Roma and Kusal Chattopadhyay, the dynamic couple of R-K-Vision are soulmates. It is a dream team of energy and enterprise and an attitude and outlook that says “Let’s try this too” in their various ventures. Readers who are familiar with concerts of Runa Laila, Manna Dey, Ghulam Ali should know that these heartwarming concerts are brought to you by none other than Roma and Kusal.

Lokvani sat down for a chat with this couple at their beautiful home in Marlboro.

Shall we start off with your business interests?

Kusal : We are running two corporations simultaneously. One is the Software service through Softcon, a Project Management and Consultancy group, and the other is R-K-Vision which is offering a variety of services to the community. These include travel, event management, concerts, boutique and food and catering.

How did you develop this spirit of entrepreneurship?

Kusal: To me, there always have been two kinds of entrepreneurs. The first kind have a plan and is intent on making profits. The second type likes to experiment with various plans,in the process of doing something all the time. It might be a success and may not. We belong to the second kind. We started our software business in 94, incorporated in 95. At that time we had an idea that we wanted to do concerts. Now that the economy has slowed down, we have time and we are trying to realize this dream.

Can you elaborate on some of these?

Kusal: Concerts are one, but lately we have recently expanded into the food and grocery business. We are offering our customers shopping for Indian and Bangladeshi groceries from the convenience of their home. The delivery is free if it is more than $30.00 and can be ordered by phone, fax and email. Moreover the prices are all offered with the retail price of New York which is the best part.

Do you think there is a market for this?

Roma: Definitely. We are having a good response. In this country the consumer loves convenience. If you are getting groceries on your doorstep especially in the long winter months, who would not like to take the opportunity. And we are reasonably priced.”

Kusal: Our web site R-K-Vison.com has all the information. We are using a very popular cart software to run this. It is similar to the way people buy books from Amazon.com. We are promising fresh produce, vegetables, spices, groceries, meat, fish etc. We are also ordering our sweets from Aladdin sweets of New York. They are famous for their delicacies. All this with a home delivery. We are also planning to make R-K-Vision as a one stop shop for all services. Once you avail of this, as a promotion we may have added benefits. Say for instance, if you buy so much worth of grocery, you may get a free concert ticket, etc.

Roma: Our catering is also per demand. We have a cook who makes delicious food from home. Right now we are catering to North Indian specialties.

How about your travel agency and your boutique?

Kusal: Till now we have been ticketing for a few friends and people we know. But we are in an expansion phase and in a couple of months we will have this all set up.

Roma: My boutique is basically a hobby. I offer online shopping in this area. I love to design clothes with a mix of western and ethnic.

Tell us something more of the kind of artists that you wish to bring here? It seems to me that you choose them with a lot of care and thought.

Roma: Concerts are not really a money making business. To us it has a lot to do with satisfaction. In the last concert of Ghulam Ali we had around 300 people. We received a lot of mail after that from people thanking us for this. That is the best moment for us.The Banga Sammelan organised by Prabasi for which we were a part was really unique. We had 4500 people attending the conference and it was a great success. The two and half day program had a lot of interactive shows through multimedia presentations and had stars like Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore.

Kusal: We try to bring artists that are not only popular but also meaningful. This will give a chance for different communities to come together. People can enjoy the versatility of these artists. At the end of our life, when you think and ponder what did we do, we need to feel good about something. We also have a plan to do a festival where we can bring artists, Maybe a couple of years from now. In the year 2003 we plan to have four shows.

Do you have a background or training in this kind of management?

Kusal: “Roma and I both come from very strong film and stage backgrounds. My mother is a stage actress although I belong to a family of doctors. The whole family loves music

Roma: My mother Krishna Ghosh is a very popular stage actress and my father Bijoy Ghosh was a freedom fighter and fought with Netaji. He was also a very award winning Cinematographer and did films with Uttam Kumar, Shakti Samanth, Sharmila Tagore etc. We are very culturally conscious and we love to attend concerts whenever we get a chance to do it. It has always been our intention to bring some of the shows to the city of Boston and now we are doing it.

As husband and wife team how do you balance your professional and personal life ?

Kusal: (laughs) We started off being hired by the same company when we came here. Then we started our own company and in the beginning it was a hard and stressful period. At this moment we are doing a total reorganization and are envisioning as to where we want to be in the next ten years. There are times when we work till the early hours of the morning and then we also have more relaxing days. As a family we are very close knit and have a large group of wonderful friends. That relieves our stress too since we have a lot of parties. Even in India, we have a great group of friends and that is the time when we get to spent a lot of time together.

Roma and Kusal have an eight year old son, Agnik. Kusal hopes that his son, who speaks good Bengali and loves music, will chose an unconventional path for himself as he grows up. Roma believes that the strong cultural consciousness that they both share will enrich their son's upbringing.

As supportive and loving parents, it just might happen.

To know more click on to www.R-K-Vision.com

|

---

You may also access this article through our web-site http://www.lokvani.com/