From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
It's taken for me to get into my 30s to realise I am more than the media told me I was- I have more to say, so do my friends. We are intelligent, we are strong, we are multi-faceted, we are vulgar and we are funny.
A lot of people in society understandably want to feel important, and one of the ways you do this is to show people how busy you are… and one of the ways you show people how busy you are is to describe how little time you have for sleep.
The movements that sustain themselves the best over time are those that have culture at their core, that use art as a means of conveying a message, and use art-making as a means to mobilise a movement.
We're tackling serious subjects like life, death, and existential questions, but in a lighthearted way. This approach makes heavy topics more approachable. There's a cultural instinct to revere those who have passed, as if they know something we don't. Yet, in our show, we flip this idea on its head.
Music is often better than speech at conveying and understanding emotion, because music has a kind of openness and ambiguity to it. Words, on the other hand, tend to put things into boxes.
Ancient philosophy almost hasn't been bettered as a kind of therapeutic toolbox in 2400 years, and have a certain aesthetic to them which makes you feel part of a long tradition.
African music more broadly is about rhythm, it's so addictive when you listen to it. People dance from 10 pm to 10 am without really stopping much – it's not complicated harmonies, it's about rhythm and connection. It's like a trance – you get hooked.
The truth is that we live in a very unethical society. We don't teach ethics at home, schools or university. As a consequence most businesses don't have a code of ethics or conduct.
The first and most important part of tackling mental health challenges is to drive cultural change. If you don't change the culture around mental health- people will continue to be stigmatised, people will continue to stay silent, people will not seek the help they need.
India is conservative on the outside, but becoming more liberal inside. A lot of my stories are about the double life that younger India has to lead…. The conflict between conservatism and liberal values.
So many of the things our culture pushes us to pursue for happiness don't actually work the way we think they will. Material possessions, more money—if you're on social media, you get this strong sense that you should go after more of everything and then you'll feel better.
I went from having no parents, to having 65! For kids, it was fantastic, there were lots of activities, a very strong community, and everyone cared for each other.