In Conversation with Ashwin

On the show, we discuss Rashi’s journey of vagabonding across different cities in India as an army kid and how that helped her to embrace change and even thrive in it. We discuss how the army life exposed her to sports early in her life, her tennis adventures and why she decided not to pursue a career in sports. We get her take on women and gender diversity in the corporate and sports arena. We talk gender conditioning and how it is important, yet difficult, for women to be unapologetic about pursuing their ambitions. How women can and should be helped to become great sportswomen. Rashi’s definition of ‘progressive thinking’ and her gratitude towards her family for being progressive. Her push on ‘What would you with your life if you weren’t afraid?’ To close, we discuss her favourite books and her dog Bruce who has an Instagram handle of his own (Whether you listen to the podcast or not, you must take a look at Bruce. As Rashi says, in our conversation- He is a happy ball of fur). 

Show notes-

Books mentioned-
Lean in
Why nations fail
Sapiens
Harry Potter
The man in the high castle

You can find Rashi on-

Twitter- https://twitter.com/rashi_kakkar

LinkedIn-
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rashikakkar/
Rashi’s articles on Firstpost- https://www.firstpost.com/author/rashikakkar

Rashi was identified as a stereotype defying candidate by a top MBA blog, Poets & Quants- https://poetsandquants.com/2016/08/31/introducing-mba-class-2018/15/

Bruce’s (Rashi and Anubhav's dog) Instagram handle - 

https://instagram.com/bruce_the_brat?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=1wji0jgj57e9r

On the show, we discuss Rashi’s journey of vagabonding across different cities in India as an army kid and how that helped her to embrace change and even thrive in it. We discuss how the army life exposed her to sports early in her life, her tennis adventures and why she decided not to pursue a career in sports. We get her take on women and gender diversity in the corporate and sports arena. We talk gender conditioning and how it is important, yet difficult, for women to be unapologetic about pursuing their ambitions. How women can and should be helped to become great sportswomen. Rashi’s definition of ‘progressive thinking’ and her gratitude towards her family for being progressive. Her push on ‘What would you with your life if you weren’t afraid?’ To close, we discuss her favourite books and her dog Bruce who has an Instagram handle of his own (Whether you listen to the podcast or not, you must take a look at Bruce. As Rashi says, in our conversation- He is a happy ball of fur). 

You can find Rashi on-
Rashi’s articles on Firstpost- https://www.firstpost.com/author/rashikakkar
Twitter- @rashi_kakkar
Rashi was identified as a stereotype defying candidate by a top MBA blog, Poets & Quants
https://poetsandquants.com/2016/08/31/introducing-mba-class-2018/15/

Books- 
Lean in
Why Nations fail
Sapiens
Man on a high castle
Harry Potter

Amrita, an HR professional for 7 years, now turned photographer runs mommyshotsbyamrita- your one stop shop for anything baby and camera related. She’s been an entrepreneur for 4 and a half years now. Although Amrita Samant liked her job in the Human Resource department, there was a constant desire in her to do something artistic with her life. During this phase in her life, photography started off as an interest to her, and she quickly capitalized on her newly discovered ambition. She parted ways with her career in Human Resources, and Amrita Samant decided to combine her love for two of her favorite things: photography and babies, and founded “Mommy Shots by Amrita”- a high quality photography service for maternity, newborn and toddlers. She has 75K+ followers on Instagram and is someone who makes a 'not-so-fond-of babies' person like me go 'oh so cute' with her incredible baby shots. I am not lying when I say that her pictures on my feed lighten up my day so easily. 

