Apr 5, 2025
Sanjoy
Roy
Sanjoy K. Roy is the Managing Director, Teamwork Arts – a versatile production house in performing and visual arts, social sector, film, and television. Producer of global literary festivals, including the world’s largest – Jaipur Literature Festival. He is the Recipient of the US President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities Award. Sanjoy is an advisor on arts and diversity for numerous government and non-governmental organizations across the world.
One Line Life Lessons from Sanjoy

Episode Highlights
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00:00-00:20: Introduction of the show and its guests, Nitin Bajaj Nitin Bajaj and Sanjoy Roy Sanjoy Roy. Nitin poses the question, “Who is Sanjoy?”
00:21-00:51: Sanjoy shares a humorous story about his long hair, its origins, and how it inadvertently shaped his career path. A funny anecdote about his son’s reaction. The rest, as they say, is history.
00:52-01:12: Nitin reveals Sanjoy as an unofficial mentor. They joke about their shared long hair.
01:13-01:35: Nitin asks Sanjoy about Teamwork Arts, his organization, and questions his career choices. Why Teamwork Arts? Could he have been a hair model?
01:36-04:27: Sanjoy explains his journey into the arts. Family pressure to pursue a “real” job. The founding of Teamwork Arts in 1989 as a television and film production company. Shifting focus back to the arts in 1995. Current work with numerous festivals worldwide.
04:28-05:36: Nitin reflects on the growth of Indian television in the 90s and Sanjoy’s role. It was a time of relentless work and nation-wide viewership. Sanjoy’s contributions to defining a generation’s viewing habits.
05:37-06:16: Nitin draws parallels between Sanjoy’s experience and his own research on South Asian immigrant entrepreneurs, and the societal expectations faced.
06:17-06:53: Nitin asks Sanjoy about Teamwork’s impact. Sanjoy explains that growth wasn’t planned. It was about impacting individuals and communities.
06:54-11:59: Sanjoy discusses Teamwork’s extensive reach and its focus on engaging young people. Reaching millions through festivals and digital platforms. The importance of arts education. Impact of cutting arts funding, particularly in the US. A powerful statement about preserving the planet as our home.
12:00-13:09: Nitin praises Sanjoy’s eloquence. They discuss the importance of STEAM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics).
13:10-14:16: Nitin asks about the biggest challenge faced by Teamwork Arts. Sanjoy highlights the challenge of creating safe and inclusive spaces for diverse audiences and perspectives. Pushing back on ignorance.
14:17-18:37: Sanjoy shares examples of overcoming challenges in various countries. Creating inclusive festivals that resonate with local communities. Learning through shared experiences. An insightful comment on the interconnectedness of cultures, particularly the influence of Eastern traditions on Western culture.
18:38-18:53: Nitin transitions to opportunities and asks about the most exciting ones ahead.
18:54-22:26: Sanjoy discusses the opportunities and challenges presented by technology, especially AI. The imperative of using technology for the greater good, emphasizing the need to encourage ethical development. A stark warning about humanity’s self-destructive tendencies and the need for preservation.
22:27-22:56: Nitin asks Sanjoy to share two moments—one of failure and one of unexpected success—from his life, both personally and professionally.
22:57-27:43: Sanjoy shares a story about a failed television show during the Bombay riots. The valuable lesson about focusing on positive intent and adaptability. He then reflects on the challenges of success, particularly maintaining a balanced view of contributions and acknowledging collective efforts.
27:44-29:16: Nitin praises Sanjoy’s humility and his ability to identify and meet community needs. Sanjoy’s ability to create magical experiences.
29:17-30:47: Sanjoy emphasizes the importance of perspective and humility. He uses the analogy of looking at the night sky to illustrate the vastness of the universe and the insignificance of individual ego.
30:48-31:15: Sanjoy describes wisdom as an inheritance, emphasizing humility, empathy, respect, and the collective nature of knowledge.
