Din Check Girls - The Exciting Life Behind The Ladies of New England's Premiere Live Bollywood Band
“We all have careers and full time jobs, kids and all those priorities, but our music is what we call our ‘Happy Place’.” Have you ever wondered what the exciting life of being in a band is like? Today’s women dreamers, Anandini Chandra Sekhar and Meenakshi Kulshreshtha, are the women behind New England’s premier Live Bollywood Music Band, Din Check. They share how they found their passions for music, life as women in a band, and how they find time to prioritize their music. A true passion for the music world, for these women dreamers, they write, “music becomes a release, almost a meditation. It's as necessary to our lives as eating and sleeping. When we aren't practicing our music, we feel that something is missing. When we are stressed or sad, music is the best medicine. When something brings you so much balance and joy, you can't help but make time for it in your life.” Enjoy their stories below!
You are both in the popular Boston based Din Check Band. Tell us more about yourselves and how you found a passion in music.
Meenakshi: I was born in Madhya Pradesh, India in a middle class small town family and during my formative years our family moved a lot to various towns in MP and UP before finally settling in Agra, which was our home town. I moved to Noida for college and work later. However, music was always a constant part of my upbringing.
Anandini: I was raised as a classical dancer and exposed to Carnatic music from a very young age. Though born in Canada and raised in the U.S. I had a very traditional South Indian Brahmin upbringing. My mother was a famous dancer in Bombay in the 1950s and established one of the first classical dance institutions in the U.S. when my parents immigrated. When I was 12 years old my eldest sister started a live band performing Hindi music from Bollywood films called Ishara, and she trained me and my other sister to play keyboards for her. Since then I have sung in three different Bollywood bands as a lead singer until I found my home as Keyboardist and occasional singer for Din Check.
2. Meenakshi, you have a background in singing. How did you get into singing and how do you use this talent in your life today?
My parents believed in my artistic pursuits and tried to provide every possible opportunity for me to learn music and dance. Throughout school and college days, my schedule was always packed with music classes and performances (Katthak, voice and a few music instruments). After initial training I dropped other things and continued learning Vocal and Katthak. Singing remains my first love and Katthak is second. In Anandini’s case this is reversed. Dance being her first love. Learning is a lifelong journey for me and I have a long way to go in both these art forms. I am very fortunate and grateful to have come across some of the best mentors and teachers.
Like most people, life also happened to me and I switched my passions off, pursuing my education, career and family. During this time, my career took off and personal life took more turns than I had imagined. And through it all, I always felt a void inside me and almost came to accept that the music phase of my life was over. Until more than a decade later when I met a bunch of amazing and crazy people like me and since then my life has been richer with music back in it again.
3. Anandini, you are a classical trained dancer. How did you develop and pursue your passion for dancing?
I was born into a family of musicians and dancers. My first professional performance was at the age of 2, playing Baby Krishna as my mom danced as Yashoda. There was no question of developing or pursuing dance and music, it was simply the air we breathed in our household. Every member of the family was a part of the performance, whether as a dancer, singing or playing instruments in the orchestra, organizing backstage or preparing flyers and promoting the shows. When we performed, my uncles sang and played mridangam, my grandmother played the veena and harmonium and made paper jasmines for our hair, and my father managed the sound system and video. My family has run our dance organization Hindu Temple Rhythms since the late 1950s in India, and then the activities shifted to Canada in the 60s and eventually the U.S. in the 70s. My mother at age 80 is still dancing, teaching and conducting Arangetrams. I am unendingly grateful for the privilege of being born into this art as a family legacy, and it is something I hold as a precious gift in my life and will never take for granted. We also owe a great deal to our Gurus, the nattuvanar family from Thanjavur behind the renowned Sri Rajarajeshwari Bharata Natya Kalamandir, now based in Mumbai. I am honored to carry on the tradition by teaching aspiring dancers here in the Boston area as the director of The Vidyanjali Dance School of New England.
4. And of course, you are part of the beloved group Din Check. How did this group come together and how was it formed?
Meenakshi: The band was formed in early 2011 by Jolly Bhatia, Sam Bhambhani and Sam Rao. Anandini started in August of 2011 and I joined them in June of 2012. Then Kamal Dasu and Mike Grover joined and completed the band like perfect-fit puzzle pieces. The foundation of Din Check is a bunch of good human beings who are also great friends, full of passion, fun, talent; the spirit of our band is sharing joy and happiness with everyone through music. Our friendships have gone through the thick and thins of life as we have all grown together over the past 10 years as individuals, in music and in life. We are about no single musician or performer but about a team that performs together and that’s what drives our energy.
Anandini: From its humble beginnings in a basement in North Attleboro where a few friends gathered to sing their favorite Bollywood songs, Din Check has grown to include a multitude of artists including guitarists, keyboardists, percussionists, violinists, saxophone players and singers. We now cover not only Bollywood, but also regional languages including Telugu, Tamil and Gujarati as well as popular English rock and pop songs. Our team has played for local charities, weddings, corporate and cultural events and private parties for the past 10 years. The core of the team is a very strong, solid friendship between the artists, and a spirit of fun and masti. What's so special about Din Check is the fact that these people are genuinely some of the kindest, most fun and generous people I've ever known, and we have an amazing chemistry together. That is what has kept the team going all these years, and will hopefully keep us going for another decade!
