Global IndianstoryBijoy Jain: The architect breathes new life into sustainable design

Bijoy Jain: The architect breathes new life into sustainable design

Compiled by: Charu Thakur

(May 6, 2024) A few weeks ago, the curtains on Bijoy Jain’s latest exhibition – Breath of an Architect – were drawn at Paris’s prestigious contemporary art museum, Fondation Cartier, after being on display for over four months. The installation which investigates the connections between art, architecture, and material, once again brought to the forefront the work of one of India’s most renowned architects, who often refers to himself as an artist – Bijoy Jain. “I don’t believe in the conventional separation of architects and artisans,” said Bijoy, whose work has been displayed at the architecture biennial in Venice and Sharjah. But mostly has left people in awe at places like Japan, France, and the foothills of the Himalayas as his craft reflects a deep concern for the relationship between man and nature, and serves as a source of inspiration, contemplation, and quietude for everyone.

Bijoy Jain

A trip that changed it all

Growing up in Bombay in the 60s and 70s, he was surrounded by classical Hindustani music which was practiced by his mother, and books that belonged to his father. But it was travel that shaped his worldview at a young age. Bijoy explored the length and breadth of the country, courtesy of his parents who took trips across India when he was young. One such trip landed him at Ajanta and Ellora Caves, an experience that left an everlasting impression on the mind of a then-five-year-old. “The Ellora Caves are a living space. They transcend time. You may have an immediate (response) or it may take a length of time.. but eventually, you are not the same person as when you entered the space,” said the architect.

India to the US – A journey

A professional swimmer, he swam across the English Channel as a teenager but things took a turn for the worse when in 1983, his brother killed himself, and shortly after, his father died of a heart attack followed by his mother. “All this happened in two and a half years. I had started architecture school in Mumbai, and I loved it. But after their deaths, everything was completely different. The window I was looking through had changed,” he revealed, adding that he moved to the US to escape reality and enrolled in Washington University in St Louis. It was a stroll to the Laumeier Sculpture Park on his second day that changed it all for him when he discovered Michael Heizer, Donald Judd, and Richard Serra. “For me, Michael Heizer’s Double Negative (a 1969 Land Art intervention near Overton, Nevada) is a fabulous work. Discovering it opened something for me,” he added.

Bijoy Jain | Global Indian

After completing his studies, he moved to California to work at Richard Meier’s model shop, and after gaining experience in the US and UK, he returned to India to start his studio in Alibag. It was yoga that brought him back to India as he wanted to practice yoga at the place of its origin. “Coming back after a long period away, I was making peace with home again.” Returning to India was a sort of rediscovery for Bijoy as landscapes had Indian sensibility and had nothing to do with modern architecture. Constructing his first home in Alibag after graduation, he ended up tossing away his hard work of six months as he found the local builders’ techniques incredible. “For me, it was a big learning curve to become familiar with another way of building,” the Global Indian said.

Finding his niche

In 1995, he founded Studio Mumbai which is at the intersection of tradition and modernity, and in the last two decades as an architect, he has earned accolades and love across the globe for his work. From designing a textile studio in the foothills of the Himalayas for Japanese textile weaver Chiaki Maki to envisioning Lantern Onomichi, a boutique hotel on the slopes of Mount Senkoji in Hiroshima, Bijoy’s work stands as a testimony to his determination and expertise.

Bijoy Jain | Global Indian

He works mostly with wood, basalt, bamboo, concrete, and earth but he calls air, water, and light as his preferred material of choice as he seeks to forge connections between indoor spaces and the great outdoors. Known to design and build in a restricted environment without much manipulation, he loves “finding a gap or an in-between space in a restricted environment.” “Whatever the medium is, the objective is to influence the trajectory of light in a space. Any constricted space can be made open in its experience and perception. That is the potential that architecture holds,” says Bijoy, whose studio won the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture from L’Institut Francais D’Architecture in 2009. Importantly, his creations reflect a profound attachment to a distinct sense of place and landscape, acknowledging the geographical, climatic, and social nuances of the environment surrounding the architecture. His work which stretches from private homes across India to hotel restorations in Japan and a winery in France, has won many awards and has even been displayed at architecture biennials in Sharjah (2013), Venice (2010, 2016), and Chicago (2017).

Apart from structures, he has also designed furniture, a paper-mâché armchair, and a stone table for Hermes, a French fashion house. And has his work acquired by the Canadian Centre for Architecture, and Centre Pompidou in Paris. Presently, Bijoy is engaged in crafting a townhouse in Brooklyn, revitalizing a community on a secluded Greek island, and designing a winery in France. It’s working on a winery that holds a special place as it “holds the possibility of influencing the way the taste of the wine evolves.” From harnessing natural light to strategizing the placement of barrels and bottles, and orchestrating the flow of air around them, every decision is a part of the journey of discovery and learning.

