T(h)inker|Photographer|Designer, Kishore Amruth

“Anyone who has the mind and creativity to dream and navigate that is my true inspiration.”

This week we bring to you a crazy inspiring dreamweaver, and one of our closest friends, Kishore Amruth!

“Being a photographer is about seeing something and portraying it through your own thoughts in a world where it is hard to be honest,” said Kishore, a photographer and designer by profession, who identifies himself as a t(h)inker.

A T(h)inker with a twist, Kishore Amruth. Source: File image

Kishore’s humble beginnings stemmed from a college fest where he discovered that he did not like working in a hierarchy.

“I’ve always wanted freedom in what I do, love what you do and do what you love, that keeps me going,” he said, reminiscing his beginnings.

Kishore began his magic with the camera in his pre university days, and continued to grow through college, seizing and savouring each opportunity thrown his way.

After his graduation he took his passion and turned it into his living with his confounded start-up called Freakitive.

“Be proud of what you do”. Source: File image

“Be proud of what you do,” said Kishore, speaking about his work. “If someone sees your design it should bring a smile on their face when they say they know you, it should be something that relates to your inner self.”

Kishore, who never stopped working extremely hard for a single day during his sky rocketing career, believes that the best part about his work is meeting new people, discussing new things, challenging yourself and just living every day.

Despite his success in his professional career, Kishore believes that the most important thing is how you treat people. “When I catch a cab, I make sure to ask the driver how he is doing, if he is happy, if he can smile today. It feels great to put on a smile on someone’s face. I value anyone on the road who smiles at you and acknowledges that your presence is important to them.”

“The easiest way to make someone happy is to radiate a smile at them!”. Source: File image

It is not every day that you meet people who believe in collaboration over competition. On bad days, Kishore believes in getting his perspective right. “There are people going through a lot more than me. I just believe in myself and sleep on it.”

“My message to everyone listening would be to be honest, even if it challenges you to go out of your vision and mission, never cheat or lie, always be faithful to you because you never know what comes calling and most importantly, be approachable to everyone.”

What is the easiest way to make someone happy?

Smile

What is the greatest gift you’ve given?

Confidence

What is the greatest gift you’ve ever received?

Support

What is the craziest thing you have ever done?

Steal food
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Who are some of your role models?

Rob Hall, Wes Anderson, RAJINIKANTH, A.R. RAHMAN

What is your favourite word?

Faith

Thank you for speaking with us Kish, it isn’t every dreamer who we’ve seen spin their dreams from scratch. We are so honoured to have witnessed your incredible journey and wish you all the best this universe has in store for you!

P.S. Who else could have possibly clicked our banner photograph!? 😉

A Lifetime’s Worth of Conversations, Anuja Siraj

“I truly believe that if you break down all the incidents in life, you see that life is a series of conversations. Each conversation is an experience that you carry back something from and I’ve been so fortunate and am so humbled by all the conversations that are connected making up my life.”

An incredible conversation we had this weekend was with a young lady who believes that talking is a superpower and that you should have as many conversations in life as you can manage to grab hold of.

We bring to The Dream Weavers Project our second super star Anuja Siraj, the author of A Lifetime’s Worth, a recently launched collection of short stories that speak of what can only be called a lifetime’s worth of experiences!

Source: http://www.facebook.com/anujasiraj

Anuja knew that she was a born writer from the tender age of 11. Her short stories began being published by a popular magazine, Young Times, and she was often overwhelmed by the positive responses she received from her readers and peers in school.

“Readers would write in to the magazine and mention that my story made them cry, these letters changed everything for me,” says Anuja, when asked about what told her that she had to keep writing for the rest of her life. “If people could say that about me without even knowing who I was, I knew I had to keep doing it.”

At Delhi Cantonment in 2009.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/anujasiraj

She continued writing for publications even while she shifted from the UAE to India to pursue her education. In high school, she had a short hiatus while she worked with the National Cadet Corps, where she was even a part of the Republic day parade at the capital.

Anuja went from strength to strength when at 16, she won the Teen of the Year 2008 personality pageant conducted by The Teenager Today, a Mumbai based magazine that she has been working closely with ever since.

‘The Teen of the Year 2008’ by The Teenager Today, age 16.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/anujasiraj

After high school, Anuja joined SRM University in Chennai to study aerospace engineering. Her love for learning and knowledge kept her going and she graduated in March, a proud engineer.

At the ever so young age of 23, Anuja decided to publish her first ever book, a fictitious collection of short stories. ‘A Lifetime’s Worth’ is described by Anuja as stories from childhood and adolescence, celebrating the journey of a kid becoming an adult.

