Episode 6
Prashant
A story of following the path that brings you joy, even when it means leaving things behind.
Wrapping up her west coast tour, Danielle makes a final stop in Portland to talk with DJ Prashant Kakad about what it was like deciding to leave the comfort of his daily life to pursue the hobbies bringing him joy. Prashant’s energizing story is all about straying from a path that’s no longer serving you to create one of your own.
Meet the People
We’re all taught a story has three parts.
But life just isn’t that linear.
What happens when the
middle
is just the beginning?
I’m Danielle Prescod. This is
a Vox Creative production with Straight Talk Wireless.
Episode 6
Act 1
[ Downtown City Noise: Fontain Bubbles, Trams Whistle, Happy Chatter Filter Through Traffic ]
Prashant Kakad
My first festival you can say was, uh, performing right here on this square as a DJ. And-
Danielle Prescod
This was your first performance? Were you very confident about that? Or were you kinda nervous?
Prashant
I was both. I was both. Until the moment, I felt like I was way more nervous. And then somehow, I hit play, and I was the most confident person on Planet Earth, you know? I don’t know how that happens!
From the moment I met Prashant Kakad, he vibrated with energy. We did our first interview in Portland, Oregon, at Pioneer Courthouse Square, or what locals call “Portland’s living room.” It’s this big, noisy plaza right in the middle of downtown.
Prashant’s face lit up as he talked about the square, pointing out the bustling food carts, the gushing water fountain, and a public piano that passersby can play.
The square is home to a lot of major events in Portland, including the annual India Festival, an all-day celebration commemorating India’s independence.
Prashant attends every single year.
Prashant
One day of the year, I get to come to Downtown Portland, Pioneer Courthouse Square, and I feel like, "Oh yeah, we're gonna own the day and we'll own the night, you know?"
Danielle
Wow.
Prashant
So that's what it feels like. It's like a beautiful integration. Um, it's like a, a statement we exist, you know?
Today, Prashant DJs at parties and clubs all over the US. His 300,000 followers watch his Facebook page closely to find out where he’s performing next. The man was made for Tik Tok, which I’m still trying to convince him to join. But Prashant’s musical style is in a category of its own. He combines Indian, Latin, and Afro beats into a high energy flow meant to keep you on your toes — literally.
Which is why when Prashant DJed at the Indian Festival for the first time, this happened.
[ Crowd Noise ]
Prashant
It was nuts. It was insane. The organizers were like, "Oh my god, we don't have security," you know. Like, nobody was being like rowdy or crazy, but the energy was lifting up, you know?
Danielle
Yeah.
Prashant
And so, um, it was amazing. It was amazing. I got to play all kinds of music too, you know? So for example, within India, there's Punjabi music. There's South Indian music. There is Bollywood music, which is Hindi music. There's Marathi. Uh, these are all languages, you know, so there's 29 languages in India, and each of them has an amazing collection of music, arts, et cetera. You know, and I've tried my best that night and ever since, whenever I perform here, is to make sure that I play music from all over India. Not just Bollywood, not just Punjabi, you know? So that everybody can feel like they're being, um, represented at be- as best as I can, you know?
Prashant grew up in India’s largest city, Mumbai, so watching these young people jam out to his home country’s music was really special to him.
And it wasn’t just the young people storming the dance floor that made him smile — it was the aunties, uncles and grandparents watching excitedly from the sidelines. The older generations of Indian immigrants, who were witnessing something rare in Portland: a huge, all-out public celebration of their homeland.
If you’ve ever been to a DJ set - especially a big one - then you know DJs sit in their neon-lit booths behind big turntables that tower above their fans. That is so not the DJ Prashant way.
When I was at Prashant’s house, one of his closest friends, Purnima Nanda, stopped by to tell us about who she knows as PK.
She told me that when he performs, there isn’t this divide between DJ and audience.
Purnima Nanda
So when I see him with all this public um, when he's playing music, everybody is like jumping on the stage and saying, "Play this. Play that for me. This is for my fiancé. This is for happy birthday, one of my friend." All of that when I see it, I just move back and I just admire and I just start looking a bigger picture. He's just so loved with all these people that even if I'm not around, I feel he's safe wherever he is.
I know my mom instincts is coming out, but (laughs).
This is Prashant’s unique talent:
turning audiences into communities.
Having a village to rely on is core to Prashant’s story. And when I met with him, he was about to bring another, very important member into his world.
Prashant
In the beginning of August, I'm going to India, and I'm going with one purpose. I want my wife, who's gonna move for the first time to the US, I want her to have somebody next to her on that flight when she's gonna feel like shit about leaving her family and-
Danielle
Aw-
Prashant
And leaving everything that she knows. I've taken that flight, and I knew how horrible-
Danielle
Yeah.
