I was in two good bands during college. Rock Clef and Stone Cold, which was chosen in the top 14 bands of India by Rock Street Journal, in their Great Indian Rock Volume 1 compilation album.” Classic rock resonated and so did David Coverdale from Whitesnake, Sammy Hagar from Van Halen, and Graham Bonnet from Rainbow.

Making music is second nature, and he then turned to radio, studied management from Harvard Business School, specialising in disruptive innovation strategy. “My day jobs were related to business development. Music, creating and performing has always been a thriving parallel throughout life,” says the veteran radio honcho who was the co-founder of 94.3 Radio One in 2007. “That was a dream come true. I ran it for 12 years before selling it to a media house in 2019,” informs Vineet, who is the first artist in the world to secure eight No 1 tracks on the European Indie Charts with his last release Hurry on top too.

Vineet Singh Hukmani

Nine songs in a year are remarkable, and he admits that it was legally contracted. “Radio release to charting is a five-six-week cycle, and every 45 days keeps the single release momentum. That consistency of release followed by charting across the world gave me an edge,” he says.

So New, a “pick-me-up” song for the days when you are down and need simple pleasures to feel “so new” again, “was in the synth-pop/rock genre, and entered the DRT Rock top 10. Around this period, I was the only artist in the world to have two songs simultaneously in the prestigious DRT top 50,” he informs, beaming with pride.

Vineet Singh Hukmani

So, what makes Vineet so good at reinvention with an intuitive grasp of music? “The process is to first understand how global radio stations are formatted. They are formatted into well-defined popular genres. You must ensure a single fits a radio genre perfectly,” he says, adding that the most important part of the creative process is to make songs with “repeat listening value.”

Now, commercially, his aim to release a single in each genre of radio format – a single every 45 days is his goal. The pandemic inspired PFH (Party from Home) when some close vaccinated friends landed up at his home during lockdown to party after being stuck indoors, home, he realised, became a panacea of the English Latino riff inspired by the likes of J Balvin and Nicky Jam with a sprinkle of Spanish lyrics.

Many do charity, Vineet cares deeply about the industry. His foundation Greatsong.world aims to help Asian musicians find their own platform globally, and has helped 45 artists and counting. “If you want to create commercial music globally, you have to understand how it works, and create accordingly. If you are creating music for your own sense of joy, there are no rules. Joy is then the only goal,” says Vineet.

Vineet Singh Hukmani

The decades have made Hukmani consistent, better planned and grounded, “Grammy submissions for three of my singles this year in four mainstream languages has taught me that hard-work pays. It toughened me,” says the singer with fans across Europe, and the US. Now, he hopes to start performing live.

On the Grammy

“Over the past two years, the recording academy members led by Harvey Mason Jr worked hard to bring in diversity and inclusivity. With the launch of Latin Grammys, a separate space, a different region of music awards was created. We may even see an Asian Grammy version soon. This year, the voting structure has changed, and the so-called special hidden committees of the past were removed, leaving the large voting member bank to vote directly for the artist or song they love. The Grammys this year received 22,000 entries, of which about 500 will be nominated, and only 15-17 percent may win. Winning a Grammy will be the ultimate dream for many global musicians!”

On the medium of radio in India

Radio in India has not been able to grow into a leader medium like the USA or Europe. In India, the huge 15-year license fee that is paid upfront has made all radio companies extremely risk averse. Majority of stations “follow” Bollywood for content, unlike the West where radio creates its own leader path with new bands, music and hyper local content. However, Radio One, Indigo Radio and a few stations in East India are doing well with international formats. Globally, radio and music are a 50-billion-dollar discovery behemoth, India has a long way to go at 0.26 billion. Globally, independent music is a huge force to reckon with and India too is showing signs of this. Artists can only hope it realises it’s true potential, coupled with online broadcasting to become the leader medium it was intended to be.

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The Patel Motel phenomenon: How Gujarati immigrants conquered the American Dream

(September 4, 2024) "Why shouldn't I be here?" It was a question to which Tunku Varadarajan, who was reporting for the New York Times had no answer. And "Why are you here?" is a question that the Patels have been faced with countless times since the 1960s, when they first began building what is now their legacy, now known as the Patel Motel phenomenon. They own anywhere between 40 to 60 percent of all hotels in the US, and have branched out from seedier highway establishments to brands like the Marriott and the Hilton. The racism has been relentless, but so has the growth of the Patel legacy. In 1999, Varadarajan would go on to write an article coining the (unflattering) phrase 'The Patel Motel Cartel' for the New York Times. The Indian owner of the motel in Texas told Varadarajan that if he were to travel 15 miles west, he would find a motel owned by his cousin. Ninety miles south was another cousin in another motel there was also an uncle with a motel in Georgia. "Wherever there was a motel in the US, there were likely to be people from India running it," the man said. Global

the man said.

