Lifestyle Architecture Lab

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In this episode, I’m talking to Chidanand Hiremath who is a Visual Designer, Photographer and former Digital Nomad. He has travelled 30+ countries till now and currently living in Berlin and getting his Masters in children’s rights and childhood education. His love for travelling started since his childhood when one day his father brought him an old NatGeo Travellers magazine from 1949. In his early 20s, he left his first job and started freelancing as a graphic designer. Since then he’s never looked back, he’s doing what he loves and exploring himself as an artist and as a creative.

In this conversation, we talked about how he got started with travelling, why he doesn’t like travelling as a tourist. How he started out with freelance graphic design and did his first solo trip in India with his own earned money and subsequently internationally. His perspective on how being a digital nomad may look attractive externally but how hard it is when you actually go ahead and do it.

He also does nude art (sketching and drawing) and we get into the detail about how it practically works out. He also talks about why he doesn’t like selling work of art or photos on stock sites. There are a lot of interesting topics in this conversation. I really enjoyed talking to Chidanand.

So without further adieu, please enjoy this conversation with Chidanand Hiremath.

Interesting references –

• National Geographic magazines from where his love for travelling sprouted, his dad brought him old magazines. Here his blog’s link to this story.
• Buddh International Circuit, Noida India – He went to see the first race here and from there he went to his first solo journey to McLeod Ganj, Himachal for the first time.
• His mom used to read a lot of English books, so he learnt and got the habit of reading from her. But he always loved how his dad narrated the stories.
• If you want to live a nomadic lifestyle, these are points you should think about –
  • First and foremost, if you really would like to do it, and not because it looks cool!
  • Let go of the feeling of stability and security in terms of income, relationships and more. If you want the network of people around the world, but not a very close group.
  • Just going ahead and actually doing it. Make a plan and execute it.
• He’s leaning into Filmmaking, editing, colour grading etc at this time.
• He likes Germany quite a bit because of the cleanliness and the freedom to express yourself and also Taiwan because of cleanliness and calmness and a very good transport system.
• He makes physical notes as compared to digital notes for more of a sensory feeling and brain connection.
• He’s finishing up his Masters in children’s rights and childhood studies.
• His dream is to make a feature film and backpack to Africa.

People mentioned –

• Amit Mehta‘s – Vegan Potluck where we met
• Uma da Cunha – Festival Curator.
• Bhavani – who’s story was published in the NatGeo Traveller India along with a photograph taken by Chidanand. Here is the link to the story and here is the link to NatGeo Traveller India Nov 2014 edition.
• His Favorite photography type – Portraits and he doesn’t like to put them online, he prints them out and shares with his subjects (people in the portraits).
• Sam Harris – mentioned by Himanshu
• Anurag Kashyap

Books mentioned –

• John Grisham Books – Legal Thrillers
• Frederick Forsyth Books – Crime Fiction
• Robert Ludlum Books – Spy Fiction
• Perry Mason Book Series – Law/Detective Fiction
• Sydney Sheldon Books – Thrillers
• Paulo Coelho Books – Fiction/NonFiction

Movies mentioned –

• Ford Vs Ferrari
• Parasite
• Dev.D
• Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1
• Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 2

App/Tools mentioned –

• Adobe Illustrator
• His current camera – Nikon D750 (Full Frame)
• His lense of choice – 50mm Prime
• Mobile workflow tools –
  • Lumii
  • Adobe Lightroom Mobile
  • Snapseed
• Video Editing – DaVinci Resolve
• Calm – for meditation
• Waking Up by Sam Harris – app for meditation – mentioned by Himanshu

Quotes mentioned –

• I like to read fiction as my life is creating enough Non-Fiction Stories.
• When you travel, you meet new people, so it’s like you read a new book every day!
• Know yourself!
• People are in pursuit of many things in life, for external reasons not internal. Maybe they are doing things they are not even motivated to do, but because other people expect these things from them. Very few people speak to themselves and their innermost desires and really let reflect themselves. Everything happened to you since you were a baby and has shaped you, when you reflect on that, when you evaluate yourself as a human being, you’ll make decisions that will make you happier.

The ways you can connect with Chidanand Hiremath –

• Websites – Design Portfolio | Travel
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Facebook
• YouTube

Play the podcast on your favourite platform

This podcast is brought to you by audible. I love audiobooks and I’ve been using Audible for years. Whenever I’m commuting to work and back. Almost always I’m listening to a book. Because I don’t get as much time to read as I would like to. Audiobooks help me read books in a whole new way.

For you, the listeners of Lifestyle Architecture Lab podcast, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-days trial, the free audiobook is yours to keep even after the trial ends. I have a few audiobooks to recommend –

• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – This is one of those books which will take you back to ancient times and teach you so much. I recently read it and it just blew my mind.
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman – This is one of the greatest bedtime books. Neil Gaiman’s voice just makes this book much more wonderful. The story and the narration is just amazing.

You can download any one of these audiobooks or thousands more for free right now, just go to audibletrial.com/HimanshuSachdeva for your free audiobook.

Listen to this podcast on one of your favourite platforms –

Connect with Himanshu –

• Twitter
• Instagram

Previous episodes along with show-notes available here.