Bijoy Jain

Having worked for three decades now, Bijoy is keen to open a small bronze foundry. “I don’t know why, but I feel motivated to explore fire as a material,” he revealed. Bijoy is an architect known worldwide for his buildings and designs, and people everywhere admire how he mixes nature and human creativity in his work. From the interplay of light and space to the seamless integration of natural elements into his designs, his work transcends mere structures, creating immersive experiences that resonate deeply with all who encounter them. His unwavering commitment to forging connections between the built environment and the natural world serves as an inspiration for architects and admirers alike, leaving a mark on the architectural landscape of our time.

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Published on 06, May 2024

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Dr Namit Choksi: Revolutionising public health management through AI, policy

(June 3, 2022) A "true-blue Mumbaikar" by his own description, Schwarzman Scholar and public health expert Dr Namit Choksi sees himself running for office one day, bridging gaps in healthcare access and policy. With an MD from India, he went on to pursue his medical clerkships at Johns Hopkins, did a master’s degree in public health from Harvard and graduated from Tsinghua University as a Schwarzman Scholar in 2019. At Harvard, he helped launch a low-cost medical device in India, which received recognition from the World Bank. In 2020 and 2021, Namit worked closely with Indian government and stayed in touch with the WHO Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan while serving on the front lines of the pandemic. Now heading India and APAC growth strategy for Perfect Day, a US-based startup, Namit's career has had its crests and troughs. "Eventually, if you're honest, you will shine," he says, in an interview with Global Indian. "My experiences have shaped me. If it wasn't for them, I would have been a doctor sitting in some corner of India." [caption id="attachment_25287" align="aligncenter" width="370"] Dr Namit Choksi[/caption] Of crisis and transformation "There's a whole lot more to racing than just winning." A line from a

" align="aligncenter" width="370"] Dr Namit Choksi[/caption]

Of crisis and transformation

"There's a whole lot more to racing than just winning." A line from a children's movie Cars became a turning point in Namit’s life. Just out of medical school, he was going through a "tough six months" back home in Mumbai. "I had lost faith in myself," he says. After years of hard work - he recalls eighteen-hour days spent "living at the library" as he prepared for his entrance exam - even a single failure was a huge blow.

Then one fateful day, his sister walked in to his room, quoting Tex Dinoco, the 1975 Cadillac Coupe de Ville in the film Cars. Years later, as he arrived at the interview round as an aspiring Schwarzman Scholar, he took from his pocket (surprising even the formidable jury panel that included the then CIA director), a Tex toy, saying, "There's a whole lot more to racing than just winning."

"That quote had a huge impact on me," he says. "I started applying to colleges in the US and I got into Harvard, Yale and the other Ivy Leagues with scholarships." Namit picked Harvard, where he studied public health policy and management. It was a calculated choice - although he enjoyed clinical medicine, he "felt restricted within a hospital. I wanted to create an impact that scaled beyond being a doctor, although that is an incredible profession in itself."

[caption id="attachment_25288" align="aligncenter" width="282"] Namit with Mukesh Ambani[/caption]

Backed by an encouraging dean, Namit was selected as a student leader in Pune and shared the stage with the Dalai Lama and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. He was also part of the G20 Youth Summit held in Petersburgh, during his time as youth advisor to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, where he was given the chance to submit policy recommendations and serve as the head of state for India. As part of the global youth diplomatic forum, he trained with ambassadors and even shadowed David Cameron, who was Prime Minister of the UK at the time. "We dealt with issues like women in conflict and medical conflicts."

Harvard calling

'Fail'. It's the point of no-return, usually, for students looking to be in Ivy League colleges. And as Namit struggled to find faith in himself after being failed in one subject in medical school, he found no lack of naysayers telling him to aim lower and stick with tier 2 universities. He refused to entertain the thought: It was to be Ivy League or nothing. What followed is, perhaps, an indication of many differences between the education systems in India and the United States. "At Harvard, I wasn't held back by an ‘F’. I was asked to explain why it happened," he said.

At Harvard, he helped design a cost-effective solution for bacterial vaginosis, a project he says has huge potential socially. “It’s often mistaken for an STD, especially in developing countries and is often a cause for domestic violence,” Namit says. “The spouse also requires treatment, which is rarely sought.”

Namit with Alphabet Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai

He also continued to work with the Indian government - the Ministry of Railways – where he worked with former railways minister Suresh Prabhu on the 'Lifeline Express' - India's first hospital train. "It was a huge learning experience," Namit says. "Suresh ji had done a lot - he was the one who revolutionised Twitter for the railways. You could tweet a complaint on a train and cops would arrive at the next station. It was a merging of tech with government services." When Suresh Prabhu moved to the Ministry of Commerce, he took Namit with him, to bring foreign direct investments within the healthcare sector.

Once Upon a Time in Beijing

The same year he headed off to Tsinghua University in Beijing's Forbidden City as a Schwarzman Scholar. Fascinated by China, he went there with an aim - to learn how to develop cutting edge technology to bridge access to modern healthcare. “Apps like Pharmeasy are doing this already,” he states.

