#Gayatri Phadke

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GrowHo Pioneering Excellence in India's Digital Landscape

In the bustling metropolis of Pune, the seeds of innovation were sown by two visionary entrepreneurs, Mr. Sachin Birhade and Dr. Gayatri Phadke, when they established GrowHo in 2023. Little did they anticipate that their brainchild would swiftly rise to prominence, reshaping the digital landscape of India.

GrowHo, short for Grow Horizone Opportunities Private Limited, emerged as the nation's premier digital platform and IT service provider, setting a new standard for excellence in the industry. Sachin and Gayatri embarked on a journey fueled by innovation and a relentless pursuit of client satisfaction, revolutionizing how businesses operate in the digital sphere.

What distinguished GrowHo from its competitors was its unwavering commitment to excellence and its agility in adapting to the dynamic market landscape. Offering a comprehensive suite of services including web development, digital marketing, and IT solutions, GrowHo became the trusted partner for businesses seeking to establish a formidable online presence.

However, GrowHo's success wasn't solely attributed to its services; it was rooted in its ability to deliver tangible results. Within a short span of time, GrowHo disrupted the market, earning the trust and admiration of clients across the nation. Its innovative strategies enabled businesses to thrive in the fiercely competitive digital arena, driving significant increases in revenue and market share.

Central to GrowHo's success was its ability to cultivate and nurture a talented team. With offices strategically located in Pune and Bengaluru, the company assembled a diverse team of creative minds and tech wizards, dedicated to delivering exceptional outcomes. This powerhouse team enabled GrowHo to effortlessly serve over 1000 high-profile clients, showcasing its prowess in the digital domain.

As GrowHo continues to push the boundaries of what's achievable in the digital realm, Sachin and Gayatri remain steadfast in their commitment to driving positive change and empowering businesses across India. With a proven track record of success and a growing roster of satisfied clients, GrowHo is poised to redefine the future of India's digital economy. From Pune to Bangalore and beyond, GrowHo leads the charge towards a brighter, more connected tomorrow.

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The year that was...

Dear Friends:

Season’s Greetings!

In the celebrated Yaksha-prashna episode of the Mahābhārata, responding to one of Yaksha’s questions Yudhishtira says,

Day after day, countless beings are going to the abode of death; yet those that remain desire to live forever! What can be a greater wonder than that?

2020 served as a grisly commentary to this famous utterance.

Year after year sees birth and death, with the former always surpassing the latter. While the birth of a child causes joy to a small group of people, the death of a person can cause sorrow to millions. 2020 was a ghastly experience for me with regard to death: several individuals who influenced me either directly or indirectly passed away and in my own case, I felt death’s knock on my door—albeit for brief moments—during an irksome bout of tuberculosis that lasted a couple of months.

Some eminent personages—all renowned in their own fields—that I had the good fortune of meeting, engaging in discussions, or collaborating with over the years breathed their last in 2020 – Dr. V Prasanna Bhat (a finance/management whiz and close friend of my father whose cerebral approach to life and meticulousness influenced me in many ways), Subramaniam Chittur (entrepreneur, Rotarian, communications expert, and the man who brought Toastmasters International to India – an organization that proved transformational for me as early as during my high school days), Ranjon Ghoshal (renowned actor/director who was my guide in the world of theatre and a consummate conversationalist with whom I have discussed themes ranging from the Vedas to folk music, from Bengali literature to stage lighting, from advertising to colonial history), Ivry Gitlis (world-famous violinist whose masterclass I was lucky to attend when he visited Bangalore in 2005), Pt. Jasraj (renowned Hindustani singer with a golden voice whom I had the fortune of meeting when he performed with my guru Dr. L Subramaniam during the LGMF), Prof. Roddam Narasimha (one of India’s foremost scientists whom I was fortunate to have interacted with on three occasions, thanks to his nephew and my college classmate Varun Prakash; the eclectic mix of physics, philosophy, ancient Indian science, and Sanskrit that formed the mainstay of all my interactions with him always proved inspirational to me), and Dr. Gayatri Rajapur (an extraordinary musicologist and gottuvadyam exponent who I first met through her disciple and my friend Vinay Kumar, and later got the opportunity to interact on many occasions during the academic committee meetings of the LGCE; I always marvelled at her deep erudition, immense patience, and clear exposition).

2020 also saw the death of famous personalities who influenced me in some way or the other although I never met them: S P Balasubrahmanyam (playback singer, actor, and TV anchor), Basu Chatterjee (filmmaker and screenwriter), Soumitra Chatterjee (actor, playwright, and poet), Sir Sean Connery (actor), Irrfan Khan (actor), Prof. T N Krishnan (violinist), James Lipton (actor, writer, and dean emeritus of the Actors Studio Drama School), Diego Maradona (football legend), Ennio Moricone (music composer), James Randi (conjurer, rationalist, and activist), Sir Ken Robinson (author and educationist), Sankar (artist and painter, renowned for his sketches in the Chandamama monthly including the iconic painting of Vikram and Betal), et al.