Credits and License:

My awesome intro background – The Real Broadway Musical by Narch and Dan Mace (Thanks guys)
Outro background – Tight Shorts – Andrew Applepie

Have something to say? Join the conversation in our Facebook community group!

The post #23 – Chidanand Hiremath (Visual Designer, Photographer and former Digital Nomad) – Traveling the world, knowing oneself and creating nude art appeared first on Lifestyle Architecture Lab.

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In this episode, I’m talking to Shashank Murali who’s the Co-Founder and CEO of TapChief. TapChief is an Indian Start-up which aims to build the future of work with it’s focus on Solopreneurs and the gig economy. A freelance professional can register on TapChief and can access thousands of projects to choose from and TapChief handles all the things around this and help the freelancer earn well.

Shashank is a BITS Pilani Alumni. Like many tech founders, his journey also started in the hostel room of BITS Pilani where he created the early version of what today is TapChief.

In this candid conversation, we talk about his journey and how TapChief started out from his hostel room and has now become one of the top Indian Start-ups and is having 1 Lakh plus professionals on their platform. How BITS Pilani shaped his thought process. We go deep on TapChief’s focus on people with Attention to detail and empathy. Their goal of getting 2 Million people to the platform and much more. There are a lot of nuggets in this episode for anyone who’s aspiring to start a company or a start-up which is looking to level up.

So without further adieu, please enjoy this conversation with Shashank Murali.

Interesting references –

• Advice is the product which Shashank and the team built initially while in the college
• Blume Investments invested in Tapchief in 2019. TapChief grew from 15 people team to 50 people team in 2019 and eventually grew to 60 people team at the time of this podcast publishing (Jun 2020).
• Shashank is BITS Pilani alumni. Situated in a tiny village on the Rajasthan – Haryana states border in India. BITS taught him to embrace Diversity.
• Shashank grew an interest in Sound mixing while in college. He mixed live show for Farhan Akhtar, Vishal Dadlani as well.
• Tapchief has a very diverse team with people from 19 odd states today.
• Shashank thinks that educational institutes that provide creative freedom to students by giving them a problem or a task and asking them to do it their own way instil an entrepreneurial mindset in their students.
• Infosys – One of the biggest Indian MNCs in the software development space.
• OKRs (Tapchief is currently working to put this framework in place) – Objectives and key results (OKR) is a goal-setting framework that helps organisations define goals — or objectives — and then track the outcome.
• Flipped Learning Model – It’s a flipped model of learning when homework and brainstorming happen in class and study content is provided to be learned at home.
• Tapchief’s goal is 2 Million people on the platform in a few years.

People mentioned –

• N. R. Narayana Murthy – Infosys Co-Founder.
• Nandan Nilekani – Infosys Co-Founder.
• Vijay Shekhar Sharma – Paytm Co-Founder and investor in Tapchief
• Sachin Bansal – Flipkart Co-Founder
• Binny Bansal – Flipkart Co-Founder
• Kunal Shah – Co-Founder Freecharge and CRED

Apps and Tools mentioned –

• Slack – they use it in the company as a very important piece of communication, leads and backend integrations etc.
• Loom – Quick video messages

Books mentioned –

• Delivering Happiness – one of his best spends on a book – he loved the transformation of intention from the quest for success to quest for user experience and quest for happiness.
• Measure What Matters by John Doerr
• Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt

Shows mentioned –

• Drive to Survive – Formula 1 (on Netflix)
• The Last Dance – Michael Jordan Docu-series

Quotes mentioned –

• People grow to the extent of their responsibility.
• In the early time of building the team in a start-up, increasing the headcount slowly is a good idea. Taking on only the people who bring a unique skill to the table and the passion. You should get those people on-board who you enjoy working with and even outside the work. They become the pillars of your start-up.
• Most important factors for letting people into their company are – Attention to detail and Empathy. How someone writes an email, tells you a lot about that person. Asking about a specific tough scenario tells a lot about empathy in a person.
• When you put down the future plan and goals on paper and share with your team, people’s perspective change and they start coming up with awesome solutions as a team. So as a leader it’s very important to set the objectives and let people choose the path.
• Anything that matters needs to be measured.
• What gets measured, gets managed – Peter Drucker
• Funding is not a measure of success, it’s a toll towards success.
• For any start-up founder, they need to evaluate that do they even need funding in the first place. Are they even built for venture economics?
• VCs are usually looking to fund ideas which can grow irrationally and thereby can go ahead and have a large proportion of the market.
• Empathy is usually looked at from a standpoint of someone helping someone in a tough situation but there is also another perspective when someone helps someone so they succeed.
• Measuring yourself on the right scale is very important.
• Hope is addictive.

The ways you can connect with Shashank Murali –

• Twitter
• TapChief Website

Play the podcast on your favourite platform

This podcast is brought to you by audible. I love audiobooks and I’ve been using Audible for years. Whenever I’m commuting to work and back. Almost always I’m listening to a book. Because I don’t get as much time to read as I would like to. Audiobooks help me read books in a whole new way.

For you, the listeners of Lifestyle Architecture Lab podcast, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-days trial, the free audiobook is yours to keep even after the trial ends. I have a few audiobooks to recommend –

• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – This is one of those books which will take you back to ancient times and teach you so much. I recently read it and it just blew my mind.
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman – This is one of the greatest bedtime books. Neil Gaiman’s voice just makes this book much more wonderful. The story and the narration is just amazing.

