Indian author | Megha Majumdar | Global Indian

Global IndianstoryTaking over the literary world: Indian authors reclaiming their power with words

Taking over the literary world: Indian authors reclaiming their power with words

Written by: Namrata Srivastava

(August 1, 2022) The world of Indian literature has produced innumerable gems, some of which have found admiration from across the globe. Telling the stories that strike the right chord has often been on every Indian author’s agenda, and many have successfully been able to nail it with their words. Global Indian turns the spotlight on five new-age Indian authors, who are taking over the world of literature.

Nikita Lalwani

The Kota-born and Cardiff–raised Nikita Lalwani debut novel Gifted won the hearts of bibliophiles across the globe. It was in school that her tryst with writing began. But it wasn’t until she read Gerard Woodward’s I’ll Go to Bed at Noon (2004) that inspired her to take her writing seriously. Thus began her journey into the world if literature when she penned the story of a young math prodigy Rumi Vasi, burdened by her father’s dreams in Gifted.

Nikita Lalwani

The alumni of Bristol University, pitted a parent’s aspirations against that of their child in her debut novel, exploring how much one can endure in the name of love. It was longlisted for the International Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. Motivated by the appreciation for Gifted, Nikita penned the story of a real-life ‘prison village’ in northern India in her second novel – The Village – and won the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered award. Her third novel, You People, which was released just last year, too struck the right chord with book lovers.

The author, whose work has been translated into sixteen languages, is also a regular columnist in many esteemed newspapers, including New Statesman, The Observer, and Guardian.

Follow Nikita Lallwani on her website

Megha Majumdar

When she left Kolkata in 2006 to pursue social anthropology at Harvard University, little did she know that someday her book would top the New York Times best-seller list. But destiny had a plan in place, and her book A Burning, not only grabbed the world’s attention but managed to bag the prestigious Whiting Award 2022. However, the former editor-in-chief of Catapult Books, wasn’t confident of making it big in the US with her first book. In an interview with Harvard Magazine, she revealed, “I mean, it’s so very specifically about India”. The book narrates the story of Jivan, a Kolkata girl, who is arrested after she makes an ill-advised Facebook post about terrorism. The story revolves around the streets and slums of Kolkata, taking the readers through the city prisons and packed local trains.

Megha Majumdar

The author, who recently stepped down from her job, plans to dedicate her time to writing and teaching. “It was a very hard decision to leave my role at Catapult. I wish there were enough hours in the day to do both. I feel it’s the right time to see what I can do and what can happen if I bring my full energy to writing. It feels like the right time to center writing, which I never have done—I’ve always squeezed it in at the edges of the day, and it has often been pushed out by other obligations,” she explained in a recent interview with The Atlantic.

Follow Megha Majumdar on Twitter

Amish Tripathi

After fourteen successful years in the banking sector, Amish Tripathi decided to dip his toes into the world of writing with Indian mythology. Understanding the need to make space for the genre, he penned his first book The Immortals of Meluha in 2010. It became an overnight success, and the entire India couldn’t stop raving about a book on the life of Shiva. The immense success prompted the author to belt out two more books in the series – The Secret of the Nagas and The Oath of the Vayuputras. Always trying to give an unusual twist to the mythological tales, Amish is all set to release the fourth and last book in the Ram Chandra series – which is based on the Hindu epic Ramayan. He has sold over 5.5 million copies of the nine books he has written, which were translated into over 20 languages.

Indian author | Amish Tripath | Global Indian

Amish Tripathi

His strong narration and ability to transport the readers to the scenes helped him earn USA’s prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship in 2014. “I genuinely believe that my stories are a blessing from Lord Shiva and my task is to get as much knowledge as I can. How the story shapes up, is up to Lord Shiva,” Amish has once said during an interview with Deccan Chronicle. The winner of several awards, including the 21st Century Icon and Golden Book Award, the author is also India’s senior diplomat to the United Kingdom, where he is working as the Director of The Nehru Centre in London, since 2019.

Follow Amish Tripathi on Twitter and his website

Nikesh Shukla

Pulling all-nights to finish a book, that’s how his love affair with books started at a tender age. But this love for books soon translated into a dream profession, and making a career in writing didn’t come as a surprise to his family and friends. Happy with the support, he began writing his debut novel Coconut Unlimited which revolves around three friends Amit, Anand, and Nishant, and was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. It’s the attention to race, racial identities, and the life of immigrants that has made Nikesh a writer par excellence.

Nikesh Shukla

And he recently revealed to The Guardian that he tries to put a part of himself in the characters. “Part of me really just wants to bleed on the page. If I’m writing for my daughters, I want them to know who I am,” he said. His latest release, Brown Baby is a beautiful memoir that speaks about the importance of hope, and through the book, he cleverly explores various social issues plaguing the world today. Talking humorously about matters such as feminism, parenting, and life racism, the author has dedicated the novel to his two young daughters.

