/ Publisher's Message, Summer 2009

by Raj Girn

Publisher’s Message, Summer 2009

Jul 29, 2013

Cheers To Power: The Journey, Not The Destination

Jimi Hendrix once said, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace”

The first time I read this quote, I thought I knew what he was saying, but as life rolled along, I realized the magnitude of what he meant, or at least, my interpretation of it: the ‘love of power’ depicts a means to an end; i.e. the destination and the ‘power of love’ is an end to the means; i.e. the journey and what it teaches us.

In my younger years, all I could think about was being famous. I wanted people to know me because I, in my infinite wisdom, thought this would give me happiness, albeit, not knowing what actually defined happiness.

So my journey began when I was 16 and I wanted to become a singer/songwriter. To this end, I spent a year taking vocal lessons, taught myself how to build a studio (in my bedroom) and produced songs that I had written. After creating my first demo tape (that I was happy with), I shipped it off to numerous record labels in the hopes that someone would respond, but not expecting that anyone would. It wasn’t long before I received two calls: one from Indipop Music and one from Virgin Records UK. Both were interested in meeting me, but I was unnerved at the quick responses. I met with the managing director of Indipop who came to see me at home. He was fascinated by my bedroom studio as well as my fusion sound and asked me to record a song for a forthcoming compilation he was putting together. In a matter of a moment, my dream had become a reality and not prepared for this, I bolted.

This happened a second time a year later when I was 18 and I was approached by a talent scout who wanted me to join a travelling Shakespeare company after having watched me play Lady Macbeth in the Shakespeare play Macbeth. Again, I wasn’t ready to turn a dream into reality, so I forwent the opportunity. Years later at 30, fresh from a divorce and numerous life lessons later, I had an epiphany. I realized that I had spent my entire life in love with the idea of a dream instead of the reality of giving it life. I was a viewer of life as opposed to a participant. I was in love with power with no real understanding that the greatest power of all was the ‘power of love’ (corny I know but true nonetheless). No sooner had I discovered this that I was hell bent on starting act two of my life. I wanted to have the power to provide a platform for people to showcase their journey and what they had learned along the way — their respective ‘power of love’. This was the beginning of a lifelong love affair for me for which I went back to college to learn how to effectively tell people’s stories. From this was born ANOKHI Magazine, anokhimagazine.com and ANOKHI Pulse TV — the ultimate platform: media. What I didn’t plan for was that my journey, my ‘power of love’, my peace would also result in my achieving the destination as well — power as a bi-product, as there is no greater man-made power than the power of media. It’s funny, but life sure knows how to throw us curve balls doesn’t it? If you have a similar story to tell, we’d love to hear it. Who knows, we might even publish it (with your permission of course)! Email us at: [email protected]. Looking forward to hearing from you!

This issue of ANOKHI has been dedicated to this particular definition of power, and we have chosen the Pussycat Dolls’ multi-talented Nicole Scherzinger to represent this, our very first Power Issue. Nicole was first introduced to Indian culture through fashion by the Desi Hits! Crew who were instrumental in the collaboration between the Pussycat Dolls and Indian celebrity fashion designer, Rocky S who dressed the Dolls in saris for Condé Nast Fashion Rocks 2008. This was followed by Nicole penning and performing the club version of A. R. Rahman’s masterpiece, “Jai Ho” which has been firing up the airways and the club scene of late. Nicole shares her ‘power of love’ — as a woman of mixed race, who took the learnings of her journey and carved a successful international career from it. Read her story on page 26 and be inspired to reach for your very own power to be whomever you choose to be!

Until Next Time,

BE UNIQUE. BE ANOKHI.

Raj Girn
Publisher/Editorial Director

Raj Girn

Author

Raj Girn is an award-winning media personality, confidence coach, consultant and mentor. Bio: https://www.theopenchestconfidenceacademy.com/about/our-founder/ Testimonials: https://www.theopenchestconfidenceacademy.com/about/testimonials/