When did the painting vision start?
I've been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember. It is as natural as breathing. I don't think it is something we have a choice in other than what we do with the things that we create. Personally I know how much of me exists in every single thing I have created. Whether it is written word, or a simple sketch, or a photograph, or even an ensemble I have put together. I end up unintentionally sewing great depths of meaning into everything that I create.
A brief on use of watercolours for your paintings
I use watercolours when I want to create abstract effects or play around with colours just watching them spread over different kinds of papers. There is something spellbinding about watching how certain papers take to certain colours, and vice versa, based on consistencies and mixes. It's a beautiful medium to just immerse yourself in for hours and hours.
You have said that you want to become a doctor and serve the Indian Army in one of your earlier interviews. Your inspiration for that.
I always knew that I could never be a doctor who would charge money in terms of an exchange for treatment. Equating money with a child's suffering just feels wrong to me and it comes from having been put in those extreme traumatic and life changing situations as a child. So yes, I wanted to join the Army. Maybe as service. Maybe as gratitude.
Your quote read "Art is for art's sake, not for sale". Explain
The things that truly unite us are ones that I feel cannot be equated in terms of something monetary. If I display or sell my art or any of my work, it would need to carry an extremely vital purpose for me personally.
Reason behind starting 'The Spoken Word' and encouraging fresh talents
The Spoken Word was a platform and movement of sorts that we wanted to create, where people could gather for an evening in an atmosphere of warmth and kindness, immersing themselves in all forms of art and sport, while supporting and working towards a cause close to our hearts.
As a young entrepreneur, how difficult is your life and your family support?
The journey becomes one of entanglement and getting stuck in its noose, instead of one that started out as a quest for simply finding peace, love and light. I do carry huge amounts of gratitude to every amazing and terrible single incident and person and space that has made it possible for me to be who I am today.
You're also funding children for art and music. What do the children need and be guided in?
I guess, inadvertently, we turn out to be everything we needed, when we were children, and never had. It's not planned, not really. Maybe we just become the only thing that can possibly fill the gnawing void which will otherwise remain a timeless time loop of a childhood lost, where we had no choice but to grow up way too early.
Your company offers different set of flowers. Where do you source that? Kindly explain about the research behind it?
There is a lot that is lost in translation, transport, changing hands, freshness, price etc. But when I require flowers with notice, I make sure I go to the Koyambedu flower market at 5 am and handpick the flowers I love. It's like the market scene in My Fair Lady, but 100 times the expanse.
Your love for animals and a few insights about your pets?
Animals behave out of instinct and what they have learned and experienced. I have two dogs at home. I adopted two snow leopards when I was 18. I've wanted to sketch grieving elephants, study and track their grief patterns. When I used to horse ride, I loved just being in the stables, feeding them carrots, and smelling the scent of the horses, hay and leather.
What are your future plans?
I want to create a framework of a system whose sole purpose is to make sure that an individual can become the best possible versions of themselves that they want to be despite their limitations and disabilities by creating a village.