Sunjeev Sahota

Known as one of the most intellectual authors of our times, British-Indian author Sunjeev Sahota has produced some very engaging novels. His latest release, China Room, was in the running for International Booker’s Prize, 2021, alongside Nobel-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun, and Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Powers’ Bewilderment.

Sunjeev Sahota

Sunjeev was introduced to the literary world quite late – when he was 18 years old. It was during a visit to his family in India that he came across Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, and it opened up a new world for him. Speaking about discovering the world of the words, Sunjeev told Guardian during an interview, “When I started reading, I felt a real sense that the conversation between the reader and the writer is something where meaning and truth are found. I must have responded to that incredibly strongly because I did just bury myself in novels from that point.”

But like many, he took the conventional path and ended up working for an insurance company after studying at mathematics at the Imperial College London. But writing kept drawing him, and he finally gave in, and ended up writing his debut book Ours are the Streets, which narrates the story of a British Pakistani person who becomes a suicide bomber. His second novel, The Year of the Runaways, was also shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize.

Name*

Email*

Name*

Email*

0 Comments

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Published on 01, Aug 2022

Share with

ALSO READ

Conservationist Suprabha Seshan is creating a rainforest at the Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary

(August 22, 2022) At dawn, the heavy trapdoor to the roof groans as it is hauled open and the slight figure of Suprabha Seshan emerges, to survey the acres of rainforest that surround her, as far as the eye can see. This is the Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary in Wayanad, in the middle of the Western Ghats and conservationist Suprabha Seshan's home for over two decades. The sanctuary is flanked by the Banasuramala, rising 2000 metres above sea-level, and the Brahmagiris, famous for their shola grasslands. These days, Suprabha remains more or less off the grid, lost in what she calls "the rewilding of habitat", far from the rampant consumerism of urban life. To those in the know, however, Suprabha is a towering figure among India's conservationists - her efforts have been an integral part of restoring some 50 acres of forest land, "nurturing forest beings," as the Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary website would have it. In 2006, Suprabha received the UK's top environmental prize, the Whitley Award, also known as the Green Oscars. Her writing has also been published in Scroll and the Economic and Political Weekly. Global Indian takes a look at the remarkable life of one of India's leading

om//" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Global Indian takes a look at the remarkable life of one of India's leading conservationists.

"Plants are doing the hardest work, keeping the planet going," she says, as she shows a group of visitors around the Gurukula Sanctuary. Five acres out of the 50 are open to visitors, usually environmentalists, conservationists, and school kids. "Anything that we can do to serve the plants is a good thing. And plants should not just be seen as 'plants for edible purposes' but as creators of environments."

The Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary was founded by Wolfgang Dieter Theuerkauf, who was trying to regrow the rainforest. "We're a small group of people, who have been concerned with the rapid disappearance of biodiversity," she says. We believe that plants are the basis of all existence. Without the plants you can't have animals, without the plants you can't have human life. Without plants, you don't have the biosphere."

Theuerkauf's approach, Suprabha explains, was a different one, more so when he began his work 40 years ago. "Even now, when we think of reforestation, we do so in terms of tree cover," Suprabha says. "Yes, it is a tree-based biome of course. But to think of it as only trees is like saying there are only tigers in the forest and no tree frogs," she told The Kodai Chronicle. GBS looked at orchids and ferns and tender herbaceous plants as well. They asked questions about diversity, evolution, and biogeography. Their approach was through the lens of cultivation, rescue, and restoration."

The Krishnamurti Foundation, UK to the prairies of the Midwest

Suprabha was born in Delhi, in the heart of India's urban chaos but even as a child, was close to nature. She grew up with people who loved nature, and who lived rural lives. Her first turning point came when she went to study at Brockwood Park Centre, owned by the Krishnamurti Centre in England's South Downs National Park in the UK. Run in accordance with the teachings of J. Krishnamurti, it was here that Suprabha first heard of the Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary. She also became fascinated with the constantly changing ecology of the land and the role of human intervention in this transition.

After this, she moved to the United States, where she continued to experiment with her own approach to conservation. She studied the annual wheat monoculture, and the topsoil of the grasslands and learned about the indigenous communities of the Midwest.

The rewilders

What does re-growing a forest actually entail? As she walks visitors through the sanctuary, she pauses beside a tree to explain. "These small plants," she gestures, "are in high danger of being extinct, especially now. We run a search-and-rescue operation'. We go all over the mountains to find them, pick them up and bring them back." These are around 2000 species in total, accounting for nearly half of the flora of the Western Ghats.

