The Beach House Project – March 2017

What do you get when you put 14 creative entrepreneurs under one roof for seven days, sharing space and doubling up in one bed room? –  As the next few posts roll out you are going to find out!

I don’t go out a lot. I am a home body by nature and it takes an effort for me to get out.  It was not always like that but it has become so. When my friend Vanshaj Kapur of The Bold Creative, shared the application form with me for this years week long residency for The Beach House, I was filled with trepidation and lacked inertia to really get into it. Besides my life is a carefully choreographed dance at best or utter chaos at worst with so many moving parts.

But somethings are meant to be. And so it was…

The idea was to get us all under one roof and get us to think and engage. Engage with each other and with ourselves. Honestly and openly. We all introduced ourselves and shared our challenges. We shared our perspectives and the hacks that have allowed us to get to the level we are in our individual lives. We received unbiased opinions and helpful tips to circumvent the road blocks that we face in extending our businesses to the next logical step.

The pièce de résistance of the entire experience was the opportunity to meet and interactive with Sudarshan Shetty (the curator for 2016) and the team at the Kochi Muziris Biennale. The idea was to put our heads together and come up with options and solutions to the myriad challenges that the Biennale faces. To brain storm on matters of engagement, interaction, extension of audience, possible funding avenues.

I arrived in Kochi at about 10 am to sweltering heat and a strange calm. I left Bangalore with zero expectations for the week to come. At the very least I thought it would be a good holiday. Was I wrong! As the week unfolded I made a set of friends for life, learnt hacks to better navigate life and business and took home new approaches to face my challenges. Seems to good to be true, na? But it is true. True to the last bowl of creme I polished off! I met a fellow follower- Chellu Chandran, of the Ketogenic diet and re-learnt a few principals of how to treat my body. That is where the bowl full of creme comes in! But that story is for another time.

Let me introduce you to my fellow inmates in an ‘insane asylum’ of the very best kind. Besides with the amount of cream I was eating the guys at the hotel definitely thoughts I was nuts 🙂 The asylum in question was the Neemrana hotels property  – a 17th century light house in Fort Kochi facing the Chinese fishing nets now converted into a beach front villa hotel. They had a few other guests but those guests knew to stay out of our way and the hotel staff was un-believeablely co-operative and over extended themselves where ever they could.

The entire experience was crafted by Jay Ahya and his team at the Beach House Project. The residents included – Jay’s team of helpers –  Kritika, Tanya and Charan. And our team of participants included Vrinda, Nitisha, Savera, Cheelu, Vallery, Vanshaj, Rishi, Manas, Ashish, Amit, Ishaan and Rohan. Subba and Shreyans joined us for a day each. 

The connection with everyone was so strong that I can quite truthfully say that these were all effortless friendships. I have always said that I am the sum of all the people who come into my life. It really is about connections and communication. I had both by the bucket load. And I hope to have collaborative experiences with at least some of my fellow inmates. I want to take the time to introduce each of my new friends to you all one by one in a series of posts to follow. For one paragraph alone would not do them justice.

Please take the time to follow the links in this post and learn about The Beach House Project and it’s sister concern The Road Trip Experience. Should you get a chance to go for either, just GO! They will enrich your life.

Website : bhx.theex.co
Instagram : instagram.com/bhxproject
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Contact : [email protected]