You can download any one of these audiobooks or thousands more for free right now, just go to audibletrial.com/HimanshuSachdeva for your free audiobook.

Listen to this podcast on one of your favourite platforms –

Connect with Himanshu –

• Twitter
• Instagram

Previous episodes along with show-notes available here.

Credits and License:

My awesome intro background – The Real Broadway Musical by Narch and Dan Mace (Thanks guys)
Outro background – Tight Shorts – Andrew Applepie

Have something to say? Join the conversation in our Facebook community group!

The post #22 – Shashank Murali (Co-Founder and CEO of TapChief) – Building the Future of Work appeared first on Lifestyle Architecture Lab.

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In this episode, I’m talking to Aditya Kalyanpur who is a world-renowned Indian Tabla Maestro. He has trained under the Tabla Legends Ustad Allarakha Khan and Ustad Zakir Hussain. Since his first appearance in the Wah Taj! ad in the 90s where he played the Tabla along with Ustad Zakir Hussain, to now when he has become the Tabla Maestro and taken the Indian Tabla Classical Indian music art form across International boundaries. He’s played along with the Indian Legends like Shivkumar Sharma, Amjad Ali Khan, A.R. Rahman, Rahul Sharma and western legendary artists like Katy Perry, Herbie Hancock, Larry Coryell and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones to name a few. He also popularised the colourful Tablas. He’s wearing multiple hats at the moment, founder of 2 music institutes in the US and a non-profit in Mumbai India which helps out kids with Cancer.

In this conversation, we talked about his initial journey, his time with his Gurus, his creative process, how to perfect your craft and much more.

It was amazing to talk to Aditya jee and I hope you’ll love it too.

So without further adieu, please enjoy this conversation with Aditya Kalyanpur.

People mentioned –

• Ustad Allarakha Khan
• Ustad Zakir Hussain
• Shivkumar Sharma
• Amjad Ali Khan
• A.R. Rahman
• Rahul Sharma
• Katy Perry
• Herbie Hancock
• Larry Coryell
• Keith Richards
• Prabha Atre – Classical Indian Vocalist
• N Rajam – Indian Violinist
• Bill Gates
• Steve Jobs
• Mark Zuckerberg
• APJ Abdul Kalam – Former President of India – Aditya performed for him in 2006 in Florida, Mr Kalam gave him a signed copy of his book Wings of Fire.
• Pramukh Swami Maharaj

Books mentioned –

• Wings of Fire
• Transcendence

App/Tools mentioned –

• Logic Pro
• Maschine – Native Instruments
• Spotify
• JioSaavn

Interesting references –

• Aditya’s Music Schools –
  • New England School of Music based in Boston.
  • Recently started Peshkaar Music Institute based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
• Non-profit which Aditya founded in 2008 in Mumbai – Shyamal Music Foundation. SMF was created in honour of his mother’s memory who lost her own battle against cancer.
• Aditya brought the concept of Colorful Tablas to life. It wasn’t there before.
• You need to put your personal time in your daily schedule – your training, riyaz, your reading and even Netflix when you need a break from a certain activity.
• This lockdown (due to COVID-19) is a time to think inwards. To introspect and work on oneself. We as human beings need to take a break. Do things which you were not able to do for years, because of the rat race.
• Aditya name means – Lord of the sun
• Aditya’s favourite Dish – Chicken Biryani
• Aditya’s favourite Artists –
  • Indian artists –
    • A.R. Rehman
    • Pritam
    • Salim–Sulaiman
    • Shankar Mahadevan
    • Shankar Ehsan Loy
    • Arijit Singh
    • Sonu Nigam
  • Country Music –
    • Blake Shelton
    • Tim McGraw
  • Jazz Music –
    • Chick Corea
    • Herbie Hancock
    • Miles Davis
  • One of the piece of music Himanshu mentioned where Aditya Collaborated with a flute artist – Raga Bhimapalasi – Gat in Rupak Tala

Quotes mentioned –

• LA (Los Angles) is the melting pot of world cultures. It’s a place where everyone comes tother and nurture each other’s talents.
• I think you remain a student of your instrument every day, the more sadhana, the more riyaz you put in, people slowly start recognising you and see how much training you have put into your craft. More than your brand image, your music or your craft should speak for yourself.
• If you give love to Tabla, Tabla will love you back — Ustad Allarakha Khan
• I firmly believe in quality over quantity, if you give your 100% to that one thing then if that thing would otherwise take 3 hours can be done probably in an hour. Focus is really important.
• I’ve played with a variety of genres. Music is one, just the expression is different.

The ways you can connect with Aditya Kalyanpur –

• Website
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Facebook
• YouTube

Play the podcast on your favourite platform

This podcast is brought to you by audible. I love audiobooks and I’ve been using Audible for years. Whenever I’m commuting to work and back. Almost always I’m listening to a book. Because I don’t get as much time to read as I would like to. Audiobooks help me read books in a whole new way.

For you, the listeners of Lifestyle Architecture Lab podcast, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-days trial, the free audiobook is yours to keep even after the trial ends. I have a few audiobooks to recommend –

• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – This is one of those books which will take you back to ancient times and teach you so much. I recently read it and it just blew my mind.
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman – This is one of the greatest bedtime books. Neil Gaiman’s voice just makes this book much more wonderful. The story and the narration is just amazing.

