If you thought that the Indian corporate community was only about suits, ties and really boring guys, you’ve clearly not being paying attention. In this exclusive feature The Big M brings to you bands, musicians and music communities that represent a vibrant sub culture prevailing in the country’s work force. Aalok Padhye finds out.

So you’ve all heard the story. Most bands you’ve heard of have the same one. A bunch of guys that met in college and had the same tastes in music decided to form a band. Most of these bands are quite regular in the college rock show and pub scenes. They perform in competitions and sometimes even release their own music.

But have you ever wondered what happens to a musician after the college years. There is a large community that exists beyond college life that is quite lively, formed by bands, musicians and music lovers who are part of India’s workforce and corporate setup, a sub-culture within a sub-culture.  This month The Big M pays tribute to these musicians and communities, who juggle work, family and music to follow their passion. These musicians featured here, form only a small chunk of the countless bands, musicians and music lovers that exist in India’s corporate scene.

Hour Glass

A great example is pune based band Hourglass. Alternative band Hourglass was formed at a small event at the Infosys amphitheatre in Pune, where five talented musicians decided to jam together for the first time. From those humble beginnings, and many lineup changes later, Hourglass (now a combined Infosys and KPIT band) has a whole bunch of gigs under their belt, including participating in the 2009 Channel [V] Launchpad competition and regular gigs in the Pune pub and college circuit. “We’re all working professionals spending most of our day time in front of the geeky computer screens staring at the Hourglass icon that appears whenever Windows is trying to figure out what we’ve asked it to do. Music is something that all of us enjoy whole-heartedly and while work occupies most of our time, we make sure that whenever we are free we get together and jam it out” says Amit Khadikar, the Hourglass guitarist.

Talking about balancing, The Second Shift are a bunch of working guys balancing out corporate life (2 bankers and 2 HR guys, 1 consultant, 1 voice over artist in the band!) with this second shift of playing music together.  Sandeep Mittal, a consultant and the band’s guitarist says, “We’re a band that loves songs that tell a story. That’s pretty much the way we write our songs too – we write stories that are set to music. Stories about control and its loss, about grown up love, about arch villains stuck in madhouses and even stories about the search for stories”. The band, formed in 2009, has already recorded a 10 song demo CD, is a regular featurre at Mumbai pubs like Not Just Jazz by the Bay and Hard Rock Café.

Insane

INSANE, a blues rock / funk jam band from Bangalore is a regular feature in the local pub circuit, including gigs at Kyra, Opus and Purple Haze. The band, a combination of IT professionals and engineering college students, recently had one of their tracks “Second Chance” picked up to be the background track for one of the videos at the MAAC 24FPS Animation Awards 2009 and is also going to be part of the Rise Up compilation CD (Quickstar Productions).  Says guitarist Chetan Banandur, “Two of the band members, Anand Kumar and I are IT professionals working our asses off to pay the bills and financially aid the band.”

Rio

RIO, a Hindi Hard Rock band from Mumbai formed by songwriters Vishal Rajan and Vinay Lobo, is all set to release their debut album, titled “Raaste”. Vishal and Vinay love to expliot their professional experience and apply it to the band. “At least Vinay and I are hard core sales and marketing professionals and we use every bit of our experience in all possible ways” says Vishal. Adds Vinay, “The experience enables us to actually balance the commercial aspect with the fun aspect of making music and having a day job also helps us invest in premium equipment for the band.”

Secondary Skills is a band from Accenture Mumbai, which has predominantly played shows at the work place. “Our band is made of people who met each other at work and so we’ve been playing pretty much at office gigs. Some have been at external venues and some in the office cafeteria. But each one has been awesome” explains bass player Rishabh Natarajan.

So how do these bands manage to make time for music, rehearsals, and shows?

“We don’t get too much time – once a week at best, sometimes once in a fortnight. The balance comes from having a practical approach to the thing I guess – work and family come first, music is a passion that we’re happy doing whenever we can” says Sandeep. “We individually spend minimum 3 hours everyday to work out our parts and jam on the weekend with the whole band” explains Garth Dmello from RIO. Anand Kumar from INSANE has a different point of view. “We jam for a day or two before gigs; we’re essentially a jam band so most of the improv stuff is done on stage.”

