Connect The Dots

by Rashmi Bansal

“I am not such an ambitious person. I let things happen…but yes, whatever I do I give it my best!”

“Of course it is all because of them… if they had not given permission, I could not have mortgaged my property.

I did not listen to anybody so how can I tell them to listen to me!

‘Prince Dance Group’. This troupe won the hotly competed ‘India’s Got Talent’ show,

Like Eklavya learning archery, Krishna picked up dance by observation.

Honed

pittance

In those days Prabhu Deva was very popular - he was my hero!”

I also got to perform solo on stage - under the name ‘Prince’.”

“If I took one student on stage for a show, the other parents would pester, ‘What about my child?’ Their rivalry and jealousy disturbed me.”

subah se shaam tak kaam karte hain. Magar phir bhi mast rehte hain. Agar main unki khushi ke liye kuch kar sakta hoon to mujhe bhi achcha lagega.”

Kuch bhi, apne style ka, jo bhi mujhe aata tha,

main unko seekhaata tha.”

They knew nothing about dance so they never argued with me!”

why would a dozen boys spend hours every night, tapping their feet… Only to wake up next morning to work with their hands, at construction sites? Because Krishna Reddy gave them the hope of a better future.

A future he imagined for himself each time he saw the contestants on the popular television ...

Krishna told his boys, “Dance se tum bhi kuch ban sakoge… Magar uske liye mehnat to karni padegi!”

“My brothers were all working. Maybe since I was the youngest there was no pressure on me to go and get a job…”

troupe

pawned

The train was already at Dadar!

now the rest of the group was missing! Bystanders said the police had taken them away.

vouch

“I went to a basti tor the first time. I saw people sleeping on the footpath, eating on the footpath -I got scared.

He decided it was best to take the next train back home. But when Krishna called the organisers they said, “Because of you, ‘Boogie Woogie’ will lose face. Do you want that to happen?”

“We were in a bad state by this time… I had no money left to settle the remaining hotel bill. No money for food. Magar us din bhagwaan ne meri sun li…”

Although Prince Dance Group did not win the competition, judge Javed Jaffrey was so impressed by their performance that he gave them a consolation prize of T 75,000. In cash.

In fact Ravi Behl, one of the judges of the show, offered Krishna support by arranging a room for the troupe. “Kisi ko mat bataana, sirf tumhare liye karte hain,” he added.

Par gaadi chal rahi thi, dheeme dheeme, when one fine morning Krishna heard about a competition that would change the course of his life. A show called ‘India’s Got Talent’ on the recently launched channel ‘Colors’. With prize money of T 50 lakh.

“Your act proves that to be an artist you don’t need resources, you don’t need professional training. Dil chahiye, kala chahiye!”

The Dashavatar act depicting the ten avatars of Vishnu was described as ‘zen-like’, even transcendental.

Luckily, Prince Group had caught the eye of Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He called Krishna before the contest and said, “Krishna - you focus on your performance, the entire state of Orissa will vote for you!”

Prince Group won the ‘India’s Got Talent’ contest, against all odds.

Of the T 50 lakh cash prize, T 20 lakh went in taxes.

“Yeh sab bhagwaan ka aashirwaad hai,” says Krishna. “Earlier I did not even believe in God, magar dheere dheere mujhe yeh ehsaas hua. Main pehle kahaan tha, aur aaj kahaan hoon…” Krishna - as well as his dance troupe - are stars in Orissa.

Sony Music has signed a two-year contract with Prince Group.

“Mere liye sabse khushi ki baat hai ki meri wajah se bees-pacchis logon ki zindagi ban saki hai.

If you can imagine it, you can make it happen.

That’s Krishna Reddy - labourer of love, prince of hearts.

Money is not a hurdle, mehnat karne waale ko, dil se kaam karne waale ko sab kuch milta hai.

At 22, Kalyan Varma had a ‘dream job’ with Yahoo. But one fine day he quit and pursue his passion - wildlife photography. Today, he is a living example of an ‘idiot’ who’s living his dream and making a living, out of something he truly loves.

But if you create your own special recipe for ‘success’, like Kalyan did. It will fill not just your stomach but your heart, your mind, your soul.

Watching National Geographic - Jane Goodal especially -I always said, ‘Hey I want to be in the jungle watching animals all day’.”

I took up mechanical engineering at PESIT. I also liked robotics a lot so I thought maybe I could mix both - somehow.”

Not getting the branch - or college - of your choice is devastating for most students but Kalyan took that lemon and made lemonade out of it.

Linux

“It was good fun because I was a mechanical student, but I was kind of taking care of the computer science lab. So it was very weird in fact!”

“They offered me a job in my third year of college. I always liked security and I was put in the security department of Yahoo - so that was great for me.

dabbled

cryptography