The idea of Nature in Focus For the longest time, @naturein_focus has been a thriving community of photographers, wildlife storytellers and environmentalists. We’d always been curious as to how the idea of Nature In Focus happened. This interview is part of our support to @naturein_focus ‘s film festival happening from 28th to 30th of July 2023 🙌🏽 Sincere thanks to @varma.rohit for giving us his time. Crew - @ondumasale @sharan_gc @simplethang_ #filmfestival #wildlifephotography #natureinfocus #nif #wildlifefilm #wildlifefilmmaking #wildlifephotographer #entreprenuer #rohitvarma #kalyanvarma #naturefilm #interview #instareels #explorepage #newstories #community #communityfirst

As I reached menarche, I was expected to be all excited about my periods because everyone around me was. I still remember the day when I got my first period and that stabbing, debilitating, blinding, and sensorily overwhelming pain. For me, it was nothing less than a nightmare. Every period brought with itself this massive dread. When I wasn't on my periods, I was experiencing all sorts of GI symptoms, especially bloating and I would fall sick very often. My mom would keep taking me to doctors for the debilitating pain that I was experiencing but no doctor would listen. The narrative that period pain is normal was deeply normalized. Now I know and understand I am in a disabled body, am queer , and am Autistic. My therapist once asked me, “In your personal space you see yourself as disabled but as a therapist, do you see yourself as disabled?” It took me a huge time to realize that as a professional, I wasn’t allowing myself to be accepting of my disability. Acceptance isn't an absolute space especially when our race is with ones who are able-bodied. To allow me to be accepting of the fact that I am a disabled therapist and that my needs, accommodations, and support is going to look different from the other therapists has been a process. This has been a profound experience for me to really look at where I fit in within the mental health profession, as a disabled, queer, Autistic therapist. Mental health as a field has been exclusive to disabled therapists. Most of us have never been taught during our training about disability justice or neurodivergence. The DSM criteria is where it ends. We have been taught from a space how to fix it and make autistic people "functional' for an ableist world. For the longest period despite me being a therapist, I didn’t know I was autistic. That’s how lacking our education is in the space of neurodiversity and disability. As a psychotherapist who is at the intersection of being an Autistic ADHDer, living with a disability and chronic pain, and who is queer, it’s very hard for me to find support spaces that are for therapists or to find other therapists who have similar experiences. (Continued in comments)

“One skill that I realized quite early on is that I listen actively. I saw a lot of my friends having a lot of concerns that they couldn't talk to the adults in their lives about. There wasn't a lot of empathy that I noted in the way that they were being responded to even when they reached out to the counselors in school. There was a lot of condescension and judgment that I thought was coming across. It made them feel uncomfortable to open up. I wondered if there was a way for me to do something about it. I wanted to be the mental health professional that I wanted to see. This is why I embarked on this journey at 16. This is not a job that is always cheery but thinking of good memories keeps me motivated. One of the most recent ones was when I did a support group for queer individuals. I have my own private project on the side, The Restory Project. It was an in-person meet-up in Bengaluru that was free ranging, but what we mostly discussed was how we navigate relationships, and for queer people, it was how their relationships were being affected by them being queer and how they experience being a queer person in India affects their mental health. At the end, some people told me that having a physical space in the city where they could openly talk about their relationship concerns really touched me. The idea that I could create such a physical space for people meant a lot to me. Recently people have been taking more interest in learning about what leads them to feel a certain way, and what affects their mental health. Of recent the reason for people to pay more attention to psychology is the fact that we have undergone such a difficult and an unpredictable experience with the pandemic. I think a lot of people have realized that the isolation that we experienced and all the uncertainty was affecting their mental health. People became aware that our mental well-being is something that we put on the back burner sometimes and that even when we interact with people around us there's a lot going on beneath the surface. My biggest take away being a therapist is to maintain healthy boundaries and I think everyone should learn this regardless of their profession.”