Second Shift

Facebook, Reverbnation and other online social media sites are the basic ways in which these bands promote themselves, though some of them have come up with quite unique ways to gear people up for a gig. Explains Rishabh, “Sometimes before office gigs, we do what we call road shows. We go from project to project, with just a couple of guitars and an amp and give the crowd a taste of what to expect. This is a really lovely way to connect with the people and get them to see first hand who’s playing and that we are really one of them. Apart from this, we also send out a series of mailers to the employees announcing upcoming gigs.”

A big problem for these bands is that a lot of the members are forced to leave the band, either because they are sent to work at another location, or because they quit the company itself. “The biggest challenge to deal with movements or changes is to maintain the same musical direction, mainly in terms of the sound and style and also to have the same level of enthusiasm going” explains Amit. “But we are dealing with this challenge as a group and not worrying about things that are not necessarily in our control.” “Members coming and going is very routine for corporate bands. It’s part and parcel. I can tell you that for almost every show we’ve had a different drummer, and drummers are the hardest to get hold of” says Rishabh.

Others have been luckier. Vishal Rajan explains: “Fortunately for RIO, The question of leaving does not arise we’ve been at it for some time and it’s our common goal and it’s our 1st priorty in our lives other than work /home etc.” “All members operate out of Mumbai and we don’t travel to other states. If a member is late or not able to make it, we still make it a point to jam, while the member covers up during the next stint” adds Vinay.

When asked about how supportive their respective organisations were towards their musical ambitions, we received mixed responses. “Which IT organisation wud pay their employee to play for a band?” asks Chetan. “But my colleagues turn up for our shows in support and I love them for that.” Vinay Lobo tries to put light to the situation, “Post recession organizations are really not that geared towards employee engagement and this aspect has taken a back seat, so bands, music, anything creative is seen on an ‘only if required’ basis.”

Infy Rockers

But others have had really positive experiences with their workplace. “There is a lot of support from the organization towards our pursuits in music. It provides us a platform to showcase our talents at the various events that keep happening in the office campus.  Also, there is a lot of encouragement from our colleagues as well for our music and many of them have taken a liking to it as well” says Amit. Adds Rishabh, “As I’d mentioned, we’ve only really played in office gigs, and all have been spectacular. One memorable gig happened a few months back. It was an external venue and the company had pulled out all the stops. The sound was amazing, the lighting and cameras were fabulous and they had this huge LED screen above the stage which really was like a crown on top of the whole thing. I’m sure my band mates would agree with in saying that that was the best experience we’ve had so far.”

Sandeep says the band tries hard to not be classified under the ‘corporate’ banner. “Most of us are pretty senior in the organizations we work in, and we don’t compromise on work either. So the question of organization support doesn’t really come up! We try very hard to not let the ‘organization’ or ‘corporate’ aspect to the band take over. We are not about our successful escape from the rat race. That’s a terrible way to be defined! We are about escapism, however, go figure.”

Rock bands aren’t the only music that’s coming out of the Indian corporate enviroment. There are numerous music clubs, forums and communities that exist all over the country, in several organisations and for all forms of music. One of the best example of these is Infosys based ‘Infy_Rockers’. Infy Rockers is an internal distribution mailing list in Infosys, formed by Dinesh Sukhija in 2003, when he decided that he needed a forum to discuss and listen to rock and metal music with fellow connoisseurs at the workplace.

Says Dinesh, “The hardest thing to find in Infosys was a fellow-rocker who would appreciate rock and metal music. We are always a minority. I tried to form a band in 2003 in Pune, but could never continue since I wasn’t that good and we couldn’t find good replacements either. We were always looking for likeminded folks who could come together, form a band and play music despite all the project pressures and lack of funds from HR. Then I thought of creating a distribution list and I added some 3-4 of us at that time.”

Infy Rockers

What started off as just a small list for his friends, now boasts over 400 members in its ranks. “I added my fellow cubicle mate and rocker as the very first member. I had no idea how popular IR would eventually become.”

Infy Rockers, or IR as it is affectionately known, is one of the most active clubs within Infosys, with an average of over 50 posts every day, with topics ranging from discussing favorite bands, reviewing latest albums and reccomending new music. And it’s the wide range of people that are a part of the community that is its greatest strength. “Infy_rockers is full of gems who have been there, done that in music. It will help you get answers on music based software, tuning issues of instruments, sound and instrument setup, etc. Highly technical talk!” says Dinesh.  “Infy_Rockers to me is like “School of Rock” – where you learn about rock music” says Balaji Diwakar, a member and regular poster from Trivandrum.