Prashant
I don't want her to go through that experience at all. So I'm going there. We're gonna travel together. And, uh, from that point on, she's gonna be, um, my client and I will be her tour guide, you know?
Danielle
I love that. I'm so happy for your wife.
Prashant
Thank you! I'm so happy for me. This is amazing!
Prashant is surrounded by people who support him, and he has a job doing the thing that makes him feel most alive. But it took a long time for everything to come together for him. Like he said, he knows how horrible that flight from India to the U.S. can be.
Episode 6
Act 2
Prashant came to the States on a student’s visa to get a PhD in Polymer Science from a prestigious school in the north east.
Prashant
I really wanted to do science, and I came here to discover, uh, solvents for bagasse, which is a leftover of sugarcane. It's- India is the largest- second-largest producer of it. And I wanted to use that waste product to make paper or other things, to be able to, like, truly turn it around, you know?
But going to a competitive school, in fact, moving to the U.S. at all, was a bit of a plot twist for Prashant.
Prashant
I really didn't care about coming to the U.S. actually. Weirdly enough. I think I saw the kids in my class that were like all into rock music and I was like, "I don't understand it. I love Indian music. What's wrong with Indian music?"
Prashant was studying “Fiber Science and Textile Processing” at the University Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai.
But halfway through Prashant’s studies, he had failed all of his classes. It wasn’t for lack of skill or talent. I mean, sure, any chemical engineering degree is very difficult. But it becomes even more difficult when dealing with some major imposter syndrome.
Prashant
I come from a lower caste in India, as you know India has a caste system.
Prashant
I got into this college because I had this- this quota that was specifically for people from lower caste. And so I carried that- that thought that somebody more deserving, perhaps, could have done better with this seat than I did. I think that my belief in that thought was what was keeping me from really showing up.
Growing up, Prashant saw his father work a series of difficult and sometimes dangerous jobs: he served in both the Indian Air Force and the police force. So when Prashant flunked his sophomore year, he knew that he wasted an opportunity his father never had.
Prashant
My experience of them, up until the time that I failed was do better, work harder, stay focused, don't take, what, singing classes, what are you going to be, Michael Jackson? Go back and do your studies, right. (laughs).
Danielle
Yeah (laughs).
Prashant
When I failed, my mom and dad, I for sure thought that they were going to be upset or disappointed or something like that and I showed up after with the results and both of them were just like, "It's okay, don't worry. It happens, you know. Uh, you'll be fine, we believe in you."
And for me it was like I had hit a rock bottom and had failed and I expected to be, you know, um, to be... I expected my shame would be validated (laughs).
But instead it was met with, like, genuine love and appreciation and care.
For them to accept me um, the way they did, it was the most beautiful gift. One of the most beautiful gifts I've ever received.
This kind of unconditional support is formative. For Prashant, it shifted him out of a place of fear and self-criticism, and into a place of possibility.
The following year, he retook all of the classes that he had flunked, and his grades skyrocketed.
He went from failing to being at the top of his class. By Prashant’s senior year, people were asking him “Hey. Have you thought about going to grad school in the States?”
Prashant’s father was one of those people.
For whatever reason, I think my dad was really the person who was like, encouraging me to do that. And he had had a very hard life. And so when he saw the promise in me, he really wanted me to have a better life for myself and so, I think he really pushed me.
When Prashant failed those classes as an undergrad, he felt like he failed his entire family. But when he got into school in the States, his success belonged to his entire family.
When it was time to fly over to the states, all of Prashant’s siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles dropped him off at the airport – close to a hundred people showed up. And here I am, overwhelmed with gratitude when I can get one person to give me a ride to the airport.
Anyway, Prashant’s farewell at the airport was like a scene out of a Bollywood movie, complete with a celebrity cameo.
Prashant
And- and- and all of a sudden, people are not paying attention to me. I was like, "What's going on?" And then I realized that one of India's biggest Bollywood stars happened to be on the same flight as me.
Danielle
No!
Prashant
Yeah.
Prashant
Her name is Shilpa Shetty. She's awesome. And I'm so glad that she was on- that I had a comfort connection with her. Because that flight was miserable for me! You know? To leave my family- uh, to leave my family away. And I just cried through the 20 hours. I legit cried through the whole 20 hours, except for the moment when I got to take a picture with her. That was great.
Danielle
(laughs) Right! Wipe your tears. Get your picture.
Prashant
(laughs) Exactly!
Danielle
Back to crying.
Prashant
Back to crying, yes!
