As it often happens, the answer to the question was just around the bend in the road.
One day both the friends, teammates in the company’s consulting division were chilling in the cafeteria. Ka was talking about how she always wanted to start something art-y and design-y – indeed she had done a lot of work while studying at their common alma mater – St. Xavier’s. Anu too had dreams of starting off on the independent path instead of slogging at a desk surrounded by corporate minions. At that point, Inception happened. They would start something together, ha! Something fun-related that would be totally what they wanted to do. Land Ahoy!
Of course, it wasn’t easy to take the big jump out of corporate life that they were so used to (four years for Anu, nine for Ka). Family and friends helped along the way, some with words, laughs and some by beginning ventures of their own. Everyone started to deal with the notion of their being entrepreneurs – being a gujju not so difficult for Anu, but a concept quite unheard of in Ka’s mallu heritage.
By February 2011, they were building on the idea, making plans, and dreaming big. It was another couple of months for work to finally begin, but begin they have with zushk – a pot-stir that animates ideas by means of a quirky, unconventional path. It could be in the form of a wall that needs to be brought alive, or a scarf that needs a new turn, or a room looking for a spirit. All that can be found under the art/design umbrella, that involves not only technique but also a fun and memorable process, can be discovered at zushk.
