‘LED BY THE LIGHT’ conceptualized in 2017, is an album of traditional Christmas carols; an essay with global musical flavours. The arrangements encompass energetic rhythms, a splash of festive chants, sargams, percussion et al, bringing on new shades and hues in the embellishments. As with any recording production, this too was a work in progress as we explored the suggestions made and even ventured down paths less trod. Musicians came aboard once arrangements were in place, and every one of them gave of their expertise, adding their own special touch to the album that comprises a dozen carols, including a medley.

Yes, it’s different! The bansuri and smooth strings weave into the familiar strains of ‘Silent Night’, sargams decorate the tranquil flow of ‘Away in a Manger’, spirited percussion finds company in ‘God rest ye Merry Gentlemen’ and more. Tradition remains tradition, while it absorbs and integrates the subtleties of the lands it traverses… as the Magi followed the star, as the shepherds heard the angels, as the radiant beams shone from the manger, as that cold, wintry night brings Light to the world, year after year. This Hallowed Season heralds that same Peace, Love and Joy, as the world rises once again… world without end! This record features renowned musicians who have performed and recorded with some of the finest artists in India and around the world. We have had the privilege to share stage with them and are indeed honoured and grateful for their impeccable, magic touch on ‘Led by the Light’.

Dominic D’Cruz is a musician based in Bengaluru, India, who over the last thirty years, has done everything connected with music - performance, composition, songwriting, teaching, and recording… even worked in a music store. His music has received accolades – finalist in the SDG Action Award for ‘My Earth Songs’ – a collaboration with Grammy® Award winning artist Ricky Kej and Lonnie Park, Outstanding Lyricist Award in the Redemptorists’ Music Video Festival, an Akademia Award, and a Global Music Award. He played bass guitar on two Grammy® Nominated albums - ‘Love Language’ by Wouter Kellerman, and ‘Divine Tides’ by Stewart Copeland & Ricky Kej, and continues to work in the studio and on stage in varied roles – bassist, guitarist, songwriter, vocalist, choir conductor among others. 

Jerusha Lawrence-D’Cruz started singing in church choral groups at a young age and developed a keen interest in harmony. She has been a part of Neecia Majolly’s choirs since 2004 – ‘The Camerata’, ‘The Majolly Music Trust Choir’, ‘Madrigals, Etc.’ and ‘Femusica’ – with notable performances including ‘Carmina Burana’, Mozart’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, traditional folk music and more. She has been a part of collaborations with musicians from various parts of the world including Maria Forsström, Devissaro, and concerts such as ‘Tales of the Night’ conducted by Françoise Lasserre, and ‘Beethoven’s 9th Symphony’ performed under the baton of Vijay Upadhyaya. Jerusha has also performed with the ‘Ricky Kej World Ensemble’, the ‘Bangalore Broadway Company’, and fronted ‘My Earth Band’ at UB City for the 70th anniversary of UNICEF in India. She is currently working on multiple projects in the studio as well as live.

Had them on the show to chat about the album!

Aarohi Pandit is an Indian pilot. After completing her schooling at the age of 17, she enrolled at The Bombay Flying, College of Aviation (BFC), and the flying school in Maharashtra. Aarohi's career began at the age of 21 when she was selected for the Women Empowerment Expedition round-the-world portion on a light-sport aircraft.

On October 15, Captain Aarohi Pandit took off from the Bhuj runway that the women of Madhapar rebuilt within 72 hours during the Indo-Pak war, refuelled at Ahmedabad, and landed at India's first civilian airport in Juhu. She was re-enacting the first commercial flight flown by JRD Tata in 1932.

Listen to her story here!

Today, the 100-acre land in Shoolarji, along the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border is a paradise that’s home to 40,000 trees of 250 varying species, as well as a variety of birds and other biodiversity. Named Vanantara, it is the labour of love of Varun Ravindra and 40-odd others who have brought about such a powerful transformation in a matter of five years.

The 38-year-even during his growing years was making environmentally conscious efforts to reduce the harm on the environment. He graduated in 2009 as a chartered accountant and took a corporate job. Alongside, he was imparting free lessons in Math and English, and taking lessons in organic farming with NGOs. Varun diverted from the professional corporate path to start organic farming.

Initially, Varun planned to take up government-owned land for plantation. But these lands faced threats of ill-maintenance and destruction if left unattended. He then decided to rope in like-minded people through social media and NGOs, who could privately own the land to build a forest and protect the environment. Thus, in 2016, he conceived Vanantara with a few others and collectively bought 100 acres of land.

Varun hopes that creating the green oasis may inspire city dwellers to make a healthier switch and quit the urban lifestyles by following a quieter, environment-friendly life. Varun has also developed three Miyawaki forests by planting 40,000 trees across Bengaluru.

Amisha Sethi, the winner of Haut Monde Mrs. India Worldwide 2021, is the author of the bestseller book 'It doesn't hurt to be nice'. She is a global marketing and strategy leader, fitness coach, and also a fashion model. She is an alumnus of Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and an MBA in marketing from Amity Business School. Amisha is a multi dimensional person who believes in living life to the fullest.  She is a fitness enthusiast who believes in combining the powers of yoga, meditation and mindfulness to those with modern exercises. This award winning marketing leader has worked with organizations like Locus Inc, Air Asia, BlackBerry and Airtel. She is currently leading global marketing for a meditation app startup. She was recognized with the  top 50 most talented brand leaders award in 2013 and also the young women rising star award at the world leadership congress. She illustrates her journey at Haut Monde as the most exhilarating, unique, and full of exquisite learning. This glamorous lady also received the subtitle of 'Beauty with brain' at Mrs. India Worldwide 2021.