31:16-31:50: Nitin further congratulates Sanjoy. He expresses his aspiration to emulate Sanjoy’s wisdom and impact.
31:51-32:18: Nitin asks about Sanjoy’s methods of relaxation and disengagement from work.
32:19-33:01: Sanjoy mentions reading, traveling, and interacting with people as ways to relax and learn.
33:02-33:25: Nitin comments on Sanjoy’s approach to life and connects it to his long hair. He requests book recommendations.
33:26-35:33: Sanjoy gives several book recommendations spanning history, philosophy, and current affairs.
35:34-36:13: Nitin introduces the “one-line life lesson” segment.
36:14-37:22: Sanjoy offers his one-line life lesson: centering oneself through meditation, to create positive energy and to act with love and respect.
37:23-38:23: Nitin shares his perspective on meditation and the importance of responding rather than reacting.
38:24-38:29: Nitin concludes the show by thanking Sanjoy.
Show Transcript
Transcript - Full Episode
[00:00:00 – 00:00:09] Nitin Bajaj
Hey, everyone. Welcome to the industry show. I’m your host, Nitin Bajaj. And joining me today is Sanjoy Roy. Sanjoy, welcome on the show.
[00:00:09 – 00:00:13] Sanjoy Roy
Thanks so much, Nitin. Good to see you again, and delighted to be on the show.
[00:00:14 – 00:00:21] Nitin Bajaj
Always a pleasure spending time with you, Sanjoy. Let’s start with the big question. Who is Sanjoy?
[00:00:21 – 00:00:53] Sanjoy Roy
Sanjoy is the hair. That’s the brand. Everybody thinks that they know the hair, so to speak. And it’s really my hair that sort of propels everything, and I grew my hair primarily because, my wife had an accident and I I hadn’t cut my hair for a bit. My eldest son what day came and said, are you planning to grow your hair? And I said, why? And he said, if you grow your hair, you can’t come to my school. And I’m like, that’s it. No no parent teacher day, no school day, no annual day. So I grew my hair. And as they say, the rest is history.
[00:00:55 – 00:01:03] Nitin Bajaj
And you do know, that you’re my unofficial mentor, and, this is in respect of
[00:01:03 – 00:01:03] Sanjoy Roy
I meant
[00:01:04 – 00:01:09] Nitin Bajaj
I I usually keep my hair tied, but then you said, hey. Keep it open. So here it is.
[00:01:11 – 00:01:15] Sanjoy Roy
Exactly. Exactly. We’re sort of twinning on that on that level.
[00:01:16 – 00:01:36] Nitin Bajaj
It’s all about the hair. So tell us what Teamwork Arts is. And more importantly, the thing that I am personally curious about, why do this? You could do so many other things. Right? You could be a hair model. You could have been many other people. So why Teamworks?
[00:01:37 – 00:04:27] Sanjoy Roy
So, Nitin, I think any of us who have long hair, we have limited opportunities in terms of what we can do. So the arts is obviously the obvious choice. But it’s really from from when I was in school or in university, etcetera. The arts was a choice, and I used to be involved in theater, and it’s where I went met my wife and partner, and my father-in-law asked me. So when we decided to get married, my father was asked, and what do you do? And I said, I do theater. He He said, no. What’s your day job? So I said, no. I do theater. And he’s like, how will you support my wife? And I’m like, no. She’s a manager in a big firm. She’ll support us. So, obviously, that didn’t go down too well. And my own dad, my own parents used to say, we introduce our eldest son as a nuclear physicist, economist, scientist, Roy what should we introduce you to as to our friends and so on and so forth. So I was very clear that one had to create show that we can create value in the arts pretty much in the same way that you create value in any other ecosystem. And that’s what we set out to do when we set up Teamwork in 1989. We were primarily a television and and film content making company. India just opened up its television, programming, and we were running about 14 or 15 daily weekly shows, everything from soap operas to food shows to game shows to news programs, etcetera. And in many ways, it was to really, give employment to our colleagues in theater. So you work through the day and then you rehearse in the evening kind of thing. But in 1995, we pivoted back to the arts because two of our colleagues, Manika and Sharopa, on a Saturday afternoon meeting where we used to meet all our producers and directors, came around and said, we’re brain dead. We can’t do this anymore. Because in those days, if a program was successful, it ran every day, week after week, month after month, year after year. There was no season concept of a season there. It just ran forever. So we were we were all of these programs running for five or six years. So no date nights and no family time, etcetera, because you shot till 10:00 at night and you started at 06:00 in the morning. It was just relentless. So 1995 when they said we can’t do this, I’m like, okay. Let’s go back to the arts and forgetting for a brief nanosecond that television film on those days you got paid Roy notionally paid every hour and the hour, and the arts was really just an investment into a black hole in those early times. So today, we do about 30 odd festivals in about 47 or 48 cities in 19 or 20 countries, and we sit at the cross section of knowledge, innovation, and the arts.
