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Hi, my name is George Abraham and welcome to Eyeway Conversations. My guest today is Kishor Gohil from Mumbai. He is a social activist, a social entrepreneur, a marketing person and a music promoter. Hi, Kishor, welcome!
Thank you so much. And it's honor and privilege to be on this platform with you, George sir. Thank you very much.
You have been an activist for a long time. So, what prompted you to get into social activism and what is the kind of activism you do?
Yes. In 1989 because of a competition, I came in touch with the people from National Federation of the Blind Maharashtra and then they led me to National Federation of the Blind, India and I found that movement and those activities very very vibrant. And that is how I got connected in very young age to National Federation of the Blind. And then as I was 18, I became a member. I became active in that and whatever I do, there is background of that activism to everything that I do, whether it is music, whether it is skill development, or whatever.
I remember Kishor, meeting you in I think, 1991, when you had come with the National Federation of the Blind cricket team to Bangalore, and you were very bold in terms of speaking out your mind. So that was very refreshing to see. So what are some of the issues that you have taken up activism for?
Basically, my concern always was education, health and employment. I caught the thread of employment as a root cause for everything because if you find right employment, if you're paid rightly for whatever you do, then everything falls in order. And then your self image also grows, and then you take care of your health, personality, then you are you know, excited to learn new things. First, you should have right employment, right kind of opportunity and right kind of effort to earn that money.
Employment and skills are quite closely linked. I realized that you have been kind of, in recent times quite involved with skill development. And that we're in a place called Vangini where I believe there are a number of families of people who are blind to live there. So talk us about Vangini as a place, and how did you actually stumble across this project of skill development?
Yeah, definitely. George, what happened was the disabled coach in local trains of Mumbai, got our blind community very close to each other. So you know, as we stayed somewhere in residential schools, some of our friends did well, some of our friends struggled, and then they had to sell utility things in train bridges and on platform. So that, you know, friendship, that really old relationship and that bond, you know, used to give me some pain because they used to meet me in trains, they always used to express that you are doing so well in your life, and why don't you do something with us. So I started going to Vangini for two, three years on all the Sundays that I got time. And then one fine day through a very very intelligent girl whose name is Christina and she came from Scotland, trained here and she was not enjoying the job in corporates over here. So she wanted to do something innovative and creative. And that is how we started with candlemaking initially, and then we found waste newspapers with people. And in the time that was after wax being poured into molds, and the candles were set as a hard wax. That time was just used to make to train people to make paper bags and that is how we started with two things and then we are slowly going on to handicrafts and soap making is an all. And main thing is what I found and what I believe that you know, all organizations in different sectors, they give training, they provide training, but then they just throw away those skills and that manpower. Instead of that, what we need is we need an organized structure of marketing for that talent and that human resource, so that they can make what they are trained into. And that could be reached to the society and society can enjoy those products and services.
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You have started manufacturing candles, paper handicraft and certain other products. So, tell me a little bit about how you have actually successfully managed to market these products.
I had an advantage of me being a stage performing artist and we being having a band with us. So, wherever we used to perform, we used to display those products and we used to allot some time in our show to announce about this project. And this is how we got connected to some good people, they led us to some people. So, this is how our network got enhanced and then because of 25 years or more in the showline, I already had some people who are very keen to support the cause. So I just brought them together. I just appealed to them and through that I got resources for the project and I got market for the products that our visually impaired friends make.
Now you mentioned the band and the music. Are you a musician yourself or how did you get interested in this whole entertainment business?
Yeah, I started my career as a stand up comedian and anchor in musical stage shows. Initially, I did shows in Ganesh mandal, which are very popular in Maharashtra and Satyanarayana committee of Mumbai societies and all but then slowly you know, fortunes turned and then I got connected to one entertainment company called Ranga Production. So, they were basically into dramas, Mr. Chandran Shah and Sachin Shah. I am really thankful to run the production last 30 years, we are together for many products of music industries. So, they started with our musical journey, and that was their first venture. And ours was professional first venture. This is how I got the break in professional music industry and then our artists and our music came out with flying colors. And then we traveled the US, UK, Gulf countries, South Africa, Jordan, Israel etc.
So, you are essentially a stand up comedian and an anchor. So where is the music coming from?