Global Indian takes a look at the remarkable story of the Patel businessmen who took over California's hotel business.

Patel Motel phenomenon | Global Indian

How do Patels own motels

The Patel Motel story actually began with a Desai, some twenty years before Gujaratis from Asia and Africa began pouring into the US. This pioneer was an illegal immigrant named Kanjibhai Desai, who came to the United States from West Indies, via Mexico, with no documents. This was in 1922, in San Francisco.

Kanjibhai first found work on a farm, where he picked fruit for extremely low wages. He had no choice, however, being an undocumented immigrant. Years later, Desai was living in the Goldfield Hotel, a residential hotel that was owned then by a Japanese American. However, when World War II came to the US, Japanese Americans were thrown into prison camps. This included the owner of the Goldfield Hotel, and Desai, who saw an opportunity, bought up the property for a song. Still, writes Mahendra K Doshi in his book, 'From Surat to San Francisco: How the Patels Established the Hotel Business in California', Kanji had great foresight. When he took over his 'single room occupancy' establishment, he encouraged other Patels to travel to America, promising to help them out. He told them to work in the farms to earn the money they needed to lease an SRO of their own, and in his own motel, gave them a place to stay and eat. In fact, Doshi writes, he would not even charge them for accommodation until they had earned the down payment for their own hotel.

In his book, Life Behind the Lobby, author Pawan Dhingra quotes an early Gujarati immigrant who spoke about the pioneer, saying, "You know, this was at the time of World War ii, but Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. He was staying at this hotel, and I guess there (was) a Japanese lessee or Japanese owner. And um, he had leased it. So (Desai) brought his lease for, I don't know, whatever, for a couple of hundred bucks. I don't know what it was."

[caption id="attachment_55431" align="aligncenter" width="576"] Kanjibhai Desai | Patel Motel phenomenon | Global Indian Hoteliers Kanji Manchhu Desai, Nanalal Patel, and D. Lal. (Photo courtesy of Mahendra K. Doshi/ India Currents)[/caption]

How the ‘Potels’ became a phenomenon

Although Kanjibhai Desai laid the foundation, the Patel Motel business really began to boom after 1965, when America introduced the Immigrant and Nationality Act, marking the start of a golden age for the Gujarati businessman in the US. According to this Act, any immigrant who was willing to invest $40,000 in a business was eligible to apply for permanent residence, and eventually for citizenship.

For Gujaratis, motels were the best option available. Restaurants were out of the question, because the Gujarati community was strictly vegetarian, and since restaurants are a people-business, they didn’t have the language skills they needed to cope. However, there were lots of roadside motels in distress, failing businesses that nobody else really wanted.

There was a challenge every step of the way, including the fact that these were immigrants who spoke no English and made no visible attempt to assimilate with the local culture. Local customers may not have taken too favourably to immigrants running the all-American motels, the Patels had to be strategic. Staffing was minimal anyway, but they would try to hire a white person to sit at the lobby and greet customers, so residents would not even know that the motel was owned by an Indian. "It was hard," recalls Binita Patel, whose parents owned hotels in North Carolina in the 1980s, in an interview with NPR. "I remember someone pulling their window down and yelling, 'Go back to your own country,' as we were walking home."

Growing the Patel Motel empire

Dhingra writes that the hotel Kanjibhai Desai bought was on Fourth Street in downtown San Francisco. These residential hotels were low budget places, and individual rooms didn't even have private bathrooms. In fact, he adds, these residential hotels still exist in San Francisco, and are still owned by Indian Americans.

They also took over a slightly higher rung of motels, taking on franchises like Days Inn, Econo Lodge and the very well-known Motel 6. Usually located on highways, these places cater to tourists looking for budget stays, truckers and people doing temporary menial work. Many of these franchises didn't have many takers among the locals, because it involved moving to the most remote areas of the country, which the Patels were willing to do. They also didn't ask for much in terms of lifestyle, and would usually live on site with their families. "They buy a hotel that has 20 rooms, move up to 50 rooms and then purchase a 100-room motel," said Arvind Singhal, a professor of communication at the University of Texas, in an interview with Borderzine.

[caption id="attachment_55429" align="aligncenter" width="390"] Life Behind the Lobby | Patel Motel Phenomenon | Global Indian Life Behind the Lobby, by Pawan Dhingra, published by the Stanford University Press.[/caption]

These low budget establishments ran with limited or not staff, and would struggle to make ends meet, writes Dhingra. "(They) go without healthcare for themselves and their workers, and lack social prestige in their local community even while the ethnic group as a whole is praised." When their fellow Indian Americans came to the US as the country's elite workers, usually as doctors, venture capitalists or engineers, the Patels, worked hard at this seemingly unglamorous career. They were looked down upon even within their own community.