Show notes- 
You can find mommyshotsbyamrita on- 

Website- http://www.mommyshotsbyamrita.com/ 
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/mommyshotsbyamrita/ 
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/mommyshotsbyamrita/ 
Amrita’s person handle (very travel heavy and some spectacular iPhone shots)- https://www.instagram.com/thatwindowseat/ 

More about Amrita’s campaign on raising awareness on breastmilk donation- https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/meet-amrita-chennai-photographer-who-raising-awareness-breastmilk-donation-86489 

Listen to my chat with AR Rahman’s authorized biographer, Krishna Trilok (who also discusses writer’s/creative block)-https://soundcloud.com/in-conversation-with-ashwin/episode-9-krishna-trilok

You can find Swapna on-
Facebook-https://www.facebook.com/swapna.nair
Swapna’s glamorous experience as the cover girl of Good Housekeeping- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhZhwC_g1AA 
Swapna’s blog - http://dreamlearns.blogspot.com/ 

Show notes- 

People- 
Carol Dweck 
Marilee Adams 
Brene Brown 

Books- 
Mindset 
Change your questions, change your life 
Daring greatly

Aditya is a former investment banker and management consultant with a Finance degree from NYU Stern, but he left all that behind to join Pocket Aces, a digital media start-up best known for it's channels FilterCopy and Dice Media. After starting as a production intern, 3 months he was asked to take over as the Head of Video for FilterCopy. You might not have heard of Aditya himself but chances are that you must have seen many of the viral videos that he has produced on your Facebook and Youtube feeds. He has created several online popular videos, and worked with the likes of Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Ayushman Khurana and Rani Mukherjee.. Aditya’s shift from investment banking to the creative and media industry happened in a matter of 3 years. He was recently invited by Josh Talks, an Indian TedTalk equivalent to speak about career choices and how you should think about it. I watched the 12 minute video and found it to be super simple and solid advice. 

Would definitely recommend watching (see link below) Aditya is also the host of India's premier Bollywood podcast Bollywood weekly where he hosts guests and discusses the latest movie releases (see link below). In my conversation with Aditya, we discuss his journey and career choices-how he shifted from investment banking and consulting to video head at Filter Copy. Aditya gives us a brief overview of the various steps involved in the creation of a video-from start to finish. He also talks to us about the different factors that are thought through in the choice and production of a video (targeted audience, mass reach etc). We also talk Bollywood, its evolution over the past few years and how exciting the years ahead are going to be. To close, Aditya shares his picks of 2 underrated movies in Bollywood that are a must watch! 

Show notes-
Aditya's podcast (Bollywood Weekly) 
https://audioboom.com/channel/bollywood-weekly-tic 

You can find Aditya on- 
Instagram-https://www.instagram.com/adipish/ 
Facebook-https://www.facebook.com/aditya.pisharody 

Aditya’s video on career motivation with Josh Talks- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIDkLC8loiU 

Aditya's underrated movie recommendations- 
'Dev D' and 'Waiting' 

Other movies discussed- 
Parmanu, 
October, 
Veere Di Wedding, 
Dhishoom and 
Judwa 2

In my conversation with Krishna, we talk about his early childhood, his love for battlefields, how he hid his passion for writing for a good amount of time just so he wouldn't be discouraged. His loneliness and frustration leading up to his first publication, Krishna's interaction with musical maestro, AR Rahman (Krishna spent months traveling with AR Rahman, spoke to his family, directors and others who are a part of his journey). We discuss Rahman's personality, humour, humility and his unique gift of elevating spirits around him. Krishna talks to us about writer's block, how he tackles it and lots more on why Krishna thinks everybody should write-one way or the other. We also discuss Krishna's favourite books. You can find all books and important links mentioned in the show notes, below

Krishna is a great lover of a good story and has a keen, long-time fascination for Asian and European history and mythology. A student of commerce and marketing, he started writing in my teens – with the sole and simple intent of creating a big battle scene set in a world of his own imagination. The result, ten years later, was his first book: Sharikrida which has garnered world-wide applause. He is also the authorised biographer of Mr. A.R. Rahman, which will be released by June next year.

You can find Krishna on-

Facebook-https://www.facebook.com/krishna.trilok

Twitter- @krishna_trilok

Instagram-https://www.instagram.com/krishnatrilok/

Show notes-

Krishna's 1st book-

Sharikrida- https://www.amazon.in/Sharikrida-Krishna-Trilok/dp/194643664X

Books mentioned-

Sam the Magic Genie by Brian Mayne

Devotion of suspect X by Keigo Higashino

Illusions by Richard Bach

In casual conversation with Chennai boy and a dear friend- Ashwin Sridhar Iyer (fondly known as Iyer). We discuss Iyer’s childhood, his journey in Boston and what motivates him. We also discuss his obsession of making people around him happy, how he deals with expectations of being happy all the time and his love for alone time. Iyer shares a tip on how humour helps him get through difficult times and some friendly banter plus inside jokes (we take a dig at our good friends). Lastly, Iyer’s consistent betrayal to Ajith and Vijay surfaces in our conversation as well. I had a great time recording this. Hope you guys enjoy listening to it!