[00:04:28 – 00:06:26] Nitin Bajaj
That’s phenomenal. So first off, you’ve been a pioneer in the truest definition. And I remember the time when, you know, I was I was growing up. I was, I I believe we had the privilege of getting cable TV, in the early nineties when India was going through that transition where there was an explosion of content. We had no concept or notion of seasons, and it was the same thing that came on back to back every single day at the same time. And the entire nation, a billion people were glued on to their TV screens. And it’s fascinating that, you got to be in that mix and define an entire generation and what we watched growing up. So that’s amazing, and that’s just baffling that you got to curate content for such a wide variety of audience. So and I’m sure it was thrilling, and it was challenging in the truest sense. But then also, you mentioned something that, you know, I did my doctoral thesis on South Asian immigrant entrepreneurs because the India that I brought with me was the one that you, faced firsthand when we told somebody that we’re gonna become an entrepreneur or we are an entrepreneur. Nobody wanted to give their daughter’s hand, because the question was, what do you do for a living? Right? How are you gonna provide for her? And there was no honest answer for it. Congratulations on making that transition and being successful at it Nitin turn inspiring an entire generation, as you did that. But I would love to ask you today, one, what is the impact, teamwork has created?
[00:06:30 – 00:12:06] Sanjoy Roy
So, Nitin, when we start a festival, we don’t necessarily start by saying, oh, we are going to create the biggest or the largest or whatever. Those are really accidents or circumstances that happens to us. And despite what, Harvard Business School used to teach that we had a five and a ten and a fifteen year plan to get to being biggest arts brand, or the biggest festivals in the world. That’s not how what we set out to do. What we set out to do is really see if we could make an impact on the ground, one person, five people, 10 people, and it didn’t really matter. But, yeah, today across the world because we are in so many different geographies and in many ways post COVID as well because we’re all digital and online. We’ve always been digital and online, but the way that much of our programming has been received digitally and online has grown exponentially. So today, typically, for example, in our flagship, the JetBlue Digital Festival and the GLFs, over the years, we may have in this last year, we’ve reached about 400,000,000 engagements, 27,000,000 views of the programs, etcetera. But if you look at accumulative eighteen years for the Jai Pol Ridgette Festival, you’re talking about millions of people on the ground, millions of people online, tens of thousands of writers coming together. And the same art theater festival, for example, which has been running for twenty odd years, just working with the artist, just the artist community who’ve come and been part of the festival have been over 40,000. And then, of course, there’s the online audience that we have that goes into many millions of them, the folks who come to see the shows. So in that sense, we have we’ve made a conscious effort to reach out to outgoing communities. But as part of that outgoing communities, we also reach out to those communities who are economically disadvantaged or are disenfranchised, not just in India, but be it in South Africa, in South Chicago, in places like Soweto, and Cape Flats, and Alexandria, or in Vancouver, or any of the other states and countries that we work in, Egypt and Turkey and Switzerland and America, UK and USA, etcetera. And the effort is really can we get young people through the door. I think folks like us have failed the planet and our society, and we can see the consequences of that around us. The world has changed. So what is it that we can do to empower young people? And the best way to do that is give them considered knowledge, not just WhatsApp or Google, and give them considered knowledge. And then, hopefully, that triggers in them the need and the desire to bring about a change. So our focus is can we get young people through the door. And 80 for the so at the Jet Pillarsha festival, for example, in India, Eighty Percent of our free COVID, half a million people who came through the doors and post COVID about three hundred and fifty thousand because we’ve had to look at rescaling it in terms of numbers are below the age of 25. So that’s really our focus, getting young people Roy and allowing them that opportunity to perhaps, in some ways, discover the talent within and realize their full potential. Sanjoy, for example, in The United States, you are right now in the midst of shutting down your education Mhmm. Department. But this was already at the crossroads in Florida Roy example. You don’t have a budget that allows schools to explore the arts. Now if you don’t do that how then will you have young people or any people innovate? The arts helps you open up your mind. It helps you think out of the box. It helps you realize your full potential, and it helps you innovate. And without that, how will any society progress? Going forward, you will see the impact on STEM. You will see the impact on innovation. You will see the impact on creativity, in The United States. Having said that, creativity wells up from inside. It’s a calling. So you can’t really put down somebody who has that creative spark in him, her, or them. But what you do is by shutting down programs, you curtail, the positive influence that the arts has. And much of the work that we do across countries is this, to show that arts can and does create tangible and intangible wealth and in doing so opens up minds, pushes back on ignorance, and by pushing back on ignorance, it pushes back on hatred, and by pushing back on hatreds perhaps it can make an impact on less violence that we’re seeing because violence at the end of the day will consume us all and will consume the planet and it is the only home that we know collectively. Elon Musk may build a home out in Mars, but not everybody will be able to transport themselves on his rockets there. So we still need to preserve the only home that we have for our children, their grandchildren, and future generations.
[00:12:08 – 00:13:24] Nitin Bajaj
Sanjoy, you’ve always been so eloquent. You’re one of the best orators that I have come across, but thank you for putting that deep topic out in such beautiful words and doing justice to it. I personally believe that, STEM is still a relatively smaller slice. It should really be steam, including arts as part of the the stream. And you’re right. It’s on one end we curtail by cutting access off, but also we don’t nurture. We don’t promote, we don’t provide those avenues for generations to be able to think creatively, to not just solve problems, but to be able to optimistically look at the opportunities that exist for all spectrums of the community and society. Now as you do this, I’m very curious to see what challenges you face. I’m sure there’s multiple, but the one big challenge you would like to call out. Challenges are, are complicated things.