You can download any one of these audiobooks or thousands more for free right now, just go to audibletrial.com/HimanshuSachdeva for your free audiobook.

Listen to this podcast on one of your favourite platforms –

Connect with Himanshu –

• Twitter
• Instagram

Previous episodes along with show-notes available here.

Credits and License:

My awesome intro background – The Real Broadway Musical by Narch and Dan Mace (Thanks guys)
Outro background – Tight Shorts – Andrew Applepie

Have something to say? Join the conversation in our Facebook community group!

The post #21 – Aditya Kalyanpur (World-renowned Indian Tabla Maestro) – Taking Indian Tabla across International boundaries appeared first on Lifestyle Architecture Lab.

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In this episode, I’m talking to Stuart DaCosta, who is a music composer and bassist in the band The Yellow Diary whose songs like Na Tere Jeha Hora Disda and Rab Rakha have been rocking the charts since the day 1 of launch. I absolutely love this band.

Stuart has been in the indie music scene in India from a long time. He has played in various bands like Something Relevant, Baycity Lights etc and then eventually made his way into The Yellow Diary. Which is now signed by Sony Music India. On the side he’s also working for bigger projects with his music production company – Salvage Audio Collective and have worked with films like Gully Boy which had chartbuster songs.

This is an episode with which most of the musicians might resonate. A lot of tidbits for musicians. But for everyone else also it will be a good episode and teach you if you keep working on what you love with all your passion, you definitely will get there.

So without further adieu, please enjoy this conversation with Stuart DaCosta.

People mentioned –

• Joe Satriani – American musician
• Kavita Sharma – Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Rajan Batra – Lead Vocalist – The Yellow Diary Band
• Sahil Shah – Drums – The Yellow Diary Band
• Vaibhav Pani – Guitarist – The Yellow Diary Band
• Himonshu Parikh – Music Producer and Keyboardist
• Vishal Dadlani
• Papon
• Raghu Dixit
• Blackstratblues
• Harsh – Guitarist
• Mallika Barot
• Siddharth Pandit
• Juancho Herrera – Amazing latin guitar player based in NY – here’s one of his performances from 2015.
• Sofia Tosello – Incredible vocal coach
• Andres Rotmistrovsky – Bass Legend
• Ferenc Nemeth – Drums – He’s also the creator of the Drum School App – check out this video
• Rohan Ramanna
• Benny Greb
• JJ
• Jack Steadman of Bombay Bicycle Club‘s (English indie Rock Band)
• Mutemath
• Ed Sheeran
• Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
• Quincy Jones
• Frank Sinatra
• Michael Jackson
• Jacob Collier – one of his YouTube video
• Antibalas
• Kaytranada
  • 99.9 Album
  • Lite Spots track

Books mentioned –

• The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Film(s) mentioned –

• Forest Gump

Softwares/apps/tools mentioned –

• Logic Pro
• UAD Plugins
• Satelite Device
• SoundToys Bundle
• Ableton Live
• Pro Tools
• Oek sound soothe plugin
• Drum Sticks and Practice Pad – YouTube video showing how it works

Interesting references –

• Bandstand revival project – History | Twitter Handle
• Liar Liar song – One of Stuart’s performances as a lead vocalist in his earlier Band – Something Relevant
• Timeout
• Hanging Gardens, Mumbai
• Serendipity
• Himonshu and Rajan worked on a project and eventually worked on Marz song together. Which eventually became one of the initial songs of The Yellow Diary. Then Vaibhav Pani joined in and subsequently, others joined in.
• Mauj Maharaja Band (started by people involved in Something Relevant Band)
• Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music (SAM) – Stuart learned in this music academy.
• Stuart and friends from Swarnabhoomi started Cotton Press Studio, Elphinston Road
• Salvage Audio Collective – Stuart’s music production company which he found along with his musician friends.
• Sony Music India – Record label who signed The Yellow Diary
• FOMO – Fear of missing out
• Morning pages – writing your monkey mind-brain dump on paper in morning – idea from the book The Artist’s way
• Artist’s Date – allowing yourself in indulging in anything your curious mind is thinking off, liberating yourself – idea from the book The Artist’s way
• Manga Movies
• Hayao Miyazaki movies

Quotes mentioned –

• If you have good thoughts, good words and good intentions; you’ll have a good life. Nothing else is in your control really. – Stuart
• I don’t think that there are patterns in creativity, ideas could come from anywhere – Stuart

The ways you can connect with Stuart DaCosta –

• Instagram
• Twitter

Play the podcast on your favourite platform

This podcast is brought to you by audible. I love audiobooks and I’ve been using Audible for years. Whenever I’m commuting to work and back. Almost always I’m listening to a book. Because I don’t get as much time to read as I would like to. Audiobooks help me read books in a whole new way.

For you, the listeners of Lifestyle Architecture Lab podcast, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-days trial, the free audiobook is yours to keep even after the trial ends. I have a few audiobooks to recommend –

• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – This is one of those books which will take you back to ancient times and teach you so much. I recently read it and it just blew my mind.
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman – This is one of the greatest bedtime books. Neil Gaiman’s voice just makes this book much more wonderful. The story and the narration is just amazing.

