It's hard to pin-point when we started thinking about having our very own space. Over the years we have discovered that Kolkata has a fair number of these, but none that we walked into (and some we didn't walk into!) and thought 'this is it'...
We were always sure that we would have more than just a dance studio. With an artist and dancer in the family, friends who are musicians, writers, photographers - just a bunch of very creative and interesting people - we knew we had to have it all under one roof!
Then serendipitously, during a private class, we heard about THE space. One visit and we were sure this was it - a flat in an old heritage building in the heart of the city. How fabulous that we had the chance to help preserve some of the old world charm of Calcutta while we continued to share newer art forms, and innovative and experimental programs with its people!Thank you Jitendra and the entire Sirohia family for allowing us into your space.Thank you also for the support during the months of construction with endless cups of coffee, chairs and everything else in between which kept us going! If anyone could match the excitement we had for our space it was you!Swaroop Mukerji, our father, who has been a part of everything even before it all began. Our sounding board for all things, from finances to the door mat. Thank you Pa.To Dinesh & Usha Upadhyaya and Alka Sharma, our uncle and aunts, thank you for your invaluable support when we needed it the most. Ganesh & Vandana Upadhya, Vinayak and Vertika, Raghavendra and Khushboo for advice on sound engineering, all things spiritual and administrative. So we had the space, and without a doubt in our mind we called the big guy with a soft heart who we knew would design it perfectly! A big big shout out to Animesh Nayak of Salt Architects. Please call him the next time you have a space that needs designing. If you have a little baby in the house he will agree to work with you more readily!And the design genes must have come from somewhere! Tightest of hugs go out to Mrs Cheryl Nayak for helping us ensure we have just the right shades and tones, and for taking care of the million little details.To Mr Vaasu Arya, who advised us about our all important floor (more on that in a bit!) and suggested the word 'Workshop' for our space, many thanks!We would also like to thank Mr Santosh Raj of ITC for his invaluable advice during the build.Thank you to Sumita Kandoi and Ranjay Sharma for inputs and executing the design. We have great fondness for Prakash Bhaiya (aka Doc Sahib), Rupesh and everyone else who worked on our site. So while all this construction was on we learnt to respect the difference between a millimetre and two, difference in peoples aesthetics, wished we had the abilities all the skilled workers have, prayed to the water, plumbing, and rust Gods, realised that wires have a life of their own, and learnt many more things than we ever thought possible! Everyone in their life time should construct something. Let's just say it builds character...!!And then we called our design angel, Devlina Banerjee, who as expected outdid herself and produced what is now The VLS Workshop's identity - our logo. You will see it everywhere...isn't that wonderful!? And we hope that she knows how invaluable she is to us.To the mummy of our first family of marketing-design-world-class-papri-chaat and other wonderful things, Shalini Patherya of Trisys Communications, thank you for being a phone call away for...well, pretty much everything. To Soumya Roy Choudhury, Radhika Mansata, Dipanjan Bhattacharya and Chetan Vohra, thank you for all the advice and support throughout the long months of construction.Sanjay and Vishal from the Sirohia office and Bhola Ji the building care-taker also deserve our appreciation for their assistance. Through it all we needed babysitting-floor-suspension-testing-and-generally-helpful-elves. No prize for guessing who these were. Nikita, Brijesh, Reva and Ashmita we hope you know that two of those jobs are long term...no prizes for guessing which!!Thank you to our Harley Davidson riding computer geek, Soumik Chatterjee! Our website and other tech stuff will be up and running soon.Thank you Ajeet, Raghav, Ikveen, Priyanka, Suranjana, Smita, Rachna, Raja, Raima, and all the others who saw the space 'nearly' ready, didn't mind, and happily danced there for a few weeks!Thank God for good neighbours! We couldn't have asked for more perfect 'flat-mates' than our new friends, Drs Richa and Aditya Shahabadi, who have also recently opened the Pearly Whites Dental Clinic in the other half of Flat 15. We haven't seen a clinic as plush as theirs, and more importantly, they are friendly dentists! Who else would let a 1.5 year old go up and down on a dentist chair for fun!? Please get your teeth checked with them!To the Bhagat family who bore with great patience all the noise and dust that our space threw up, including a hole in the kitchen wall..we really are very sorry! We are sure you are more glad than us that the place is ready. We are thrilled that we also have a 4-legged neighbour who comes to visit us ever so often...we hope we can borrow Scotch for company now and then!Thank you Gagan Kapur for allowing us to make a few niches in the wall adjoining your office...on our side that is! It seems like nothing, but these things make the biggest difference...remember a millimetre or two!?And now to the space...what do we have in there that makes it so special?!