Mumbai has a population of 12.5 million. Ithaca, New York, where Cornell is, has a population of just over 30,000.
In Mumbai, Prashant had 100 people who were willing to see him off to the airport. In America, Prashant had no one to greet him when he landed.
His first few weeks on campus were just as lonely as that flight out of India. He tried to make the most of his geographic and social isolation. He started going on hikes around Ithaca. And during one of those waterfall hikes, he stumbled upon something unexpected.
Prashant
It sounded like live music. So I made myself kind of mosey around, to figure out what's going on, and I- I reached the edge of this, like... This scene that I had never seen before.
People were Line dancing, square dancing. At the time, I didn't know what it was. It just looked really cool. And somebody was leading people through, and then they would learn it, and they would do it all over again. You know, it was a simple enough routine that you would get into.
Prashant had stumbled upon Zydeco dancing, which is a type of folk dancing with origins in Louisiana’s Creole community.
This is not the kind of dancing most people are used to anymore. I grew up taking ballet, jazz, and hip-hop classes that emphasized the technical elements of dance. I actually really loved the classes, but I hated performing. Which, for most dancers, including Prashant, is the whole point. You learn so you can perform.
But Zydeco dancing is dancing for the sake of socializing. There’s no showcase, no final performance, no competition.
And for Prashant, Zydeco offered an instant community and a new hobby that proved to be extremely addictive.
Prashant
I was dancing five to six nights a week.
Danielle
Wow.
Prashant
And, um, I struggled with depression, uh, when I was on- in- in Ithaca. I wouldn't- I- there were days where I just couldn't get up. Because I- suddenly, studies were not something I wanted to do, and dance was j- something I couldn't stop myself from doing.
Despite dancing six nights a week, Prashant kept up his studies. Classic overachiever.
He even collaborated with his advisors to register a patent for a fabric that detects the presence of E Coli on apples, because apparently apples can have E Coli. Like we all needed one more thing to worry about.
Prashant was doing so well that a major tech company flew him out to Portland for a job interview before he even graduated.
Prashant
The interview happened. I thought it went really good. And I was like, okay, now it's time to like celebrate. So, I went online and I tried my best to look up like what's happening in Portland, you know. And so there was a dance party that looked really cool.
This party turned out to be a key moment in Prashant’s life. I mean, it’s where he met Purnima.
Purnima
When I go dancing, I'll be jumping around and all that, so.
I met Prashant while I was doing one of my jumps, and I hit him from the back and I said, "Sorry." And that was my first meeting with Prashant.
It was friendship at first jump.
Prashant
That's where I met my friend Purnima, and we've been friends ever since. And that's the beauty and the power of music and dance that I believe in because we basically connected. We just basically danced all night long. I had the most magical weekend. And I'm not somebody that prays a lot. But that time, I remember it was time for me to go back to the airport and I closed my eyes. Like, God, please. I wanna move to Portland, God. Make this happen for me.
Prashant wasn’t excited about the job itself - it wasn’t quite what his degree was aimed at– but in Portland, he experienced a moment of true community.
So when the tech company offered him the job, Prashant made the move and immediately threw himself into the local music scene.
Prashant
I was out dancing and these Punjabi guys just like, you know, surround me. And I'm like, what did I do wrong? And, and these guys are like, Hey man, um, we like, we like the way you do bhangra and we want you to teach us. I was like, I just do what I love doing. I am not a teacher. And they're like, no, no, no, no, don't worry. Every Sunday we will come and you will teach us bhangra.
Danielle
Oh wow. They muscled you into it!
Bit by bit, Prashant started to transform from audience member to performer.
Only a few years after attending his first India festival, Prashant switched from dancing in the crowd to performing on the stage.
Prashant
I closed out India Festival with a 15-minute impromptu, first-time-ever in Portland, where at Pioneer Square, hundreds of Indian people danced to a DJ out in the open. And then the next day, which was a Monday, 'cause Indian Festival happened on a Sunday, usually, I went to work.
But his “hobby” was starting to take up more time and energy than his actual career.
Prashant
And I thought to myself, I, I feel like I am in a position to ask, if there is more than this, that life has to offer me. I started objectively looking at it and I realized that, first of all, for anything else to happen, I needed to come to peace with the worst case scenario.
People sometimes think that success only comes to those who don’t see failure as an option, but for Prashant, it was about coming to terms with failure - an all-important lesson he’d learned after almost failing out of school.
Episode 6
Act 3
Prashant was ready to take a major leap of faith and ditch a famously practical and lucrative career for, well, the opposite. But first, he needed to break the news to his parents. Yikes.