Initially, I started with the musicians that were playing here and there and then we found some talented musicians, like you will Sarfaraz is playing for Bollywood, silverscreen and he is playing with many celebrities like Daler Mehndi's son, Gurdeep Mehndi like that .Kiran Vinkar is a flautist leading of Hariprasadji. He is appearing in Indian Idol now and he is you know, sort of celebrity musician disease. So, we found these kind of talent and then we could provide platform to them and their hard work and their talent lifted them to the levels that they are today.
Do you find it easy to market these events? Do you get sponsors and do you get enough resources to say pay these artists?
Yes, George, about sponsorship. I don't find it very easy to get the sponsors for the event that we organize. I have very you know, I can say I failed in that miserably. But our performance is so wonderful that in one performance approximate one thousand people watch and two or five or ten people of them make inquiries and then one or two are converted. That way our work itself helps me market the shows and we have many clients who are our repeat customers because they liked previous shows, they will book another show. That is how we could retain the customers and that is how we could get successful in marketing these shows.
Who are some of your leading vocalists and instrumentalists? What is the level of their performances?
Kiran is our music arranger as well as flute player who is very well known artists in the industry itself these days because he has performed for many Bollywood super hits as well as silverscreen super hits. If people remember the Krishna tune of now the Mahabharat episode in Sony live, that Krishna theme tune is played by Kiran Vinker. Then the film Oh my God, then Sarkar Raj all these super hits are played by him. And then Sarfaraz, he has played for many reality shows as well as I just spoke that he is playing with Gurdeep Mehndi and many more celebrities he has played with. Then Augustine is our drummer and octapad. Then we have a vocalist with us Siddhesh, who has appeared in Slumdog Millionaire, the Oscar winning film as well as Little champs. Then we have a singer Mangala, she is blessed by Kalyanji-Anandji, then we have singer Mr. Ashok Parmar, who came from BP Ahmedabad. We have Sachin Patel, who is a very nice tabla player. He's played with Zakir Hussain. Zakir Hussain came to see the school just for 15 minutes. But when he heard Sachin Patel playing, he spent one and half hour there, and he played tabla with Sachin Patel. So that kind of talent is associated with us these days.
So let's move on to the fact that you also are actively involved with marketing as a source of income for you and your family.
Yeah, basically, I believe in diversification, because if your vehicle runs on four wheels, and if you don't have stepney, and if one of the tires get punctured, then you're handicapped, you know, so I believe in stepney. So, I have two ways, that way I try to diversify my income. One is of course, direct selling industry. And in that direct selling industry, these days technology is so sophisticated that blind person can sit at home, get new customers and provide them services and products sitting at home and through the technology only he can earn his money. That is one portion and there sky is the limit because in the excellent selling industry that I work, there you get things from toothpaste to nutrition, wellness and agro products. So more than 200 products right now are today consumer durables, and day by day, you know, productivity is increasing. So at one end, you are developing your customer base, at other end company brings up new products. So those same customers add to the spending with you. So that is how you know your income grows. And in direct selling industry, you have technology to help you, you have people to help you. And your very very advanced training, even if you are not from the marketing or field or if you're not from the business background, now, and very very nominal or no cost, you can say as a capital.
You were also telling me the other day that you dabble in the stock market. Now, many people feel that it's a highly risky place to put your money in, what has been your experience and how do you manage your stock market activity?
There also you know, nowadays you have a lot of technology and through social media, you can learn many things and there are websites and applications who help you in learning those skills without losing money. You just trade but those trades are dummy. And after some days of dummy trades, you learn that where you were lacking where you are good. And so if you continue with good things, you can earn money, and if you minimize to your bad traits, and then the risk is very little and previously it was such that you need to have this much money in your account, this much money, but nowadays you can you know buy shares for two rupees, three rupees. So, you can learn with very little risk and then after learning things, if you practice good, then you can definitely generate good income for you because now, there is accessible technology about these stocks also. So, you know, they prompt you real time information, and that helps you take right decisions and grow in that market also.
What are some of the apps that you use for learning the field and for your day to day investments?
In stocks, to learn money control is a very good website or application and I use iOS technology, so there is a built in application called stocks that gives you real time information. And then the brokerage is the firms that you associate with, they also have their apps, on their WhatsApp channel, they give you the tips and there are news channels who run the business. You know, special business channels like CNBC business, they help you a lot about learning these things very fast, about how to go through the charts, how to go through the movement of the stocks this and that. So, there is a lot available these days. And it's real time in life.