[00:13:24 – 00:18:39] Sanjoy Roy
It it depends on what you think, is a challenge. But in most of our festivals would be the primary challenge that we face is how do you create a safe space? How do you create a safe space where people can come and access the work that you have curated for them? How do you create a space where you can, with equal respect, present another perspective, another tradition, another history, another philosophy, another way of doing work? And how can you do it in a way that is not challenging, that doesn’t bring, up people’s fears, of having being co opted into something that they don’t know. Pushing back on ignorance is one of the biggest challenges I think think that we face everywhere. That’s the sort of uniform challenge. But when you present stuff in a way that, works for the audiences and make sure that it is inclusive and respectful to their traditions, to their world, For example, what we do in Egypt or Roy Turkey or in Zimbabwe or South Africa. Each of these were challenging in the sense of these were different worlds and yet today, many of our festivals in these parts of the world are seen to be as their festivals. And how do you bring into the festival that we do their sensibilities? So I remember, for example, in Australia, when we were creating this big gala both at the Sydney, Opera House, but also for the come their Commonwealth Games, arts festival closing, which I was designing and directing for the Australian government. We brought in the Aboriginal communities from Melbourne and other places. And I didn’t understand when I saw the artistic director of the Sydney Opera House, the first minister, the premiers of New South Wales, etcetera, crying in the audience. And I was like, that’s a bit over the top reaction, and it’s a beautiful show, but, yeah, is it trying worthy? I wasn’t entirely convinced of that. And then later, when I spoke with them, they said, we’ve never seen in the Sydney Opera House in a mainstream show a minority community like the first nations being incorporated. Or in London when we did a big gala at the Royal Festival Hall, to bring in people with disabilities. So we had, tap dancers at the Bajaj, a big orchestra, and a choir. But we also had a dance company on wheelchairs performing with the tap dance, collaborating with them. Similarly, for example, the Edinburgh festivals, way back in the early two thousands, I remember, one of the critics when we released the program said to me, so, Sanjoy, you’re gonna show us the seven different ways in which Indians tap their feet in the name of dance. And I’m so annoyed that, in terms of the ignorance, I said, okay. Why don’t you come out to India? We’ll take you to India. We’ll travel you around. We’ll show you both good and Bajaj, in terms of our dance traditions and the philosophy that goes with dance so that when we went to the Lyceum theater, primary theater and presented this work, of course, it was was packed houses, but also that they understood what it is that we were doing Roy a year that we we took a lot of work out into Shanghai and Beijing. And everything was sold out, and I was I was in the aisles, and I was looking at everybody watching the show on their mobile phones and recording or streaming it. And I was so annoyed, so I was kept smacking people and saying, put your phones off or whatever. Not that they were understanding what I was saying, but I was being very physical. And then at interval, all of these people went out, and a new lot of people came in. Wow. Then I what they were doing is because they didn’t get tickets, they were screaming to their relatives or their family was standing outside. And then in the second half, those people came in and watched it. You get so many different experiences and so many different truths and ways of doing thing that it