Prashant
I spoke with my mom and dad. And I expressed that I've want to see about leaving Intel and doing something different. They had seen me do my things a little bit. It was at a very organic, smaller, like a community's big scale at the time.
But he knew that something in me lit up when I was doing it. He was like, go for it. Uh, you have my full support. At that time for him to do that as an Indian person, I think people, Indian people listening to this will specially relate, but I think will relate to that. That was a huge thing for him to do.
But sometimes it’s easier to remember the best parts of a situation - which is where Purnima comes in. According to our new bestie, it wasn’t actually as easy and obvious as Prashant remembers it. But Purnima was there to remind his parents of what really matters.
Purnima
When they were here they made sure to meet me at least couple times, and then share their thought or their thought process and say, "Is he doing something right? How do we go back home and say our child just did computer engineering from a very good college and now he's like, going into this field. How do we say it?"
I'm said, "No there is no shame in saying anything. There's- if he's working hard, just appreciate it. And I know what he's doing, he wants to do that. Trust me, so next time when I see you, you will be proud parents. Right now, he's struggling with — Like anybody, whoever does something new, it's a struggle, but people give up very soon. He's not one of those.”
With his parents' blessing, Prashant quit his job and committed to DJing.
Only 40 people showed up, but the night wasn’t actually a failure.
Purnima
The guy who hired me goes, well, you're not gonna get paid 'cause you didn't bring a hundred people, but I’ll tell you what, I really enjoyed what you did, because I'd never heard a mix of Indian music with house music, with like, with dubstep, everything.
If you are available, I want you to come back on Saturday. I'll ask my DJ to step away for that night, and then I can pay you for on Saturday.
Prashant DJed at that club for the rest of the week. And when he wanted to take things to the next level, his village stepped up to help make it happen.
Purnima
And he's like, "I want to do something big." And I'm like, "Uh, like what?" And he's like, "Maybe a big show."
So we started grabbing our friends, like the core friends, we started giving like, whoever we used to meet, we used to give them 10 tickets. And say, "You're responsibility to get those to nine people. One you, nine more." And we kept going, going, going and I think the turn out was so good.
Their strategy worked - the turnout was great. And in 2019, Prashant closed out the India Festival with the biggest performance of the night. The same event where, only a few years before, he’d managed to sneak in an impromptu 15-minute performance. That is some main character energy.
And every main character needs a heartwarming mom and dad moment. This time around, Prashant’s parents flew in from India to watch their son take the stage.
Purinma
I met with his parents and I'm like, “I am also so proud of you because Prashant's right there."
Um, and they were like, "Yes." And that smile just said everything to me, Uh, that smile told me how proud parents they are.
Danielle
How do you feel witnessing how far he's come in the last eleven years?
Purinma
I seriously can't believe. Here now, it's like I keep telling him uh, I call him PK, which is Prashant Kakad, but uh, he'll always be PK for me, no matter he touch the sky.
Purinma
He did not give up at all. And he kept going, kept going. That is the motivation I will always admire. And where he is today, I mean
He's a rockstar for me
so he will just keep going up now, there's no turning back.
This show set out to explore the More Than This moments of people’s lives. The moments that empowered Z to open up his bakery, for Mandy to sing again, for Carla to start her online thrift store.
And after a whole season of listening to their stories, I’ve come to realize that these moments are only made possible when our villages back us up and lend us their bravery when we might not have enough of our own.
Prashant’s parents, his friends, even the venue owner who gave him a second shot at filling the club — these people are Prashant’s village. And it’s because of them that Prashant succeeded so deeply.
And now, Prashant sees himself as part of that support system for other people.
Prashant
That's a dream life for me, I want to contribute heavily in- in a positive way, and- and do something that I love, and- and inspire people to do this too.
And they come and tell me how much seeing me do my thing, and just, like, I wasn't trying to be and I'm not trying to be anything more than what I am. But by just existing and doing my thing, it naturally inspired people to take on their own passions, other immigrant Indian people.
Prashant wants to help others have their own More Than This moment. He’s going to be part of every village he can.
Beyond that, Prashant doesn’t know what his future holds - he’s taking some time off to be with his wife, he’s adjusting to life as a DJ in the COVID era. But with a brain and passion like Prashant’s, I know whatever he does is going to be loud and lit and full of life.
Danielle
And this is a party song?
Prashant
Here it is totally. You wanna have a party? Let's have a party.
Danielle
(laughs) Okay.
Prashant
So, it starts off with a little beat action and very quickly goes into, um, um...
[Prashant’s original song begins playing through an iPhone. It’s tinny, but carries a strong beat.]
[Then, it comes up in full, and we hear his signature combination of Indian, Afro, and Latin Beats, with an exciting dubstep edge]
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