Duck Summer with Vinay Pateel
By Vinay Pateel
Well, who am I to say anything.
This podcast used to be called Holocene Has Ended, back in the day.
Now I'm back after about 4 years away.
Make some noise!
Duck Summer with Vinay PateelOct 31, 2019
Ad agencies are clueless about themselves
Is it weird that the biggest ad agencies have nothing going on when it comes to their own content?
Working from cafes seems stupid
I used to think working from cafes is super distracting, so I tried it out.
Also, comedians are really entrepreneurial, you just have to be.
What was the other thing I talk about in this episode? I forgot
Young and Reckless but on the right path - Van
My guest today is quite different from the people I usually talk to.
You know how you hear about people that drop out of college and go on epic adventures and meet amazing people? Well, he did exactly that, and then some more.
At just 22 years of age, he has seen and experienced more life than most of us will ever do.
Seeking answers to questions that question his existence, he is on a journey to figure it all out first hand.
From weird Couchsurfing anecdotes, to breaking his leg in Thailand, to getting arrested for being a hippie, his stories are as interesting as they’re bizarre. We always get to hear interviews of people that have “made it” and how they were once a college dropout and had no idea what they wanted to do in life. He is in that state right now, and I’m curious what goes on in the mind of someone so young and lost and reckless.
Enjoy this conversation with Van.
Some of the things we talk about:
- Living the hippie life.
- Getting arrested - cops burning down tents and framing a false case of carrying drugs.
- Sexually harassed on the very first time outside the country.
- Breaking you knee at midnight and wakeboarding the next morning in Thailand.
- What to do when you finally take the first step to freedom and everything fucks up.
- How to find out if you’re thoughts are correct.
- Tripping on mushrooms.
- Good trip vs bad trip.
- Finding closure to childhood trauma through Vipassana meditation.
- Cracking the code of falling for girls repeatedly.
- Learning to love yourself.
- The therapeutic effects of talking about your deepest feelings & emotions.
- Manifesting your wishes into reality.
- Playing with bisexuality.
- Becoming an artist after gaining a wide range of experiences.
Van has chosen to keep his full identity hidden, so we have no links to share. We might do another episode in a year and see what he's up to.
004 Raising the standards for Indian YouTubers - Ayush Dinker
My guest today is a filmmaker from Delhi whose films are a direct window to stories from various corners of India. Hunting for answers to some of life’s larger questions, his films pack in a healthy dose of self-reflection. To find these answers, he travels far and wide throughout the country, and his work is what I show people around the world when they ask me about India. He’s been humbly raising the standards for Youtubers in India, and guess what, he’s only getting started!
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I present to you, Ayush Dinker.
Some of the things we discuss in this episode:
- Solo travel vs Travelling with company
- The effect of extensive travel on our psychology
- Is it worth living in big cities anymore?
- Balancing politics & filmmaking in Kashmir
- Animal sacrifice - Right or Wrong?
- Should you upload to YouTube on a committed schedule?
- Where does the travel bug come from? Our childhood?
- Premiere Pro vs Final Cut Pro (The classic filmmakers’ debate)
- Mental tricks to maintaining fitness as a filmmaker
- Should you quit your job to pursue your dreams?
- Ethereal - How it started and what are the future plans for his filmmaking brand?
Check out the amazing films made by Ayush on his YouTube channel here: Ethereal Colours
003 We just invented “Death Meditation”? - Nivedan Nayak
My next guest is a LA based musician whose music is as vivid as his personality. I caught him just in time for his latest release on Spotify called “Bounce”.
He produces a surprising variety of music - from latin bangers, to dark hip-hop beats, to lofi - he cranks it all out, and does it real good! He’s also had a number of collaborations, and its a treat to watch his videos. When he’s not making music, he’s dancing like no one’s watching! Thankfully, we get to watch it all on instagram. Fair warning, you’ll get addicted to his posts, he brings so much joy into them!
As if that wasn’t enough, he’s a math tutor too. Probably the coolest math tutor in town!