They also expanded to middle-budget motels like the Ramada Inn, higher-middle budget hotels like the Holiday Inn and the Hampton Inn. As their legacy grew, they took over high-budget establishments like Courtyard by Marriott and the Hilton Garden Inn.

What’s behind their success?

They had had a secret sauce for success, a flawless work ethic combined with a sense of community. While they faced countless challenges in the US, as they had in Africa, they had learned to rely on each other. Patels helped other Patels. And the slump in the motel industry gave them an opportunity like no other. They brought in their families and a host of relatives to man the motels, and also brought in more modern accounting methods. "Four times cash flow became the mantra of the Patels," writes Turkel. "If the distressed motel produced $10,000 per year in revenues, and could be acquired for $40,000, it was profitable to a hard-working family." As more Gujarati immigrants arrived in the US, they continued to build on the foundations of the motel business.

They never shied away from hard work, preferred investment to consumerism and relied on each other. And today, Indian Americans own more than 40% of all hotels and motels in the US, which includes around 20,000 properties in total. Out of these, some 70% are owned by Gujaratis, most of whom are either Patels or Amins.

Patel Motel Phenomenon | Motel 6 | Global Indian

Today, the Patels embody the American Dream – immigrants who landed in the US with nothing to their name, who built a fortune through sheer hard work and shrewd business acumen. In fact, in 2011, when property magnate Charlie Munger was asked about real estate in the US, he said, “Those Patels from India buy all the motels; they know more about motels than you do. They live in a goddamn motel. They pay no income taxes. They don’t pay much in worker’s compensation, and every dime they get, they fix up the thing to buy another motel. Do you want to compete with the Patels? Not I! Not I!”

International thespian Pankaj Tiwari creates an art dialogue in Amsterdam

(April 1, 2022) The year was 2009. The audience at the Miranda House in Delhi gave the performers a thunderous applause. Pankaj Tiwari won the best actor award that night. In that moment he decided that he would never leave theatre. Today a theatre-maker and curator in Amsterdam, Pankaj still tackles each performance as if it is his first. His studio in Amsterdam is a hub for eclectic artsy oeuvres, discussions, and his collaborative 356 km walk during the pandemic to spread awareness on India’s migrant crisis have all added to his acclaim as an artist. Through the initiative, The Art of Walking they collected over €20,000, which were used to support over 100 migrant labour families in India for about three months. “I never consciously decided to become an actor. But once I started performing, I knew I couldn’t stop,” shares a smiling Pankaj, in an interview with Global Indian. “For me, art is the farming land where we seed a new future. We have to build trust with the audience. Building new communities is my primary practice,” adds the international thespian. [caption id="attachment_22265" align="aligncenter" width="710"] Pankaj Tiwari[/caption] Making of an actor Growing up in the small town of

265" align="aligncenter" width="710"] International thespian Pankaj Tiwari[/caption]

Making of an actor

Growing up in the small town of Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh, Pankaj always was a happy-go-lucky child. His father, who worked at the UP forest department, often stayed away on duty so his mother was a constant. “Even though my father didn’t earn much, she was an efficient homemaker. I have two brothers. We saw my parents work hard so that we could have a good education. So, I have to do well in life for them,” says the international thespian.

While he didn’t take part in many extracurriculars at school, it was a scouts and guides campfire night that awakened the actor in him. “We were asked to put up a play, and the group was short of an actor. It was a very small part, but I agreed to do it. That night many people appreciated me, and I found that experience exciting,” he recalls.

[caption id="attachment_22266" align="aligncenter" width="708"] International thespian Pankaj with his family[/caption]

After school, he dropped a year to prepare for IIT, but life had other plans. A five-digit rank at the AIEEE exam right after school, after one year of preparation, pushed his ranks into lakhs. “I couldn’t understand what went wrong,” laughs Pankaj, “But thankfully a friend had filled my Delhi University admission form, and I made it to the cut-off list.”

Married to theatre

A student of physical science at the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College in DU, Pankaj participated in several plays in college, and inter-college competitions. After college, he started working on plays with the Breakthrough Trust, an NGO working on the issue of domestic violence, and met several like-minded thespians and activists.

The years between 2010 and 2018 saw him work as a theatre facilitator, consultant, and educator with several institutes and organisations - Ambedkar University, IIT Gandhinagar, Pearl Academy Delhi, Kranti Mumbai, and Disha India. Soon, he was in several critically acclaimed plays - Carnival: the Fest of Bodies (2013-17), 30 days in September (2011-16), Laal Batti Express (2014-18), The 7Inch State (2016), They do not move (2017), and The souvenir (2018).

