It was in 1992 that I met Vinita for the first time. We were attending a Buddhist meeting in New Delhi. she had come from Poona, I from Bombay. The tone of the meeting was rather serious and in the midst of this, Vinita told us a joke which cracked me up. I thought anyone who can be so irreverent at such a solemn occasion is truly after my own heart. From that point onwards, life threw us together more and more and the friendship was firmly established. Vini was doing a course in photography in Bombay and so moved there from Pune.

Some of the earliest pics she took of the kids (who were opening a jazz festival at the ages of 9 and 11) were used as their publicity pics for this festival. She also took portfolio pictures of my beautiful girl who was very taken up with modelling, amongst other things. Then she took pictures of me as I sang with my group DIVYA.

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Quite a few years ago, when she was struggling to be a photographer while keeping her day job at the travel agency, she asked me “What inspires you to work at your music?” I had to give that question a good thought as I had never thought of it in that way before. I think of only music when left alone, when not having to answer phones, do errands or pay the bills. I am either listening to some great inspiring stuff or trying to recapture that small ditty which buzzed in my head while I was half asleep. When I am on the street, my feet make a rhythm while walking…that sparks off a melody or rhythm. I hear a great CD and my mind starts wandering into a slight by lane and I have to stop listening to capture the tune in my own head. But the most inspiring source for me is life. I have had a relatively happy and content life.

Therefore my first attempts to write songs with lyrics ended up being very flower child in their tone and stance. Peter (who’s my husband, best fan and my strictest critic) said nice and all but a bit too much in the clouds…all this talk about peace and universal love. Being a singer who never played an instrument, I had to rely on other musicians to make my ideas come to fruition. But then I went and studied (again at Peter’s behest) the use of a programme called Reason. That made me able to put down my ideas as a sketch using loops and simple arrangements. Liberation ! And truly enough, once I felt empowered to create my own tracks, suddenly the block was lifted. And then my writing became more real. And it is in dealing with pain and disappointment, anger and frustration that my tunes were most convincing. People could relate to them.

Today Vini’s career as a lifestyle photographer has taken off. She has photographed many of my concerts, as well as of her other musician friends. She specialises in weddings too. She has taken many photos of families and children. So somehow the thread of our first connection remains…

Be sure to check out Sandhya’s website