You can download any one of these audiobooks or thousands more for free right now, just go to audibletrial.com/HimanshuSachdeva for your free audiobook.

Listen to this podcast on one of your favourite platforms –

Connect with me –

• Twitter
• Instagram

Previous episodes along with show-notes available here.

Credits and License:

My awesome intro background – The Real Broadway Musical by Narch and Dan Mace (Thanks guys)
Outro background – Tight Shorts – Andrew Applepie

Have something to say? Join the conversation in our Facebook community group!

The post #20 – Stuart DaCosta (Music Composer and Bassist of The Yellow Diary Band) – Making Music, Touring with bands and co-creating 6+ million view songs appeared first on Lifestyle Architecture Lab.

In this episode, I’m talking to Rajat Ubhaykar who is a journalist and author. His first book “Truck De India” launched in late 2019 and since then it’s trending in top travel books in India. In this book, he shares his 10000km hitchhiking adventure throughout India with Truckers. He documented the lives of truckers, the highway economy and busted a lot of myths about truckers.

In this conversation, we talked about his book, his writing process, a lot of stories he actually lived through while on this crazy journey, including an insurgent attack in northeast India

It was a great experience talking to Rajat about his own story and his documented journey called “Truck De India”.

So without further adieu, please enjoy this conversation with Rajat Ubhaykar.

People mentioned –

• Dharini Bhaskar, Editorial Director, Simon Schuster India
• Rahul Dravid (Ex-Indian Cricketer) – His role model

Books mentioned –

• The Four-hour work week by Tim Ferriss book mentioned by Himanshu
• The shadow of the sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski
• Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
• Age of Frenzy by Mahabaleshwar Sail and Vidya Pai

Films mentioned –

• 303 – a german road trip film
• Before series

App mentioned –

• SplenDO – To do list app

Interesting references –

• Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski
• Sainik School, Satara – where he studied
• Difficult challenges while hitchhiking with truckers –
  • Irregular eating and routines
  • Brutal Heat in the Truck Cabins
  • The sleeping routine was a mess
  • Pee and Poop routines were restricted to Dhaba’s public toilets and on the way hotels.
• Chewing tobacco was one of the most common addiction he found in truckers
• In some parts of Punjab and Rajasthan Truckers have opium as a common addiction
• Trucks in northeast travel in convoys of 200+ escorted by para-military forces. It’s very common on this Highway – NH39
• Many times Petrol Pumps are not functioning and women sell diesel and petrol on the roadside in plastic bottles.
• 2015 he travelled north, east and west India and 2018 in his second leg of the journey he travelled to South India.
• Few of Rajat’s Published Articles –
  • Outlook Business articles –
    • A Season Of Exodus
    • Life In The Slow Lane
  • Article in Roads and Kingdoms (an American Magazine)
• GST – Goods and Services Tax launched in India on 1 July 2017 in a historic midnight (30 June – 1 July) session of both the houses of parliament convened at the Central Hall of the Parliament in India.
• GST made it smoother for truckers while crossing state borders.
• Weird signs on Trucks (he saw in his journey)
  • Malik ki Gaadi Driver ka Paseena, Chalti hai Sadko par Banke Haseena
  • Iraq ka paani (on diesel tanks)

Quotes mentioned –

• Where there is a will there is away.
• All kind of physical endurance has to be derived from Mental endurance.
• For truckers, breakfast is never breakfast, it’s usually brunch.
• Fortune favours the brave.
• Writing is torture in general, writing anything. Trying to get stuff out of your head in a coherent manner and then editing it. It is all very unnatural in away. It requires a lot of discipline and will power. When you start off on a book-length project, you don’t see the end, it’s very easy to be overwhelmed by the entire task that is in front of you. I broke down the big tasks in small pieces and make it seem doable. But then the book keeps evolving when you start writing. So it’s a very organic and evolving process. So it’s best to keep your mind open.
• 80 Per cent of Success Is Showing Up – Woody Allen
• When I was having a writing block, I used to go and read more.
• We like to think that we are in control of our lives, but I think a lot of it is not in our hands and it is all serendipity and luck.

The ways you can connect with Rajat Ubhaykar –

• Instagram
• Twitter
• His Blog

You can buy his book “Truck De India” (Click book cover below to go on Amazon.in) –

This podcast is brought to you by audible. I love audiobooks and I’ve been using Audible for years. Whenever I’m commuting to work and back. Almost always I’m listening to a book. Because I don’t get as much time to read as I would like to. Audiobooks help me read books in a whole new way.

For you, the listeners of Lifestyle Architecture Lab podcast, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-days trial, the free audiobook is yours to keep even after the trial ends. I have a few audiobooks to recommend –

• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – This is one of those books which will take you back to ancient times and teach you so much. I recently read it and it just blew my mind.
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman – This is one of the greatest bedtime books. Neil Gaiman’s voice just makes this book much more wonderful. The story and the narration is just amazing.

You can download any one of these audiobooks or thousands more for free right now, just go to audibletrial.com/HimanshuSachdeva for your free audiobook.

Listen to this podcast on one of your favourite platforms –

Connect with me –

• Twitter
• Instagram

Previous episodes along with show-notes available here.