The plants are then brought back for cultivation in the sanctuary's greenhouses, overseen by the sanctuary's experts : Laly Joseph, Suma Keloth, Leelamma and Purvi Jain. "We deploy a range of methods, from intensive care nurseries to outdoor habitats rich with herbs, tubers, succulents, shrubs, trees creepers, climbers, epiphytes (plants that grow on other plants) and lithophytes (plants that grow on rocks)," Suprabha writes in Scroll.in.

This process of rewilding is a delicate one, requiring just the right amount of human intervention. Sometimes, it's as simple as putting plants in a pot, at other times, the trick is to let the land rewild itself. "it's the greatest joy to see land that's been completely decertified come back to life. That's when you realise the true power of natural life, that it can heal."

Suprabha has also been involved with work on upland ecology, along with Vasanth Godwin Bosco and Sandilya Theuerkauf, Wolfgang's son. This became part of an effort to restore the shola-grassland species.

Follow Suprabha and the Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary on Instagram

Reading Time: 6 mins

Indian-Australian Niti Nadarajah helps women unleash their ‘X Factor’

(December 16, 2022) Until about a year ago, Niti Nadarajah was a full-time in-house lawyer who had practised law for 19 years at a stretch, climbing the corporate ladder one step at a time, ambitious and confident. When the Covid induced lockdown gave her some time for introspection, Niti, who was a senior counsel at Philip Morris International in Melbourne, realised something was amiss, in her career and in her life. She was feeling stuck, unfulfilled and unhappy. “And my story is not unique. Unfortunately, all too many of us end up feeling like we're on a treadmill that we can't get off. So, we settle,” she tells. Niti began speaking out on social media and soon, what had started out as a leisure time activity became Coaching with Niti, where she helps women who are looking to change careers, but struggle to tap into their inner compass, or lack the confidence to take the leap. [caption id="attachment_32877" align="aligncenter" width="655"] Niti Nadarajah[/caption] Her early efforts on social media were met with a massive response. Women everywhere were relating to Niti and were enriched by what she had to say. Clearly, she was filling a void and it led

looking to change careers, but struggle to tap into their inner compass, or lack the confidence to take the leap.

[caption id="attachment_32877" align="aligncenter" width="655"] Influencers | Niti Nadarajah | Global Indian Niti Nadarajah[/caption]

Her early efforts on social media were met with a massive response. Women everywhere were relating to Niti and were enriched by what she had to say. Clearly, she was filling a void and it led her to think of a possible career transition in her own life too.

“It took me some time to figure out what ‘filling that void’ could look like from a career or business venture perspective, but I finally settled on embarking on a portfolio career,” she tells Global Indian. She calls the year 2022 her ‘year of transformation’, as she shaped her career into a mix of freelance inhouse legal work and coaching.” This career transition has put her into a much happier space now.

Finding the inner compass

“In my coaching business, Coaching by Niti, I work with women who, like me, have felt stuck in their careers – often wondering ‘Is there all there is?' or ‘What else could I do?’ and ‘Is it too late?’’ she says. Having learnt from her own journey and conversations with others, she strongly reinforces the need to connect to oneself at a deeper level before working out how to get ‘unstuck’, as she puts it.

We tell ourselves that we can't do anything else because this is all we know. We fear the unknown - the lack of security, imposter syndrome, a lack of self-belief. We shrink ourselves.

This is where Niti helps. To the women who approach her, she says, ‘From someone who has been where you are, believe me – there is another way!’

Influencers | Niti Nadarajah | Global Indian

Niti is also associated with the firm Grace Papers. It empowers parents and organisations to more seamlessly navigate the transitions that come with having children, including parental leave, the return to work and flexible working arrangements. She also coaches lawyers through a firm called Coaching Advocates.

Transition from lawyer to entrepreneur

Getting into the entrepreneurial journey has been challenging and has required a lot of changes to Niti’s mindset. “For instance, my relationship with money has changed, as I no longer have the certainty of a pay check. Instead, I have to search for, and convert potential leads into clients,” she tells.

One of the biggest challenges, which she also sees as an opportunity, is the ‘need to continually evolve, adapt and pivot’. For instance, she started out with a certain niche in the coaching space but quickly realised that there were some barriers to entry and conversion that were going to be challenging to overcome. She paid special attention to finding those solutions.

“I suspect this will only continue to happen over the coming year or two and in many ways, is both challenging and exciting as it enables me to lean into new opportunities and learn and grow,” says the new entrepreneur.

[caption id="attachment_32880" align="aligncenter" width="724"] Influencers | Niti Nadarajah | Global Indian The many hats that Niti wears[/caption]

Finding the path

Although Niti has made a career transition of impacting women’s lives recently, certain experiences in her life had already shown her the power and solace that comes with being part of a strong community of women.

