Who has Benefited from Pukaar?

One of Pukaar’s aims as, an organisation is to promote new talent. Some volunteers of Pukaar such as Paritosh Padhy, Harpreet Singh and Mike Breen were an asset. However they also experienced a lot of benefits by giving their precious time to Pukaar.

Paritosh Padhy
Pari, a PhD student at Southampton University was initially approached by Pukaar to create the website. He became a permanent fixture in the office when Romail asked him to take the role of IT administrator. Later on, Romail discovered his musical talents, vocally, and with the acoustic guitar and promptly asked him to join the Pukaar band.

"It was a good experience because I have never actually performed on a big stage with an audience that varied. So in that respect, it was new, and at the same time it was professional because you had to practice regularly and organise rehearsals days before the actual event. I’ve had the opportunity to travel on tour, meet new people, and enjoy some scintillating jamming sessions with a vary talented bunch of musicians. I’ve never played with a band before and I have learnt so much from them."

Harpreet Singh
Harpreet Singh, who is also a student, is studying International business at Southampton institute. He heard about Pukaar through the Kastori fashion show, where he helped organise the fashion show and also sang at the event. Harpreet sang at the festival with the Pukaar band, and also played a hilarious role in the comedy sketch.

"It was an experience for me because I've never performed on a big stage before, i.e. the Nuffield. Its worth the experience - definitely, especially for a newcomer like me who wants to be in this field, if possible. It's a big advantage. Its opened the door for me to take singing seriously, if I choose to do so"

Mike Breen
Mike has worked with Pukaar as the resident film maker. Romail approached him when Pukaar began to branch out into other endeavors. Mike has joined Pukaar on many gigs and festival, and has made a documentary on Pukaar. He is an English and Film studies student at Southampton University. He wrote, directed and acted in the comedy sketch, which was performed at the Kastori show, as well as the Multicultural festival 2005. He joined as a volunteer after impressing Romail with his multi-tasking.

"It was great to have it on a proper theatre stage - it was like 'wow'. I've done stupid amateur things before, but I've never done anything actually on a proper stage before. This was a proper theatre. It was fantastic I think I have benefited greatly from Pukaar, especially at the Multicultural festival. I was able to put my interviewing and event reviewing skills into practice at a worthwhile event."