S. L. Aditya opens up about discrimination based on India’s Caste system. He also explains the art of Rangoli. He's committed to making a difference through design. Fashion is the most instant way to express oneself. Part 2.

The first thing that popped into my mind when I thought about imprint was my fingerprint and everybody has a different fingerprint.

So I love that quote, you have, what's your PI.

So that makes you what makes you unique and your fingerprint makes you unique.

Your positive, positive, positive imprint, imprint, imprint stories are everywhere people and their positive action inspire positive achievements.

Your PI could mean the world to you.

Get ready for your positive imprint.

Hello, this is Catherine host of your positive imprint.

The variety show featuring people all over the world whose positive actions are inspiring positive achievements, exceptional people rise to the challenge.

Music by the talented Chris Nole and congratulations to Chris.

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Guide for the self administering songwriter and recording artist."

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And as always a huge thank you to Chris, for permission to use some of his music on this podcast, including

elevated intentions in which he composed for your positive imprint.

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Thank you.

Your positive imprint.

What's your PI?

S.L Aditya.

It is a

19 year old college student from Southern India.

He listens to podcasts and he came upon your positive imprint during the design, your t-shirt for your positive imprint international contest.

He entered his design and won.

, thank you so much for voting.

I appreciate you.

And all of my listeners who support this podcast.

Aditya explained his winning design on last week's episode, 183 and also the misconceptions of designers in India, as well as how he came into being in the world of design.

I've had the opportunity to chat with with Aditya and at 19, he has so many positive imprints.

Today.

Part two with S.L.

Aditya.

Adita begins today's episode reminding us of the importance of design and designers.

The fine line between design and art is the purpose and art

it can be beautiful.

It can be aesthetic, but a design has a purpose.

I would like everyone to just look around their room.

Every single thing that is around us, has been designed by someone, it can be a remote and on the remote, there's some button, even that button, the icon, every single thing is designed.

I'm really, grateful to be in this field.

To study design.

And I, I personally feel that accessories, clothing, they don't have a gender.

Anybody can look good at them and, , anybody can just wear them and feel themselves.

And that takes a lot of courage.

That's what I feel..

Art and design have been looked down upon in many parts of the world.

For Aditya it's not just about doing what he likes.

It's about becoming a role model and giving back to his community.

Aditya takes the time to teach orphan children at the local orphanage how to draw and paint,

but after observing and getting to know the students, he changed his approach to a lesson that would have a deeper meaning for each child.

Actually my neighbors, when they got to know that I just finished school and I'm gonna take up design, they were not too excited about it, but they were very excited about my sister taking up law.

But my, my mother is very close with my neighbors.

So I, I used to win an art contest, maybe every two weeks.

I was, at it every, every day I would look for a design contest, art contest, and I was, I was just at it.

And I, I had this winning streak during the pandemic and every day, the moment I would win, my mom would rush to the neighbors and she would tell them that Aditya has won this, this, and all.

He's getting this from America.

It's he won American contest, things like that.

And now when my neighbor's extended family visit them, the, the, father-in-law mother-in-law or the brother or sister and their children, they use me as an example.

Now they tell their kids that one day you should be like him and they encourage them to do art now.

So that transition has been superb for me, like just a few years ago, they were so reluctant to, even recognize art as a career or an, college path.

Now they're telling their own kids to, take up art hobby right now while they're kids and, do something about it.

And I think I have this, passion for NGOs also non-profit organizations and I've worked with a lot of NGOs, so I would make a lot of paintings and I would sell them.

And if all the money I collect, I give it to some kind of a charity.

So the NGO was very happy with me.

So they invited me to, teach design or art to their kids.

So I went there and I saw there were small orphans you know, of of different ages.

Some were 12, some were eight, some were five.

So my challenge was how do I maybe teach them to draw a parrot?

Right?

So a parrot can be easy to draw for a 12 year old, but can be very difficult to draw for a four year old.

So I faced that challenge because the age was so diverse.

But then I, what I did was instead of giving them a prompt, instead of me telling them what to do, I told them to close their eyes and picture their happy place.

And I told them, now you draw that whatever you think or whatever, it looks like, draw that.

And every drawing had that, that happy sun.

And it had parents, their mom and dad with them.

And that was just so heart feeling.

These little orphans, their happy place is their, parents.

And unfortunately some of them don't even have a picture of them.

So now they have this drawing that they can show for one day.

And that just felt so great.

And I felt like, this was bigger than me.

