Siddharth Hande always wanted to pursue a career that deviated from traditional preferences. He was interested in forest conservation.
His parents weren’t thrilled of course; why would they be when he wasn’t planning to go down the beaten path of pursuing a medical or engineering degree? On his first day of college, he walked up to his zoology professor, looking for some inspiration. He asked him why he chose the path he took, and his response, that it's because he couldn’t pursue a career in medicine, left him uninspired. Siddharth, today a geo-spatial analyst and urban studies researcher, is aware that his career choice is different from what is conventional.
In a country where any degree other than engineering and medicine is considered unsafe, Siddharth Hande was inspired to start a platform that would support and encourage those who wish to pursue non-traditional careers. Because, in the midst of people who’ve resigned to safe career choices, are those who’ve dared to dream and strived to see it materialise. “The idea is to meet such people, figure out how they did it and help other people who want to take a similar path,” explains Siddharth.
To do this, he started a platform called Supportive Cities. With the help of friends Rohit Koliyot and Sonaal Bangera, he’s profiling people who’ve taken interesting career paths, so that conversations can be built around it through discussions, multimedia, events and workshops. “If I already know a cinematographer who’s made it in Chennai, I don’t have to figure out the A to Z of making it by myself,” says Siddharth, adding that artists in the city have a huge role to play in creating such a mentorship platform. The three entrepreneurs believe that many Chennaiites make interesting career choices — these include book designing, song writing, and wildlife photography.
But, there is not much awareness or information about these offbeat professions. “Most people didn’t know there was something called geospatial mapping till Siddharth spoke about it,” explains Rohit.
They also organise events through the Supportive Cities Stage to bring together artists to raise money for people trying to establish themselves. A few months ago, when Kaber Vasuki needed to raise money to produce his independent music album, other artists came forward to help his crowd-funding campaign. Kavitha Thomas played music, Burma Bazaar Conspiracy did stand-up comedy and Stray factory performed a few sketches, and the Rs. 23,000 they made from the show went towards helping Kaber establish himself as a musician. Not just that, Kaber also managed to meet his producer during the event.
Their initiatives are meant to establish connections, offer support and build communities. As a whole, they’re helping a traditional city support non-traditional careers. They’ve also launched the Urban History project to document narratives of transformation in the city and showcase its changes, to understand them through multimedia and long-form essays. They ultimately hope to bring about policy changes to make Chennai a more supportive and inclusive city.
To take part in the Urban History Project and help crowdsource memories of the city, check the Supportive Cities Facebook page.
