What a panel this morning!

- Soma Katiyar is Executive Creative Director at BBC Media Action

- Vasu Dixit is a singer, composer and musician

- Vani Murthy is an environmentalist who is passionate about composting and urban farming

- Shraddha Jain, popularly knowns as AiyyoShraddha, is an actor and comic

Everyday thousands of tons of waste is produced in our city. The waste produced ends up in the landfill, if not treated and recycled, making it a problem. Thousands of waste-pickers go about their daily task of collecting OUR WASTE to earn a meagre income. Not only are they cleaning our neighborhood, they are also saving our environment, health and money. The campaign is set up to reform the image of our waste-pickers into #Invaluables, without whom our city could not function as it is. BBC Media Action will be working on bringing in behavioral change in society towards the #Invaluables by

-Revealing the “Happy Number”, the amount of waste recycled by the #Invaluables

-Educating people about the 3 categories of #Invaluables and their contribution to society at large

-The economic value the #Invaluables add to everyone’s life

-The citizens need to respect and recognize the contribution of the waste pickers and aid them to help improve the lives of the waste pickers as well as contribute for the cause of environmental sustainability.

The happy number comes across as a glaring revelation to the people of Bengaluru and how privileged they are to have a hardworking community of waste pickers who have a direct impact on the well-being of the city.

It also points to the stark reality of the difficult lives of the waste pickers and how the society is oblivious of their invaluable contribution, valued to be about X crores in monetary terms. BBC Media Action and its partners are on a mission to spread awareness among the citizens of Bengaluru about the contributions of the community of waste pickers and to bring about an attitudinal change towards the community among the masses.

It's finally here!!!

The GPBL, which has the blessing of the Karnataka State Badminton Association, has eight franchises - Bengaluru Lions, Mangalore Sharks, Mandya Bulls, Mysore Panthers, Malnad Falcons, Bandipur Tuskers, KGF Wolves and Kodagu Tigers who will be looking to building their teams by choosing their picks.

Each team comprises of maximum of eight players each and should include one icon player, a minimum of two Tier-1 and Tier-2 players respectively and also a minimum of two female players including icon category. Each team has a star mentor including Kidambi Srikanth, Sai Praneeth, Ashwini Ponappa, Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, HS Prannoy, PV Sindhu and Jwala Gutta. Double Olympic medallist Sindhu who is the mentor of the City team Bengaluru Lions said from Kuala Lumpur that she was keen to see how the franchises choose their teams.

PV Sindhu (born 5 July 1995) is an Indian badminton player. Considered one of India's most successful sportspersons, Sindhu has won medals at various tournaments such as the Olympics and on the BWF circuit, including a gold at the 2019 World Championships. She is the first and only Indian to become the Badminton World Champion and only the second individual athlete from India to win two consecutive medals at the Olympic Games. She rose to a career-high world ranking of no. 2 in April 2017.

She represented India at the 2016 Summer Olympics (Rio), where she became the first Indian badminton player to reach the Olympic final. She won the silver medal after losing out to Spain's Carolina Marin. She made her second consecutive Olympic appearance at the 2020 Summer Olympics (Tokyo) and won a bronze medal, becoming the first-ever Indian woman to win two Olympic medals.

With earnings of US$8.5 million, $5.5 million and $7.2 million respectively, Sindhu made the Forbes' list of Highest-Paid Female Athletes in 2018, 2019 and 2021. She is a recipient of the sports honours Arjuna Award and Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, as well as India's fourth highest civilian award, the Padma Shri. She was also honoured with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in India, in January 2020.

Recent news:

- A plethora of Indian badminton stars including PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Sai Praneeth, Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponappa and Chirag Shetty will take part in the launch of the Grand Prix Badminton League, Karnataka’s own version of Premier Badminton League, here on Saturday.

- to participate in Indonesia Masters, from 7-12 June in Jakarta

- won two Super 300 titles at the Syed Modi International and Swiss Open and a bronze at Badminton Asia Championships this season

Instagram has today announced a new music property, ‘1 Minute Music’, which is a set of music tracks and videos, exclusively available on its platform, for use on Reels and Stories. This includes music from 200 artists across India. It will make Instagram content more entertaining, and inspire other artists to release their one-minute music on the platform as well, said Instagram.