She is a dancer and a poet too who loves to keep challenging herself. Listen to her story here!

Let's face it: Online Dating is hard. The pandemic has made things even tougher. I spoke to a guy who helped setup a dating app and you will love this conversation!

The Aisle app was launched in 2016 and Able calls it the right mix of a casual dating app and a matrimonial app. Able says that he started Aisle out of his own exasperation of the interfaces that a lot of matrimonial apps (where his parents forced him to be a member) had back in 2013. Able met his wife through Aisle, the dating app that he founded, half a decade back. Now, after enabling a good few Indians to find love, Able and his team have recently launched the app in three regional languages — Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu — to bring people across strata to the platform. Their target group is mostly people over 24 and that Aisle is not exactly for college students.

Able Joseph is the founder and CEO at the "Aisle" App. He even met his wife on the app! Listen to his story here!

Arun Prasad (46years) is a practicing Pannapictagraphist (Comic Archivist), history researcher, artist and freelance writer based in Bangalore. He began his career as a journalist and soon enough decided to dedicate his time exclusively to nurturing his lifelong obsession for collecting and preserving comics. His comic collection is a treasure in true sense, consisting of a wide range of Indian and Western comics books/strips with an exhaustive collection of many out of print comic books from various publishers in India.  With his zeal for art and alternative genre films, he worked as an associate creative director for an award winning Malayalam feature film 'Pani' (Fever) in 2019. He has curated several exhibitions based on his

comic collection at Comic Cons and other cultural and art forums in India from 2012 onwards.

He was described as "one of India's most serious comic collectors" by the Mid Day Magazine.

Arun's collection has been showcased in the History channel in the programme, ‘The Great India collectors Ride’ in August 2014. He is currently working on a research project tracing the history and evolution of comics in India.

Listen to his story here!

A lot of games have sexualisation of characters that put women gamers off or they face explicit harassment online. And this extends to racism for Asian, Hispanic and other gamers across borders. While there were companies looking to solve the problem, there was little really being done. How can we solve this?

Gamestacy is a game developer studio that is working towards enhancing gaming experience for all users, regardless of gender, race, or class. In its early days, Bangalore-based Gamestacy was a part of few accelerators, where Danish was asked to focus his business around a particular problem. Digging deep, he felt that new age gamers couldn’t find inclusive games.

The idea behind Gamestacy was how to solve the issues of social communication inside the game, considering that there was just only a little being done by a few companies when it comes to sexualization of characters, online harassment against minority communities, racism, etc. in the gaming sphere.

Gamestacy wants to build millions of users that can play a game and people find a safe space to play and share a game.

Listen to Danish's Story here!

If you had to pick.. what is a fast food that represents the entire length and breath of India? I think we might have found it.

Bangalore-based startup Samosa Party, founded by Amit Nanwani and Diksha Pande, is building a D2C brand using one of India's most humble snacks – Samosa. They are on a mission to take Samosas to the world. They serve Hot and Crispy samosas in 15 varieties with freshly made condiments and accompaniments. With Samosa Party, the co-founders want to create a differentiated experience for the urban millennial customers who value convenience, hygiene, and quality even if they have to pay extra. What started as a single takeaway store in Bangalore serving eight to nine varieties of samosas is today available across 15 locations in the city, as well as online on food delivery marketplaces and its own website. The D2C brand records 50,000 orders per month and its customers consume close to 50 lakh samosas a year.

Diksha has spent her corporate career in the F & B industry from the Oberoi Group to Pizza Hut to Chai Point, thus she has a deep understanding of the industry. She has always been curious about consumer behaviors and the opportunities they present. She noticed there weren’t any large-scale QSR brands of local snacks, thus came the idea of starting Samosa Party.

Vidyun R Hebbar is a 10 years old Photographer. He has been clicking photographs since he was 3 years old. He’s passionate about macro photography, but also likes to click all sorts of pictures from birds to onions. He has learnt his photography skills from his father. He usually clicks photos in the beautiful gardens of Bangalore. He along with his father visit nearby parks to capture photographs of insects and bugs. He also likes to photograph in forest-like areas near his grandfather’s place in Sringeri.

Vidyun has won the highly commended award in 10 years and under of Wildlife Photographer of the year 2020, which is often called as the “Oscars of Wildlife Photography”. This award is organized by the Natural history museum, London.

Vidyun is also an avid reader.

Listen to his story here!

Launched in 2019 by 19-year-old Nakshatra Sanjai, noo-gah! is a gamified social media platform that rewards and encourages users to connect via two-minute opinion-driven videos. The platform aims to be a unified podium where everyone can come and voice their opinion, ushering in change — opinion by opinion. The idea was the outcome of a 22-year loyalty programme run by Nakshatra’s father, Sanjai Velayudhan, with global brands. That mostly included global airlines, premium hotel brands, retail behemoths etc. He has always been a proponent of a dialogue between brands and end-consumers. The opinion aggregator allows seamless sharing of opinions, thoughts, and ideas, helping to start a discourse with a global audience. Available to both Android and iOS users, the app include elements of gamification and innovative loyalty rewards.

Listen to her story here!