Ashwin Sridhar Iyer grew up in Chennai and is currently pursuing his masters in Supply Chain Management in the University of Boston.

You can find Ashwin on Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/ashwin.sridhar.5

Pranshu grew up in Chennai, went to Wharton for college. He had originally dreamed of going into politics in India after college (idealistic dreams of changing the country and all that. He started his first company in his 2nd year; retail analytics using security cameras which got funded by Y combinator, raised $1mm. But then he shut the product down in 2016, returned money and began pivoting. He came back to India in September 2016 and started SimpleMoney. Simplemoney tracks your portfolio automatically by reading the statements in your inbox!

In my conversation with Pranshu, we discuss his early childhood, his passion for building relevant institutions, his learnings at Wharton, his learnings from startups- funding, how to approach funding and when is a good time to raise money, the VC death trap. Specifically we also talk about his start up Simple money which tracks your portfolio automatically by reading the statements in your inbox. We discuss his favourite books, minimalism and even discuss our mutual love for renowned organizational psychologist, Wharton Professor and one of my favouritest authors- Adam Grant.

Show notes-

Simple Money- https://simplemoney.in/

Pranshu's blog post on Prayas shutting down and his learnings from the same: https://medium.com/@pranshum/10-lessons-on-3-years-with-prayas-31cdaf893b40

TV shows-

Mad Men

Books-

Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard

Midnight's children by Salman Rushdie

People-

Adam Grant

Salman Rushdie

In casual conversation with film enthusiast Kishen Das. Kishen is a film enthusiast and currently works with film merchandising and movie reviewing company-Fully Filmy. Only 20 years old, Kishen has a great skill base to thrive in the movie world as an actor and beyond. Only a matter of time till he makes it to the box office.

We discuss his early childhood, stand-up comedy, why slapstick humour works best with the Indian audience, Kishen's job at Fully filmy, youtube's strength in promoting good content, Kishen's film reviewing guidelines, Merasal, Padmvat and other controversy struck movies.

You can find Kishen on-

Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/kishendas/

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/iamkishendas

Twitter- https://twitter.com/kishen_das

Youtube-https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuxZyUMvZCIVx6fV0omnssQ

Link to Fully Filmy's youtube channel-

Show notes-

My favourite video of Kishen- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G25koYgyYO4

Top 10 movies of 2017-http://showtodaytv.com/play-clip-top-10-movies-of-2017-fully-filmy-rewind_tvQ6FEyhS9jXY

In casual conversation with yogini Deepika Mehta. Deepika is a well known yoga teacher and professional fitness expert, Deepika lives in Mumbai, India where she teaches regular classes in Bandra. She also has clients (individuals and corporates) all over the country. She helps them achieve ultimate mind and body experiences with Ashtanga Yoga, diet and lifestyle advice, and has helped them arrive at their goals.

Our discussion dives into Deepika's journey and transition into yoga as a way of life, the different types of yoga, thinks to check before you decide on a yoga instructor, Deepika's course on codyapp, her favourite books and the secret behind her breath-taking instagram photos

You can find Deepika on-

Website-http://deepikamehta.in/

Instagram-https://www.instagram.com/deepikamehtayoga/?hl=en

Facebook-https://www.facebook.com/deepikamehtayoga/

Deepika's course on Codyapp-

https://www.codyapp.com/coach/deepika

Her 2 favourite books-

1. The power of intention by Wayne Dyer-https://www.amazon.in/Power-Intention-Dr-Wayne-Dyer/dp/8190565524

2. The law of attraction by Esther and Jerry Hicks- https://www.amazon.in/Law-Attraction-Basics-Teachings-Abraham/dp/1401912273/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1515936164&sr=8-1&keywords=the+law+of+attraction+esther+hicks