Reels is a growing global stage, where artists and music are being discovered. Since launch, artists have been using it to launch their music and share it with others, which inturn is fueling many trends on the platform. To fuel this further, and to inspire others to unleash their talent as well, Instagram is now releasing the ‘1 Minute Music’ property.

The property will have music representation from artists across India, so it interests everyone in India using Instagram. This includes Hindi artists like Dhvani Bhanushali, Neeti Mohan and Shaan, Punjabi artists like Jassie Gill, Himashi Khurana and Gurnaam Bhullar and Tamil artists like Aniruth, Sivaangi and GV Prakaash Kumar.

Kabir Chandra, Head of Music Partnerships, Meta India chatted with me on the show about the same. Was a super fun chat!

As a teen, Aryahi Agarwal, a student of Dhirubhai Ambani International School in Mumbai, says she found it difficult to source an eco-friendly, organic, and affordable perfume line for teeangers. This, along with brainstorming sessions with her Thapar Entrepreneurs Academy (formerly YEA!) mentors, led her to launch her own brand of perfumes for teenagers, Bella Fragrances.

The product is entirely organic, eco-friendly, and handmade. It is made using essential oils and denatured alcohol, derived mainly from roses to give it a floral scent.

Within a month of its launch, the business has already made over Rs 60,000 in revenue and Rs 45,000 in profit, with a gross margin of 65 percent.

You can find them on Instagram here.

DJ Pierre Ravan. ONE OF THE FIRST SPIRITUAL HOUSE DJS IN THE WORLD.DJ, producer, certified Yoga teacher, Heartfulness Meditation trainer, high-end fashion collaborator and global club-headliner.It’s fair to say Pierre Ravan has done more than most during his three decades in dance music.Impressively, Pierre is one of the first to combine feel-good music, Yoga and Heartfulness meditation into his KaRavan concept. Often billed as the first Spiritual House DJ in the world, his KaRavan concept combines yoga, meditation and open-hearted music into one session, creating true dancefloor unity. And it’s been hugely successful. He’s been head-hunted to work alongside the UAE and Indian Governments to conduct Meditation and Yoga classes for Free to all people in the society. And he’s a big draw at festivals, having taken his KaRavan concept to Defected Croatia, Sunburn in Goa and International Yoga festivals. The KaRavan concept has also been translated into 10 compilation albums that perfectly encapsulate his blend of dancefloor spirituality.

Alongside that, Pierre is one of the most important DJs in the fashion world. It’s almost quicker to list the names he’s not worked with, having created fashion catwalk soundtracks for Dolce & Gabbana, Roberto Cavalli, Jean-Paul Gaultier and the first-ever Paco Rabanne nightclub show. During his career, he’s also been the official DJ for Mac/Estee Lauder, DKNY, Galliano and more.

That success has been translated into the club circuit as well. His passport is packed with entry stamps to countries around the world. Some of his most- profile gigs include Space, Privilege and Pacha in Ibiza, Space Miami and 1015 Folsom in San Francisco, Discotheque in Barcelona, Ministry of Sound in London, Cafe Del Mar in Mumbai and dozens more across Europe, Asia, America and the Middle East.

Away from the decks and catwalks, he’s a noted music producer, blending his Persian heritage with his spiritual musical mantra to create a breathtaking array of music spanning chill out plus a darker, late-night deeptek sound. To date, he’s released several artist albums and worked with global labels like EMI/Capitol and Virgin, plus cutting-edge labels including Yoshitoshi, Peppermint Jam, Kingstreet and more. If you only have time to check out one release, make sure it’s his KaRavan triple album. The 24-hour journey starts at dawn and builds through sunset, midnight and sunrise, creating a seamless and timeless dance music journey all about peace, love and unity.

Pierre is in Bangalore for a special performance at RESET in Koramangala on May 26th, 2022.

Note: All tracks played in this recording belong to DJ Pierre Ravan. He has very kindly given us permission to play it here!

Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh founded Black Ticket Films, a creative agency in 2009.