[caption id="attachment_22267" align="aligncenter" width="1800"] Pankaj during Amsterdam's DAS Theatre's Winter Presentations[/caption]

The quest to learn saw him study three master's courses - at Azim Premji University, Bengaluru (MA in education), Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (MA in society and culture), and DAS Theatre, Amsterdam (specialisation in curation).

“I never feel more at home than when I am on the stage. That’s why I tell people that I am married to the theatre,” laughs the international thespian, adding, “When I got invited to be part of 4TH IETM Croatia (2018), I met many people who loved theatre the way I did. I then decided to move to Amsterdam.”

A new beginning

While work in Amsterdam was exciting, and he was being invited to various national and international art residencies and festivals across Europe as a curator or jury member, finding a place to live in the city was a nightmare. “Fortunately, I had a few friends who let me bunk on their couches,” he recalls, helpless, and annoyed. So, he decided to return to India. “I wrote a poem about the harsh treatment of immigrants in the city and left the country. On the third day of my return to Delhi, my friends called to tell me that someone was ready to rent me their flat,” he shares.

Thus began a new chapter in Pankaj’s life. In January 2020, Pankaj initiated Current: a Space, Amsterdam, a studio within walking distance of the world-famous Anne Frank House. Interestingly, he uses theatre, food, and farming as a medium for community building. “Actually, cooking has been my hobby. Whenever I feel stressed, I cook. Many friends come for lunch or dinner. I used these meetings as a community-building exercise. Every second weekend about 30-40 people drop in. We discuss everything from art to politics and current issues,” the international thespian says.

[caption id="attachment_22268" align="aligncenter" width="634"] Pankaj during a theatre session[/caption]

During the pandemic, when India witnessed lakhs of migrant workers walking miles to reach home, Pankaj along with Abhishek Thapar walked 356 km from Amsterdam to Calais, in France, to spread awareness in Europe about the abysmal condition of migrant labourers in India.

Currently his collaborative project - The Listeners - sees him along with Polish artist Maria Magdalena Kozlowska sit blindfolded in a hall, and listen to anyone who wants to vent their emotions. “I feel that my art has found new life. We do several such projects that are not just mere performances, but involve a community and create dialogue,” shares the international thespian.

Connected to his roots

He misses home and speaks to his parents every day. “It was difficult for them to understand what I was doing. But they never left my side. My father always told me to do what I wanted, and never have regrets,” he says.

Gearing up to host them in Amsterdam soon, he gushes, “My parents haven’t been on an airplane. So, I am very excited to show them the city and my work.”

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Reading Time: 7 mins

Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi: The bestselling author weaving magic with words

(May 6, 2023) In 2020, when the world was in lockdown and mourning the loss of their loved ones due to the pandemic, Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi's latest release Loss hit hard. The book was a reminder of the harsh reality of how boys are raised to become men in a world where nothing hurts or destroys them, and weeping in public or emoting is considered nothing less than blasphemy. For someone who lost his mother and father in about a decade, he invites readers to embrace their loss with compassion. It's this connection, the complexities of love, relationships, and loss that the 45-year-old portrays in its most authentic form which has made him stand out in the literary circles. With a Betty Trask Award to his credit, Siddharth has become a name to reckon with in the world of literature. At 22, he wrote his first book, but it took him four years to get it published. Despite the delay, it turned out to be an international bestseller, making Siddharth an instant hit in the literary world. However, it has been a long journey for this author to find his true calling. [caption id="attachment_38210" align="aligncenter" width="558"] Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi[/caption] From

" wp-image-38210" src="https://www.globalindian.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/sid1.jpg" alt="Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi | Global Indian" width="558" height="279" /> Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi[/caption]

From solitude to storytelling

Born into a Gujarati family in Mumbai, Siddharth always loved his space. Even as a child, he would often escape to his tree house where he would find solace after running away from his school and would spend hours, either reading books or just being alone. It's these years that laid a solid ground for this then-teenager to silently absorb every moment and be on his own. "That I was left alone as a child was the most precious gift my parents gave me. I was allowed the space to not become anyone in particular but myself," he told Verve in an interview.

It was the world of books that captivated Siddharth. So, after completing his schooling, he moved to London to pursue his MA in International Journalism at the University of Westminster, where he specialised in photography and learnt how to sell his stories. For someone who was often broke and would crave a beer or two, he used to spin yarns for his friends while hanging out at pubs with them, and in return, they would pick up his tab. "I realised that I had the gift of storytelling - and that I was a lousy photographer," he said in an interview.