I felt like I have this responsibility to share happiness through one skill that I know.

Yes.

Aditya this is so fabulous.

thank you.

You are truly an amazing person.

And at 19 you have so much to share with, with the world and certainly your future now with your positive imprint with your shirt.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Your name is S.

L.

Aditya.

So the S.L.

Is the first part of your name, but you go by Aditya that is something that is done in India.

In India, there's a very big caste system.

India is, has the majority of, Hindu people and in Hinduism, there's a big caste chart.

So there's a man.

So there are different caste for each body part of that man.

The head is the Brahmins and the shoulders one, the, the knees and the leg.

So the leg is called Shudras.

So each class or the caste has different responsibilities, the head of the person, the Brahmin, he was considered the highest caste.

So they were usually priests and teachers while Shudras, the seed.

They were the lowest caste so they were made to work as slaves, as very, you know, low wage workers.

So caste system has been prevalent in India for many, many, many centuries.

So it's not just it's, it's not easy to just say there's no Caste everybody's equal.

Come back to reality.

You can't do that.

And it takes time.

So, just maybe maybe a Century ago, um, a great man in Tamil Nadu in south India, he was so fed up and frustrated with the caste system.

He decided that there should be no surname.

So in India, the surname, the last name it's, it's not just the family name, it's the name of the caste they belong to a particular person.

So just by the Sur surname or the last name, they were able to differentiate between the caste and they were able to, you know, treat them badly.

So that man in Tamil Nadu a Century ago decided that this should not be done.

So if they are going to treat us badly, just because of our last name, let's remove the last name.

No we'll have no last name.

We will honor our, our own family, our own parents, our own grandparents.

So that's when this new system started in south of India, that was the initials.

So we stopped giving our children surnames or last names.

Instead they had initials and the name of their parents or grandparents, for example, I'm S.L.

Aditya.

So S stands for my father's name, and L stands for my mother's name.

So my identity is associated with my family and it belongs to nobody else.

So that makes me a unique person.

And that's how you should treat me as a normal human being, not above or not below you.

So that's how this system came into being.

And it's been around for a few decades now.

And I feel this is the best practice,

I also feel that is fair if you want your last name, because it shows that you belong to this community and that also gives you an identity.

And I am not against having a, a last name or a family name, but what I'm against is discrimination based on your caste.

That's the message here.

That's a good message.

That's, that's a profound message, of course.

It's still prevalent in some rural, places, villages and all, there are a lot of malpractices, but our justice system is coming for it.

They're banning a lot of practices just in the name of religion.

You can't treat someone badly, so I'm very happy for where it's just headed now.

That's

good.

Yeah.

That's good.

A good future.

I would actually like to elaborate about the current trend that's going around, which is, mostly fashion, at least the urban, cities.

Right now

it's like everybody has to be on their, A game fashion, A game, everybody, wants to be a content creator..

Everybody wants to be an influencer on Instagram, so, and everybody wants to look their best.

So right now, fashion has been a talking a topic in India.

And now there are a lot of feedback that a lot of people from my generation get, it's mostly about stop wearing that.

Don't wear that.

Cover your knees, cover your, sleeves.

And I, I, I would emphasize that on girls, especially girls face that even my sister.

My family are very supportive, but, woman who, does, does not cover her knees or something they're looked down upon, which I think is very unfortunate.

Just like an artist, is able to paint and express expresses emotions through a brush, just like that a person can express emotions or, express himself in any manner through his clothes, through the way he looks.

And I feel that should be no restrictions about it.

And they should be able to express themselves in whatever manner they want.

And I feel that my generation ha has this a lot of acceptance.

They have started realizing that they're not only two genders, not, not just male and female, not only one sexuality, which is straight, there are more sexualities.

And now my own friends who used to make, jokes on sexuality when maybe a few years ago, now they they are, some of them are coming out of the closet.

Some are, some are, talking about it.

So I feel there's this change in the society that, or my generation is actually talking about things.

And I feel, I, I think that's mainly because of fashion I would say.

Fashion is the most instant way to express yourselves.

That's what I feel.

, for example a guy he wants to suddenly, showcase his true identity, maybe as a transgender, the next day, he would finally wear a skirt and feel like himself.

And he would be able to go out and people are now, my generation is there to accept it, to, to, to support that person in their journey.

And I think fashion, as I said, is the instant form of change.

One day you are wearing something the second day you are wearing something else that you are actually confident about.

You feel like that's your real skin.

