Storytelling is a primitive art which has never lost its charm across generations. With the advent of technology, story-telling has taken many new forms. One of them is called PechaKucha, invented in Japan by Astrid Klien and Mark Dytham. At a PechaKucha night recently held at 91springboard TechnoPark, Andheri East, people shared their life stories in the signature Pecha Kucha style. The theme for the evening? “Bombay – A Love & Hate Relationship”
91springboard has been a coworking space focused on building workplace communities that foster learning and exchange of knowledge amongst their members. With 25,000 plus entrepreneurs engaged, it aims to inject the country’s robust business ecosystem with fully functional workspaces that reflect a uniquely collaborative spirit. At this unique event, each speaker was required to narrate their story through 20 images. Here’s the catch, they get only 20 seconds per image! This riveting format coupled with extraordinary stories kept the evening going with speakers coming from many different walks of life.
This edition of PechaKucha had speakers with varied backgrounds talk about their relationship with the city of dreams. The speakers were Alisha Sadikot (Founder at The Inheritage Project), Shaikhspeare (Rapper and Founder at Bombay Lokal – Aamir Shaikh aka “Shaikhspeare” is a renowned rap artist and a hip-hop activist.) Meenakshi Jain Gupta (Founder at Helper4U, she enables domestic help to find better jobs and fight sexual exploitation.), Chetan Patil (Local Train Artiste, proudly shares with people that he is local train singer.)
Also talking sharing the stage with them were, Hari Sankar (Founder of Beatmap) Omkar Dhareshwar (Graffiti Artist and Founder at Wicked Broz. A mechanical engineer turned entrepreneur, Omkar is the co-founder of Wicked Broz, India’s first graffiti agency.), Nakul Ghanekar (Nakul has been a part of the industry for 20 years and has been dancing for 15 years.)
Talking about her perception of Bombay, Alisha Sadikot (Founder at The Inheritage Project) said, “I like taking people to walk through the city, new heritage site to the country. Market places that are usually lost in the high rises that are coming up in the city. A coastline is an important place in the geography of the country. Also, I think taking children from a school to see a building right opposite their school to see it in a different light and to help them critically analyze that as an image also helps you gain perspective.”
Popular Marathi actor, Nakul Ghanekar spoke about his passion for dance, “Coming from a Brahmin background, it was really great that my father pushed me to pursue my passion for dancing. The city makes me tougher and makes me want to prove myself. Dancing changes people’s lives as it is therapeutic.”
Hari Sankar, gave an outsider’s point of view to the city of dreams by telling us about his creative startup idea, “House parties are one of the coolest things in this city. Getting the grit to stay here is an important thing. I parked my idea about the startup and started telling stories, and then I finally start thinking about things people will like to tell. The city of dreams has taught me that a city of dreams can make strangers get a place in your heart.”
Talking about this event, Ashvita Shriyan, Senior community manager, 91springboard said, “Pecha Kucha is a whole new way of experiencing stories. There are 2 main reasons people flock to PechaKucha Nights – (1) The unique format of the evening (2) The unprecedented combination of speakers who share a stage. The format is simple yet thrilling and extremely engaging. Each speaker has to tell their story using only 20 images while spending not more than 20 seconds per image. The beauty lies in the myriad of ways speakers address this challenging task to share their story.
The event also had an energizing performance by Bombay Lokal. The stories were about these people making a difference and their experience about Bombay. The audience encouraged the speakers to talk more about their lives and applauded enthusiastically at the performances.
The 91springboard community now consists of nearly 9,000 members and over 3,000 teams ranging from tech startups, business entrepreneurs, SMEs, freelance professionals, and international digital nomads. With its objective of creating a work culture that shares and learns from each other, 91springboard promotes the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and skills by providing a collaborative environment that inspires both personal and professional growth.