"In the US, healthcare is super expensive. China has a replicable model for India because although their economy is larger, the per capita healthcare expenditure is about on par with India, especially with schemes like Ayushmaan Bharat coming in now," Namit explains who began working with Northern Venture Capital, first as a summer associate and then full-time. Unfortunately, geopolitical tensions and hostile takeovers on the Indo-China border put paid to his plans when the Indian government put strict controls on Chinese investment.

"I'm grateful to Harvard and to Schwarzman," Namit remarks. "How often does one get the chance to meet Madeline Albright, or have a meal with John Kerry, or have dinner with Mukesh Ambani?"

The pandemic

When Covid-19 hit and pandemonium reigned across the globe, healthcare professionals were faced with an unprecedented challenge. All forms of treatment were experimental. That's when the Indian Council of Medical Research undertook what would be one of Asia's largest clinical drug trials, examining the effectiveness of plasma in the treatment of Covid-19. Namit, who was part of the ICMR's research, had asked himself, "If I can't be a doctor now, then when? And we were all fighting in the dark because the protocol was changing every day."

Namit found himself in contact with Dr Harsh Vardhan and Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the Chief Scientist at WHO, who he calls a close mentor. “I would reach out to her and request her opinion on a new drug, for instance and she would say, there's no harm in trying it. At that point, we were mixing and matching to see what worked. My biggest regret is our failure during the second wave. I have seen people gasping for breath without oxygen. I realised there was no way we could have prepared for something like this, when our healthcare expenditure is 1.95 percent of the GDP."

Perfect Day: ‘We’re making milk without cows’

Namit currently works at Perfect Day, a US-based startup that manufactures milk and dairy products through precision fermentation. "We're making milk without cows, basically," he explains. This is done by borrowing the genetic sequence from a cow and encoding it into small fungi where it is allowed to produce milk protein. "We have reduced greenhouse gas emission by 97 percent in the process," says Namit, who is the head of Growth & Strategy (India & APAC).

Over 100 scientists work out of Bengaluru for Perfect Day which is also branching out into animal-free gelatin and artificial sweeteners. "We're bullish on the idea of India," says Namit.

The Journey back home

"The goal is to come back home and run for office," Namit says, without pause. He doesn't just mean the sometimes morally-questionable machinations of politics, though. "There's a difference between public policy and politics and the goal should always be the former," Namit remarks. "Right now, we have policy makers who know a lot about policy and politics but not healthcare. We have doctors who know medicine but not policy." This is the gap he hopes to bridge, by "being in the highest levels of government. I want the ability to fight for the greater good."

Follow Namit on LinkedIn

Reading Time: 8 mins

How entrepreneur Mayank Midha is revolutionising public hygiene through IoT-enabled smart toilets with ‘Garv’

(January 28, 2022): He set out to be an entrepreneur, and inadvertently chanced upon and solved two of India’s biggest problems – bad public toilets and open defecation. What founder and CEO Mayank Midha did was design and launch public toilets that clean themselves with Internet of Technology (IoT) enabled tech. These sensor-operated prefabricated portable toilets come with auto-flush and floor clean technology making the lives of millions of Indians easy since 2015. The man behind GARV Toilets is bringing about a much-required revolution in sanitation that India needs. A Unilever Young Entrepreneur Award 2018 and Global Maker Challenge Award 2019 recipient, the 38-year-old is solving the problem of open defecation in India through his IoT-enabled GARV Toilets. Midha has fabricated around 2,000 toilets in 262 locations across four countries - Ghana, Bhutan, Nepal and India. A business to learn from Faridabad-born and raised, Mayank, an electronics and communication engineering student at Maharishi Dayanand University, joined the family business after his father’s untimely death. “I was 19 when I started handling customer and relationship management at our manufacturing business while my mother managed operations,” says Mayank Midha in an interview with Global Indian. Calling it his first tryst with business,

ing student at Maharishi Dayanand University, joined the family business after his father’s untimely death. “I was 19 when I started handling customer and relationship management at our manufacturing business while my mother managed operations,” says Mayank Midha in an interview with Global Indian. Calling it his first tryst with business, he learnt on the job while juggling college during the day. “It was a tough time. Juggling two worlds but my mother was a constant source of motivation,” he adds.

After graduation, Mayank landed a job at TCS (2005) through campus recruitment, but within two years, he realised it wasn’t his cup of tea. “The desk job was dull as I kept coding and testing software day in and day out. It had become frustrating. I wanted to be a part of something on the field,” reveals Mayank, who quit and appeared for an entrance test for the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA).

Entrepreneur | Mayank Midha | GARV Toilets | Global Indian

This transition from coding to the social sector was a result of a conversation with a TCS colleague, an alum of IRMA. “Talking to him made me understand that 70 percent of India lives in rural areas, and digital technology is the future. It was enough of a push to join IRMA which gave me a window to a new world,” adds the entrepreneur, who went to work in the social development sector for a few years on various World Bank projects.