He’s continually exposing himself to new influences, and his latest muses are African and Indian beats.
With a bunch of new music lined up for release, I wanted to talk to him about how he pulls it all off!
Enjoy my conversation with Nivedan Nayak.
Some of the things we talk about on this episode:
- The secret of being in a good place in life.
- From being a tech-recruiter to being a full-time musician.
- Growing up Indian in America, shunning your identity and then embracing it in a big way.
- Tension with parents because of career choices, and then dancing with them!
- Daily practice and the magic that unfolds with consistency.
- How to juggle between a million passions at once!
- Really deep discussions about thinking and overthinking while creating.
- Know this before adopting and raising a dog.
- Having a consistent brand as an artist - How important is it?
- "Death Meditation".
- Journaling can change your life.
- Stories of collaboration with other artists.
- The science behind cultivating habits.
- The mechanics of publishing music on Spotify.
- What does Rick Rubin do with big artists like Kanye West, Jay-Z, System of A Down etc.
Enjoy Holocene Has Ended!
002 The Transformative Power of Daily Personal Projects - Rohan Puri
My next guest is a Pune-based designer whose work immediately stands out from anything you’ve seen before. With his “almost” daily poster project called Fat.Voyazio on instagram, he experiments with a style thats a mix of grunge, typography, chaos and emotion - all built around deeply personal messages from him.
And when you visit his instagram page, you’ll see that the work resonates with thousands of people.
I do have to apologize in advance for the poor audio quality on my side. I was testing a new headset, which obviously failed to perform.
Anyway, I’m sure you’ll find something valuable from this engineer-turned-designer. Please enjoy my conversation with the brilliantly talented, Rohan Puri.
Some of the things we talk about in this episode:
- How to deal with sadness (We started off pretty intense 🙂).
- Meeting David Carson and getting life-changing advice from him.
- Graphic Design is nothing without emotion.
- Convention vs Chaos.
- From being a software engineer to becoming a professional designer, without any design education.
- How to come up with your own style.
- Some of our favourite fonts.
- Self-initiated projects have the power to change our lives.
In case you missed it, here's the link to Rohan's instagram page: fat.voyazio and fatmachin3
001 This photographer sleeps with his photographs! - Vinod Babu
Based out of Hyderabad, Vinod captures raw moments from the lives of people engrossed in rituals, survival and social crises like you’ve never seen before. He has exhibited both in India and abroad, and has been published in more magazines than I can recount here. Most recently, his iPhone photography was published in Better Photography magazine as a 10-page story. He is the winner of the Toto Photography Award 2019 and is currently working on personal projects alongside assignments with Reuters.
Some of the things we talk about in this episode are:
- The challenges and emotional effects of photographing one of the worst droughts.
- Transitioning from being an engineer to a photographer - and the family pressures because of it.
- Being a misfit in school, and picking up the camera to express
- Courage - Confidence - Curiousity - Camera!
- Why some of us just can’t be press photographers.
- Working with Reuters.
- Animals as subjects of suffering.
- Vinod’s minimal editing process.
- Obsession with art - Vinod sleeps with his photographs!
Check out Vinod's work on www.vinodbabu.com
![[Pilot] Lifelong friendships and dual professions - Pradeep Javedar](https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/production/podcast_uploaded_episode400/312237/312237-1570825055178-2030c6a3c42dd.jpg)
[Pilot] Lifelong friendships and dual professions - Pradeep Javedar
This is my first ever foray into podcasting.
So, what better way to kickstart it than talking to my dear friend - Pradeep Javedar!
Pradeep and I have been friends for over 24 years now.
He's a doctor and a professional photographer, who had his first professional assignment at the age of 9!
We go into a whole variety of topics.
- Skype vs Anchor to record podcasts
- Being friends for 24 years
- Sexism at school
- Airbnb vs Couchsurfing vs Hotels
- Personality Quiz: Two kinds of people
- Writing vs Typing
And a whole lot more.
Useful links:
Pradeep's photography: https://bit.ly/2MDFYKe
Enjoy!