“When I had my two miscarriages, I went through those losses feeling isolated in my grief and pain. I felt a strong need to share my story with women in similar situations but initially lacked emotional strength or courage for it.”

Niti remembers finally opening up to someone about the mental health challenges she was experiencing during that time. This was the starting point of her journey with The Pink Elephants Support Network, an organisation that supports women who have suffered from pregnancy losses. Volunteering with them and sharing her story, through social media and major newspapers in Australia, was enriching for her.

Niti loved having the opportunity to help others feel less lonely in their grief and giving them a space to feel ‘seen’ and ‘heard’. “It has lent a sense of purpose and mission to my own losses and given me strength to own my journey and become my most vulnerable self,” she tellls.

Later she also got associated as community partner with White Ribbon, an organisation that seeks to eliminate gendered violence by engaging men and boys. “This again is enriching my life as a mum of two children, a girl and a boy,” she says, adding, “I want my children to grow up in a world that is both inclusive and safe.” To be able to play a part in making these changes a reality is hugely rewarding for her.

Influencers | Niti Nadarajah | Global Indian

Life’s diversity

Born in Scotland, Niti spent the first eight years of her life moving around different places - England, Abu Dhabi, India and Australia, before her parents finally settled in Melbourne. Though she grew up in a loving household with her parents and little sister, the family moved around a lot. Niti recalls having to make new friends every year and the constant struggle to find inclusion and acceptance.

As a child of immigrants, first to the UK and then to Australia, she loved spending time with immigrant families from India but often straddled two worlds. “I code-switched from trying to live by the values and norms I was taught at home to wanting to embrace the ones that surrounded me outside the house.” This often left her exhausted in trying to understand what her true identity was.

It took me a long time to understand that my identity is not simply British, Australian or Indian or a choice between them. It is a mix of all those cultural influences.

Seeing the world through the lens of personal experience has made her very vocal about inclusion and cultural diversity at the workplace.

A refreshing start to the future

Influencers | Niti Nadarajah | Global Indian

As first-generation immigrants to Australia, her parents made a successful life for themselves in the foreign land. They always motivated Niti to be the best that she could be and instilled in her strong values around family, connection and community.

Carrying forward the values instilled in her at home, Niti managed to renew her own life and find the courage to chalk out a new career path for herself, one that was aligned with her purpose and passion.

In 2023, the Melbourne-based coach, entrepreneur and lawyer is all set to expand her facilitation work and consultancy in the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) space with the mission to help women unleash their ‘X Factor’.

Follow Niti Nadarajah on LinkedIn

Reading Time: 5 mins

Acclaimed Indian filmmaker, Shaily Sanghvi is on a mission to elevate India’s standing on the global cinematic stage

(August 14, 2023) A writer, director, and producer based in Los Angeles, Shaily Sanghvi has made several inroads into Hollywood, with films like ‘Pandaal’, ‘Jasmine Flowers’, ‘Little Joys of the Finite’, ‘Haze Grey’, ‘The Grass is Greener’, ‘Pirouette’ and more. Flash Back Sanghvi grew up in Ahmedabad but her love for films made her shift to Mumbai right after her under-graduation. Even as a child she would be completely involved when watching movies. “When I was watching Kuch Kuch Hota Hai at the age of four, I was weeping because I did not want Anjali to leave Rahul at the station,” she recollects. Even today she admits that she draws inspiration from the beautiful painting that Sanjay Leela Bhansali creates in each frame. She completed her undergraduate course in Mass Communication from Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, where she was first exposed to filmmaking. She later moved to Los Angeles and finished her master's from New York Film Academy (LA campus). [caption id="attachment_43632" align="aligncenter" width="638"] Indian filmmaker Shaily Sanghvi[/caption] Film Trip For someone who has always been an expressive person, whether it was through her paintings, poems or learning dance forms like Kathak, Salsa, Bharatnatyam or Belly Dance as a child, she learnt

| Shaily Sanghvi" width="638" height="554" /> Indian filmmaker Shaily Sanghvi[/caption]

Film Trip

For someone who has always been an expressive person, whether it was through her paintings, poems or learning dance forms like Kathak, Salsa, Bharatnatyam or Belly Dance as a child, she learnt early that there was a way for her to express all these forms together and this was when she fell in love with the craft. “I could use my poems for characters' emotions, painting to make my frame aesthetic, and dance to understand complex human behaviours. And when I saw Zoya Akhtar and her films using each of these forms to express emotions her characters go through, my mind was set,” says Sanghvi. Incidentally, she made her first film during under graduation which she believes was guerrilla filmmaking in a true sense. “My parents became my production designers; my photography friend became my DOP and my room became my set. Not of much surprise, that film was not a great one. But what I did realise was the lengths I was ready to go to get that story to life and film it. I learnt a lot of what not to do from that and how to grow.”