By this time, the bug for entrepreneurship had bitten Mayank. He was keen to grow the family business too, as he had been burning the candle at both ends – the business and job. “The fire to take the business to the next level got me off the job rut,” he adds.

As a spectator to farmers’ problems, Midha wanted to build hardware products to help them. Yet, being an unorganised sector where farmers prefer local fabricators, his business failed to scale up. After two years of efforts, he gave up. Problem solving on social issues has always inspired Mayank, thus next, he tried solar lamps (which did not work). “I had to sell some of my assets to repay debts,” Mayank rues.

When a toilet inspired a revolution

Very few life-changing moments have a toilet involved. Yet, in 2015 while using a public toilet at Pragati Maidan, Mayank was left horrified at its state. The idea struck then. “I did some research and got to know that 600 million people in India openly defecate. Despite 10 crore toilets being installed in India, only 45 percent are used. I knew that I had to find a solution,” Mayank adds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUce6yQ0Vpo

He brainstormed and GARV Toilets was born in 2015 - portable and easy to clean and use toilets. His earlier manufacturing experience helped in fabricating a public toilet from metal. “Working with Airtel and Telenor, delivering telecom equipment like BTS (base transceiver station) cabinets which resembled toilet cabinets inspired the idea,” smiles Mayank, who had his eureka moment from those nondescript BTS cabinets.

When 2014 saw the launch of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, it was the trigger Mayank needed. A year of prototyping followed. “We realised that despite the government spending millions of dollars on public toilets, they became defunct within six months. So, we decided to design automatic toilets that work with sensors, and don’t require any human to physically clean or maintain them,” adds Mayank, who has installed 2,000 Garv Toilets across the country - UP, Bihar, Telangana, Maharashtra and Haryana.

Entrepreneur | Mayank Midha | GARV Toilets | Global Indian

These toilets are Internet of Things (IoT) enabled and are integrated with solar panels, battery packs, auto flush and cleaning technology. However, getting support to accept prefabricated toilets made of steel was a huge challenge. “We kept knocking on the doors of the government and NGOs for two years but found no support. No one was ready to invest. The frustration had started creeping in. That’s when we won a few awards (Sanitation Innovation Accelerator 2016) for the concept, and this international recognition gave me the encouragement to push through,” the entrepreneur adds.

The pilot project kickstarted in 2017 through a CSR campaign, and there was no looking back for GARV Toilets helmed by this tech-sanitation entrepreneur. “After a successful project in Pune, we expanded to Patna and Delhi where we installed them in government schools. We got a great response,” adds Mayank.

Entrepreneur | Mayank Midha | GARV Toilets | Global Indian

The very next year brought huge validation as Mayank won the Unilever award, and the company’s toilet installation shot up to 700. It was the turning point – GARV spread its wings to Africa - Ghana and Nigeria where open defecation is an issue. The CSR-funded project in Bhutan was a huge success too. “It’s great to know that other countries are keen to replicate our model,” adds the entrepreneur, who is currently executing a programme with UNDP under which they are installing them in Syrian refugee camps (Turkey).

Success stories ride on those around, and for Mayank, it was his wife Megha Midha. “She has been my biggest supporter, my first investor - I was almost broke when we started GARV Toilets, she invested ₹10 lakh,” reveals Mayank. Megha, a software engineer has transitioned into resource management, and helps GARV with HR support but works full-time with Nagarro Software as a senior consultant. The father of two – he has a nine-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son - loves to unwind with his children. And to beat the stress of entrepreneurship, Mayank travels, and dabbles in photography.

[caption id="attachment_19268" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Entrepreneur | Mayank Midha | GARV Toilets | Global Indian Mayank Midha with wife Megha Midha[/caption]

To fail and startup again takes courage and Mayank advices, “Find that one thing you want to work upon and stick to it. The timing to introduce a product should be correct.” He now wants to tackle another big Indian problem by transitioning into waste management. “We are looking forward to coming up with a smart sanitation centre where we provide shower facilities and hygiene products like sanitary pads. Not just this, we are also planning to use faecal waste for building material,” Mayank signs off.

Follow Mayank Midha on Linkedin

Reading Time: 6 min

One Man, Many Landscapes: Tehzoon Karmalawala’s trailblazing exploration of India’s wilderness

(July 5, 2023) “I am still trying to adapt to urban life," says entrepreneur and photographer Tehzoon Karmalawala as he connects with Global Indian for an interview. Fuelled by his love for the environment and passion for conservation, he is back from an unprecedented journey, unmatched by any Indian before. Over a span of 18 months, Tehzoon covered an astonishing distance of 63,000 kilometres, visiting national parks, sanctuaries, tiger reserves, and world heritage sites. He returned two months back, with 30,000 pictures from his trip and is currently working on a new coffee table book. Along the way, he was also inspired by the resilience of a tribe in Odisha and their seven-year battle with the government and a mining conglomerate. Tehzoon is collaborating on a documentary with an Academy Award-winning director to showcase their remarkable story. I have explored the maximum of India's environmental treasures, including 104 national parks, 17 biosphere reserves, 54 tiger reserves, and 32 elephant sanctuaries in my epic journey. Additionally, Tehzoon had the opportunity to visit over 40 world heritage sites. He proudly shares, "Apart from the 40 confirmed world heritage sites in our country recognised by UNESCO, there are 52 sites which are considered

104 national parks, 17 biosphere reserves, 54 tiger reserves, and 32 elephant sanctuaries in my epic journey.