So what does the future hold for these corporate bands and communities?

“As such we are being pragmatic about our approach and given the time we are able to devote for music, we are keen on making a few more originals which we are working on and having them recorded, in essence to bring out and further promote the “Hourglass” sound” says Amit. “Personally, I’m moving out to further my career in music by pursuing a degree in sound engineering from abroad” says Rishabh.  Chetan Banandur wants to take up music as a career. “We brothers have plans of branding INSANE’s name in other fields too like promotional services for bands, events managing, music school and recording studio (rather say our dream) in the future.”

“I want to keep writing songs and getting them out there. And slowly the band has started functioning as a song-creating unit, which is the way it should be. So next steps for us will be to get into a studio and do a proper recording, and then do a second album and then yet another.I can see us doing 5 albums, easy” says Sandeep Mittal. Vinay Lobo lays it down in a nutshell, “Our plans are very simple, we hope to do what we love – Music, and while we’re at it, just make  enough money to take care of bare necessities like a private jet, few luxury cars, a mansion in the French Riviera, etc.” Well we wish them all the luck!

Aalok Padhye

Article by Aalok Padhye

Aalok Padhye is a part of the Mumbai jam band ‘Something Relevant’.

In 2010  he quit a successful career at Infosys India to pursue his passion – Music.

Sahil ‘Demonstealer’ Makhija shares his views about the evolution of Metal in India and the torch bearers who’ve led it from the front.

Sahil Makhija plays for Demonic Resurrection. He is the owner of Demonstealer Records and works for Furtados Music as their Artist Relations and Events Manager. For guest lectures and workshops, contact Sahil at thedemonstealer@gmail.com

When I was asked this column I was pretty unsure about what I was going to write so I figured I’d trace the outline and the evolution of the Metal scene in India.  As far as I know metal in India existed as far back as the early ‘90s when bands like Millennium and Dying Embrace from Bangalore were busy writing their original music. Millennium even released an album and had a music video which aired on MTV. In around ‘95 there was Brahma from Mumbai who also released an album and made a video.

Fast Forward to 1998 when I took my first step into the world of Indian metal. What I saw was all cover bands for most of the part. Even a band like Brahma that had an album was playing covers with rock bands like Parikrama, etc. So for the 2 years that I was just a normal rocker attending gigs it was mostly bands playing covers with maybe 1 or 2 originals thrown in apologetically. In 2000 I formed Demonic Resurrection and it’s about the same time that a website called Gigpad.com came into being as well. New bands like PDV also burst onto the scene while bands like Kryptos, MyndSnare and Threinody were gaining popularity. That year also saw the 1^st ever Deathfest held in Mumbai. This is when the original movement started and slowly but surely bands started playing their own music. However this was not an easy job, the audience had to be converted as well, especially because of years of conditioning to come to concerts and receive a 2^nd hand experience of their favourite bands.  Many of us bands played to non receptive audiences and even bottles and stones but somewhere down the road around 2004-2005 people’s attitude started changing while bands too started professional recording and releasing of music. An almost forgotten effort was ‘Deepthroat’, a compilation of Indian bands released by Throatlatch studios, formed by the members of a Kolkata band called Cranium who moved to Mumbai to start a studio and record label. However they didn’t survive long and vanished. Around this point many small independent ventures like OML, Counter Culture Records, RSJOnline, Demonstealer Records came up and began to push the scene forward. The Great Indian Rock Festival that had been supporting original music since 1995 started bringing in International artists.

Another big stepping stone was when DNA Networks broke the barriers and got Iron Maiden to India. Almost 25,000 metal heads stormed palace grounds for what was one of the landmark concerts in Indian metal history. Since then, the country has been stormed by foreign artists like Machine Head, Megadeth, Opeth, Enslaved, Satyricon, Amon Amarth, Textures and the recently concluded Summer Storm Festival that was headlined by Lamb of God.  Film maker Sam Dunn and Scot McFayden also found interest in Indian metal and featured Demonic Resurrection, Bhayanak Maut, Kryptos, etc. in their documentary titled Global Metal. Some of the other relevant achievements of the scene were Kryptos signing to OSM Records along with Demonic Resurrection who signed to Candlelight Records. Scribe and Demonic Resurrection both performed at the Inferno Festival in Norway this year. Also grinders Gutslit and Gorified joined Putrid Pile on their tour to Singapore and Malaysia. Both bands also signed and released their music on foreign labels. Bhayanak Maut and Undying Inc managed to bag a song each on one of Metal Hammers Compilation.

