Author: ppsadmin

Plush Breaks the Whispers Around Female Hygiene

Starting a company together was always on the cards for the college bench mates turned entrepreneurs Ketan Munoth and Prince Kapoor. “We started our first venture in online gifting back while we were studying BBA at Loyola College,” he recalls with a chuckle. The friends parted ways after their undergraduate degree—Prince became an investment banker […]

No teachers, textbooks or school bell…

The sound of pencils scratching away on ruled paper filled the room. The ninth grade at Bombay Welfare Society High School was tasked with writing an essay titled ‘My School’ during the English period. “In my school, there will be no teachers, textbooks or school bell. It will have a lot of trees, a library […]

Electrifying Opportunites in the Logistics Business

“People always advise you against doing business with friends, but I don’t agree,” chuckles Ashok Viswanath, CEO and co-founder of Fullfily—a Chennai-based tech company building a comprehensive EV-as-a-service platform. Ashok recollects a late-night light-humoured discussion while at a weekend getaway centered around the concept of fulfilment. That night, the four friends of ten years—Ashok, Balaji […]

A Support System for Small Restaurants

Armed with an excel sheet and young-spirited optimism, Nicky Alfred and Claudin knock on the doors of CEOs from the food industry. “You can scale your brand five x faster with more profits,” Claudin would say, “While investing zero money,” Nicky would add. At that instant, Nicky would input details about the restaurant’s cash flow […]

Twenty Years Later at (the) Finale

Anuhya Reddy worked as a barista at the local Starbucks in London. The smell of fresh ground coffee and croissants filled the air amidst the silent chatter and muted keyboard clatters from the tables. Although this was just a part-time job halfway across the world, she felt a familiar warmth she hadn’t felt in a […]

Don’t Mess with Madras

“The first ever toothbrush you used is still on Earth,” Divya states as the small gathering around her stall stares back dumb-struck in the realisation of that statement. “I’ll buy one bamboo toothbrush for me and one as a gift for my friend,” a voice from the group breaks the silence. At that instant, Pradeep […]

What Goes into Pure Unadulterated Cow Milk?

“I look at the market in two segments—Pre-Jallikattu and Post-Jallikattu,” reveals Vetrivel Palani, founder of UzhavarBumi. The founder was a part of the historic protest at Marina Beach in January 2017. “During the protest, several farmers’ issues came up,” he reveals. Vetrivel did not have a background in agriculture or farming. For someone like him, […]

Learning from the Land

“I recall being at my mother’s friend’s office when I was young—seventh grade perhaps,” recalls Yuvan Aves, “Someone asked me what I wanted to become when I grew up.” “A naturalist!” the boy responded with enthusiasm only to hear jokes about the lack of financial stability that such professions would lead to. Amidst the roaring […]

Delectable Desserts for Every Dietary Restriction

It is 2013. Senthil Kumar Balu was in Perth on a short stint as a visiting academic at Curtin University’s stem cell research centre. The door opens as Senthil Kumar Balu walks into his friend’s house with a chocolate cake. This was the first time he had ever used an oven or even attempted baking. […]

Resin to Remember

“Anewlywed couple sent me flowers from their wedding garlands to add to their memory box recently!” gushes Amrita Giriraj. It’s the stories that inspire the products at Alankaara. The jewellery and lifestyle brand relentlessly explores the concept of preserving fragments of time through resin art. At fifteen, Amrita found herself drifting towards science two—a high […]

The Story of Chennai’s Criminologist

It was that time of the week. Prasanna walked into the book store with her parents. She ran past the popular magazine shelves where Femina, National Geographic and India Today were stacked. At the shop back, she rummaged through the children’s magazines until she got her hands on the latest edition of Detective. “As a […]

The English-Medium Anganwadis of Rural Tamil Nadu

“Everyone refers to us as the school that provides the teachers with electric vehicles!” chuckles Lakshmi Ramamurthy, founder of Amyga Academy. The Academy is paving the way to world-class education in remote villages around India while empowering the rural women who contributed to the local rural schools—also known as the Anganwadi. Lakshmi’s career started in […]

The Universal Need to Move

“What do you want to do when you grow up, Naidhro?” asks another adult who had come to visit. I want to build a car that can drive on land, swim through a waterbody and even fly!” the little boy says with a twinkle in his eye. While all the other kids wanted to become […]