Credits and License:

My awesome intro background – The Real Broadway Musical by Narch and Dan Mace (Thanks guys)
Outro background – Tight Shorts – Andrew Applepie

Have something to say? Join the conversation in our Facebook community group!

The post #19 – Rajat Ubhaykar (Journalist and Author of the book – Truck De India) – Hitchhiking 10000kms with Truckers of India and writing for a living appeared first on Lifestyle Architecture Lab.

In this episode, I’m talking to Delton Dsouza. He’s an adventure Film Maker, Director of Photography and Cinematographer. He’s been publishing his amazing adventure outdoors videos on YouTube including his BikePacking Series. His video editing works are just out of the world. He’s also done commercial work with names like Vogue, Flipkart and more.

In this conversation, we cover a wide variety of topics – his creative process, how he transitioned to this creative career from a regular airline job. We also talk about his YouTube series called BikePacking. There is a lot of nitty-gritty details if you are an aspiring filmmaker, YouTuber or Director.

It was just pure joy listening to this guy talks about his passion.

So without further adieu, please enjoy this conversation with Delton Dsouza.

People Mentioned –

• Vishal (DOP) – who pointed out that his videos were good
• His adventure mates –
  • Nitin
  • Adi
  • Imrin
• Sajid Chougle – The one and only Civilian Base Jumper in India. They shot a video of Sajid doing a base jump in Ahmed Nagar with Para motorist – Vijay Sethi – Here is the video of the Base Jump that Delton Made.
• Jimmy Chin – He made a movie called Free Solo on Alex Honnold which won Oscar for best documentary
• Alex Honnold – First human ever to climb El Capitan in Yosemite National Park without ropes (Free Soloing). One mistake and you are gone.
• Casey Neistat
• Sam Kolder
• Kraig Adams

Apps and tools mentioned by Delton –

• Lightroom
• Instagram
• Spotify
• Final Cut Pro X
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• DaVinci Resolve

Movies and shows mentioned by Delton –

• Cloud Atlas
• Dark (Netflix)

Interesting references –

• Cinema Camera
• Red
• His Bikpacking series on YouTube –
  • Bikepacking 101 – Bombay to Goa – Showcases that you can actually cycle distances
  • Bikepacking 201 – India to Bhutan – Showcases that you can be ecologically and environmentally conscious while travelling distances.
  • Bikepacking 301 – International (Coming up soon)
• Bhutan – The happiest country in the world
• Jaigaon – A border town in India which connects to Bhutan
• Phuntsholing – A border town in Bhutan which connects to India
• Tiger’s Nest – Taktsang Monastery in Paro Bhutan
• Carbon Footprint
• Le Méridien – Their stay partner for the Bhutan Trip – Thimphu | Paro
• Chelela Pass – It’s the highest motorable point in Bhutan, sitting 3988 metres (about 13,000 ft) above sea level. Delton and his mates cycled there from Le Méridien Paro.
• Ratnagiri mangoes
• Devgad Mangoes
• Base Jumping
• Free soloing climbing
• Thermal Wind
• Director’s treatment note – Here is a sample.
• Shot list – Here is a sample.
• mucho dinero – A lot of money (In Spanish)
• OTT (Over the top) Platforms – Netflix, Prime, Hotstar, Voot, Zee5 etc.
• Why we sleep by Matt Walker – Book mentioned by Himanshu
• Annapurna Circuit in Nepal
• Thorong la pass – 5416 meters
• 7Artisans 25mm f1.8 lens
• Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan

Quotes by Delton Dsouza –

• Bike-packing is very simple. It’s backpacking on a bike. It literally just that.
• At your hotel stay, you can ask for glass bottles instead of plastic bottles, everyone should do this and reduce their plastic use. In the start, it is going to be a little troubling for you to get in the rut of asking for it every time. But in the long run, it does good to your home, “the earth” and we’ve only got one.
• Everyone says, you’re very talented, but I feel the talent is something you build because you are consistently doing it over and over again and putting in the reps. You are not born with something and you just pick up a camera and say I’m talented. No, you actually do it a lot, again and again.
• You have to start from somewhere, to get to somewhere.
• I never look at failure as a closed door, I try and see what other doors open.
• It’s scientifically proven when a person is taken to the wilderness, it actually calms you down, it makes you centred and focused.
• Even though It sounds cliched but my goal is to live every moment to the fullest, because this is all you have.

Connect Links –

• YouTube (Check it out and be blown)
• Instagram (Connect with him here)

This podcast is brought to you by audible. I love audiobooks and I’ve been using Audible for years. Whenever I’m commuting to work and back. Almost always I’m listening to a book. Because I don’t get as much time to read as I would like to. Audiobooks help me read books in a whole new way.

For you, the listeners of Lifestyle Architecture Lab podcast, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-days trial, the free audiobook is yours to keep even after the trial ends. I have a few audiobooks to recommend –

• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – This is one of those books which will take you back to ancient times and teach you so much. I recently read it and it just blew my mind.
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman – This is one of the greatest bedtime books. Neil Gaiman’s voice just makes this book much more wonderful. The story and the narration is just amazing.

You can download any one of these audiobooks or thousands more for free right now, just go to audibletrial.com/HimanshuSachdeva for your free audiobook.

Listen to this podcast on one of your favourite platforms –

Connect with me –

• Twitter
• Instagram

Previous episodes along with show-notes available here.

