Vidya Iyengar By Express News Service BENGALURU: He got his first keyboard at the age of 8, began learning the tabla at 11, and started experimenting with new sounds at the age of 14. By the time he turned 16, Akshai Sarin was composing songs for his first album, Soundscapes. When he was 19, an animated video featuring his music was nominated for an award at the Flash Film Festival, Barcelona. Music and marketing go hand-in-hand for Sarin (38), who has dabbled in several fields before he started BlessdBuy two years ago, with the intention of creating an eco-system to bring happiness to people. ALTER EGO Through his establishment, which he set up in 2018, Sarin bridges the gap between NGOs and buyers. “The idea is to transform consumers into contributors. On the other hand, NGOs find themselves depending on the magnanimity of corporates and individuals. But the idea is to help them be independent through the work they do,” says Sarin, who helps NGOs create relevant products and taking the makers higher in the value chain. Sarin juggles his day between his start-up, which takes up 95 per cent of his time; music, which he tries to practise at least once a day; and healing, something he has taken to doing professionally recently. Going back to his interest in music, Sarin says, “My grandparents and dad are musically-inclined. I love technology. Music happened because I cut up the wires on four walkman sets and joined them together, when I was in school, and connected them to my keyboard. The next step was to use the computer, which allowed me more creative freedom, and to this day, I use vibration sensors, infrared cameras and motion sensors in my performances,” he says. Although he doesn’t have a practice schedule, he makes music when he feels he has something to express. “But I do work on it almost once a day,” he says, pointing out that “collaboration, awareness, being in the present moment, listening for changes and adapting the business, taking seemingly tangential ideas and weaving them together” are learnings he has picked up over the years, which he implements at work. Even as he admits that there are fewer avenues for independent musicians, in the near future, Sarin hopes to release an album, something he hasn’t done in a couple of years.

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