Composting Against Climate Change

There was a cow in the middle of the road. This wasn’t just another lounging cow—indifferent to its urban surroundings. It had an air of discomfort. Deepesh Bhaskar motioned to his cab driver to stop so that he could take a closer look. There it was, the cow, dry-heaving helplessly as the traffic navigated around […]

Chennai’s Chocolatier Recreates Local Flavours with an International Twist

“Chakra Pongal, Mishti Doi, Paan and Panchamridham,” lists Janani Kannan announcing another order. These are not just popular flavours from around India. They are the best-sellers from Zitter’s bonbon collection. The studio opens up into an air-conditioned hall with glass refrigerators at sixteen degrees stacked with decadent chocolates and pastries. A gust of cool air […]

The Goals of Chennai’s Football Community

Circa 2018. It’s a Saturday evening. Manchester United vs Arsenal is being screened. The crowd roars. Muffled cheers are heard from the room. There is a rap at the door. “It’s a part-time job!” they scream over the cursing and rambling as Arsenal scores another goal. Bernaud Thomson and Harrison (Harry) James Nelson were friends […]

The Value in Crafting Memories

Tucked in between the small dense apartments of Pallikaranai is a quaint studio with antique paraphernalia, rare books and glimmering statues of political and historic leaders—of varied sizes between ten inches to seven feet tall. “Sillaii,” Arun Titan enunciates, “No matter which part of the world you come from, the pronunciation is more or less […]

Raptee Reveals Why EV is Still Nascent in India

“There have been two prominent players market for the last decade but the EV market in India is still less than one percent,” the CEO of Raptee Energy, Dinesh Arjun declares, “Why hasn’t the transition happened as yet?” The Chennai-based startup, Raptee is one among the five hundred players in the increasingly growing electric two-wheeler […]

Where Tamil Culture Meets Urban Streetwear

Raghavendar Balasubramaniam, better known as Raghav, grew up in the busy neighborhood of T. Nagar. Anyone familiar with the locality instantly recalls the bustling traffic and hoards of crowding outside the largest houses of the oldest fashion and jewellery brands in Tamil Nadu. The sidewalks and entrances of these large franchises are lined with smaller […]

The Weekend Drives that Led to a Reimagined Supply Chain

WayCool Foods’ Journey from SunnyBee to the B2B Segment It all began with long weekend drives, where Karthik Jayaraman, Sanjay Dasari, and a couple of Karthik’s co-workers from the automobile company would pick a spot like the Koyambedu market or the Parry’s Corner grain market and slowly retrace the supply chain over the months. You […]

A Sustainable Solution to Reducing Food Waste

India is the second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world, however, 40 percent of the produce goes to waste during transport. “The problem seemed to stem more from infrastructure rather than behaviour,” Deepak Rajmohan points out as he explains the gap driving the R&D at GreenPod Labs. Flashback to 2009, Deepak was about […]

The Roots of a Growing Healthcare Ecosystem

Along the banks of the Kaveri, in the Temple city of Trichy, Dr. Manivannan Selvaraj recalls his childhood where his brother, cousins and friends would spend hours of euphoria splashing around or simply hanging out on its soft sandy banks. The warm nostalgic feeling of comfort and familiarity along the clear bobbling waters stuck to […]

Selling FABric Art Journals

American Trappist monk Thomas Merton famously said, “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” These words could not be truer for Niranjana Krishnakumar, a co-incidental art enthusiast, and the founder of the handmade notebook and fabric journal brand Citta Handmade. Niranjana was not always knee-deep into paintings and sketching […]

Comic Books Make a Comeback to Revive Reading

What happens when a couple of engineers from Chennai that set up a STEM laboratory in schools are locked up during the pandemic and schools start operating online? Abishek RK and Nandini Chilkam, the duo who used to teach coding to school children as a part of this startup decided that it was the perfect […]

Chennai’s Kings of Li-ion

Born in Delhi, made in Chennai (as they proudly label themselves)—Hardik and Gautam Narula are the rare passionate engineers who are often found with their sleeves rolled up, pursuing esoteric hobbies such as scavenging obscure mechanical parts or with their heads bent over a pile of old and new hardware pulled apart from diverse electronic […]