enriches you in any country. Recently, we’re doing something in in The Middle East, and we are consulting for Saudi Arabia, and we’re looking at a new project in Malaysia. It’s really a journey of discovery. And in in every way, that’s a journey of discovery for us as well. It’s not just that we land as a spaceship and we present something and we take off. It’s about that discovery. It’s about the learning. It’s about shared values. It’s about ideas that have traveled from the East across the Arabias into the Levant and then made its way into the West as Josephine Quinn says how the world made the West And you see this come alive through built heritage, through tradition, through the arts, etcetera. That’s the most exciting part.
[00:18:40 – 00:19:01] Nitin Bajaj
That’s so amazing. And you almost segued into the next question I have for you is with challenges Roy on the flip side of challenges come opportunities. And I would love for you to talk about the one most exciting opportunity, that you see ahead of you?
[00:19:01 – 00:22:29] Sanjoy Roy
So, Nitin, you know, technology today is here to stay. Technology changes every day, every week, every hour. There’s some development somewhere which impacts, the way that you look at health, the way that you’re looking at the economy, the way that we look at how to make life easier or more difficult or stressful. I think that’s a great opportunity and a challenge. And like most challenge challenges, you have to see how, the possibilities are good for as many people as possible. Mhmm. Now when you take a new innovate when insulin was invented by its inventors, they realized that that point of time that, of course, they could make a lot of money off the patent, but they agreed that the patent would be just a dollar because they wanted this to impact as many people around the world. Of course, what pharmaceutical companies have done with that is a different story. But even here, if technology and AI and everything that AI is going to bring, if it’s going to be used or if it can be used for the larger good, I’m not saying greater good, but I’m saying the larger good meaning impacting as many different people in positive ways, then the impact of what it will do, which is you will change the way jobs are done. You will some people will have to redefine their jobs, lose their jobs, economies will be impacted. Then there’s a positive lining in there. Right. And I think all of us have to nudge the creators of this, whether it’s Bajaj Lagoon or or and then, of course, has taken a step back and said, I think it’s going to be an evil beast. And Malcolm said, he thinks it’s at the threshold of the future. And we have to nudge them to ensure that the future is not for a person or b person, but it’s for as many people. And the future is not just how do you use this for bad, because that’s the easy part of it. Our default setting seems to be be cruel, be bad, do do dangerous things to other people, Roy be oh, yeah. I’ll be selfish. Selfish is not necessarily a negative as long as looking at it in a much larger context. Mhmm. But the point is how do you nudge people to do good? How do you nudge people to love? And these are all much more difficult than as I said default settings of hate and violence and other othering people etcetera. So I think that’s the big challenge in the future and mankind will we’ve lasted so many millions of years, despite the odds, from the beginning of time when we were fish or catfish living both on land and sea, and now the evolution as we see ourselves today. But the point is that we as human beings have been also very rapidly heading towards extinction, either self made because of the way we’re treating the planet or, through war and, through the kinds of, weapons that we’ve created. So we need to be very conscious going forward.