Additionally, Tehzoon had the opportunity to visit over 40 world heritage sites. He proudly shares, "Apart from the 40 confirmed world heritage sites in our country recognised by UNESCO, there are 52 sites which are considered as tentative world heritage sites, and I visited 50 of them.”

[caption id="attachment_41099" align="aligncenter" width="1005"] Indian Traveller | Tehzoon Karmalawala | Global Indian Tehzoon Karmalawala[/caption]

On October 19, 2021, the Pune based entrepreneur embarked on his expedition, traveling in his own vehicle and trekking in select areas. He successfully completed the entire journey on April 30, 2023. His remarkable achievement has earned him a place in the India Book of Records and the World Records of India as the title-holder of the "longest continuous exploratory expedition."

Tehzoon has visited every state and union territory of India, except Lakshadweep, as it does not has a world heritage site, national park, or forest reserve. “I am in the process of seeking recognition from the Guinness Book of Records,” tells the maverick traveller.

Rich repository for reference

Reflecting on his transformative journey, Tehzoon remarks, "It has been a life-changing experience for me." Throughout his expedition, he meticulously tracked his route using a GPS device, saving the data on a cloud server in the form of a KML file, providing evidence of his extraordinary feat. Additionally, Tehzoon has entry permits for most of the parks and world heritage sites he visited, ensuring documentation of his solo journey.

The avid nature photographer is in the process of selecting 300 out of the 30,000 pictures he captured to create a coffee table book that showcases the incredible diversity of India's ecosystem, eco-tourism, indigenous tribes, climate, wildlife, handicraft, culture, art, and landscapes. "Notably, the Union Cabinet Minister of environment, forest, and climate change, Mr. Bhupendra Yadav, has agreed to write a foreword for the book," he says.

Tehzoon’s has extensively documented his journey through videos as well and is working on a 12-part series that will offer viewers a visually captivating and compelling narrative of his experiences.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDOcjgW6a8U&t=4s

“All this would prove to be a repository for future reference with the purpose of preserving the indigenous elements that are diminishing in India, including handicrafts, art, tribal culture, and rituals that are on the verge of extinction,” he remarks.

Stories of the epic quest

During his 18-month odyssey, Tehzoon encountered countless fascinating stories about the wonders of nature and humanity. Some of his stories are enchanting, while others evoke disbelief or fear, such as the time a group of elephants gathered around his tent in Kaziranga National Park in Assam.

However, there were also stories that led to deep introspection. In Odisha, Tehzoon encountered a tribe that fought for seven years, selling their land and gold to fund their legal battle against the government and a business conglomerate's mining activities in their forest. Inspired by their struggle and triumph, the entrepreneur is in the process of collaborating with an Academy Award-winning director to produce a documentary on the powerful success story.

Finding a purpose

Though Tehzoon embarked on his journey with the intention of exploring the wonders of India, he discovered two purposes that he would like to pursue in the future. He noticed that the front-end staff of the forest department lacks basic necessities such as proper shoes and equipment to combat poachers. “They are our green warriors and we have to empower them,” he remarks.

Additionally, he wants to raise awareness about road safety on highways due to his personal experiences. “Though there are laws in our country, enforceability needs to be better. I have had two near-death experiences without any fault of mine,” he says. His aim is to improve enforceability of road safety laws and preventing the country from becoming prone to road accidents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO7hQ6mQPoQ

Building awareness on biodiversity

The photographer emphasises the decline in the presence of bird and butterfly species that were once common during his childhood. He explains that their habitats have changed, leading to their disappearance. As a volunteer associated with the Anandvan Foundation in Pune, he has been assisting in addressing the issue.

The foundation works with the purpose to build biodiversity and restore disappearing species of plants, birds, animals, and butterflies by creating four forests in the vicinity of Pune. The forest near his house, which used to have only 20 bird species seven years ago, now boasts 60 species due to efforts such as planting 150 indigenous plant varieties on a former dump yard. “Anandvan Foundation’s effort is now a case study for forest departments, attracting delegates from across India and even Bangladesh,” he shares.

When Tehzoon embarked on his journey, over 100 volunteers of the foundation flagged off his expedition. Throughout his journey, Tehzoon took every opportunity to create awareness about the importance of planting trees and improving the green cover of urban areas speaking to people in places like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Indore, and Shillong. “We as citizens should do our bit for the environment instead of being solely dependent on the government,” he says.

