Mayabazar : A CrowdFunding Project Which Celebrates Life In Its Every Flavour And Ingredient

It’s an interesting time we live in. A time where the simplest of joys are lost in the chaos of ambitions. We need to plan everything, quantify every step, think every while, and yet we aren’t internally happy. Our happiness is contained in achievement rather than in exploration and discovery. But at times, interesting clubs, projects, and initiatives, which challenge the way we think, and the way we think, come around. One of this movement, in the city of Hyderabad, has recently been finding a lot of attention, owing much to its ambition of defying norms. We are talking about a project taken by an adventurist in the city, Rishyankh Das, called Mayabazar. Now before you jump to the conclusion that this could concern something related to the movies, you couldn’t be hastier. Mayabazar, the food project with a dash of bringing societal change, already makes for a great story. And therefore we got in touch with the initiator concerned and talked to him about what exactly defined Mayabazar and why you should be contributing to its formulation right away. The excerpts of it below…

The Name Mayabazar And It’s Relevance On The Project:

Mayabazar is an old Telugu film name which always reminds me of food because of this specific scene in the movie for which the movie is well known. In it, Ghatotkacha, a demon King (played by the ever-versatile S V Ranga Rao) starts eating all the wedding food by himself and enjoying it bit by bit. I named my project after that masterpiece. Today happens to be the 60th anniversary of the movie. The movie has many aspects like magic, food and a lot more, hence making the tagline magic, masala and more.

The Project Phases And Monies Involved:

The Project is mainly divided into 2 phases. The total project altogether would require around 30 lakhs, but I’m raising funds for just the phase one presently. Phase one requires 13 lakh total to start off, and I’m heading for a loan if the crowdfunding becomes successful. We have an aim of feeding at least 30 people per day with a free meal once I make my business sustainable.

After a year we will head to phase two and start traveling across the country exploring various cuisines and also making documentaries on various social issues, cover stories of various Indian art forms and draft stories of individuals with whom we connect. So out of the ten lakhs raised, five lakhs will be used to acquire a truck and 2 lakh for customization of the truck, rest for the equipment for the kitchen. I have to pay 1 lakh to wishberry if the campaign becomes successful.

The Story Of Man Behind It – Rishyankh Das:

I was very confused with my journey, after finishing my Master’s I started questioning myself if that is all that I wanted to do the rest of my life. In my last days in academics, my experiences in traveling made me realize what I am and what kept me alive most of the times. That was the moment when the idea of ‘Mayabazar’ dawned on me. “When you dream of something, the universe conspires to make it happen.” And I happened to believe in this. I started cooking when I was 12 and nearly ten years after that; I realized I’d never want to stop cooking.

I always wanted everyone around me to know what good food tastes like, irrespective of whether they could afford it or not. And I happened to believe in this as well. Just like any other college student I was confined to my line of study.

Many of us are obliged to this path of thinking. But, it’s time we side-line this insight and start taking efforts in shaping up our passion into a career. Throughout my journey at university, I invested most of my free time in the kitchen, cooking my mom’s delicacies to my friends. Apart from cooking, I’ve been a photographer for the most part, and I’ve always believed more in pictures than in words, to be a more powerful way of expression. The idea of being able to serve good food for the less fortunate is what led me to start this project. My sister and brother has always supported me and made sure I never compromised on my dreams and a few friends of mine from my high school, bachelor’s and masters have made me realize what I am and what am I capable of doing.

The Crux Of The Project – The People And Ideas Behind It:

The whole idea of the project is to give a purpose to my passion. India being such a diverse country makes it possible only here to implement my project. Once we cross every 100 miles, we come across new food, new taste, new art and new style. That is the core idea we want to capture. My friends, sister, and brother have helped me get till here, and apart from them, I’ve been fortunate to meet so many people who could resonate with my idea who have helped me give my idea a proper shape.

When a certain level of awareness is created among a group of individuals in a particular field regarding this project, those who have the will to help better the backward phases of our community shall come forward and give their piece of support through which we hope to serve the homeless. Those who do not have the time but have the resources and goodwill are sure to get involved in such projects (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for example). As our project rises through, many will get to know about our vision. And you never know, those who truly value art and want to help the needy and have the resources to support might help us achieve our goal. When we start changing lives of a few, that’s when we are making a difference.

Inspirations And Hopes For Further Projects:

There haven’t been any such projects in the Indian market to the best of my knowledge, the closest project that you could relate this to is the “Humans of New York” page on Facebook that has generated a whole new level of the perspective of people in our society. It has been critically acclaimed and funded by the United Nations, concerning the project’s potential to influence people in maintaining peace in various communities. But it aims only at providing information, not executing any measures to change it. That’s where we differ; we give people a ray of hope along with a plate of a delicious meal to fulfill both their mental and physical needs.

So that was Mayabazar project for you. Do head out to the official crowd proposal page here, and contribute whatever you can to make the world a better and more wonderful place to live.