[00:22:30 – 00:23:06] Nitin Bajaj
As we talk about these opportunities and and the one that, you’re working on, I’d love to pause and reflect and ask you to share two moments from your life, personal and professional. One in which things did not work out as you had expected, and there was failure. There were maybe lessons that came out of that. And another where things exceeded your own expectations and were a success beyond your imagination.
[00:23:08 – 00:25:23] Sanjoy Roy
For me personally, when something doesn’t work, it becomes an opportunity to learn. Mhmm. And very early enough, very first television show, we did something. It was a game show. We were shooting the first four episodes, which was the pilot episodes, and we had to deliver Nitin on x day. And the shooting in the studio didn’t go well. The camera, our camera director wasn’t able to crack lighting as a result of which when the edit happened, we realized everything was really dark and wasn’t quite working. And I flew out to Bombay to the studio Roy Zee TV to hand them over the tape, and that was the day the Bombay riots broke. And, I was staying with Shahrukh, and Shahrukh drove me to the studios. And we were seeing all of these burnt out shells of houses, and the streets were in disarray, and there was fires burning all over the place. But irrespective, I’ve got to ZTV at the time that we were supposed to, and they were so overwhelmed at the fact that despite everything, I was able to get to them. Mhmm. That the fact that the what we shot was unusable didn’t really matter. And we sat down together and discussed what needed to be changed, and we did. And that show went out to be one of their most successful shows in the first game show on Indian television. And it gave us also that understanding of what else do you need to do, to make something right. And the lesson that came through is that as long as your intent is positive Roy your intent is true, truth itself is a problematic word, but and you’re not covering it up or you’re being you’re accepting what may have happened or may have gone wrong. I think everybody then falls into line on that. That’s the learning from there. And then success is always the biggest challenge. When you fail at something that’s easy, you reboot or you learn
[00:25:23 – 00:25:24] Nitin Bajaj
or you don’t learn or
[00:25:24 – 00:27:45] Sanjoy Roy
you move on or whatever. But success is the biggest challenge, and in many ways, much of what we’ve done or been able to achieve has been seen to be successful at point of the definitions of success separately. But if you look at the JetBlue Literature Festival, the world’s largest festivals, but it did. And today, millions of people pour in through our doors, both online and on ground. And that in many ways challenges you because how do you then make sure that you’re creating a better experience for those people each time? How do you better yourself, and what’s the learning? How do you use technology? How do you use manpower? How do you motivate people? How do you create a better a better experience? And in much of that, what you also have to understand and do is that the success may be attributed to a person or b person, but that’s not how success works. Success really is a collective coming together of many forces, some invisible, some visible, some conscious, some unconscious. And you always have to ensure that you’re aware of the way that works and then not necessarily think that, oh, this has been done primarily because of a or b person. No. You have to ensure that you have a sense of reality and you do not place yourself in the center of that success, but you allow that success to become a joint cone experience both by those who are coming in, from outside as well as those who are making it possible. And that’s really, in many ways, the most difficult thing. And then when you’re at the zenith of your success, say the big bands like ABBA or or the Beatles, etcetera, trying to keep that success together and trying to understand that you can ride it in a way, but it’s collective action becomes the big challenge. And that’s when most things fall apart Mhmm. When you’re at that then it at that point. Because then it becomes too big for you as a for an individual. So you have to be very conscious of that.