Lot of people talk about the economy kind of globally going down. You as an investor, what is your take on it?
You know, whether economy goes down or regular economic comes up. In both those situations, you always have opportunities. Opportunities never die. There is no time in the world when opportunity is not there. If you read Robert Kiyosaki carefully, when the time is worst, the opportunity is the most valuable thing. And the people who want to experiment, people who want to have some innovations. They flourish in such times.
So Kishor, what is your eye condition? You were born with the eye condition or you acquired it?
Yeah, I was born with eyes, but no sight. But then the eyes were painful so eyes were removed. And so I am right now with no sight and no eyes.
So you wear glasses to cover your eyes when you walk around?
Previously, I used to wear artificial eyes. But now I continuously wear glasses to cover my sockets.
And tell me a little bit about your education.
Yes, I am student of special school, Happy Home & School for the Blind. And then from there, I went to integrated school where the bunch of blind students is sent to school where they provide little support according to their capacity and their ability. And then I did my graduation from Elphinstone college where there were many blind students. So I'm basically a, you know, community guys, so where my community goes, I love to go there. I don't shy away from community and I don't want to stand out. I want to be in community and do something with community, for the community.
And what about your family, your parents, your siblings? Tell us a little bit about them.
My father passed away in year 2016. And my mom is there. I have two brothers; one is in my father's profession, which is tailoring, one is in IT industry, working for a multinational called Global entity and my sister is married housewife. And I have two children. My wife is working with the engineering college as lecturer. My eldest son is doing Chartered accountancy and my younger one is in ninth standard. He is finding out what he wants to do, he's experimenting on many things. So he's traveling to Bangalore next week. And we have a pet at home. His name is Oscar, he's a male lab, and we stay very close to her mother in law and father in law. So they are very kind to us. And my wife's name is Tejaswini, you know her very well.
You work in the community largely. Your brothers are in a different space. Do they kind of get involved with anything that you do?
Yes yes. Both the brothers and sister, they are very very attached to my community and they always want to contribute or they always want to get involved. So, whatever we do, if you remember when I used to play cricket, my brother used to come as escort and all. And then my younger brother also still comes with us when we are organizing picnic, then he accompanies us to finalize the places and all. And my sister is going to blind girls' school and she has just started contributing after her children are grown up. My mom is all always welcoming my friends. They're very well in communicating with the community.
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So Kishore, as a child growing up, what were your dreams? What did you actually want to become when you were growing up?
Actually, when I did not know anything, I used to tell people that I would become a doctor. Then somebody fed in my mind that I should become a lawyer. But as I used to imitate people's voices, and tones and all. And in college gatherings and all my stand up comedy you know, then people told me to make a career in this only and I found it very convenient to make a career in this. So I just went after this and you know, I never decided anything strongly or firmly you know, my life just went like accidents. When I got opportunities, I used them and then those opportunities only helped me to grow to what I am today.
You know, your mimicry or your voice impersonation, can you present some samples?
I would present voice of Dadamoni, Ashok Kumarji which everybody remembers because his voice was very particular and he was very very popular actor. *imitates Ashok Kumar*
Very good. It was quite amazing, it really did bring back memories of great Ashok Kumar. The other thing I wanted to ask you was you know, you talked about one liners. How do you actually prepare yourself for a stage show where you have to kind of over a period of half an hour 45 minutes kind of hold the attention of the audience. What kind of homework you do?
Initially, we you know, write pointers, we write a body of scripts and then first 5-10 shows, they are of experiments. There you know, what is hitting and what is not hitting. You drop what is not hitting, you keep what is hitting and then you find some new things and in 10-15 shows, you know, you exactly get a hold onto the script, which works for two and a half hours.
And I believe you mix your shows with both music and stand up, it's a combination.
Yeah, music, stand up, stories. People laugh in our shows, people cry in our shows. And you know being patriotic is my main passion. So some or the other thing which bind people with our nation. I always have in my kitty.
Great, so Kishore, it was wonderful speaking with you and getting to know some of your inside secrets and also the way you've lived your life. It's been very interesting. And I don't use the word inspiring. But it was quite a learning experience that you've allowed yourself to flow with life and that took up the opportunities that came your way. And that's a very interesting observation and wish you the very best as you continue to flow with life.
Thank you very much George.
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