Despite having been published in various portals for over half her life, publishing a book came with a whole new palate of fears for Anuja. “Being an author is voluntarily putting yourself out there to be judged, it’s pretty scary and it took a lot of courage for me to be able to do this,” she told us, as she recounted how her sister and friends have been a rock solid pillar of support for her all through.

Glimpses of the book signing meet n’ greet for ‘A Lifetime’s Worth’ in Dubai, UAE

Source: http://www.facebook.com/anujasiraj

Anuja’s thankfulness knew no bounds as she spoke about her friends who she believes have taken upon themselves the role of her marketing team. “Things don’t happen to you, people do,” she chimes in reverberating notes of gratitude for the people whom she has been blessed to be surrounded by.

“All those faces you see smiling and holding my book is my motivation every day. Their belief in me, those faces, those smiles, those words that come form so much of faith, keep me going”, says Anuja when asked what pushed her to keep doing what she does. “If you can write, why not write something that can change lives?”

“If you can write, why not write something that can change lives?”

Source: http://www.facebook.com/anujasiraj

A little more about Anuja..

What is the easiest way to make someone happy?

Smile at them.

What is the greatest gift you have received?

To be able to function without any disabilities

What is the greatest gift you have given?

Support in someone’s darkest times when they’ve wanted to give up

When no one is looking..

I dance

Who are your heroes?

My parents

What would you do if you could freeze time ?

I would travel and never stop until I’ve seen the whole world

Your message to everyone reading this would be..

The most outstanding quality that human beings have is ability to bounce back from anything

Thank you for speaking with us and being the absolute ray of sunshine that you are, Anuja! The Dream Weavers team wishes you a lifetime’s worth of joy and success!

 

When he Visualized his Future, Varun Panchal

Meet Varun Panchal, a chap who loves to stare at his shoes when no one is looking. Oh and yeah, he is also our very first dreamer and a huge inspiration for our little blog!

Varun is a whole bunch of talents and dreams which is why we instantly took to him and wanted to know more about what keeps this young man ticking.

Sometimes it is the little things that make way for great beginnings. Varun began his love for art doodling on his classroom desks. His work was often appreciated by his classmates, one of whom till date charts Varun’s work as one of the starting points of his own love for art and doodling.

Varun took up Humanities in Junior College and continued with his drawings, he drew for himself. After graduation, he knew he had to try for his dream school, J J Institute of Applied Arts, which he got through at one of the top 50 spots!

While embarking on our dreams, we often have little to no idea of how the journey will actually be. Art School came as a surprise for Varun. It was different from a lot of his expectations. The positive bloke that he is, he made the most of these little discrepancies between his dreams and reality.

He discovered his love for music with his first band where he was the lead vocalist and the guitarist. As the years went on by, Varun was constantly surprised by people who told him how good he was and comparing him to international artists. His band Carnage Inc. create heavy metal music which cover a plethora of themes that plague society such as war, environment destruction, psychology, crime, religion etc. A favourite track of theirs is Mother’s Rage, an apocalypse oriented song, from Mother Earth’s point of view.

A turning point in Varun’s career came at a conference during his third year at college where he was spoken to by micro biologist turned Ad man Russell Barrett. He realized then what labour of his own love meant and chose to keep at what his heart called out for. He began to see that it was important for him to keep practicing to a point where he would get so good at what he does that he’d no longer have to worry about paying his bills.

Varun works as a visualize/writer for VSSU Graphics today, pursuing his art and music on a parallel front.

“May the best mammal win”. Artwork by Varun Panchal.

If there was one takeaway from his life, Varun believes that it is self-learning and practice.

“I wish I’d practiced more after school instead of getting into college. Apart from the experiences while being in school or college, there was nothing that I learnt from the books that really helps me today” he says.

A little more about Varun..

What keeps you going?

Batman! Batman comics are what got me started and the reason I keep going, just as he keeps going despite all the evil in this world.

What is the easiest way to make someone happy?

Gift them something you have drawn for them.

What is the greatest gift you have ever given someone?

A handmade origami vase.

What is the most memorable gift you have ever received?

An electric guitar from my dad.

What is the craziest thing you have ever done?

 Playing a rock music CD in the school church, after being told by one of the members that I am not welcome there.

Your favourite word is..

HELL YEAH!

If you could freeze time you would..

Draw moustaches on hot chicks!

Thank you Varun, for being the absolutely phenomenal dreamer that you are! Keep dreaming and keep doing!