[00:27:45 – 00:29:22] Nitin Bajaj
As I say that and I’ve known you to be a very humble person. You have created these magical experiences. You’ve created these successful entities or just these factions of communities that you have brought together for decades now. I would be remiss to not acknowledge that you have that magic. You have that Midas touch. And as much as you say that it’s not about person a or b, kudos to you for recognizing that and recognizing what people are hurting for and what people are needing, what an entire generation is hungry for and craving Roy, and to be able to bring those experiences together for us, whether it’s JLF or many of these experiences that you’ve mentioned. So again, many congratulations to you and kudos to you for not just achieving success and creating that impact, but also staying humble and being grounded in saying that it’s not about you. It’s not about a person. It’s about where is that need? Where is that gap? What is it that millions of people wanting to need and then bringing that experience together in this magical setting, that you create. So really appreciate you for just being you and doing what you do.
[00:29:22 – 00:30:58] Sanjoy Roy
Excellent. But as I but it’s not necessarily me. It’s circumstances that have shaped me, and I think if you meditate as I do every morning, you understand that you are but a microcosm in a larger connect. And I think if we understand that, and while we’re in the center of everything, also realize that we are in the center of everything that we know. Mhmm. And therefore, whenever there’s a Twitter war, for example, I used to tell my colleagues, I said, it’s okay. It’s on Twitter. It’s a universe which is separate. So you need to be very conscious about where you are in the scheme of things. True. And all you need to do to understand that is on a moonless night, step out into the night sky and look up. And pretty much like your backdrop as it appears here could be gold splattered solar system with thousands of planets and stars and other beings maybe, etcetera. So who are you in that context? And in that context, do we can we claim to know everything about everything? No. We can’t. And our understanding of the world sort of changes from when you’re a baby to when you’re older. And it’s that understanding, and for the lack of a better word, what we see wisdom that wisdom you have to wear lightly.
[00:30:58 – 00:30:59] Nitin Bajaj
Mhmm.
[00:30:59 – 00:31:27] Sanjoy Roy
Because wisdom is not what you have found. Wisdom is an aggregation of everybody, the billions of people who’ve gone before you and have contributed to that wisdom that you have inherited. And in inheriting it, you have to understand that you have to inherit it with humility and empathy and understanding and respect.
[00:31:28 – 00:31:35] Nitin Bajaj
Said like a true wise man with a strong hand on someone’s shoulders, and I wouldn’t expect nothing
[00:31:36 – 00:31:38] Sanjoy Roy
It’s about the long hair. Right? You and me, long hair.
[00:31:38 – 00:32:17] Nitin Bajaj
Here’s the difference. We both have the long hair, but you have way more wisdom than as I say, when I grow up, I would love to be a small percentage of who you are. So, again, thank you for being you. Now Thank you. I would love to hear as as much as I know you and and you enjoy doing what you do and this is your lifeblood and passion. I’d love for you to share. What do you do to kick back and disengage from your, quote, unquote, or air quotes profession?
[00:32:19 – 00:33:01] Sanjoy Roy
I read. I love reading. I don’t watch television. I don’t own a television. Oh, we don’t have a television in our room. I love reading. So that’s where all of this knowledge that you’re talking about, the wisdom, that’s where it comes from. I I enjoy watching stuff. I enjoy traveling. It’s always interesting meeting people. Mhmm. Because from every you learn something over every espresso martini having a conversation. Whatever we do, you’re always finding, a speck of truth because there is truth in everybody. So that’s yeah. People watching, reading. These are my two default settings.