Global Indian | Shaily Sanghvi

Tele Tales

The first time she saw a set was when she did an internship for India’s Best Dramebaaz, Season 2 on Zee TV. This was when she was still doing her undergraduate course when she found that they needed interns for a TV show. “There was not even a second of doubt that I wanted to do it. That was the first time I went to Mumbai for work and not to see relatives. That month of internship was enough to give me a lifetime of determination to go back and do this for life,” the Global Indian says. It was only after two years that she moved to Mumbai and joined Balaji Telefilms as Ekta Kapoor’s creative associate. And proverbially, there was no looking back as she has stints with Disney, Monozygotic (Roadies famed, Raghu and Rajiv’s production house), and Flipkart MiniTV after that. She also worked with several celebrities like Sonali Bendre, Sajid Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Ekta Kapoor, Vishal Malhotra, Mallika Dua, Rhea Kapoor, Akash Gupta and more.

Creative Path

One film that she is proud of is ‘Pirouette’ that has garnered various awards including the Best Drama award at the prestigious Synergy Film Festival 2022, alongside her well-deserved recognition as Best Female Director. The film is about this uncomfortable topic of desires through the journey of a ballet dancer and her struggle to fulfil her dreams. It talks about how sometimes the dreams that you choose do not choose you back. But does that make it the end? Life runs in circles, if you have not received what you desire, it is yet not the end. “Awards and recognition may not help your craft, but they do play a role to boost you. Pirouette being one of my early films to gain recognition gave me a boost to keep going,” she avers. Other than this, her horror-thriller film, ‘I Got You’ has also bagged a couple of awards in categories like best horror and best director. “One of the bigger milestones is creating my film ‘Alive’. Crowdfunded, this film holds a special place in my heart since it was roughly based on my experience of recent grief. Having lost my Badi Ma very recently, it took me a lot of courage to gather myself and make this film happen. The film is currently in post-production and we are working towards making it the best version of itself. Since it is based roughly on the way my family dealt with that grief, this film means to me a lot more than any of my creations,” she says.

[caption id="attachment_43635" align="aligncenter" width="589"] Shaily Sanghvi at the Synergy Film Festival.[/caption]

Indian Connection

Sanghvi is working to elevate India's standing on the global cinematic stage and takes pride that she has a unique perspective of blending two cultures to bring a fresh story. “The last two films that I directed were both Indian stories. My film ‘Jasmine Flowers’ is about an Old Indian woman, residing in the US, hoping for a wedding invitation to her neighbour’s wedding despite her inauspicious status as a widow. What we explore in this film is not how regressive the traditions are but how in today’s time we are living against them,” says Sanghvi. Having a multicultural experience helps a lot while exploring human emotions. “I want people here to know India for things way beyond the dance we have in our films. Being amongst the biggest entertainment industry in the world the Indian film industry should be known for so much more, for the stories, for its culture, for so much that it has to offer and I want the world to see that,” she opines.

Future Perfect

Films come with their own set of challenges. For instance, Pirouette was being shot on 35mm film camera and choreographing a whole ballet sequence and training the talent to perform it within the limited takes that a film camera allows to fit everything within the limited budget was hard. “Films are someone everyone will have an opinion on. That is the beauty of it. You make one film but that same film will be seen in a million different ways. That is not a test to your abilities but the natural way of art to exist,” she admits. Currently, she is working on the postproduction of three of her films and is preparing her next project, a web series to be shot in the coming year. See you at the movies!

Follow Shaily Sanghvi on Instagram and check her work on IMDB

Jay Sean: The British-Indian artiste completes 20 years in hip-hop music world

(April 16, 2024) Who can forget the peppy song Dance With You from the early 2000s? Then a 22-year-old, Jay Sean was among the few South Asian artistes who exploded on the music scene with a chartbuster that was set to change the course of his life. The song made the British-Indian artiste an overnight star, and as they say, the rest is history. Despite the changing time, he has kept himself relevant and the proof of it is that this year he completes 20 years in the music industry. "To be able to have 20 years in the music industry and have songs that have stuck as classics now, to me is always a blessing. The challenge is really just understanding how to evolve," he said in an interview. [caption id="attachment_50752" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Jay Sean[/caption] In the last two decades, the poster boy of the UK's Asian underground music scene has truly put Indian music and hip-hop on the global map. He was among the first few Indian artistes who opened the doors of South Asian music to the world, and is continuing to bring joy to music lovers across the world with his work. His latest song Heartless,

bal map. He was among the first few Indian artistes who opened the doors of South Asian music to the world, and is continuing to bring joy to music lovers across the world with his work.

