This blind poet-songwriter plans to put his creative gifts to business

Mumbai-based law graduate Prathamesh Bendre has a gift for composing poems and songs for special occasions. A gift that this blind poet and songwriter plans to develop into a business in personalised greeting cards.

Have a special mood or occasion to celebrate and don’t have the words for it? Blind poet and songwriter Prathamesh Bendre is the man you should reach for. Mumbai-based law graduate Prathamesh has a passion for composing. His Facebook profile tells you where his heart really lies. Prathamesh calls himself an aspiring ‘shayar (poet) and songwriter’ and plans to put his creative skills to business.

Personalised greeting cards for all occasions

Prathamesh’s venture is called Shayar Dost, which translates into ‘Poet Friend’. So far, he has been composing for a fee for friends and relatives. Their response has motivated him to think bigger.

Shayar Dost is a venture to create personalised content based on what the client needs. People like getting personalised messages and poems and songs for special occasions and I saw nothing in the market that caters to that need. Like suppose a relationship has gone wrong and you want to say sorry, there is nothing specifically for that. If you want a poem about a person you give certain phrases specific to that person or your experiences and we give that shape as a poem, letter, or a song. – Prathamesh Bendre, Poet/Songwriter

When his father retired Prathamesh wanted to give him a card but found nothing that expressed all the things he wanted to say. He decided to create a personalised card. That was the start. His cards also show a quirky sense of humour. “I did this parody of a song by Mohammed Rafi called ‘jo vaada kayak woh nibhaana padega’ where I changed the words to reflect a conversation between a boy and a girl”.

Plans to launch greeting cards venture in braille

Along with friend and business partner Devroop Sharma, Prathamesh has started working on developing Shayar Dost into a business model. “I think there is a huge demand for this, and I am very confident we can make a success of this. No one else is doing this”, says Devroop.

Prathamesh plans to make his greetings and cards available in Braille as well so they are accessible to blind people. Shayar Dost won him first prize and a cash reward of ₹ 51,000 at the recent Voice Vision Entrepreneurial Idea Awards. The exposure to industry leaders and mentors has been a boost. “The mentorship and guidance I received has given me ideas about how to scale this up. I plan to consult writing mentors for their perspectives and then finalise this”.