Getting richer in eighteen months

Tehzoon works in his family's real estate development business. As an entrepreneur, he considers the travel cost of the journey insignificant compared to the missed opportunities in the work front during the one-and-a-half years of his travel.

The trip has made me the richest man in India due to the invaluable experiences I have gained, encountering indigenous tribes, exploring their culture and belief systems, and witnessing the beauty of nature.

“It has changed me as a person, made me more humble, understanding, and taught me to embrace the concept of minimalism,” says Tehzoon inspired by the happiness quotient of people in rural areas who live without gadgets, LPG, or internet. “This realization itself is worth billions of dollars,” he remarks.

Then and now

Tehzoon has always had a love for traveling, previously exploring fascinating destinations in Europe, Dubai, Africa, and New Zealand during short trips while working as a mechanical engineer in the oil and gas industry abroad. It was in 2016 that he had relocated to India to join his family business.

During the lockdown, when there was enough time in hand to introspect on life, he realised that he wants to do something different. Motivated by an American traveller named Meyer, who had visited every national park in the United States in a single journey, Tehzoon aspired to do the same in his own country. It took him six months to curate the places he wanted to visit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJF-ybjl0Ck

Throughout his expedition, Tehzoon traversed diverse terrains, ranging from arid deserts to lush forests, and explored the majestic peaks of the Himalayas and the ecologically rich Western and Eastern Ghats. His journey also took him from the Central Plateau to the enchanting Andaman Islands, exposing him to the ever-changing weather conditions across the country.

Describing the power of nature, he remarks, “In the forests I used to get into a meditative zone, it’s a different world altogether, it acted as a teleportation funnel into a different world. Oh! don’t remind me more,” he laughs.

The travel maverick wants to go on more such exploratory trips in future and is thankful to his family for their understanding and support. He is also thankful to the ministry of wildlife and forest resources conservation to support him with forest personnel and approvals for visiting even those national parks where eco-tourism is not allowed and to the ministry of culture for special permission to take photographs of world heritage sites.

“India is such an incredible country that even if I take another 18-months-trip, I would not be able to cover the vastness and beauty of it in totality,” he signs off.

Follow Tehzoon Karmalawala on LinkedIn and YouTube

Reading Time: 5 mins

M Night Shyamalan: The Hollywood director who revived supernatural plotlines and rose from a mid-career crisis

(July 13, 2024) “What if The Silence of the Lambs happened at a Taylor Swift concert?” Oscar-nominated director M Night Shyamalan asked while pitching the concept of his upcoming film Trap. The trailer of one of the biggest thrillers of 2024 is out, and M Night Shyamalan is back with what he’s good at – scaring the living daylights out of people. “I love the idea of cinema as windows within windows. One of the reasons to come see the movie at the movie theater is because there’s literally a real concert that you can see nowhere except in that movie,” the Global Indian said in an interview. There’s something uncanny about M Night Shyamalan’s films. These thrillers don’t play loud on gory effects or over-the-top CGI but on fear. The expertly timed plotting of suspense is what makes his films a masterpiece. The notorious twists, the haunting music scores, the shock value, the high-intensity drama, and the breathtaking performances have made him one of the best Indian-American directors of all time. [caption id="attachment_53502" align="aligncenter" width="600"] M Night Shyamalan[/caption] It was the Academy Award-nominated filmmaker who gave supernatural thrillers a fresh lease of life with his 1999 hit film The

src="https://www.globalindian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/night1.jpg" alt="M Nighr Shyamalan | Global Indian" width="600" height="399" /> M Night Shyamalan[/caption]

It was the Academy Award-nominated filmmaker who gave supernatural thrillers a fresh lease of life with his 1999 hit film The Sixth Sense, and as they say, the rest is history.

A video camera that inspired him to make films

Born in Pondicherry to Tamil and Malayalee doctor parents, he was raised in the US after relocating to Pennsylvania, Philadephia with his parents when he waws only six weeks old. The only Hindu in a Roman Catholic school, he felt like an outsider. He never made it to the good books of his teachers because he wasn’t baptized. Moreover, he was once pulled up in class for getting good marks in religion as his teacher was upset that he got grades when he wasn’t even a Catholic.

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Such instances made him curious about religious and spiritual beliefs, and soon he gave himself the middle name Night after getting inspired by Native Indians and their culture. During the same time, he was gifted a Super-8 camera, but little did he know this piece of technology would shift the course of his life. In no time, he became the producer of grainy amateur home movies that he shot in his neighborhood. Though he became popular for his thrillers in adulthood, he actually wanted to be the next Steven Spielberg.

The lukewarm beginning

At 17, he enrolled in a film course at New York University, much against the wishes of his doctor parents. “Medicine was in my genetic makeup… as an Asian child, it comes as naturally as driving a car. You get good grades and you plan for a profession in medicine, without even thinking. It was always my backup plan because there was deep concern about my future,” he said in an interview.