His latest song Heartless, which was released a week ago, has already grabbed the attention of music lovers, and he knows his music works because he is being true to himself. "I understand what I have to offer to the industry, that if I write and deliver a song, it will always be a Jay Sean song. Regardless of how the production is changing, or even the melodies of the times are changing, it will still have my signature stamp on it," he added.

Growing up with music

Born as Kamaljit Singh Jhooti in London to Indian immigrant parents in a Punjabi Sikh family, Jay was raised in the Asian community of South Hall. From a young age, he was drawn to music, leading him to form a hip-hop band Compulsive Disorder with his cousin at the age of 11. A young Jay attended Latymer Upper School in the morning and wrote songs in the evening. "I remember watching Yo! MTV Raps from a young age. And that put me into writing because I just wanted to write raps. I used to go and find instrumentals when I was around 13, and I would write my own rhymes and record my own mixtapes. Me and my crew were making mixtapes, writing original lyrics over other people's beats, and that's what really got me into writing," he had said.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jay Sean (@jaysean)

But for his parents, music wasn't a traditional occupation and they encouraged him to focus on his studies. Someone who excelled in academics, he won himself a scholarship at the Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry to train as a doctor only to drop out in 2003 to pursue a career in singing. To kick start his career in music, he chose Jay Sean as his stage name. "Jay comes from my last name Jhooti and my grandmother used to call me ‘Shaan’ which is where Sean comes from," he revealed.

The poster boy of the UK's Asian underground scene

Life took a beautiful turn when one of his tracks One Minute fell into the hands of producer Rishi Rich, thus giving birth to the Rishi Rich project in 2003 that had Sean, Juggy D and Rich as its prime members. The trio exploded on the UK's Asian Underground scene with Dance With You, a chartbuster that made it to Top 20 hit. Such was the mania that even Virgin Records couldn't miss the chance of signing a £1 million deal with this rising star. Under Relentless Records, Jay belted out his first solo outing Eyes On You. The peppy beats and his velvety voice cast its spell on music lovers across the globe, making the song a Top 10 hit among all the Indian artists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8uztB31eUw

Global hip-hop icon

2004 came with the promise of Jay Sean being the next big thing. Each of his singles made the right noise in the music circle and soon he was hailed as the Asian sensation. His experimental and creative fusion of contemporary R&B and Indian music hit the right chord with music lovers across the globe. But his fallout with Virgin Records gave him time to self-reflect and use it to write songs. After a hiatus of almost two years, Sean returned with a bang with his second album My Own Way, which debuted at number six in the UK with its hit song Ride It smashing records. He soon found himself nominated at MOBO Award for Best UK Male and Best R&B/Soul among music heavyweights like Chris Brown, Estelle and Ne-Yo, which spoke volumes about him gaining popularity as a household sensation.

Champion of diversity

In 2008, Jay scripted history when he bagged a deal with Cash Money Records becoming the first South Asian singer and among few Indian artists to achieve the feat. The accomplishment opened an opportunity for the world to witness South Asian culture from close quarters. The deal bagged Jay his first collaboration with Lil Wayne, and the single became an instant hit zooming its way up the Billboard. This made him the first Asian British artiste to top the Hot 100 since Freddie Mercury of Queen in 1980.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jay Sean (@jaysean)

"Me getting to this point provides me the opportunity to show people what our culture is all about. Our community is just as or even more so musically inclined and now is our time to show the world that we are just like everybody else. The fact that my grandfather and my father had to hide their identity to assimilate into culture was unjust. They did not think that such barriers could be broken in their lifetime. I take it very seriously that I have one shot to make it – not just for myself, but my community," he said in an interview.

Smashing stereotypes

After winning three awards including Best Male, Best Urban Act and Best Album at the 2009 UK Asian Music Awards, he performed with Akon at the Grammy same year. Such was the craze around this British Asian sensation that he found himself on Number 35 in Billboard's Hot 100 Artists of the year. The year came to a stunning end for the artiste as he became the first South Asian to perform at the Madison Square Garden in New York. For the next few years, he belted out hits after hits with The Mistress, Do You Remember and All or Nothing. It was in 2015 that he reunited with Rishi Rich and Juggy D to restart the Rishi Rich project with their new single Freak.

In 2020, Jay resurfaced with a bang with Eyes on You 2 which reached No 1 on BBC Asian Chart. While his journey has had its shares of ups and downs, like any Asian, he too felt stereotyped in the initial years of his career. "I have experienced stereotypes and lack of equal opportunities. The reason being that certain people don’t look at you as an artist but take the whole package into mind and put you in a box. I experienced it a lot but I also took it upon myself to show people very early on in my career that there was no stopping me. When they would label me as a specific type of artiste, I would break out of that box and do something completely different every single time. It’s something I really love doing. Hopping onto different genres and expanding on what I can do as an artiste," he said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idMkbS6LWA8

And now he is back with yet again foot tapping number Heartless, which coincides with his 20th year in the music industry. "I feel so blessed when I think about completing 20 years in this music industry. That is such a blessing because now everything is so disposable," he said.