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A post shared by Siddharth Shanghvi (@thepostcarder)

The journey of a bestseller

After graduating, he moved to Northern California post securing a scholarship at San Jose State University for a master's degree in mass communication. But the course was set to begin the following year. In the interim, Sanghvi moved to Mumbai in 2002 to nurse his broken heart after a bombed love affair. With still a year left for his course to start, he spent most of his time with a manuscript he started writing a few years ago. He feverishly wrote a love story of sorts that later took the shape of his debut novel The Last Song of Dusk. It took him one year to cull out the first draft and three more years to deepen the themes. However, he dropped it after his agent suggested a few changes. Instead, he left for his course in California, and it was only in 2004 that his first novel saw the light of day.

Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi | Global Indian | Author

In no time, it won one of the UK's most prestigious prizes for debut novels - the Betty Trask Award, the Premio Grinzane Cavour in Italy, and was nominated for the IMPAC Prize in Ireland. Translated into 16 languages, The Last Song of Dusk became an international bestseller. At the age of 26, Shanghvi was hailed as the next big thing after Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth, following the success of his debut novel. It was the use of magic realism and the exploration of themes like karma and sexuality that drew such comparisons. While he rose to popularity with his debut novel, Shanghvi took five years to release his second book. In between, he curated shows and travelled while writing The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay. Inspired by the events of Jessica Lall's murder case, the novel epitomises Mumbai's essence in the backdrop of a love story. The book was short-listed for the Man Asian Literary Prize.

Love, pain, hope - his muses

Around the same time, Shanghvi turned to photography after his dad was diagnosed with cancer. His photograph series The House Next Door, which captured the loneliness and seclusion that his father subjected himself to while battling cancer, opened at Galleri Kontrast in Stockholm in 2010. It was later showcased at the Matthieu Foss Gallery in Mumbai and Delhi's Vadhera Art Gallery. Acclaimed author Salman Rushdie praised Shanghvi's body of work calling it touching. "They are at a once intimate and clear-sighted objective, precise and affectionate. The quietness of their world is the silence of memory and sorrow, but there is, too, considerable artistry in the composition, and joy taken in detail, and character, and place," he said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2-_mEKJ6iM&t=7s

This Global Indian's next masterpiece came in the form of The Rabbit and the Squirrel which was released in 2018. The book that Shanghvi wrote as a parting gift for his friend soon made its way to the shelves of bookstores and struck the right chord with the audience for being a profound story of love, friendship, longing, and reunion.

Shanghvi, who has given book lovers a great gift in the form of his novels, has scaled literary heights with pieces of writing and innumerable accolades. The 45-year-old has been bringing stories that matter to the forefront with his body of work, and that's what sets him apart from his other contemporaries.

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Reading Time: 5 min

The ‘Raman’ effect: The septuagenarian scaling the world’s highest peaks

(March 7, 2023) A cushy job in a bank was the last thing on Raman Chander Sood’s mind. To him, bankers were a bunch of sad-looking guys, who lived a cursed life, either counting currency notes or shuffling through the pages of large ledgers all day. An adventure freak, Sood always wanted to be an Army officer. If not, a doctor or a medical representative at least. However, that wasn’t meant to be and instead, destiny took him to the last place he never intended to go. He ended up as a banker for the next 40 years of his life! The mountains are calling… Adventure did come looking for him – only after his retirement, though. Today, the 70-year-old is doing things that people half his age couldn’t manage, like climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, for instance. “I am 17 years old with 53 years of experience,” Sood corrects us, while connecting with Global Indian in the midst of his intense training schedule for climbing Mount Everest shortly. The septuagenarian successfully scaled Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in October 2022. At 5895 meters, it is the highest peak in the African sub-continent and the highest stand-alone mountain in the world and Sood

2. At 5895 meters, it is the highest peak in the African sub-continent and the highest stand-alone mountain in the world and Sood is the oldest Indian to climb it.

Prior to that, he trekked to the Everest Base Camp and climbed six peaks and passes in Nepal higher than 5000 meters within 10 days, becoming the first Indian of his age to have achieved this feat. He then went on to conquer Mt Yunam on the Manali-Leh highway, which was recorded by the India Book of Records. He is now undergoing intense training to climb Mount Everest and other mountains across the world.

Early life

Sood was born in the picturesque village of Nerwa in Himachal Pradesh in August 1952. His father was a Havildar in the Indian army and was part of emergency recruitment during World War II, while his mother was a housewife. Sood says adventures in his life started the moment he descended into this world in the middle of a rainy monsoon night. “When I born, I was not howling as is the norm. The midwife hung me upside down and gave me two solid slaps on my back. I started to howl with full force,” laughs Sood.

Life in Nerwa village was very simple but tough and demanding. “There was no road connectivity, no piped water supply and no electricity.”