Credits and License:

My awesome intro background – The Real Broadway Musical by Narch and Dan Mace (Thanks guys)
Outro background – Tight Shorts – Andrew Applepie

Have something to say? Join the conversation in our Facebook community group!

The post #18 – Delton Dsouza (Adventure Film Maker and Director of Photography) – Living life one adventure at a time! appeared first on Lifestyle Architecture Lab.

In this episode, I’m talking to Chhavi Sachdev. She’s an independent podcast producer, consultant, and coach. Basically one-stop-shop for podcast production. She is also the most experienced podcaster in India; she has been making podcasts since 2008.

She is also a multimedia journalist and has worked with names like BBC, PRI and NPR. When she moved back to India from the US almost 10 years back, she saw almost nobody in India was working with the new intelligent medium of storytelling which was podcasts. So she embarked on this long journey of making the Podcast medium relevant in India. Like smart and intellectual radio stations.

Meanwhile, Chhavi worked on interesting projects and co-founded IVM which is a big podcast production company now, but she left after a short stint and eventually founded Sonologue which is her own podcast production company. She has worked on a wide array of projects in Audio and it reflects in her production value.

Chhavi has also been conducting regular workshops for individuals, colleges, corporates, as well as NGO’s. Her 4-hour crash course in podcasting is fairly popular.

In this conversation, we cover many of the things about podcasting, the state of radio industry in India. Her productive routine, tools and tips about podcasting.

I had a blast having this conversation with Chhavi.

So without further adieu, please enjoy this conversation with Chhavi Sachdev.

People mentioned –

• Arghya Lahiri – Theater person Chhavi Worked with while creating audio tours experience
• Sam Harris – Mentioned by Himanshu in reference to Meditation
• Tara Brach – Mentioned by Chhavi in reference to Meditation
• Kristin Neff – Mentioned by Chhavi in reference to Meditation/Affirmation
• Kenneth Soares – Mentioned by Chhavi in reference to sleeping Meditation
• Marc Silver – Editor in NPR

Podcasts Chhavi is listening to –

• Hello from the Magic Tavern – improvisational comedy (NSFW)
• Dirty John – True Crime
• Victoriosity – Steampunk Sci-Fi
• The World from PRI
• The Daily from the New York Times

Books she recently read –

• Maybe you should talk to someone by Lori Gottlieb
• The lost city of the monkey god by Douglas Preston

Quotes mentioned –

• (In the context of Podcasting with an exclusive platform) If you are going to bed with somebody, then either you be in it and be getting something from it, or you don’t and make yourself available everywhere.
• Sometimes, you need to say No to people, it’s necessary.
• There are people who will help you amplify your voice without tamping it down.
• I feel like going to a counsellor is like taking your car for maintenance. Everybody should go.

Interesting references –

• H1B Visa
• Green Card
• Podcasts mentioned-
  • The LSD Cast
  • Tall tales take away
  • Maed In India
  • Cyrus says
• 9/11 incident – the day when she graduated her masters.
• Audio Compass – The company which designed audio experiences as tours for historic or heritage places.
• The footsteps of the Raj – Gateway of India
• Kala Ghoda (Black town and White town divide)
• Old women’s island
• Oval Maidan – Until the early 20th century the vast expanses of the Oval Maidan, Azad Maidan, Cooperage Ground and Cross Maidan formed the area known as Esplanade.
• Anchor podcast app
• Luminary podcast platform
• Dolly Parton Challenge
• Audio Book mentioned by Himanshu – Good Omens
• Neil Gaiman Podcast episode mentioned by Himanshu – in context of Fountain pens

The ways you can connect with Chhavi –

• Twitter
• Instagram
• LinkedIn

Sonologue Links –

• Website
• Instagram
• Twitter

Indie Pod Collective Group Links –

• Facebook Group
• WhatsApp Group
• Slack Channel Admission Request

This podcast is brought to you by audible. I love audiobooks and I’ve been using Audible for years. Whenever I’m commuting to work and back. Almost always I’m listening to a book. Because I don’t get as much time to read as I would like to. Audiobooks help me read books in a whole new way.

For you, the listeners of Lifestyle Architecture Lab podcast, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-days trial, the free audiobook is yours to keep even after the trial ends. I have a few audiobooks to recommend –

• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – This is one of those books which will take you back to ancient times and teach you so much. I recently read it and it just blew my mind.
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman – This is one of the greatest bedtime books. Neil Gaiman’s voice just makes this book much more wonderful. The story and the narration is just amazing.

You can download any one of these audiobooks or thousands more for free right now, just go to audibletrial.com/HimanshuSachdeva for your free audiobook.

Listen to this podcast on one of your favourite platforms –

Connect with me –

• Twitter
• Instagram

Credits and License:

My awesome intro background – The Real Broadway Musical by Narch and Dan Mace (Thanks guys)
Outro background – Tight Shorts – Andrew Applepie

Have something to say? Join the conversation in our Facebook community group!

The post #17 – Chhavi Sachdev (Founder of Sonologue and Independent podcast consultant) – Telling stories through Audio and bringing podcasting to life in India appeared first on Lifestyle Architecture Lab.

