I was studying for my MA at Mumbai University and would often visit the St. Xavier's College from where I had graduated to use the library. I be friended some people there who, like me, were interested in classical music and dance. We'd go for concerts together.

One of these friend's sister and brother-in-law had an event management company called Banyan Tree. They were looking for volunteers to help them host a festival which featured 70 artistes from across the country. I ended up volunteering for it and forged a good equation with the promoters, Nandini and Mahesh Babu, who were looking for young college students to join them. I worked with them for around three months before I landed my first Malayalam film.

They already had a lot of concerts planned, our job was to get sponsors for them. They also had a lot of records. We would set up stalls at various Indian classical music concerts and sell them. I met a lot of people during my stint with this company and remember watching a performance by Yumlembam Gambhini Devi, the Padma Shri and Sangeet Natal Akademi awardee Manipuri singer-dancer. Though I didn't understand a word, as she performed in her local language, I was truly moved by her recital.

I even met flautist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and sarod maestro Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Zakir (Hussain) bhai, the internationally renowned tabla exponent and the Gundecha Brothers. Then there was the classical music maestro Pandit Jasraj and another well-known singer, Suresh Wadkar ji. I remember at one of the concerts I had met Suresh Wadkar ji and was trying to sell a music CD to him. He actually mentioned that to me recently on a flight. He said, “I remember you from that time, Vista.“ It was really sweet.

I took my job quite seriously and would be at the concerts way before the appointed time so we could plan how we should handle things at the counter. We would set ourselves targets of how many CDs we wanted to sell. I sometimes even tried to use my charm to sell the CDs.

I would reach the office, which was in Charkop in Andheri, by 10 am and would leave around 6-6.30 pm. Most days I would think of taking the bus back home to Chembur where I lived, but almost all the money I earned was spent on auto rickshaw.

I earned Rs 3000 after working for three months for Banyan Tree. However, I had got my first cheque of Rs 1,200 from TV which I had started dabbling in when I'd just joined college. Sadly that serial was never aired. I bought my sister, Priya, a pair of earrings worth Rs 60 with the money.

My boss, Mahesh Babu, was the gentlest person I've met, he never screamed at us. In fact, he would call for wada pav every evening and indulge us. Besides him and Nandini, I had a third boss, Vinod, but he still calls me “boss“. It was an informal setup and these bosses always made us felt like our ideas are really valuable and never dismissed anything we had to suggest.

After I bagged the Malayalam film I couldn't continue working there. I had always wanted to become an actor and was biding my time. While I was doing my MA, I had a lot of time on my hand as we hardly ever attended lectures. The Kalina University campus is beautiful. On the rare instance when we went to the University, we would usually be hanging out outside.

I loved working at the Banyan Tree as I got to hear great music and meet a lot of artistes. If I ever play a classical musician, all those performances and back stage experiences will come in handy.