"Whenever I floated the idea of a rock band, most people here assumed I was talking about guys with long hair, tattooed bodies, bandanas on heads and butterfly beards. The most they could imagine was a female member in a revealing dress with heavy makeup, playing the groupie. I wanted to change this mindset and introduce the people of my city to what metros have already embraced in terms of female rock performers.

It wasn’t easy to convince girls to join the band, but somehow we got together. Our band, Zindagi, doesn’t strike a tune only to entertain or earn. We have a message at our core and that is ‘save the girl child’.

None of us are professional artists. We have learnt to sing and play instruments by ear or watching online videos. Most of us are working or studying, so we practice from 5 to 9 in the morning. I have written and composed most of our songs in the kitchen.

So far our dress code has been pink, but we are planning to change it because it seems cliched.

As we have ‘save the girl child’ as our theme, people and organizations working on this issue often invite us to perform. We have conducted more than 35 shows in UP and two in MP. It gives us a sense of validation that we are instrumental in bringing about some positive change. "