Making Way By Will

Pragnya Wakhlu

‘We The Women’ is thrilled to bring to you journey of another thriving girl from the State. This engineer with a substantial stint in corporate world tuned into a full time singer and now strives to entertain the world with her voice. She is the winner of Best Folk Fusion artist (popular choice for Kahwa Speaks), International Barclays Rising Star Award, International VIMA awards for Best Female Vocalist (3rd place) and Jack Daniels Rock Awards for Best female vocalist (2010, 2011). She has received nominations, on several instances; VIMA 2018 for Best Overall Female Act and Best Genre Bending Somewhere, Best genre-bending act, Best pop song (Journey to the Sun), Gima awards for Best Music Debut, Best Pop album and Best song for her first album Journey to the Sun. Let us learn more about Pragnya Wakhlu.

Pragnya’s love for music sprung at an early stage while learning Hindustani classical singing. According to her, singing was always something that made her feel at peace inside and gave her feeling of being at home.
Talking about her childhood, Pragnya says that it was her grandmother, who induced her interest in music. She shares, “She would play the Sitar at home and my grandfather and I would accompany her. I would always enjoy having music in the house and would sit and listen to her play; she introduced me to basics of sitar. It was beautiful.”
Despite the love for music, Pragnya was not a fearless performer. She remembers, “I would sing at school and in college but always got stage fright looking at the crowd. My knees and voice would wobble and I would close my eyes.”
Therefore, when you see her performing at ease one needs to see the struggle and practice it must have taken her to overcome all those fears.
During her college days, Pragnya went on to form her first girl’s band which was also Pune’s first all girls’ band at the time. She shares, “By that time I had started playing the guitar and our band took part in several inter-collegiate competitions and won.”
Pragnya graduated from Cummins College of Engineering with a Bachelor’s Degree in I.T. Engineering and won the Best Outgoing Student award and the Infosys Gold medal for excellence. There she was placed on campus at an Indian multinational corporation, a company that she always wanted to join.
Work took Pragnya to Bangalore where she quickly formed a company band, Zephyr and started playing gigs in the local circuit in Bangalore. On being posted to Seattle, America, to the city of music lovers and grunge bands, Pragnya started writing her own songs for the first time. She expresses, “I would come back from a day of work and sit down with the guitar and write and compose. All the material for my first album, Journey To the Sun, was written there.”
On being encouraged by a musician friend Aury Moore, Pragnya performed at a Women’s singer-songwriter showcase where she ended up being the headliner for the night. She reminisces, “I played my first show of originals with a Turkish guitarist and it was heartwarming to see that the audience seemed to like the songs and reciprocated positively.”
That is when Pragnya’s feeling that her life’s purpose was not to code software, but to do something that involved working directly with music and people, started concreting. Pragnya shares, “I decided to take a leap of faith; quit my job and return to India. I figured that those were the prime years of my life and if I don’t take any steps towards pursuing my passion then it would be too late.”
On returning to India in 2008, Pragnya’s dreams tested her determination as they always do. It was not easy to establish herself in the arena of music. She shares, “It was difficult to get a break with music. I went to several venues and asked them to give me a show. It was like starting from scratch all over again. It was difficult to get used to the hustle of a new career when I was used to sitting in a plush cabin and consistent lucrative salary.”
The transition from a steady income to going from place to place with a demo CD asking people to listen to your songs and give you a gig can fade passion of many, but not Pragnya. We are referring to the time when independent music was nascent in India and there were few examples to follow or get guidance. According to Pragnya, it was a very humbling experience.
Pragnya constituted her own band Soul Strings in Pune and got her first break at ‘Jazz By the Bay’ in Pune. After that show, she started getting some more shows, locally. Thereon, she started recording her songs and doing more shows.”
Pragnya’s first album ‘Journey to the Sun’ released in 2012 and got several nominations including the Global Indian Music Award nomination for Best Music Debut, Best Pop Album and Best Song, and the International VIMA award nomination for Best Genre-Bending Act, Best Pop Song and Best Female Vocalist.
Pragnya expresses, “We shot my first music video that debuted on VH1 and MTV roots in India. It was a really proud and emotional moment for me to see my first video on television.”
Meanwhile, healing and therapeutic effects of sound and movement also intrigued Pragnya and so she started research along with a dance therapist on the same in 2008. After completing Management Degree in entrepreneurship from IIM Bangalore, she launched her own company ‘Mousai’ India that works in the areas of wellness using music and movement as tools for bringing peace to the body and mind.