Some of the memorable episodes from the BC (Before Corona) days include my debut as a pṛcchaka (in the saṅkhyā-bandha division) in an Avadhāna of Śatāvadhāni Dr. R Ganesh; a trip with my mother to Sosale, our ancestral village; a weekend getaway with friends from my study group; editing/designing the seminal work Prekṣaṇīyam; attending the day-long dance conference Tha-Dheem that included speakers such as Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam, Śatāvadhāni Dr. R Ganesh, Saroj Khan, Rajiv Menon, Nirupama Rajendra, Dr. Rajkumar Bharathi, Praveen D Rao, and Pravin Godkhindi; and participating in Madanothsava, a 1,600-year-old community festival of spring recreated by Nirupama and Rajendra of the Abhinava Dance Company.

The multiple lockdowns in 2020 gave me the opportunity to pursue my activities with greater focus and solitude. On the day of Yugadi (March 25) I started reading the Mahābhārata in the original Sanskrit along with my good friend Arjun Bharadwaj; in the early days, we met up online twice or thrice a week and discussed the chapters we read (he was always ahead of me, thus giving me the much-needed impetus to move forward!) I edited and designed a new version of Ram Gopal Misra’s 1983 classic Indian Resistance to Early Muslim Invaders up to 1206 A.D. (which was published in October). In collaboration with my friends G S Raghavendra and Srishan Thirumalai, I worked on a modern translation of selected verses from Lilashuka’s Śrīkṛṣṇakarṇāmṛtam (which is still in progress). I spent a lot of time practising the violin. The various study groups that I am a part of also saw an upward trend with regular online sessions; while we missed the leisure and the human connection offered by in-person sessions, we were able to save travel time and also accomplish more in the same one hour allocated to the study.

During the later part of May, I contracted a fever that simply wouldn’t go away. Forty-two days without a break it persisted. Pyrexia of Unknown Origin they called it. Following a battery of tests and much speculation by medical experts from diverse disciplines I was diagnosed with tuberculosis of the lymph node. The two months of June and July were largely spent in bed, totally disconnected from all my activities. I sailed through, thanks to the good counsel of my doctors (Dr. Alaka Acharya, Dr. Amar P, and Dr. G L Krishna) and perhaps more importantly, the long-standing support from my parents and my friends. I neither deserved nor desired the unconditional love and affection that I was showered with. I really don’t know how to account for the selflessness of my family and the generosity of my friends. It is a debt that is impossible to repay. And uttering any words of gratitude will only expose my ineptitude.

In 2020, I had the opportunity to speak on a few topics to diverse groups (young professionals, dance students, interns working in the back office of a politician), write a few essays (including one in Kannada, my first), restart my sketching journey, and work on editing/designing a few books (revised edition of Studies in Ancient Tamil Law and Society by Dr. R Nagaswamy and A Tapestry of Pen-portraits by S R Ramaswamy).

I also recall with great fondness the many illuminating conversations I had in 2020 – on music (with my guru Dr. L Subramaniam and with my friends Vivekananda, Ranjani Vasuki, and Kashyap Naik), on Sanskrit literature (with G S Raghavendra, Srishan Thirumalai, and Sudheer Krishnaswami), on multiple subjects related to India and Indian culture (with Dr. S R Ramaswamy, Śatāvadhāni Dr. R Ganesh, Vasuki H A, Vighneshwar Bhat, Arjun Bharadwaj, and Jayasimha K R), on writing and literature (with Prof. L V Shanthakumari, Chandra Shekhar, Sarita Talwai, and Bhumika Anand), on art and artistry (with Nirupama, Rajendra, Sagar Mehta, and Somashekhara Sharma), on politics and society (with Cedric Blair, Karthik Rao, Shankar Venkataraman, Showri H R, Shreesha Karantha, and Vikram Phadke), on history and education (with Dr. R Nagaswamy, Dr. M D Srinivas, Sripriya Srinivasan, and the Samvit team), and a variety of topics (with my family and my friends including Aditya Jeurkar, Chandrashekhar K S, Hrishikesh M K, Pratap Simha, and Srikanteswara).

My father turned seventy in 2020 and to coincide with what he terms ‘fifty years of adulthood,’ he brought out his autobiography Doing Well, Feeling Happy, which is really a book about work-life balance and handling crisis with equanimity. He also happened to put together a small book about the amazing human body, a result of his online research, while he was trying to understand the cause for my prolonged fever. Incidentally, during my convalescence period, I wrote a short piece on the Bhaja Govindam, which was also published as a booklet along with the other two works.

I spent the last few days of 2020 with my friends and their family in the sylvan surroundings at Rishikesh, Devaprayag, Lakshman Jhula, etc. The two highlights of the trip were meditating in Vasishta Guha on December 31st evening and white-water rafting on the Ganga on the first day of 2021. To me they represent the serenity and satisfaction one must experience during the conclusion (of a day or a week) and the enthusiasm and energy one should feel during the commencement (of a new day or week).

As for 2021, I have a few plans in terms of what I wish to accomplish and how I should proceed towards my chosen goals. Having broken down the process into weekly targets, I’m going to share that with a few friends so that they will—hopefully—constantly remind me about my shortcomings. I hope to practice the violin 18 hours a week, read 100 books (having bought a Kindle as a Dasara gift), drastically cut down on sugar, sketch occasionally, considerably reduce screen time (both on my mobile and computer), and learn to live more simply with better health and greater empathy. These are all aspirations at present; let’s see how they go as the year progresses :)

Wishing you and your family a joy-filled, healthy, and prosperous new year!

Cheers, Hari PS: Here is a podcast I recorded (in conversation with Mowna Ramachandra) about the musical creations of my guru, Dr. L Subramaniam.