“As a kid, I was fascinated by the colors, and anything that was larger than life, grandeur, postures, and magnanimous. The posters, books, illustrations, and everything that was bright interested me, and I wanted to replicate them in my art books. Replicating them gave me happiness like no other. My mother noticed this interest of mine and documented every piece of art I produced with love. I have always been somebody who is in competition with myself. After finishing every piece of art, all I could ever think is what to do next, how could I make something better than this? With this mindset, I have won over 155 awards as of now in every field. I take immense pride in being recognized by the Prime Minister and being awarded for my art. I always challenge myself. I say ‘let’s try it out,’ and if I am not happy with it, I would get back to it to improve it. I basically harbor a very optimistic outlook toward life. During my college days, a woman with an Indian flag wrapped around her caught my eye. Shweta Ratanpura, the first Indian woman to have won a bronze medal for graphic designing at WorldSkills. I researched WorldSkills and wondered why it isn’t popular even though it has been more than 50 years since it started. WorldSkills organizes the world championships of vocational skills and is held every two years in different parts of the world. It is the Olympics of vocational skills. Comparing it with the Olympics, though the two focus on different fields, the emotional connection and training are identical. During the WorldSkills Competition, the immense moral support from my loved ones was extraordinary. Their unwavering confidence in my abilities propelled me to win three medals for my country. I did it for them, for myself, and for my beloved country. Everyone needs to know about WorldSkills so that we can have more candidates to represent India. It is a prestigious opportunity that one shouldn’t miss. It is hard but even when circumstances don’t work out in our favor, one should never give up. Your hard work isn’t going to waste. At least you are learning something out of it.”

“I started Raja Gobi 9 years ago as a pull cart with different types of manchurians in the menu. When I was new to Bengaluru in 1995, I worked in a textile shop for 5 years. Later my friends taught me the art of cooking which helped me serve as a non-veg cook for two different restaurants in the late 90s .Since then, my customers and my family has supported me all along.” “Fortunately now, the pull cart has been replaced with a small shop, serving 150 plates of fresh Gobi Manchurian each day with nearly 100 customers.There was an average demand in the beginning but the food bloggers in social media seem to have stormed the internet with our place. It is mostly because of them, we received attention in large numbers even while there is no proper hoarding to this place.” “My routine mornings start from 5am, which involves purchasing the gobi to cut them by 3:30pm and start sellingfrom 4pm. By then, the customers will already be waiting. They would have come from various parts of Bengaluru, to mainly taste our handmade gobi. I have the intention of expanding my business in a couple of years.” What makes Raja gobi the best? “There is an authentic non-veg touch in the making. Fresh masala is prepared for every 5 plates, equally served to all my customers with no compromise in quality and quantity. That being said, no digital food applications are used to cause injustice for the ones standing in line for hours. My customers are everything. Because of them, I am running this business and I don’t want to disappoint them. My dedication motto is I sometimes forcefully may have to say no to at least 40-50 customers when I cannot serve my best taste while being physically exhausted post my work hours.“ . Written by - @srushti_rajaram Shot by - @anjana__kashyap #myblr #sobengaluru #bangalore_insta #nammabengaluru #bangalorefoodies

What is happiness to you? Happiness to me is only one thing, the day all my flowers are sold, I go back home with a happy heart. That’s the only way I can feed my family, pay rents and sustain our family here. My kid also work, but I have to put in my efforts too right? All my flowers are sold, I pack my stuff and leave, that’s happiness for me. Nothing else matters. #myblr #nammabengaluru #igersofbangalore #storiesofindia #everydayindia #everydaybangalore #bangalorediaries #bengalurudiaries #mycitybengaluru #karnatakafocus #malleshwaram #malleswaram @malleswaramsocial

Thou Shalt Not Steel - 17th March 2023 Participants - @srinualav @tara.uk @pawankumarfilms @grumpyoldbelawadi @priyachetty @deeptisudhindra @bharathyjayaprakash @shrumaa @pallavi_md @charmainekenita @citizensforbengaluru and others Crew - @ondumasale , @sharan_gc @simplethang_ @sixgoodshots @ashwin1y3r @venu_gopal94 @supreet_photography_ @vinaykumar.chavan @sandhya.surendran @the_mad_rao @chandra.hm @sukruth_rao @gbaadithyaa @switching_nah @a._.shri._.tha Supported by @iruve.in @citizensforbengaluru Poster design by @design101studio #documentary #documentaryfilm #nammabengaluru #bangalore #bengaluru #bangalorediaries #bengalurudiaries #myblr #igersofbangalore #bengaluruadda #southindianfilms #kannadafilm #kannadafilms #filmmaker