If there was only one thing that we could talk about regarding The VLS Workshop it would be OUR FLOOR. Three words: Advanced, Beautiful, ProfessionalTwo people: Ashwini and Rohit KediaOne company: COSTAA SPORTSMillion thanks!Our state-of-the-art SUSPENDED, DOUBLE RAFTER, EUROPEAN WHITE OAK SPRUNG FLOORS by Costaa Sports have been specially researched and ergonomically designed to guarantee minimum impact and maximum benefit for the body during physical activity. The professional American ELECTROVOICE Sound Systems ensure the purest sounds for your listening pleasure.There are provisions for exhibitions of art, photography, pottery among others.A comfortable reception, office, changing rooms, toilets and showers complete our space. From the posh stores of central Calcutta - Costaawoods, Saikat Bose of Bosch and Mr Bhatia of Promises, Mr Jalan of Hardware Collection, Stellar Furnishing, Mr Kothari and his team of Channel 4, Hindalco, Debabrata of M.L. Roy, Nitco, Abhijeet from Hafele, Philips, Hitesh & Consolidated Carpet Industries, Chopra Enterprises - to the by-lanes of Chandni Chowk market where there are jewels to be found...we take away some valuable learning and fond memories. And then WE WERE READY!We met Paramita Saha and SJ of Artsforward to brain-storm and get the media launch just right! There are few things as pleasing as working with a person who just gets it...for 'mc-ing' and 'getting it' thanks Paro!Saket Kandoi, thanks for showing up and trouble shooting!Thank you Jayanta Dasgupta, Varuna Shunglu, Amit Chaudhuri, Arpan Das, Elias Buttinger, Naima-Marilyn Mazic, Rajarshi Das for sharing your wonderful talents in yoga, writing, music, dance, and art with us and our guests. We are truly blessed to know you all. Megha Agarwal and The Corner Courtyard served up food like only they could with the least effort. Here's to more working together!Thank you Abhijit and your team at Seagrams who generously poured for us that evening.Ravi Choudhury, our TVW photographer, thank you for doing what you need to do more of!Thank you also to...Kasim and his 'boys'...the corporate bearers of almost yesteryear...they ARE the old world charm of Calcutta!Mustaque, Ajay and Shahrukh who drove, fetched and carried, and ferried our guests up and down in our quaint elevator. Pintu our house-keeper who was ever so obliging and did more than his job required of him. Bhairagi and his men, to us THE best plumbers in the city! Who else would show up for a Sunday morning emergency and then call the following day to ask if all was well. Much respect!The dance community launch is coming up next...gear up and get set!The Mukerji-Upadhya family finally have their space! How lovely and blessed we are that we could, and did, do this together. If our marriage survived this year we're ready to take on anything and anyone! This note would not be complete if we didn't thank a very little person for whom we've done all this for. Special mention for dealing with being lugged around to a dusty construction site, stores galore, meetings, naps on laps, living out of a bag, playing on staircases and a hundred other things we don't remember and she probably never will too. Our easy-going, dance-loving, little minion Kinaya. All of this so that she can meet creative, fun, interesting and diverse people at her doorstep. All this so that maybe someday she will grow up and say 'I don't want to work in an office. I don't even want to join the circus and live in a caravan! I want to work in a studio'. Ya ya!
THIS IS US! www.thevlsworkshop.com
BEFORE...
...AND AFTER!
US 3. PLEASE DO VISIT!