Ashish Bedekar

In this episode I’m talking to Ashish Bedekar who is the Chief Product Officer of Piconets (a company which is working on revolutionising Content Delivery Network system by working acceleration the last mile performance. To simply say he is making the Internet sites you see daily, load on lighting speeds and meanwhile decrease the cost.

He is also a productivity expert and a start-up mentor. He works with many start-up incubators to nurture and support start-up companies who are focusing on clean-tech, energy, Internet of Things (or IoT).

There are a lot of small tools and apps you’ll learn in this episode about and can implement to improve your productivity.

So without further adieu, please enjoy this conversation with Ashish Bedekar.

Person’s mentioned in this episode –

Apps and tools mentioned –

Book(s) mentioned

Movie(s) Mentioned –

Interesting references –

Quotes from the episode –

The ways you can connect with Ashish Bedekar –

This podcast is brought to you by audible. I love audiobooks and I’ve been using Audible for years. Whenever I’m commuting to work and back. Almost always I’m listening to a book. Because I don’t get as much time to read as I would like to. Audiobooks help me read books in a whole new way.

For you, the listeners of Lifestyle Architecture Lab podcast, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-days trial, the free audiobook is yours to keep even after the trial ends. I have a few audiobooks to recommend –

You can download any one of these audiobooks or thousands more for free right now, just go to audibletrial.com/HimanshuSachdeva. Again, that’s audibletrial.com/HimanshuSachdeva for your free audiobook.

Listen to this podcast on one of your favourite platforms –

My Twitter handle: twitter.com/h1m4n5hu

For shownotes visit here.

Credits and License:

My awesome intro background – The Real Broadway Musical by Narch and Dan Mace (Thanks guys)

Have something to say? Join the conversation in our Facebook community group!

The post #16 – Ashish Bedekar (Chief Product Officer of picoNets and a Startup Mentor) – Predicting the future by the patterns of the past. appeared first on Lifestyle Architecture Lab.

Venkatraman Pichumani

In this episode I’m talking to Venkatraman Pichumani who is founder of YouTooCanRun, a company through which he provides a 360 degree platform to organise sports events starting from the registration process till the event wrap up. YouTooCanRun is leading the charts in the end to end user experience it provides. He is also the Founder of the Zippers Club, which is a very unique club where he coaches people who have or had cardiac conditions, he trains them to run long distances and even Marathons. Venkat himself is a long distance runner despite having a cardiac surgery years back.

In this conversation we talk about his life journey, things and experiences from the 80s and 90s. How he surrendered his CA title after achieving financial freedom and started various ventures and found success in many of his entrepreneurial acts. All of this and much more in this episode.

So without further adieu, please enjoy this conversation with Venkatraman Pichumani.

Person’s mentioned in this episode –

Apps and services mentioned –

Book(s) mentioned –

Movie(s) Mentioned –

Interesting references –

** (Stages of life as per Hinduism)

Quotes from the episode –

The ways you can connect with Venkatraman Pichumani –

This podcast is brought to you by audible. I love audiobooks and I’ve been using Audible for years. Whenever I’m commuting to work and back. Almost always I’m listening to a book. Because I don’t get as much time to read as I would like to. Audiobooks help me read books in a whole new way. 

For you, the listeners of Lifestyle Architecture Lab podcast, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-days trial, the free audiobook is yours to keep even after the trial ends. I have a few audiobooks to recommend –

You can download any one of these audiobooks or thousands more for free right now, just go to audibletrial.com/HimanshuSachdeva. Again, that’s audibletrial.com/HimanshuSachdeva for your free audiobook.

Listen to this podcast on one of your favourite platforms –

My Twitter handle: twitter.com/h1m4n5hu

For shownotes visit here.

Credits and License:

My awesome intro background – The Real Broadway Musical by Narch and Dan Mace (Thanks guys)

Have something to say? Join the conversation in our Facebook community group!

The post #15 – Venkatraman Pichumani (Founder of YouTooCanRun) – Cultivating uncorrupt behaviour, Providing world-class user experience and Coaching Cardiac patients! appeared first on Lifestyle Architecture Lab.

Aditya Shroff

In this episode I’m talking to Aditya Shroff popularly known through his blog as “The 5AM Guy” who is also an author of the book “The Best Life Ever”. He is also a competitive runner and frequently gets podium positions in various running races. He leads quite a simple but interesting life at a farm in a Village of Gujarat. After doing his engineering from Mumbai, he got a high paying job in Germany but eventually dropped that job and came back to India to work on his passion which is writing.

In this conversation we cover a wide variety of topics – how he took the brave decision to drop the job and work on his passion and live on a farm, his creative process while writing the book. How he got the book published and even got a forward from a celebrity whom he didn’t directly know. How someone, who has a passion can convert it into a profession. All of this and much much more is in the episode.

So without further adieu, please enjoy this conversation with Aditya Shroff.

Interesting references –

Quotes mentioned –

The ways you can connect with Aditya –

Listen to this podcast on one of your favourite platforms –

My Twitter handle: twitter.com/h1m4n5hu

Credits and License:

My awesome intro background – The Real Broadway Musical by Narch and Dan Mace (Thanks guys)

Have something to say? Join the conversation in our Facebook community group!

The post #14 – Aditya Shroff (Author of the book “The Best Life Ever”) – Taking the road less travelled, being a writer and living the best life ever! appeared first on Lifestyle Architecture Lab.