Never let your passion fade away | Nitish Mishra | TEDxJEC Jabalpur

06 Jun 2024 (6 months ago)

Childhood and Early Influences

The speaker grew up in a remote location surrounded by jungles and animals, which fostered a solitary nature from an early age.
Frequent school changes due to his father's job transfers prevented him from forming close childhood friendships.
His interest in music began when he saw a child playing the keyboard in his colony and was fascinated by the instrument.
Despite not having a family background in music, he expressed his desire to learn and pursue it as a hobby.
His maternal uncle, Mahesh Mama, taught him to play the keyboard by holding his hands and showing him how to play the notes.

The speaker started practicing the keyboard during holidays and festivals in Kanha, a restricted area where only tourists are allowed in a safari within a 15-kilometer radius.
Due to lack of exposure and internet connectivity, he developed his own techniques for playing the keyboard.
In seventh grade, he discovered proper music techniques from a newly appointed music teacher at his school, which was a mind-blowing experience for him.
He started playing the keyboard at various events in Mandla, including Republic Day and Independence Day celebrations.
A friend of his father's suggested that he send him to Jabalpur to learn music, as there were limited opportunities in Mandla.
He traveled to Jabalpur every Sunday for half-hour music lessons with Rajesh Sir and practiced during the week before returning for the next session.

His father had an interest in photography and bought a DSLR camera when the speaker was in the seventh grade.
He learned about photography by reading the booklet that came with the camera and experimenting with the buttons.
Living in Kanha gave him a lot of exposure to wildlife, which led to his interest in wildlife photography.
In the tenth grade, he received a certificate of commendation and was invited to a photography workshop in Bhopal for a photography competition organized by CBSE and NCERT.

Despite his diverse interests in music, art, and photography, he didn't consider turning these hobbies into a profession.
He studied in college and carried a side flute, tripod, and handycam in his bag, using them to shoot two films as fun projects.
In his final year of college, he got placement offers from three companies and decided to start a company with a friend.
After graduating from college, he started a website (P) and worked on it full-time for two years (2017-2018), which gained 15,000 monthly users/subscribers and started generating a substantial income.
In early 2019, he discovered that his server had been hacked, and all user data, including login information and purchases, had been deleted.
After two years of investing in the app's creation, he decided to take a coding course to enhance his skills.

During a trip to Mumbai for a job opportunity, two filmmakers from Hyderabad, Garima and Aman, came to Kanha to shoot a 20-minute documentary for the Kanha Museum.
His father, who was the coordination officer for the documentary, informed him that the directors were planning to shoot an eight-episode thriller web series in September and October.
His father casually mentioned to a friend that he plays music, leading to an opportunity to compose music for the web series.
He left everything behind and spent two months composing music for the web series.
The producers loved the music and called him to Hyderabad as the music director for the web series.
Unfortunately, after five days of shooting, the project was discontinued due to unforeseen circumstances.
His music was still used for a 20-minute edit of the film that was being shot alongside the web series.