So having taken a look at how the scenario has developed I feel it’s only a matter of time before we break through and have a sustainable scene that won’t result in bands breaking up after 5 years to get married and become computer engineers… Instead, we’ll rock the stage till we grow old.

Article By Sahil Makhija

I have always been passionate about music and have written and composed songs since I was 6 years old. Since my upbringing was mostly in American schools in Europe and my influences in music were all the classic bands such as the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jimi Hendrix, etc., most of the music and lyrics that I wrote were in English and of western style.

Visionary - Aditya Bhasin

On moving back to India I joined rock bands in school and college, took some training from Delhi School of Music and also learnt informally from my friends. But even though I had this hobby which I loved, I never thought I’d make it my career. So I got busy with professionally educating myself and joined the field of hospitality management. I managed hotels here in India and in US, but after 8 years of work and an amazing promotion waiting for me back in Mumbai, I realized something was missing. This instinctual feeling coupled with angry guests and the whole corporate scene altogether forced me to realize that my underlying and nagging problem was that I needed a change.

It was at that time that I met up with good family friends – John and Faith Singh, who had successfully run a contemporary hand block printing company – Anokhi, for 30 years and had spent the years of their retirement working in the field of heritage conservation. They’d started an NGO called Jaipur Virasat Foundation along with running the Jaipur Heritage International Festival.

Potful of talent: Some artists forming Rajasthan Roots

After one meeting with John, discussing the possibilities of working with thousands of artists from different communities of Rajasthan, the scope for experimentation, production, freedom of expression, and thus empowering them and providing a stable livelihood – seemed like a mission and a vision that I just couldn’t walk away from. So without any job confirmation with the foundation, I came back to Delhi, turned down my promotion, quit my job and went on to settle down in Rajasthan.

The next few years were a crash course for me in every sense – a new language – Marwari, songs and traditional beats I’d never heard before with many different instruments and sounds. Vinod Joshi – the anthropologist who worked with the foundation was a storehouse of knowledge and a genuine grass root contact. We would get a call at any random hour, informing us that there was something happening in some remote village like storm chasers, etc. Vinod and I would jump into John’s SUV and drive off into the countryside. Sometimes it would be all night Jagrans, an opportunity to meet Jasnath Ke Bhope – dancing barefoot on burning embers of coal, or a whole village of Tejaji ke Bhope – dancing with hundreds of defanged cobras and sometimes it would be Momasar – where on every Holi, for 3 days everyone dresses up in drag, in unimaginable characters and they dance, act and perform street theatre.

Also an effort to discover the best artists of Rajasthan was made by JVF, organizing talent hunts and regional festivals in small villages. The response and outcome was tremendous, attracting hundreds of undiscovered artists and thousands of spectators. All this ground work was a seed which spawned the collective and soon many of these artists began performing in concerts in Jaipur and all over India.

Gifted: Kutle Khan on Kartals

When the work load of touring and performing became overwhelming I had to leave my day job in the foundation and concentrate entirely on production. Soon with support from John and the others, we saw the beginning of Morchang Studios – the production house and Rajasthan Roots – a collective of folk musicians.

We stayed away from the typical fusion – either with western drums or drum beats and allowed for the sound to evolve on its own. By introducing instruments which made the music and tone warmer such as the bass guitar and other melodic instruments such as the bamboo flute, guitar and saxophone, the outcome was an easily palatable sound to people all around the world across all age groups.

7 years went by and we’d showcased performances all over the world. In places like England, Singapore, Japan, Europe, Abu Dhabi and the middle east, as well as prestigious events in India such as the Times Delhi and Kolkata Festivals, blueFROG in Mumbai and Central Park and Garden of Five Senses in Delhi.