5. What is it like being the "women in Din Check" and how do you find time, in your busy lives, to practice your music?
Meenakshi: The guys in the band bring the charm and fun and us women, like everywhere else, bring structure, planning and execution to the team. We practice Friday nights and that is our fun time of the week. We all have careers and full time jobs, kids and all those priorities but music and practice sessions we call our “Happy Place”. I have learned one more thing - we don’t have to give up any dream. Yes, sometime we have to switch priorities but we can pursue family, career, music, dance, travel, and do it all. All that makes us happy and fulfilled. Being a lifelong seeker I have also picked up a few more in this journey - focusing on physical and spiritual health through yoga and meditation has helped me maintain the balance, set my priorities and give my 100% to everything that I do.
Anandini: Someone once said that "life gets in the way of art" - and as women it is truly difficult to rid oneself of the guilt of pursuing your own passions when family requires so much commitment. We each have professional careers or "day jobs" and have children at home. I work as a consultant for a digital marketing agency and teach dance 5 days a week. What has really made Din Check work is the fact that these people are not just our bandmates and co-artistes, but truly our closest friends and our secondary family. So our weekly practices are so much more than just practice - it's the time to get together and bond with our family. We have met almost every Friday for the past 10 years! And that happens because it isn't an obligation, it's a joy and something we look forward to every week.
Additionally music becomes a release, almost a meditation. It's as necessary to our lives as eating and sleeping. When we aren't practicing our music, we feel that something is missing. When we are stressed or sad, music is the best medicine. When something brings you so much balance and joy, you can't help but make time for it in your life.
And ultimately we realize that for our children, having them grow up understanding that we are not just their mothers but women with our own interests and passions is good for them too.
6. As a dreamcatcher platform, we would love to know your next big personal or professional dream.
Meenakshi: Where do I go from here ? Well, professionally I am very content with where I am. I am a Finance professional and work for Seniorlink Inc as Director of Accounting and Finance. It’s a mission driven organization and I get a lot of gratification from my job. Family wise, Jolly and I love to watch our three boys growing up into amazing young men and we do all we can to be as good parents as we can to them. I want to always be there for my loving friends who are my Family here. And at an individual level, I have three goals - to become a better singer, a better dancer and to grow spiritually into a better human being each day.
Anandini: For me my personal and professional dream is nothing more than getting to continue making music with my best friends ... I just hope to keep learning and growing and developing as a musician. I don't look for any recognition for what we do -- it is enough to just to be able to do it. Learning music is a lifelong journey and I am just getting started! To be able to do what we love and share it with others is the greatest dream come true.
Thank you ladies for sharing your stories with us! We are excited to have you in our global women’s network!
WHO WE ARE
WOMEN WHO WIN IS THE GLOBAL ONLINE MEDIA PLATFORM AND NETWORKING GROUP FOR WOMEN, WHERE WE SHARE THE DREAMS OF DYNAMIC WOMEN ACROSS THE WORLD, AND THE INSPIRATIONAL SECRETS BEHIND THEIR SUCCESS.
CO-FOUNDED BY DR. MANJU SHETH, A PHYSICIAN, COMMUNITY LEADER, AND WELL-KNOWN MEDIA PERSONALITY IN BOSTON. SHE IS THE CREATOR OF THE CHAI WITH MANJU INTERVIEW SERIES, AND PRESTIGIOUS NEW ENGLAND CHOICE AWARDS.
CO-FOUNDED BY DR. DEEPA JHAVERI, AN EXPERIENCED PODIATRIST AND LEADER OF THE PRESTIGIOUS INDIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION IN BOSTON.
AND CO-FOUNDED BY SHALEEN SHETH, A SHE IS A FINANCE MAJOR INTERESTED IN FIN-TECH, AND HAS WORKED SEVERAL DIGITAL MARKETING ROLES DURING HER COLLEGE YEARS.
FOR MORE ON OUR FOUNDERS, CHECK OUT FOUNDERS TAB.
IF YOU HAVE A STORY TO SHARE, REACH OUT TO WOMENWHOWIN100@GMAIL.COM
WOMEN WHO WIN #DREAMCATCHERS, ALONG WITH THE NAMES OF ALL 3 CO-FOUNDERS MUST BE CREDITED WHEREVER ARTICLE CONTENTS ARE SHARED. COPY-PASTING THE STORY WITHOUT THESE CREDITS IS PROHIBITED
Bios -
ANANDINI CHANDRA SEKHAR'S BIO
Anandini has been singing and performing professionally with Bollywood bands since the age of 12 when she began playing keyboards and singing backup for her sister's band Ishara. She is an lifelong Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher and studied Carnatic music with her mother Sudha Chandrasekhar, Nivedita Shivraj and Deepti Navaratna. Anandini works as a Senior Account Manager for a digital marketing agency in addition to training aspiring dancers in the New England area.
MEENAKSHI KULSHRESHTHA'S BIO
A finance professional by day, Meenakshi grew up learning vocal Hindustani classical music, holds a "Prabhakar," an advanced degree in classical music, and has won multiple singing competitions at college, regional and state levels. She has extensive experience of stage performances and has played with various bands in India. She also holds the honor of singing on All India Radio.