Aiming high

When Sood was in 7th grade in the Government High School, he was fascinated by a chapter in Hindi book about Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary climbing Mount Everest for the first time in 1953. “I made up my mind to climb the highest peak on the earth one day,” recalls Sood, who at age 11, climbed Mt Churdhar (11965 feet), one of the highest peaks in the Shivalik Hills range.

Sood did well academically. His name figured in the Board of Honours of the School for several years, for standing first in 8th and 10th standards in the whole Center, which consisted of 3-4 High Schools in the surrounding area. After school, Sood joined RPCSDB College in Shimla. An active member of the college adventure club, he would regularly undertake short treks to nearby peaks in Shimla. He found a place in the college Basketball and Table Tennis teams as well.

Rising above challenges

His active participation in sports and other outdoor activities meant Sood couldn’t always keep pace with his studies. As a result, he missed getting a seat in the only Medical College in Himachal Pradesh, by a very narrow margin. However, he continued his education and did B.Sc. in Medical Sciences.

Sood then decided to join the Indian Army. He made two attempts for Selection through the Short Service Commission. While he qualified the written exam, he could not pass the Service Selection Board, which left him depressed.

Financial difficulties at home drove him to enrol his name in the local Employment Exchange and look for job avenues. He ended up filling up the application form for the post of a clerk at the State Bank of India. On May 30, 1972, Sood reported for work at the Mandi branch of the bank. He was 19 then.

Raman Sood | Global Indian | Travel

The adventure hunter

Being a born adventurer, Sood devised ways to make his life adventurous within the bank. The first opportunity came when SBI opened a branch at Kaza in Spiti valley on the Indo-China border. Situated at a height of 3800 meters (12500 ft), this was the highest branch of any bank in the world.

People receiving posting orders for Kaza would refuse to join and proceed on long leave. No sooner did Sood come to know about it, he offered to work in Kaza and joined the branch in November 1977. “In winter, temperatures dipped to -30 degrees centigrade and everything would freeze." He would trek to villages falling within a radius of 25-30 km and give loans to farmers for allied agricultural activities, which was a first in that remote area.

Young Trekkers

The bankers, including Sood, had formed the "Young Trekkers Club" and they would go on treks regularly. “This two year tenure at Kaza was the best and most enjoyable in my banking career,” says Sood, who married his colleague Anita, working in the Shimla branch of the bank, in 1980. The couple has two daughters.

As he climbed up the corporate ladder and his daughters Richa and Garima started growing up, Sood was forced to put trekking/ adventures on the back burner and submerged in routine life for the next 20 years.

Raman Sood | Global Indian | Travel

Life after retirement

It was only when he retired, the adventure bug inside him, which was hibernating for the past several years, woke up. A couple of years later, Sood and his wife undertook their first 21-day long pilgrimage-cum-trekking trip together to Kailash, Mansarovar in China and Mukti Nath Dham in Nepal in May 2014.

“All through my life, I had been regular with my exercise routine and maintained a healthy weight. I had no lifestyle disease and was not on any kind of medication. So, I was fit and raring to go,” says Sood, who retired from service in August 2012 as a Deputy General Manager after serving the bank for 40 years and 2 months.

In July 2015, Sood went on another trek to Shrikhand Mahadev, an 18570-ft high peak in the Kullu district, with his daughter Garima. However, it was a trip to Dubai to meet his elder daughter Richa in January 2021 that changed everything. “My 10-year-old grandson asked me what was the purpose of my life. He wanted me to find mine and work on it. It shook me completely,” he recalls. Sood decided to pursue his passion with renewed vigour.

Scaling Everest

As he was training himself to trek to the Everest Base camp, tragedy struck the family. Sood’s elder daughter Richa, who was already battling health issues, passed away due to Covid in Dubai in May 2021. The Sood family was shattered.

Months later, when a family member reminded Sood how happy and excited Richa was when she learnt about his plans to trek the Everest base camp, Sood decided to do it for her sake. In October 2021, he trekked the Everest base camp (EBC) successfully. “The Sherpas accompanying me were surprised to see me and told that they had never seen an Indian his age doing EBC. They nicknamed me "Baaje" meaning grandfather in their language,” smiles Sood, who is based in Mumbai.

As part of his preparations to climb Mount Everest, Sood recently attended a 12-day winter training camp in Ladakh, during which he stayed in tents at a height of 5000 meters in temperatures ranging between -25 to -30 degrees. “Only two (including him) of the 5 participants stayed till the end of the program in those harsh conditions, which gave me the confidence that I can face the most challenging climatic conditions during my future climbs.”