And I think that's just fabulous.

And with more and more acceptance in our, parents generation, my parents are close to 40 50.

That generation is slowly evolving everyday on newspapers.

And on news channels.

Now they're talking about sexuality, talking about fashion, talking about creative fields that are now recognized as a career option.

So when I feel this is a very positive evolution of thoughts, people are actually, accepting that this is the reality.

They're not still stuck in their, this fantasy that my religion says my fore fathers have been doing this.

We have to follow the same customs.

And another thing in India is that India was very illiterate at one point, some centuries ago, most of our people were illiterate.

So when you have to teach them science, you tell them, don't do this, do this because this will react with your DNA.

This will happen to you.

They will not listen.

So they were you not taught in the name of God.

They said that if you do this, God will be happy.

If you do this, God will be unhappy.

This way.

People who had immense faith in God, even though they were illiterate, they started following these customs and some of them are scientific.

Some of them are just, just one weird tradition started suddenly, for example every day in south India, I now it's a little, not that prominent now, but maybe just

If you just go around the neighborhood, every neighborhood outside their house, have a Rangoli..

Rangoli is this design made with different materials on the ground.

It is basically like drawing with chalk on the road.

So every family, the, the mother or the female head of the family, she, every day she has to wake up six in the morning or five in the morning.

And she grinds rice.

Rice is grinded and they add some water into it to make this paste.

And with that paste, they make these intricate, beautiful designs on the street.

I know it's a little different to, to even imagine, but for us, it'll be completely normal.

It'll be like just any other day, every single house would have this beautiful design in front of their house.

Now they say that this is a custom, this is our tradition.

We have been doing it for so many centuries, so we have to continue that, but not a lot of people know the actual truth behind it.

Why do you make this design so, so early in the morning, why do you do that?

And actually, I, I forgot to mention one thing before making the Rangoli before making the beautiful design on the road, they clean the road using cow dung.

They mash the cow dung in water and they spray it up all, around their house and then sweep it with clean water.

And then they make the Rangoli.

Now of course, when you ask the people right now, why do you do this?

Why do you use Cow Dung?

They don't know they do it in the name of God, but the actual science is that, that we want to help nature.

Now, when we make the Rangoli, we don't use artificial colors or artificial ingredients.

We use the rice and that's because we want ants, simple insects to not search for food.

They'll have food at every house.

Every Rangoli will have insects eating.

So we are helping nature.

We, we want the ants to not roam around, searching for food.

We want to help animals as well.

Now, second thing I mentioned was the cow dung..

Why do we mix cow dung and water and sprinkle around our house?

Now, cow dung actually has a lot of antibacteria properties.

So in India, there was a period when dengue was a big thing.

Dengue is a disease caused by mosquitoes.

So when you sprinkle cow dung, that smell that, and because of that mosquitoes, don't enter your house.

So our fore fathers have thought about this.

There's an actual science behind this, and there's actual morals behind this, helping animals, keeping ourselves safe from diseases.

But when you tell them this, they will do it for one week.

They will do it for two weeks, but the third week they will forget.

But if you tell them in the name of God, the God wants you to clean your house every day in the morning, wash it and make Rangoli.

The God will be happy.

And they actually listen every day they would do it very religiously, very on on time, they would do it.

And that's how people forgot that there's actually science behind it.

They've been carrying out these customs, but not a lot of people know the actual truth that went behind creating such custom.

So I, I think I would like the listeners to, if they get a chance to read about Rangolis in India, especially in south India, I mean, you have to see how intricately these are made, and you'll be surprised this,

And every day after, any 15 or 20 minutes relaxation time that she gets between her work, she will take that time to actually learn about new designs.

What can I do differently tomorrow?

How else can I, change up the shape and make it more interest?

In India, women , they have no time I would say.

From waking up at five, they have to take care of their children, take care of their husband's lunch.

They have to pack their lunch and everybody wakes up around five or six.

Even my mother, she wakes up at six o'clock.

So she cooks for the entire family, even though she's a working woman, she has to wake up at six and finish, packing, breakfast and lunch.

And then she has to be out of the house by 8 45.

Otherwise she'll be late for work.

So in just that two, three hours, I I can't even find time to talk to my mom.

She'll be that busy taking care of her family.

So most of the family responsibilities, they fall on the woman of the family and most of the money related problems, they fall on the male.

That, that is how it has been for a very long time.

And now you'll see that 25 year olds, a lot of people are doing it differently.

So both men and women are taking responsibility.