Produced under Ghosh and Thomas' Black Ticket Films banner, the film had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, where it won two awards: The Audience Award and a Special Jury Award: Impact for Change in the World Cinema Documentary category.[3] It received unanimous acclaim from film festivals and critics, winning 28 international awards and critical acclaim from the press. It was named a "Critics Pick" by The New York Times, where it was reviewed as "Rousing...nothing short of galvanizing".[4] Writing with Fire has also been hailed by Jason Reizaian at The Washington Post as "The most inspiring journalism movie - maybe ever".

Conservationist and UNEP - Plastic Tide Turner Ambassador, India. Driven by the idea of coexistence and aiming to inspire positive actions towards social and environmental issues. Interested in developing resilience, adaptation policies and integrated strategies for climate change mitigation.

An MA Environmental studies student, Sneha signed up 300 other students from her college and eventually became one among the 18 affiliated members selected from the country for this campaign.

To initiate the campaign, they chose to clean up a drain inside the campus. But later, they realised that it was a natural stream — home to several living organisms. However, it was clogged up with plastic waste.

In a joint effort, students removed over 700 kg of plastic from the urban stream. During the monsoon, Gangetic Flapshell turtles and crocodiles found their way to the stream. Other insects and plants also grew in their surroundings.

The Bhukhi Stream Project nominated Sneha and her team the Youth for Earth Award.

Had a chat with her and this is how it went!

Born in Kashmir in September 1981 to parents Santosh & Kuldeep and like any ancient culture, food was central to everything he knew growing up a Kashmiri Pandit. With a large family of close uncles and cousins, mealtimes were big affairs.

Sandeep received rave reviews from legendary chefs like Rick Stein and was the first contestant in MasterChef Australia history, to win a Perfect 30 score and an Immunity pin. His Lobster Masala is considered one of the best dishes in the MasterChef Australia’s history and he was given the title of the best Indian cook in the 11 seasons of MasterChef Australia.

Sandeep has been successful in his various food stints after the show, including sold out Pop Ups at restaurants. He also curated a special menu at the iconic Aussie Pub The Cricketers, at Port Melbourne and going beyond curries and curating Indian Bar Dishes called ‘Chakhna’ in a modern Aussie format.

Sandeep curated the MasterChef Australia Dining Experiences across Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore along with some of the Best Indian Chefs. He has also help set up authentic South Indian flavours restaurant in London

In 2021 Sandeep, alongside chefs Adam D’Sylva and Helly Raichura launched a new cooking show called India Unplated on SBS. India Unplated celebrates the beauty of Indian food and uncovers the rich secrets of Indian cuisine from all over the country.

Neerav Ghosh is a film maker with 20+ years of creating content for all screen sizes and continues to be the chief Producer and Director of Oaktree’s content. His previous work includes the 26-part definitive series on the history of Indian Cricket called ‘Midwicket Tales with Naseeruddin Shah’ (2015). His first Feature film as a Writer-Director, Soundtrack, starring Rajeev Khandelwal and Soha Ali Khan, with music by Midival Punditz and Karsh Kale, released to critical acclaim in October 2011. He also has Feature film credits as an Editor, Sound Designer and Writer.

Breakfast with Champions is the flagship offering of Oaktree Sports. At one point, it was India’s first Youtube Original show and is now in its 7th season. It is available on the Youtube channel, ‘Oaktree Sports’ which has 1.6mn subscribers. In previous seasons, the show has featured the who’s who of Indian cricket from Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev to Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, as well as popular International stars like AB De Villiers, Adam Gilchrist and Michael Holding.

The show is back now after nearly 3 years, and is focusing this season on ‘The future of Indian cricket’. The 4 episodes so far have featured KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel and Suryakumar Yadav. So far, these episodes have collectively yielded 20mn views. The new episode drops at 11am on Tuesday, 26th April and features Harshal Patel of RCB, and winner of the Purple cap at IPL 2021

The company Oaktree Sports was founded in 2016 with Gaurav Kapur and Neerav Ghosh, with the intent to tell compelling stores against the backdrop of Indian sport. Apart from the Youtube Channel where all original content is released, the company also has long term partnerships with leagues and franchises to create short form and long form content.

Neerav stopped by for a fun chat!