Production and collaboration has always stressed upon learning from other world cultures such as Cuban, Latin American and Mali of Africa while collaborating with different musicians such as Idan Rachel and Shye Ben Tzur.  Rodney Branigan from US, Raghu Dixit from Bangalore and many others from France, England, and Middle East provided training, learning and a cultural exchange for all musicians involved. So you will find in our music, traces from different folk cultures and styles. My favorites are the African Blues, the Middle Eastern scales and of course the Sufi traditions.

Rajasthan Roots has been able to promote some of the finest musicians and dancers in a contemporary representation of Rajasthan’s folk culture. The vision is and always has been for the music of Rajasthan to evolve and to represent a current state and emotion. Once the musicians are given the freedom of expression and guided to stay away from songs which have become a stereotype or in some ways a novelty, the new and real sounds of Rajasthan can emerge.

Article by Aditya Bhasin with Divya Srinivasan

The Big M sets sight on this irreplaceable instrument to help you find the one that suits you best..

Out of all the modern day instruments, none has a longer history than the drum. Drums are found throughout the world, in practically every culture, and are known to have existed since at least 6000 BC and have always fascinated their audiences. Almost everywhere they have strong ceremonial, sacred, or symbolic associations. Taking into account, all of the musical instruments that we see in our society today and use on a regular basis, this is one instrument that stands out in musical history.

THE EARLY DRUM KITS

Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player’s hands, or with a drumstick, to produce sound.

In the early 1930′s, musicians slowly discovered that with proper drum placement and a lot of practice, one musician could handle a set of drums, and an entire band of drum players was not required anymore. Thus, a basic kit evolved and took place. Cymbals and Tom tom drums were brought in from China and the size was adjusted to allow for ease of play when played with drumsticks.

A Standard Drum Set

The early drum kits were simple in their design and consisted of a bass drum and foot pedal, a snare drum, Tom toms, a hi hat cymbal and one or two sets of hanging cymbals.

In the 1930′s the drum set was heavily influenced by the sounds of the time, and the early forms of Rock and Roll music. The sounds had a strong basic beat backing them.

By the 1950’s when Rock music had started to develop, sounds became more complex and likewise, the drum sets became more evolved, with new additions made to them. Drummers kept adding cymbals and Tom toms to their set up. As time went by, Electronic drum kits came in as an addition. All of these additions allowed the musicians to expand their sounds and diversify their music.

Modern Drum-affair :

Mapex Saturn - Green Apple Burst

Today, drummers have the option of creating their own unique config to suit their comfort, defining the sound they hear themselves playing and also the brilliant finish to show off a little more than their talent to the world. The best drum companies in the world spend every second mastering new techniques to create even better sounding drums that can last a lifetime.

Let’s start with a basic config of a standard drum kit.

The most Common set up is a Single 22” inch Bass Drum, two suspended Tom toms, 12” inch Left and 13” inch right, one 16” inch Floor tom, one 14” inch Snare drum, a Pair of Hi-Hats, Crash Cymbal on the left and a Crash Ride on the right.

Over this standard set up, drummers grow their kits to suit their style and interests. Most common add on is a 10 inch tom to the left of the drum kit.

Factors that contribute to a brilliant drum sound

• Wood selection
• Number of ply
• Proprietary developments to ensure undisturbed flow of vibrations

Wood selection:

There are 3 commonly used wood types. Namely

Maple:

North American Maple is handpicked to meet stringent requirements for proper density, age and consistency of grain and colour. Maple offers a smooth, warm, well rounded tone, with equal amounts of hi-end attack and mid-range body, plus its excellent low-end punch. Most drum companies offer some form of 100% maple drums today as it has taken its place as the standard of the industry for hi-end drum kits.

Birch:

Birch gives a “naturally EQ’ed” tone that is the perfect alternative to the overall smoothness of the maple. Many professionals today prefer Birch to Maple as it offers a boosted hi-end cut, mellow mid-range and a deep low-end presence. The more popular Birch drum kits have found their way to recording studios where they are a favorite for both the artists and the engineer.

African Mahogany:

African Mahogany offers extremely rich low-end frequencies, with beautiful smooth mids and a slight roll-off in the higher register. Mahogany drum kits are set aside from all other kits. Few companies today offer this excellent wood, simply because its porous exterior is extremely difficult to finish and it costs more than Maple.