Giving back

When he is not busy making music, he lends support to organisations and causes that resonate with him. For someone who was training to be a doctor in his graduation, medical field is closer to his heart. In 2004 and 2009, he supported the Aga Khan Foundation in the charity event Partnership Walk and Run by performing in Regent's Park. Around the same time, he performed at Justin Timberlake's charity concert to raise funds for the Shriners Hospital for Children, thus raising more than $9 million along with artistes like Taylor Swift and Alicia Key. In 2012, he joined Child Hunger Ends Here campaign, and recorded a song Here's Hope to create awareness.

Follow Jay Sean on Instagram

Pinky Chandan Dixit: Transforming Soam into a go-to-restaurant in South Mumbai

From sattvik food during the month of Shravan, to seasonal ingredients and reviving long-forgotten recipes, find out how Pinky Chandan Dixit transformed Soam into South Mumbai's go-to-restaurant. (January 7, 2024) If one wants to see the hand of destiny at play, they only have to follow the career trajectory of Pinky Chandan Dixit. It would seem like she was born to be in the food business. The founder of the uber-successful restaurant called Soam, at Babulnath in South Mumbai, Pinky has revived ancient recipes, predominantly from Gujarat, Kutch, and Rajasthan; with a generous sprinkling of pan-India favourites. Practically every Michelin star chef, from Vikas Khanna to Manu Tevar, Daniel Humm of Madison Park, New York, and Gary Mehigan of MasterChef Australia fame, dines at her restaurant. As do bigwigs like ex-Minister Praful Patel and his wife, Farokh Abdullah, and Vir Sanghvi, the food critic and writer. [caption id="attachment_48071" align="aligncenter" width="551"] Pinky Chandan Dixit[/caption] Recently, Soam also hosted the entire Australian cricket team after their World Cup victory. In fact, when Pinky spots a cavalcade of fancy cars parked outside, she knows that someone famous is having a meal at the restaurant. Soam is also a winner of several awards across

ralian cricket team after their World Cup victory. In fact, when Pinky spots a cavalcade of fancy cars parked outside, she knows that someone famous is having a meal at the restaurant. Soam is also a winner of several awards across the years in the best vegetarian restaurant category awarded by publications and other food-related initiatives.

Directions from Childhood

Born to an architect father and a chemical engineer mother, Pinky’s parents were advised to move to a place with drier weather as she was born with a lung issue that affected her health. Her parents serendipitously ended up buying Fountain Hotel in Mahabaleshwar, a hill station near Mumbai.

[caption id="attachment_48072" align="aligncenter" width="551"] Restaurant | Pinky Chandan Dixit | Global Indian Sarson ka saag and makke ki roti[/caption]

In an exclusive with Global Indian, Pinky says, “I saw my parents work at the hotel, and I had mixed emotions about it. I knew I was not cut out for a desk job and nor did I want to get married and make chapatis. After getting my degree in Hotel Management at Sophia College, I went to Cordon Bleu in London for a diploma in pastry arts. Classes were held only three days a week so I worked as an intern at The Langham Hilton for the remaining three days.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Soam@babulnath (@soam.babulnath)

On her return, Pinky wanted to start a bakery where Soam currently stands. Her father had started a restaurant there which had closed down due to staff issues. He wanted her to help at the hotel instead. “I worked there for four years from 1992-95, on its upgrade and conferencing facilities. Then the Federation of Hotels and Restaurants Association of India, announced five scholarships for those who had been in the hospitality business and had experience. I applied and cleared the test. It was a three-month programme at Cornell University. After I finished the course, I wanted to complement the learning I had got with practical experience. I interned with the Hampton Inn in Orlando, Florida. I learnt a lot with that course and the internship.”

The Start of Soam

On her return, Pinky did not want to rejoin her father’s business. Instead, she teamed up with the legendary Tarla Dalal and worked as her researcher in the test kitchen. Pinky recalls, “From 1997-2004, I worked in Mrs Dalal’s test kitchen, where I would help create the recipes, prepare and shoot them. I also co-wrote the various articles she contributed across publications.”

[caption id="attachment_48073" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Restaurant | Pinky Chandan Dixit | Global Indian Paanki Feast[/caption]

Pinky got married to Aseem Dixit in 1999; he is also a foodpreneur who owns and operates Wraps and Rolls, a QSR and kiosk model food business. In 2004, she teamed up with her younger brother Gaurav to start Soam, with a loan from their father which they repaid in three years. Their father remains a partner and mentor to his children. They decided on the name ‘Soam’, inspired by ‘Som Ras’, the nectar of the Gods.