Strangers Who Crossed Paths to Make Architecture Inclusive

During the lockdown, nine strangers from around Tamil Nadu with a background in architecture and civil engineering got together to make the industry more approachable to the native population. “It all stemmed from our shared belief that progress is when we think global and act local,” opens Kaushik Shrinivas, the founder of MAAVILAI—previously Agazhi (we’ll […]

Weaving Together a Handloom Ecosystem

Towards the outskirts of Erode, amidst the claps and whirrs of the weaving equipment, one will find C. Sivagurunathan, wearing Khadi head to toe sitting amidst the weavers in the tiny village of Chennimalai—popularly known as the weaving town. The village is home to generations of weavers whose population has seen a sharp decline since […]

Boxing their Way to Better Opportunities

On the banks of the Cooum, nestled amidst the tarpaulin, trash and dense settlements is a small compound wall enclosing the three hundred square foot government rec center. The sound of low grunts, shuffles and a distant counting emerge from behind the wall. A faded blue gate swings open to reveal young boys and girls […]

Siblings in the Business of Sustainable (and Comfortable) Garments

Arun Kumar and his sister SP Ponmani were cleaning up their childhood home in Madurai one afternoon when they stumbled upon a chest filled with pure cotton clothes from when they were babies. “The material was so soft and still usable even though they were about twenty years old,” says Ponmani with amusement recalling the […]

This Chennai Startup Makes Waste Valuable

While most people get easily intimidated by the equations and symbols that come with learning Chemistry in High School, Keshav Vijay realised it was his true calling. By the 10th grade, he decided that he was going to be a chemical engineer. “During the engineering college counseling, a lot of people raised their eyebrows and […]

Uru Gives Shape to Rare Musical Instruments

Last year, the yazh, a forgotten instrument from the Sangam period was resurrected in its modern form by a young musician and luthier, Tharun Sekar. Perched on an ornamental brass stand is the head resembling a peacock, carved out of polished red cedar, seamlessly transforming into a slender arching neck that expands at the bottom […]

The Furniture Weaving Network

Santhosh Kumar grew up in Nagercoil, a coastal town close to the Southern tip of Tamil Nadu, where his father learned the art of weaving cane and wire furniture. “Why don’t I learn the craft from my father,” he thought to himself when he reached the 12th grade, “I’ll not only be useful at home […]

Creating indePenn-dant Women

“If all the educated women of India were working, our GDP would go up by a minimum of 25 percent!” Rani recalls from a recent report she had read. “Tamil Nadu has one of the highest percent of women enrolled in higher education. Nearly 50 percent enrolled in tertiary education are women,” adds Rajani. Why […]

From Learning Games to Games for Learning

“I went from never playing games to running a board game community for six months straight,” laughs Senthil Kumar G stating the irony behind his startup MADIEE, which designs serious games focused on behavioral and leadership training for corporations. The entrepreneur’s inclination towards revolutionising the education system dates back to his engineering college days. “I […]

The Journey of a Tech-Savvy Yogi

“It’s where yoga meets lifestyle design!” giggles an effervescent Sushmitha Shrikanth describing her personal brand Sushi Yogi. The 25-year-old certified yoga instructor went through a wild path of self-discovery before she became a yoga and wellness coach. “I was introduced to yoga when I was about eight—like most other Indian parents, mine forced me to […]

Decadent Layers of Impactful Storytelling

One Christmas Eve, Valampuri John, a celebrated Tamil orator and writer, was invited to a baking show for a Christmas Special where he comedically stated, “Cake is called cake because if you want it, ‘thirupi thirupi cake-anum’ (translation: you have to keep asking for it),” leaving the crowd in hysterics. A young girl in Avadi, […]

The Four-Step Strategy towards Upliftment of ‘Nonurban’ Occupations

When the first wave of the Pandemic hit in 2020, Thein landed in Russia for a research project in time for a nationwide lockdown. She found herself stuck in a small room with a small kitchen and only her laptop to help overcome the perpetual silence and the days that seemed to last forever. She […]