Now Pragnya is planning to make ‘Mousai’ into a full-fledged profitable organization this year. Pragnya says, “At Mousai, we facilitate workshops on sound and movement for authentic well-being. We started doing open programs for women, programs at NGO’s and companies with ‘Mousai’. I finally felt that I had found my life’s purpose.”
Gradually Pragnya realized that whatever she do in the field of music should be driven by a sense of purpose; a sense of contributing to a greater good. She elaborates, “I wanted to return to my roots and work on something in Kashmiri. It was then that the idea of a Kashmiri English Fusion album came up. I wanted to highlight the beautiful side of Kashmir and be a medium to regenerate interest in the language.”
Pragnya shares that ‘Kahwa Speaks’ took three years of research which included interviewing scholars and talking to elders; finally creating the compositions and recording the songs. There were so many high’s and low’s along the way.
Pragnya gathered appreciation from many members of the community for trying something new but was not immune from brickbats of traditionalists who do not conform to modernization of Kashmiri music.
Pragnya accepted both as ‘naveed’(blessings).
Finally, Pragnya released the album worldwide in 2017. She won the Radio City Freedom Award for Best Folk fusion album and artist in 2018. Pragnya explains, “My vision for ‘Kahwa Speaks’ is to give the world audio-visual tour of Kashmir and help the outside world see and experience the good and concealed version of Kashmir.”
Due to shortage of funds for the visuals, Pragnya resorted to crowd-funding the visual piece of the album and much to her surprise; she surpassed the crowd-funding goal with the support of her contributors. The whole of last year has gone into creating visuals, animations, music videos and capturing pictures for the live shows.
Talking about the shooting the music video in Kashmir, Pragnya says, “It was hurdled due to protests and we had to shoot using guerilla techniques.
Currently, Pragnya is residing in Delhi in her studio apartment, cooks her own meal and cleans her apartment and so her life is not as glamorous as it seems to many.
Pragnya affirms her motives saying, “It is tough and you need to work hard every day towards your dream. My passion for taking this message to the world consumes me. I have always kept my eyes on the goal even through the darkest of times when no one could see why I am doing what I am doing.”
As per Pragnya, everyone needs to take some time to reflect on what is their ‘ikigai’-a Japanese word for their reason to wake up every morning. A person’s life and career--both should be driven by a sense of purpose. She elaborates, “Once you discover what your talents are, you need to find creative ways to see how you can best use your talents to serve people and monetize your talent. There is always a way if you are passionate about things. Take time out to sharpen the saw and sharpen your skills.”
Sharing about her recent years, Pragnya highlights, “Last few years has been full of sacrifices and anxiety; giving up shows ,working amongst tense situations in Kashmir, delays, irregular payments and a heavy personal investment and risk into creation of something no one has tried before.”
Adding on she says, “People don’t see the pieces of the jigsaw, they want to see the completed picture immediately. Only you would know where you are going and finally it is your own belief in yourself that can take you anywhere.”
Pragnya’s upcoming projects include work on a collaborative track with Amit Kilam (Indian ocean) and many other Kashmiri musicians and another EP that is in the works.
She is now looking forward to take ‘Kahwa Speaks’ to national and international audience through the tour. She announces, it is the last step for me to take this project to the world and I can’t wait to see how the world will receive it.”
According to Pragnya, women are excelling at both traditional and unconventional careers. She says, “My wish is that women all over the world never feel restricted to follow any profession because of gender biases or societal pressure. Every woman should be confident in her abilities and work steadily towards her goal; tackling challenges with perseverance and integrity as they come her way. We women should collaborate instead of competing each other; supporting one another so that everyone rises together.”
Failure is inevitable and so is the thought of giving up. Every time that happens to Pragnya, she reminds herself the goals and why she set on this path; the happiness, the joy, the inspiration on people’s faces. “No amount of money or working at a steady ‘9 to 5’ job can replace the joy that comes with doing what you love doing and the flexibility of creating your life as you want to live it,” she speaks.
Pragnya’s journey connotes the saying that “it is about the journey, not the destination.” Her passion towards her dreams is refreshing and her approach towards her goals is realistic. ‘We The Women’ wishes her best for her future endeavors.