Bas intzaar khatm!⏰🎉 Send “Hi Daal-Baati” at 7676671958 to register for free. Limited slots!*✅ Jaisa humne wada kiya tha, ki hm jald apke rajya ke concerns ko chunkar, different stakeholders se discuss karke, apke rajya mein real impact layege.. 🤯 Hum aa gaye hai ‘Daal-Baati’ ke sath😋 with an awesome team of @facesofbengaluru So agar aap Rajasthan se ho aur Bangalore me ho to miss mat karna! 🔥 We eagerly await the opportunity to connect with you and engage in meaningful conversations towards a better future. 🫡 Aaoge naa? 🤩 #trending #reels #explorepage #rajasthan #event #bangalore #impact #social #meet #development

Trailer drops in tomorrow. ❤️ Thou Shalt Not Steel Participants - @srinualav @tara.uk @pawankumarfilms @grumpyoldbelawadi @priyachetty @deeptisudhindra @bharathyjayaprakash @shrumaa @pallavi_md @charmainekenita @citizensforbengaluru Crew - Vikas Badiger, @sharan_gc @simplethang_ @sixgoodshots @ashwin1y3r @venu_gopal94 @supreet_photography_ @vinaykumar.chavan @chandra.hm @sukruth_rao @gbaadithyaa @switching_nah @a._.shri._.tha Supported by @iruve.in @citizensforbengaluru Poster design by @design101studio #documentary #documentaryfilm #nammabengaluru #bangalore #bengaluru #bangalorediaries #bengalurudiaries #myblr #igersofbangalore #bengaluruadda #southindianfilms #kannadafilm #kannadafilms #filmmaker

Bengaluru Darshini A short on K Dhanapal, a historian, a guide, a bus driver. Directed by @manisharaghunath Shot by @ashwin1y3r @simplethang_ Edited by @sharan_gc Thank you @bmtc_official for the support A huge shoutout to @bicblr for the grant and supporting such Bangalore narratives to come out. #bangalore #bengaluru #nammabengaluru #bangalorediaries #myblr #bengalurudiaries #indianfilms #kannadafilms #documentaryfilm

“I’ve been a Bengaluru hudugi throughout my life. Schooling was very conservative but I was mostly into co-curricular activities all my academic life. I always wanted to be in the hospitality industry but my family didn’t let me pursue it because they wanted me to do engineering. My grandfather insisted I become an engineer. I didn’t have a choice.” . Marriage . “I would say the turning point of my life would be getting married. Finding such a supportive partner was very tough. He gave me the support that I didn’t get from my family. We knew each other for 11 years; we were just friends. I think the way we supported each other through those years was a natural transition. We dated for a year and as soon as our parents knew, we got married. My grandfather gave his blessings and got us married.” . “I started taking tuition for kids in my house only and I felt like teaching was the calling for me. Grooming a generation of kids is something of a huge responsibility. I started as a class teacher and during a teacher’s day out, we all had a dance competition where I won first place which led me to move to a dance teacher position at Orchids The International School.” . “I personally think we don’t give enough time for ourselves in whatever we set out to do in life. We are constantly impatient if things aren’t going well for us. One thing I’ve learnt is to be patient with anything I do. Be it teaching, dancing, blogging or even just living your life. I am Deepthi Gowda.” . #explorepage #explore #blogger #foodblogger #foodbloggers #nammabengaluru #bangalore #indiapictures #myblr #orchidsinternationalschool #foodie

Day 0 Documentaries in a broader sense isn’t a popular genre of filmmaking as it involves narratives of real people and delivering it to it’s truest sense is the challenge. This becomes even more important when it involves citizen activism. When we decided to choose this topic, it was a hard decision as this involved democracy, politics and policies and a lot of citizens involved. But we were genuinely surprised that such a huge story wasn’t documented. We will be sharing some behind the scenes of our documentary and would request all our viewers to share this to help us reach more and more people. It is completely a self funded film and we’d be grateful for your support for the release of the documentary. #documentary #indianfilm #indianfilms #indifilm #prakashbelawadi #kannadafilm #kannadafilms #nonfiction #bangaloredays #myblr #nammabengaluru #indiefilm #indiefilmmaker