Let your clothes tell your story

Fashion icon Iris Apfel once said, “What’s my style is not your style, and I don’t see how you can define it. It’s something that expresses who you are in your own way.” As people learn to be comfortable in their own skin and the world moves towards self-expression and individuality, most fast fashion brands […]

A Sustainable Life Powered by Goli Soda

Six-year-old Sruti Harihara Subramanian grew up in Mylapore with a special love for animals and open spaces. During the vacations, she used to visit her grandparents in a small town amidst the folding green landscapes of Kerala. Her only source of entertainment in this sleepy town was to sit on the steps with the local […]

Therapy – The “Creative Art” of Living

The stigma around therapy has slowly begun to diminish. Since the pandemic, mental wellbeing has become a trending topic among the younger demographic. Despite this, there are only 21 therapy centres across Chennai and merely 5,000 across India for a population of about 138 crores. Among these centres is Horizon Therapy run by Nikita Raisinghani […]

Solitude Farms: Bringing Culture, Communities, and Cultivation Together

Krishna McKenzie is a “Zen” farmer who is creating a unique concept in Auroville that is relevant everywhere in the world At the impressionable age of sixteen, young Krishna Mckenzie was enrolled in the J Krishnamoorthy academy in the U.K. A year later,  a wealthy philanthropist sponsored some of the students to visit all the […]

Coonoor’s Quirky Cafe with a Cause

On the moderately chilly but serene slopes of Coonoor, in Radhika Shastry’s backyard, lies the quirky Cafe Diem with its welcoming warm yellow lights and exquisite interior artifacts against the quaint but cozy brick walls, luring tourists and residents alike. “I always knew I would live in the hills,” declares the founder who quit her […]

How to become a Superhuman?

Adie-hard Jackie Chan follower, 16-year-old Vishal Kumar, spent hours watching and dissecting his seamless movements on YouTube when he stumbled upon a video about parkour in the suggested section. “That was when I realized that there was an actual word to describe the thing I was obsessing over!” he recalls. In that moment of thrill, […]

Indigenous Accessories with an International Audience

Srithi Sadagopan a.k.a Srirang (because most South Indian’s are given a second name after their place of birth) spent her entire life in the temple town of Srirangam until her marriage. The soft-spoken, 23 year old small-town girl was just about to jump into a life that would transform her life entirely. She moved halfway […]

VayuJal: Potable water from the air

This continuously improving product could be the answer to the water crisis we are eventually going to face. Read how Ramesh Kumar is trying to solve a humanitarian challenge. The mildly spoken Ramesh Kumar Soni shyly discloses, “I am the first engineer in the family, and will be the first IIT graduate as well. My […]

Radhika “Blows” You Away With Glass Art

Most of us tend to see glass as brittle and intimidating, but Radhika Krish, the founder of Goli Soda Glass Studio, is “cracking” that belief—one art piece at a time. “I always thought the “goli soda” bottles from my younger days were intriguing. I remember spending hours trying to get the goli (marble) out of […]

GenZ Coaching: for Students by Students

Who would think two graduates in architecture would find the ideal platform to help the next generation of students find their ideal coaches? Rohit Raheja and Sachit Dugar have found the secret to making school kids want to learn. Through their EdTech platform, Mentor Match, the team has successfully ‘matched’ college students from institutions like […]

The Game of Life: Featuring Coimbatore’s Toy Designer

Kanaka Ananth’s destiny in the toy design industry links all the way back to her childhood. She narrates incidents through her life, piecing together small details that linked up to lead her to shape Maniams, along with her late brother, Karthik Ananth, to the unique design firm it is today. Everyone who knew Kanaka as […]

OK Google, Where Can I find Hand-Crafted Fountain Pens in Chennai?

M.Pratap Kumar, a chemistry graduate and the unsuspecting heir to the celebrated Gem & Company—popular since time immemorial for the GAMA pen, is the third-generation owner of the hand-made fountain pen business. The highly sought-after company was founded by his grandfather M. C. Cunnan, and his associate, Venkatarangam pre-Independence, amidst the bustling crowds of commerce […]

Once Upon a Slime After School

“Slime is not just for children, it’s for everyone!” declares Avi Natesan, full of zest. Her effervescent personality shines as she brings out tubs of goo, complex origami patterns, and a handmade miniature kitchen. These quirky artifacts are not just outcomes of her summer-time hobbies and passions—hours went into hands-on experimentation before she built her […]