[00:33:02 – 00:33:24] Nitin Bajaj
I think that comes with except the reading. I’m more of a listener. I listen to books than reading. But I think the other perspectives that you shared, the people watching, I think it comes with a hair. And with jokes aside, I’d love for you to share a book that you’ve really enjoyed and learned from and you would recommend to our audience?
[00:33:26 – 00:35:38] Sanjoy Roy
Oh, so many. As I said, the world made the West, Josephine Quinn, absolutely brilliant book. Mhmm. But presently, for anybody who’s interested in the rise and fall of the southern dynasties in India, Aniruddha Khaniseti’s the lords of the Deccan, absolutely brilliant. Or if you look wanted to read about the Mughals and really understand them, Ira Mukhoti is Akbar the Great. Mhmm. Amazing amount of information, which is contrary to how we see it today or what we read about today. IKAGAI, again, such a interesting response to a very difficult world. Because I’m read I read six books or seven books at the same time, so I don’t necessarily go beginning till end, but I depends on how I read it. Biograph biographies, I was reading David Hare’s great theater director’s writer’s biography. And when you read a biography, if you know the work of the person Right. It really puts it into context Mhmm. And allows you to understand the person behind. And that’s, again, so exciting, so interesting to read. Martin Buckner’s history of world literature. I think the history of the written word is the title of the book. Simon Sebag, Montefiore’s Jerusalem. As we know, Jerusalem today is at the center continues its center of a three thousand year storm, and every president wants to solve the problem, eternal problem of Jerusalem. But you need to read the book to understand why they can’t be a solution in the way that we are trying to find a solution. Mhmm. Why they can’t necessarily be a two state solution that’s being propagated. Why it has to come up with a different kind of reexistence, which includes love and respect and equality, which obviously Israelite doesn’t understand, but that’s a different thing. So these are some key books of the moment that I think people should engage with.
[00:35:39 – 00:36:18] Nitin Bajaj
Thank you for sharing those recommendations. This brings us to my favorite part of the show. We call it the one line life lessons. That wisdom, that hustle, that being in that center of that moment, of that generation, of that need, and recognizing where we need to push along, where we need to stay humble, stay grounded. All of that that brings together, we love to encapsulate that as a one line life lesson. And I would love for you to share your one line life lessons with us.
[00:36:19 – 00:37:28] Sanjoy Roy
My only life lesson perhaps is you have to center yourself. And by to do that, you can look at meditating, which is what I do even if it’s a few minutes in the day and filling yourself with positive energy so that you can then give off your energy to people who need it. And, yeah, that’s roughly it. And try and be respectful and empathetic. Try and be as kind as you can. And as I said, our default settings tend to be it’s easier for us to be harsh or angry or to hate. It’s much more difficult to love, and it is something that takes time to understand. Now I understand when my response is harsh, so I’m able to pull back. Sometimes the damage is done before I pull Bajaj. But it’s something that I try and operate out of a space of love and respect. Very difficult. And therefore, I need to meditate to be able to look at the larger benefits of love and respect.
[00:37:30 – 00:37:55] Nitin Bajaj
So well said. One thing I’ve learned from meditating and being on that path is the difference between reacting and responding. And the ability to respond rather than react is, Roy a vocabulary perspective, it’s similar, but it’s not the same. And the quest is to be able to respond, not to react.
[00:37:58 – 00:37:59] Sanjoy Roy
So Absolute.
[00:38:01 – 00:38:25] Nitin Bajaj
I’m a I say I’m a student of meditation. It’s a journey. It’s a path and a course we set ourselves on. And with each moment, with each interaction, with each transaction, with each relationship, we strive to be our best version and have the best ability for ourselves to be able to respond to that situation. Sanjoy, thanks so much.