Fitness first, always

Sood’s training schedule is gruelling, to say the least. He hits the gym thrice a week, spending about 80 minutes per day doing rigorous workouts, jogs for 10-kms once a week, climbs stairs in a high rise covering a total of 200 floors, walks for 25-kms with a 13 kg backpack starting at 2 am and just about squeezes in sometime for swimming and yoga.

Besides Mount Everest, what else is coming? “In May, my wife and I are going on a 12-day trek to Annapurna base camp in Nepal. The next target is to climb the 6119 meters high Lobuche East peak in the Khumbu region of Nepal.”

Outreach

Mountaineering is a very costly activity, says Sood. “So far I have met the cost of all my trekking and climbing expeditions from my pension and life savings. But now, I am staring at a financial crunch and looking for sponsors to help me pursue my dream and spread a message that chronological age is just a number,” adds Sood.

Follow Raman Sood on Instagram

Reading Time: 9 min

Raju Kendre: Changing the idea of education, one community at a time

(July 19, 2022) A couple of days before Raju Kendre and I were scheduled to speak, I learned that he had been recognised by LinkedIn as one of the 'Top Voices' in the social impact category - another addition to an already long list of accolades. He logs in for the interview from London, where he's currently at the tail end of his master's degree from SOAS University, as a Chevening Scholar. He arrives a few minutes late, full of apologies, he had just wrapped up a meeting with his funders. "Funding makes the world go round," he declares, nodding in acknowledgement of his most recent recognition. "I have had to come here to prove myself and I feel I'm doing so, by being a Chevening Scholar, a Forbes 30 Under 30 or one of LinkedIn's top voices" he tells Global Indian - and there is an unmistakable trace of righteous indignation in his voice. Back home in Maharashtra, the state he calls home, development opportunities were few and difficult to access without the right kind of privilege and backing. Now, as far as he is concerned, the recognition that comes his way is not merely a matter of personal

state he calls home, development opportunities were few and difficult to access without the right kind of privilege and backing. Now, as far as he is concerned, the recognition that comes his way is not merely a matter of personal satisfaction, he intends to leverage every experience and achievement to boost the marginalised communities with whom he works back home. "This is the validation I must get to show, in my own country, what my work is worth. And I wish to use it to leverage the work I am doing in India," Raju says. "Here (in the UK), I have discovered new scope for leadership, for growth. Then again, having lived abroad, I realised that there is in fact recognition for good work, no matter who you are or where you come from. These are principles I hope to take back with me and apply in my country, to make a lasting change."

[caption id="attachment_27068" align="aligncenter" width="542"] Raju Kendre | Eklavya | Chevening | Global Indian Raju Kendre at home in Maharashtra[/caption]

The founder of Eklavya, Raju, who graduated from TISS, has dedicated himself to giving India's marginalised youth a chance to prove themselves on the global stage, to bring them access to the top fellowships and universities the world has to offer. His is a journey of struggle, of fighting doubly hard just to reach the baseline in terms of education and opportunity. He asks, at the start of the conversation, if he can speak in Hindi from time to time, although he proceeds to hold forth fluently in English. His question is not without reason - without access to the 'right' schools and the opportunities so many of us take for granted, Raju's rise has been marred by rejection and failure that had little to do with talent or merit. I ask if things are different in London. "Yes," he says at once. "Here, you are judged by the work that you do."

As his more privileged peers thrived, going off to study at Ivy League universities and winning prestigious scholarships, Raju travelled 400 km from Pune just to go to college. As did his brother, who would cycle 12 km a day to get to class every morning. It's a struggle he hopes to ease for thousands of other marginalised young people like himself. He intends to return to India after his master's degree, to continue working at the grassroots level in remote areas.

When hardship is the only birthright

Born in the politically tumultuous Vidharbha region of Maharashtra, into a nomadic tribe community, Raju is the first in his family to receive a full-fledged formal education. As is the norm within nomadic tribe communities, his parents married young. Very young. "My mother was around seven years old and my father was around nine when they got married," he says. His mother was a good student and keen to learn but dropped out of school in third grade, to move to her husband's village. "They wanted me to get an education," Raju recalls. They were well-intentioned but didn't know how to go about it. Weighed down by archaic community beliefs, a lack of support within the community and without, Raju, a bright student himself, had to make do with the minimum. "Until the seventh standard, I went to the local Zilla Parishad School and didn't learn any English."

[caption id="attachment_27067" align="aligncenter" width="721"] Raju Kendre | Eklavya | Chevening | Global Indian With his father back home[/caption]

Finally, after having studied in vernacular schools until the age of 15, Raju shifted to an English-medium school. It was not the transformation for which he had hoped. "Not knowing English as well as the others gave me an inferiority complex and i was extremely shy. I didn't have the courage to stand up in class and ask the teacher a question." Despite the setbacks, he was a good student and hoped to be an IAS officer.