At 21, he wrote and directed his first film, Praying with Anger. A low-budget film about an American of Indian descent who goes to India, which tanked. But he got his second chance with the 1998 film Wide Awake. “I couldn’t tell what kind of movie I was making at the time; I was having a tough time figuring out was I making an art movie, a commercial movie? I made that movie, and no one went to see it either. And I was like, two strikes, you are out,” he added.

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Two failed attempts at doing something he loved made Shyamalan look deeper and do some introspection. “I sat down and said, I am putting in enough love, enough effort, so what am I doing wrong? I looked up at my wall and I had all these [posters of] movies on my wall, The Exorcist, Raiders of the Lost Ark, famous movies I grew up loving, so I looked at them and I said to myself, let me stop pretending I’m an art filmmaker, stop pretending to be something I am not, and let me make one of these movies,” he added.

The big breakthrough

That’s when he decided to write The Sixth Sense. With no expectation, he began working on the film. During the 90s, the horror and supernatural genre didn’t get much traction and the films soon went to video. But The Sixth Sense opened to packed houses, and the thriller announced the arrival of M Night Shyamalan in Hollywood. An unconventional thriller about a boy with the ability to see dead people, The Sixth Sense turned a page in the supernatural genre with six Academy Award nominations.

The success of The Sixth Sense brought Shyamalan to the office of Warner Bros. who offered him to direct a Superman or Batman film. However, Shyamalan politely refused the offer. Interestingly, it was during his meeting with Warner Bros. that he conceived the plot of his 2001 film Unbreakable. It was his drama take on the comic book genre. Though the film received a lukewarm response, it definitely made Shyamalan a Hollywood player.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-ZP95NF_Wk

Biggies like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas approached the filmmaker for writing a sequel to Raiders of Lost Ark. But the opportunity left Shyamalan so overwhelmed that he declined it in fear of not doing justice to the sequel.

But he was ready to scare the daylights out of his audience with Signs. Yet another supernatural, this time Shyamalan had another trick up his sleeve – aliens. The film set the cash registers ringing and turned out to be one of the best films from the director’s repertoire.

By this time, Shyamalan has become quite an authority on supernatural thrillers in Hollywood. However, his 2004 film The Village received a cold reception at the box office.

The fall and rise

A spate of failures followed — moves such as Lady in the Water, The Happening, The Last Airbender and After Earth were disasters. “I felt like was I starting to lose my voice a bit,” he says. “I’m not really the best person to work in the system,” he told in an interview.

[caption id="attachment_53503" align="aligncenter" width="577"] M Night Shyamalan | Global Indian M Night Shyamalan[/caption]

He had to make changes to the way he thinks and operates. “The basic premise was dividing your life into two columns: the things you have control over and the things you don’t. And not getting confused about the two,” Shyamalan said.

For this next project – The Visit – Shyamalan had to take out a $5 million loan against his estate and self-fund. He flew to Los Angeles and showed a rough cut to every Hollywood studio. They all passed and he was devastated. He took a new cut to Universal, and horror doyen Jason Blum signed on as a producer. The film ended up making $98 million. His next movie Split made $280 million. Shyamalan was back.

Trap

Returning to the big screen with his 16th film as a director, Trap unfolds the gripping tale of a father and daughter who attend a pop star’s concert, only to find themselves ensnared in a police sting to capture the notorious serial killer known as The Butcher. They soon realise that the entire event is a carefully orchestrated trap. “I want the industry to move towards more original storytelling. I think audiences would really like it. Look, I know there’s safety in IP. But it’s really important that we come to the movies and see something we’ve never seen before. I’ll keep fighting for that,” said Shyamalan, whose film is set to hit the screens in August 2024.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mps1HbpECIA

M Night Shyamalan is one of those rare American-Indian directors who has made Hollywood their home like no one else. At a time when horror genre was relegated to video cassettes, Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense became the second-highest-grossing film of 1999. The Academy Award-nominated director’s supernatural dramas had an edge and unconventional theme that many directors of those times were missing. Like every achiever, Shyamalan too had to see humbling days when his films flopped after a heady start to his career. But with comeback movies such as The Visit and Split, Shyamalan showed that it is possible to reinvent one’s work and one’s approach to work even in the 40s. As they say, every rejection is a redirection.