Number of Ply:

‘Ply’ simply means the number of Layers. A 4 Ply Maple drum shell means, there are 4 different layers of Maple shells stuck together under high pressure to form one Brilliant drum shell.

The output of the drum depends entirely on the number of ply. Here is how it affects the sound.

Thin: 4 Ply (5mm Shell)

Best “near field’ or player’s experience. Easy transfer of energy from heads to shell, causing the shell to fully vibrate.

Medium: 6 Ply (7.5mm Shell)

Thicker wood, resists some of the energy transferred from the head. Allowing the sound to be slightly thinner than the thin shell, but with greater volume and projection. Offers a warm, full bodied wood tone with great attack, loudness and presence.

Thick: 8 Ply (10mm) – 10 Ply (12.5mm)

Extremely efficient, allowing most of the player’s energy to be focused through the heads directly to the audience. Since the shell provides greater mass, less volume is lost through the shell in the form of resonance. Warm sound and great tone at a lower level, but provides ultimate volume.

Proprietary developments to ensure undisturbed flow of vibrations:

Professional drum companies like Pearl, Mapex etc invest a lot of time into figuring out the best way to keep the drum in place without affecting its sound thus allowing the drum to perform to its maximum capabilities. The Opti-mount System in Pearl and the Isolated Tom Mount System in Mapex are two such examples.

To sum it all up, a tremendous amount of time, energy and brilliance goes into making a drum so perfect for you. Drummers today actually literally have love affairs with their flawless drum kits.

Content : Furtados Music
Images Courtesy: Furtados Music, Mapex

Known as one of the world’s Best drum companies, Pearl has now decided to enter the India market and finally introduce flawless drum kits that are worth every penny.

Perarl's Reference Series

Let’s start with the hardware. Pearl is known for its incredibly sturdy hardware. With an easy design, even a layman can figure out how to set up a Pearl stand. Pearl’s ‘Advanced Hardware Systems’ introduces a line of professional grade equipment that will forever alter the way you look at hardware. Each piece is engineered to function above and beyond traditional hardware. That’s why the term ‘Advanced’.

Pearl’s Superior Shell Technology is a proprietary technique used for achieving the ultimate air chamber. It begins with select woods chosen for their unique acoustic attributes, milled to precise thickness with overlapping scarf joint seams, for a perfect air-tight fit. The wood plies are saturated with Pearl’s proprietary ‘AcoustiGlue’ that permeates every pore and dries to the exact consistency of the wood for optimum resonance. Finally, the plies are formed in high-temperature molds with 1000 PSI of hydraulic pressure to produce perfect drum shells that exhibit superior tone, optimal resonance and extreme strength.

Pearl Drum shells use scarf joints to eliminate all air gaps. Air gaps are used in studios to cut vibrations thereby sound proofing the studio. Pearl Drum shells guaranty no air gaps since the scarf joints provide 800% more surface area than the otherwise used Butt joint.

This combination of the best Hardware and drum shell is what makes Pearl one of the best drum companies in the world and probably the only one to offer a lifetime warranty on their shells.

Article by Keshav Dhanraj, Brand Manager, Pearl, Zildjian & Evans India

Mapex Falcon Pedal

Are you looking for a drum that you take on stage or into the studio with complete confidence that your style and creativity will not only be perfectly reproduced, but enhanced? With your Mapex drum set, your talents and personality will be faithfully delivered to your audience, whether you’re playing to a crowd of twenty or twenty thousand.

Mapex offers Quality beginner kits, mid- range kits and professional level kits at affordable prices, which is what makes it the best selling drum brand in India. The price ranges from Rs 19,400 to 2 lakh. Every Mapex drum, regardless of price, is built to exact specifications.

Endorsers do play a significant role in getting a company’s name out to the public. Here are some of the pros that use Mapex, Chris Adler (Lamb of God), Dom Famularo (Master Clinician), Kevin Miller (Tantric), Will Calhoun (Living colour), Tony Coleman (B.B king) and many more. There are many drummers in India too who have been endorsed by Mapex and play with the biggest bands around here.

Also don’t forget to check out the new Mapex Falcon pedals and the new Mapex replacement kits. The Voyager and the Horizon series have replaced the Q and the QR/VX series respectively.

Article by Ritesh John Dharmaraj, Brand Manager, Mapex & LP India