Vamsi Krishna, the 39-year-old CEO and Co-founder of Vedantu —an edtech company— believes in keeping himself energised. “Balance of energy is important. It’s why I like to dabble in some passion or the other,” says the IIT Bombay alumnus. Playing the flute is one of them. “It’s a funny story about why I started playing the flute. My name, Vamsi, means flute in Telugu,” smiles Krishna, adding that his mother is from Andhra Pradesh and had named him. “Subconsciously it was always there that maybe I should learn to play the flute,” he laughs, saying that it was only in the final year of college that he joined a music club on campus and learnt the basics of playing the flute. “I never realised it was going to be such a tough instrument. Unlike a guitar or a piano where you can get some sound even if not melodious, in a flute just getting any kind of sound is difficult.”
Over the years, he has played it sporadically. “I am basically self-taught. Like any other instrument, in case of the flute, too, it’s a function of how much input time you put in—that much finesse you will get out of it.” He doesn’t get to practise as much as he would like to, but during the pandemic he did enjoy a lot of me-time playing the flute on his terrace. “It is extremely de-stressing,” he adds. Krishna plays self-compositions rather than any fixed ragas or songs.
The flute is also a unique instrument in the sense that unlike a guitar where you can move from a G-sharp to an A-sharp by tightening some strings, in a flute each individual instrument can only play one scale. “The thickness and length of the flute varies depending upon the scale,” explains Krishna. He plays the G-sharp normally but also has flutes for C-sharp and A-sharp.
Besides the flute, Krishna also likes to dabble in photography. He earlier clicked black and white pictures and portraits but now likes to do macro photography. He uses a Canon EOS RP. “Because I am short on time, macro photography works. It can be done anywhere; just sit in a room and do some creative stuff,” he smiles. “To develop any passion one needs to devote at least eight to nine hours a week, and currently it is difficult to come by,” says the CEO whose biggest passion is teaching. “The thing that energises me the most is teaching. Before starting Vedantu, my founders and I used to take offline classes, and whenever I entered a classroom, it was very meditative. I miss not being able to teach as much now,” he says.
Krishna believes it is important to keep mentally fit as well. He often plays chess or poker.
So, what’s next for Vedantu? “We are working towards an IPO,” says Krishna. “We are looking at a two-three year time frame.”
@smitabw