With her brother handling the finances and operations, Pinky says, “We started in April 2005, with a small offering of dishes. I wanted to serve food with a lower carbon footprint, cooked the way one would at home and seasonal. It had to be the kind you didn’t mind eating even thrice a week because you didn’t feel like cooking.” Guests came forward with their recipes too, which made it to the menu. Pinky also met Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal, whom who wanted to do something with the food of the Bhatia community. Today, Rushina and I share a very warm friendship. She has inspired a lot of ideas and I call her my fairy godmother.”

Ancient to Contemporary

Soam serves dishes in kansa or bronze flatware, as eating food placed on this metal is considered to be good for health. The décor is contemporary and inviting, and the kind of place where four generations can come and have a meal together. Soam was also the first restaurant to start a pre-plated thali kind of meal with interesting combinations. The very extensive menu sees seasonal additions practically every month. Pinky reveals, “From the old-fashioned handvo to khichu and dal dhokli, paanki [rice flour mixed with several condiments steamed in a banana leaf] in 12 flavours to seasonal foods like faraal [food consumed while keeping a fast] during Shravan, bhajjiyas in the monsoons, khichdi varieties and undhiyu in winter, mango-based dishes and salads in summer, Soam has a wide menu. There is also the dhebra – a little-known crisp puri made from bajra and fenugreek – and had as a snack mostly.”

[caption id="attachment_48074" align="aligncenter" width="553"] Restaurant | Pinky Chandan Dixit | Global Indian Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins at the restaurant[/caption]

Even the ingredients are chosen with care. The millets and grains for the flour are sourced from a wholesaler in Null Bazar and then ground in-house. The pure ghee comes from Kutch where Pinky hails from; and pickles, chutneys, masalas, etc. from local women’s groups and NGOs. Besides the predominantly Gujarati, Kutchi, and Rajasthani cuisine, a smattering of signature dishes from other parts of India too make their way to the menu, notably, a dozen differently-styled khichdis from across states. Soam serves ponk – green jowar/sorghum which is a Gujarati specialty. She has used this nutritious ingredient in various avatars like bhel, khichu, and in a kheer with makhanas added! Millets are used liberally all through the year.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Soam@babulnath (@soam.babulnath)

Pinky likes to innovate too and some of their star items are the jowar pita pocket with green pea falafel and coleslaw made with hung curd, as well as the samosa with spinach and cheese stuffing. Purple yam, Colocasia leaves, the entire millet family and even a satpadi – a seven-layered roti cooked Rajasthani style with pickle masala are on the menu. What heartens Pinky is that four generations of a family can dine here and make memories; a lot of senior citizens choose Soam to bring in a milestone birthday and her team of chefs who have been with her since inception are still here. “We started with 12 chefs cooking for us, today we have 30 in the kitchen. Our entire staff is about 60 including the wait staff, valets, and others.”

Soaring with Soam

When they began, Pinky was 29 and her brother only 21 and she laughs, recalling that nobody took them seriously. “Whether it was labour or suppliers, no one would listen to us or take us seriously.” That wasn’t the only challenge – the food they made was inconsistent and their younger sister, Shital, came to do the tasting. Food was going to waste too as the quantities were not well-defined. “We don’t believe in refrigerating leftovers so we would give them away. Then my father told us that we should focus on getting the food right and the restaurant up and running so that guests enjoyed what they ate and returned,” Pinky says.

Restaurant | Pinky Chandan Dixit | Global Indian

Today, the place works on auto-pilot and the entire staff eats at Soam. They also take on outdoor catering for events like weddings and have a range of food items like biscuits, pickles etc. under the brand name Soam at Home.

Pinky spoke to Global Indian on the eve of launching a new restaurant two buildings away from Soam. Named Aamchee or 'ours' in Marathi, it resonates with the way Mumbaikars refer to their city - aamchi Mumbai. The food and décor will echo that of the various clubs like CCI and Willingdon Club etc. She has launched this restaurant with her husband and is looking forward to the experiences it will bring.

Restaurant | Pinky Chandan Dixit | Global Indian

As for global food trends, Pinky believes that home-style cooking which is as close to what your mama made for you, is gaining popularity. “That’s because people are not cooking as much as they used to and we offer food that reminds them of home.”

For Soam’s milestone 21st year, which is a couple of years away, Pinky plans to celebrate by launching a cookbook of her own. Till then, it is all about feeding people much-loved comfort food in a traditional way for this restaurateur.

Follow Soam on Instagram

Reading Time: 6 mins