Why should be just a woman taking care of the house?

Why should she be the only one taking care of the children?

Why not the husband?

And if the husband one day suddenly wakes up at six o'clock and starts helping his wife, everyone starts praising the husband.

Mm-hmm , he's such a good husband, but the woman, she never gets any praise.

She's doing it every day.

So now that is changing.

Now my mom cooks my dad.

He packs the luncher for all of the, for me, my sister and my elder brother.

So they divide the work and I feel, that is great, their role models for me.

I think America, you have these wooden floors and carpets.

Well, you won't find wooden floors and carpets, not, not even in a single house in India, we all have these tiles.

So we can't actually use vacuum.

The tiles have to be mopped.

So things like mopping, sweeping, washing the dishes that is considered as a, girls' duty.

But whereas, maybe fixing the AC or fixing an old oven or things like that are considered to be manly and a man, a boy is supposed to do that.

But in my family, we see no discrimination, whatever help my parents need, we are ready to do it.

One day, I'll sweep I'll, wash the dishes one day my sister will do it.

There's no such for us there's no such thing as this gender is supposed to do this.

This gender is supposed to do that.

So we don't make that line.

We erase that line and we say that everybody's responsible.

And that's how a family stays happy, and that's how you are supposed to contribute.

My mom says one thing, she always says that that family comes first, then comes your career, then comes your studies.

So if one day I have to, say that at tomorrow I have a presentation and I have to work on it and I can't help you.

That is unacceptable.

Because she's putting her at work on hold so that she can help around the house.

So I also have the same responsibility.

I have to spare 10 minutes from my schedule to help around the house so that, that teaches me a lot.

So how to manage that, life and work balance.

So when I get into a family, when I have my own wife and children, that is something, this, these values that have learned from them is something that will automatically apply to me.

I won't wait for dinner.

I won't wait for my wife to cook.

We'll share the duties.

And it is every parent's duty to raise a very socially, a capable adult.

So I feel my parents have done a great job and I can independently live on my own, take care of my expenses, cook my own food and I owe everything to them.

I'm very grateful.

Yes.

Very awesome.

And that was so inspiring.

Thank you so much.

I wish that for everyone to realize that everyone should know their capabilities know that they're not less than anyone.

Know that they are, the best versions of themself and everybody is a student, everybody, and every day you learn something new..

Nobody's a master.

So everybody has their own problems to deal with.

So, but yet you have to put up this, this cheerful self and just keep at it.

And one day you'll reach Heights that you never even dreamt about.

So the first step for that is to realize who you are to know what you are, and that's the best start point for anyone to, go on on this journey of

so-called life.

That's all.

Thank you.

So Aditya, where can people find you on Instagram?

My Instagram ID is AdityaSL03.

And you can spell that A D I T Y A S L 0 3.

And you can find all of my work there.

And I also post things about how's my life going.

What is the current, update?

What am I doing?

Where am I going wrong?

Where am I going?

Right.

All of that I put that on my Instagram page and I hope that, people can maybe learn from my mistakes or be inspired from my, success.

Thank you.

Aditya,, this has been such an incredible journey for me getting to know you and so I thank you.

And I wanna end with what you said, everything is designed by a person.

Fashion is an instant way to express yourself.

And thank you so much for expressing your positive imprint on your winning design.

Thank you so much.

Miss praise water for having me and for allowing me to share my thoughts.

I don't think there there'll be a lot of platforms for 19 year old to talk about their life.

So I really, really thank you for this opportunity and I'm happy to, even I'll be happy to even, impactful for one person.

Even if one person is inspired or does something or changes something about their life because of this podcast, I'll be eternally grateful.

Well, and so would I.

Thank you.

Yes.

Thank you for, for your journey.

Thank you so much, miss Catherine.

Oh, thank you.

It was lovely talking to you.

All right.

So the next four weeks, episodes might be a bit different.

I'm taking time off, but you know, me, I will be talking to people and learning about positive imprints around the world so I can share with you.

Keep listening.

There are some surprises over this next month.

And guests that you can expect to hear from later on are climate change, scientist, Nathan Bindoff, freeing energy author, the charismatic Ted talks, speaker, Bill Nussey.

Reclaimed creations, artists Sayaka.

What's in a name with Julianne and many more guests in the lineup and Arditya's design will be up on my shop this week.

Go to yourpositiveimprint.com.

Thanks for listening.

And don't forget to download, subscribe or follow this podcast.

Your positive imprint.