PRIDE of Tamil Nadu

Neelam Jain is pushing hard for corporate India to accept Transgenders and give them meaningful employment. “The last census count registers 4.5 million people who identify themselves are transgenders, but the number is at least 10 times that, or even more,” says the soft-spoken Neelam Jain, co-founder at Periferry, a self-sufficient non-profit agency that works […]

The 21st Century Bookmaker

Aadithiya Raajan, a theater artist at heart, and a recent engineering graduate from Anna University, was going about his 9-to-5 job, dreaming of ways to build a Creative with a group of fellow passionate actors and dramatists from 5-to-9. Little did he think that he would have to take up his family printing business on […]

Designed in Salem. Displayed all over the world.

How Shreenie Vasan is setting Tana Bana, the design firm he co-founded, firmly on the global market for surface design patterns, designed in his hometown of Salem, the fifth largest populous state in Tamil Nadu. “My father, grandfather, and his ancestors were all contract weavers in Salem,” began Shreenie Vasan, co-founder and CEO of Tana […]

A Democratic Culture Designed for Commercial Success

Childhood friends, Suresh Kumar G and George Christopher have travelled a long journey together—long after their evenings under the Sun, playing cricket in the paddy fields of Rettai Vaikkal, a small neighbourhood in Trichy, well known for its Murugan Temple. Like most other third grade friends, their paths diverged for college and afterwards, when they […]

Success through Passion – A Käse Study

Back in 2015, if you had asked international trade and investment consultant, Namrata Sundaresan, if she was going to transform her Coonoor vacation cheesemaking experience into a multi-crore business she would have burst out laughing before responding, “I have better things to do than to make cheese.” Nevertheless, being a foodie at heart and the […]

Out of the Box, into the Market

Almost everyone has lived on a student budget at some point. In 2019, 3rd year product design student, Karthic Rathinam’s life was no different. That was the year he decided to rent a studio apartment in Pune, near his college, as he had to move out of his hostel. The rest of his money would go […]

The Chain Reaction Leading to Fix My Cycle and its Expanding Empire

Cities are characterised by the hustle and bustle of honking vehicles and traffic, but with the pandemic, there was a double fold increase in the number of cycle purchases. The lock-down made cycles a cost-effective replacement to crowded public transport. Cycling groups have been existing for a while now, but the pandemic saw a surge […]

How Green Crush Canned the Soft Drink Market in Chennai

8th January 2017. Tamil Nadu. Chennai. This was a historic day when around 2,00,000 young people gathered at Marina Beach for 15 days in solidarity to legalize Jallikattu, a traditional Tamil game played during the harvest festival of Pongal, that involves releasing a rogue bull while crowds of people run behind it and try to stop […]

Canine India: A Local Business Abroad

Julia Pape, Lawyer and Political Journalist, born in Germany, transformed into ‘Sulthan’,  Savior of the Indies (and other canines and felines) when she moved to Chennai with her husband, Harish, in the year 2017. Her earlier travels around Asia made her realise her love for these furry outlaws. “I have always loved nothing more than the […]

We Need More Mentorship Here

Crossing $1M in ARR in less than 18 months, and finding a robust product-market fit in the fin-tech ecosystem, Aravind Sriraman, Abhishek Rajagopal and Tholkappiyan Velavan are your classic entrepreneurial team—engineering graduates who put in their stints with large corporations, led teams, experimented successfully, and then decided to team up and start their own. Not […]

Weaving ‘Woke’ into Chennai’s Lifestyle

When the Epidemic loomed in the year 2020, it postponed higher education plans for most students around the world. Chennai based Visual Arts graduates, Sneha Chakrapani and Liza Jane Fernandez decided to look at the brighter side. The former college mates got back together to utilise the break year to venture into putting together their combined […]

But We are All Coffee Drinkers, Right?

Tamil Nadu. Chennai. Images of strong Kumbakkonam degree coffee smells wafting in the air, spiraling out of shining “kaapi tumblers” are strongly associated with the Southernmost state of India, and its capital, Chennai. “We were quite confident about launching Chai retail outlets in a coffee capital like Chennai,” says Jahabar Sadique, co-founder and CEO of […]