When Raju turned 18, he travelled all the way to Pune. "In my area, if we want to study, that's the only way," he says. He decided to study humanities, in preparation for the UPSC exam. "I had 70 percent in 12th grade but didn't get into Ferguson College because I missed the admission dates. I was so disappointed." He did stay on in Pune but daily life was filled with hardships. "I didn't know how to make friends, I didn't have anyone in the city to stand by me. There were social, economic and linguistic barriers and it was such a lonely time. It wasn't the place for me."

The call to adventure

Raju's parents couldn't afford to fund his education either and he set off, feeling defeated by the world, to spend the next two years travelling. He went to the northeastern parts of Maharashtra, where he lived in nature, doing distance education and working with the local tribal communities. He spent a month as a volunteer with Melghat Mitra, a group that came together in 1997 to save tribal children from dying of malnutrition. "It was my incubation period," he says.

The time he spent in Melghat left its mark on him and he returned the next chance he got. "There was no road connectivity, no electricity, education or healthcare. There was also a high maternal mortality rate," Raju explains. "I started to understand what life was like in these areas." He stayed on there to work with the tribal communities, helping people get access to access electricity and road access through government schemes like MGNREGA. Seeing his passion for social work, volunteers recommended he go to TISS. He applied and got in. Back in Pune, he found it easier to fit in but couldn't shake off a growing sense of unrest. "Life was so different from Melghat, I wanted to go back to do more work."

It was during this time that the seed for Eklavya was first planted. As a visiting faculty at Savitri Jotirao College of Social work in Yavatmal, where he interacted with dozens of first generation learners, he began his pilot project with seven students, taking in 35 for the second batch. "We organise residential workshops and other workshops in every corner of Maharashtra to spread the word about what we do."

[caption id="attachment_27066" align="alignnone" width="1500"] Raju Kendre | Eklavya | Chevening | Global Indian Raju in Melghat[/caption]

The movement is named Eklavya after "his favourite mythological character," who willingly offered his right thumb as Guru Dakshina to Drona, so the latter could fulfil his promise of making Arjuna the greatest archer in the world. The boy did so, readily. "One boy is low born and has great potential but lacks the opportunity, the platform, the socio-economic cultural capital to succeed. The son of the king can easily get success and leverage," Raju says.

The Eklavya movement

Manta Madadvi was born into the Kolam tribe, a designated scheduled tribe who live mainly in the Yavatmal, Chandrapur and Nanded districts of Maharashtra, in little hamlets called pod and speak the Kolami language, a Dravidian dialect. Although she managed to finish her undergraduate degree, Manta would, otherwise, have had to accept her fate - an early marriage and the inevitable fading away into domestic duties, poverty and obscurity. "She now works for SBI and Youth for India and I hope she will be a Chevening Scholar too, like me," Raju says.

For nearly a decade now, starting in 2014, Raju has worked with people like Manta, providing, through Eklavya, a support system that gives marginalised communities access to top-tier education and modern amenities. They provide mentorship and training to young people, first-generation learners, like Raju himself. They help them get into reputed colleges and universities and have enabled hundreds of students get into premier institutes across the country. Their mentors and core team comprises people who have applied and gained admission to various prestigious institutions like TISS, IIT and the IIMs.

The word is spread through workshops and mentorship programmes, which are usually held by experts from across the board, including entrepreneurs, doctors, engineers, civil servants and social workers. In 2017, Raju worked with the Government of Maharashtra as a Chief Minister's Fellow, and as a visiting faculty member at Savitri Jotirao College. At the latter, he interacted with large numbers of first-generation learners. Knowledge, access and one's ability to speak English can make or break a student's chances. This is the divide they hope to bridge.

[caption id="attachment_27065" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Raju Kendre | Eklavya | Chevening | Global Indian Raju with Eklavya students[/caption]

The expansion plan

When he arrived in London, Raju understood the importance of an international experience, especially through education. "We held a workshop with 70 participants from 15 states and started a one-year programme to help students get into universities around the world," he says. They also conduct weekly sessions to train students in the application process, including writing a statement of purpose, getting letters of recommendation and all the other trimmings that are essential to getting admission abroad. “Mentors belong to specific fields and work with two mentees each," he says.

Over 700 students have gone to prestigious universities across India and he wants to see them shine as Chevening Scholars, to see them as recipients of prestigious fellowships. "There is an ongoing argument around reservations and whether or not they are necessary," says Raju. He is a firm proponent of the reservations system, a believer in affirmative action. "I want marginalised youth to have those opportunities too, to create tomorrow's leaders, the future voices for equality. Education is how we change the world."

Follow Raju's work and Eklavya through his Linktree and on LinkedIn

Reading Time: 8 mins