Chef Lata Tondon: Meet the first woman to set the Guinness World Record for marathon cooking

(Dec 20, 2021) Lata Tondon is as passionate about cooking, as is her persona. Arms emblazoned with culinary tattoos – a chef’s knife, cutlery, and more, tossing ingredients, stirring staples, she imbues colour and life into each signature dish. She is the first woman in the world to have set a world record for the longest time spent cooking – a distinction previously held only by men. In 2019, Chef Lata cooked non-stop for 87 hours and 45 minutes to bag the coveted Guinness World Record title, a good 20 hours more than the previous record. “Food has always been my first love,” declares the chef, who loves exploring regional flavours, cooking techniques and discovering unexplored ingredients from across India. An alumna of Chef Academy, London, Lata is determined to take unusual hyperlocal Indian ingredients and create dishes that change the limited perception of Indian cuisine. Working at renowned restaurants like Bibendum and The Ninth, and learning under award-winning chefs like Claude Bosi and Jun Tanaka, have helped her further hone her culinary skills. [caption id="attachment_17764" align="aligncenter" width="530"] Chef Lata Tandon[/caption] From MP to London The 1980 April born from the well-known Digwani family of Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, Lata's childhood

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Working at renowned restaurants like Bibendum and The Ninth, and learning under award-winning chefs like Claude Bosi and Jun Tanaka, have helped her further hone her culinary skills.

[caption id="attachment_17764" align="aligncenter" width="530"] Chef Lata Tandon[/caption]

From MP to London

The 1980 April born from the well-known Digwani family of Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, Lata's childhood revolved around cooking. “Academics did not interest me. Though I was good at sports, food came first,” says Lata, speaking exclusively to Global Indian.

Her tryst with cooking began during school days, when she learnt about Sindhi cuisine from her family, and even participated in several cookery competitions. “As a child, I would wait for my mother to leave the kitchen so I could spend hours trying out my own recipes. I would experiment with easy-to-cook and healthy recipes. A major part of my early years went into cooking,” recalls Lata, who schooled at Jyoti Senior Secondary school after which she did her BCA from Jabalpur and MCA from Pune. Incidentally, her father Narayan Digwani is a businessman while her mother Jyoti is a homemaker.

The cooking marathon

Over the years, Lata has carved a niche for herself in the culinary world. Her record for the longest cooking marathon is most cherished, as the recognition changed her life.

She learnt about the cooking marathon while training at the Chef Academy of London. Ever since, she wanted a shot at it.

“It was difficult to think of cooking non-stop without sleeping. But I told myself that I had to make my country proud. I prepared for the marathon for a full year,” recalls Lata, who spent many sleepless nights before the event.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9ftqg_FtM4[/embed]

The previous title for the longest cooking marathon was held by Rickey Lumpkin from Los Angeles, who cooked for a straight 68 hours, 30 minutes and one second in 2018. Lata surpassed his record by over 20 hours and cooked more than 1,600 kilograms of food grains, made 400 vada pavs, 250 sandwiches and a host of other delicacies over four days. The food was served to the over 20,000 visitors, including children from orphanages, blind schools and senior citizens from old age homes. The chef and environmentalist used the platform to encourage people to plant over 17,000 saplings too.

Among the other accolades she has won, are the India Book of Record, Asia Book of Record, Indo-China Book of Record, Vietnam book of record, and Nepal Book of Record, etc.

The Indian culinary way forward

A travel enthusiast, Lata aspires to promote regional Indian food, and has travelled thousands of miles across the subcontinent in search of unexplored flavours and techniques. “There is nothing like Indian food; it’s immensely diverse. A lot from Indian cuisine still needs to be showcased. I am working on doing just that,” says the chef, who has also participated in the International Indian Chef of the Year contest where she won first prize.

[caption id="attachment_17765" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Chef Lata Tandon[/caption]

Living in a joint family of 11, she learnt the value of rich traditions and culture. “I am fortunate to be surrounded by family and friends who have always encouraged me to turn my passion into a career. The passion to create something new is what keeps me going. I believe that every individual should learn how to cook their own food,” says Lata, whose favourite chef is Gordon Ramsay whom she admires for his bold attitude and cooking skills.

Besides traditional Indian dishes, Lata whips up Italian, Mexican and Mughlai food. “Every chef has his/her own style of cooking and set of skills. I do not compare myself with others. Like most chefs, I am always prepared to take compliments as well as criticism. Obviously, you cannot satisfy everyone all the time,” says Lata, who prefers north Indian food. “Just keep moving and treading your path, no matter what,” is her advice to all those embarking on their own journeys.

The pandemic and beyond

The pandemic gave birth to several amateur cooks, a trend that makes Lata happy. “Cooking has been rekindled. In these times, creative fields are doing well and cooking is booming, and many are opting to become chefs. People have also realised the importance of healthy eating,” adds the Indore resident.

[caption id="attachment_17766" align="aligncenter" width="517"] Chef Lata Tandon[/caption]

But, records aside, there is a lot more Lata has set out to do. “I am looking forward to opening my own restaurant in London and introducing my style of Indian fusion cooking,” informs Lata.

Her culinary journey has made her calmer. Her best critic? She quips, “My son. I take his reviews very seriously.”

Deeply attached to her tattoos, she feels they speak volumes about the art of cooking. The follower of Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev, Lata, is gearing up to launch a coffee table book that showcases India’s unexplored cuisines, and ingredients.

Follow Lata Tondon on Twitter and LinkedIn

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