'I have never been a liability on my parents'

Siddharth Nambiar looks like an MBA student. You are startled when the 23-year-old mentions that he earns between Rs 240,000 and Rs 300,000 per annum by teaching salsa to people who are sometimes twice his age.

Not many students his age earn that much money while they learn. At least not by teaching salsa and ballroom dancing.

"I have never been a liability on my parents," Siddharth tells us proudly as he recounts how his career began soon after he completed his Class XII exam. During the three years when he pursued a bachelor's degree in commerce Siddharth worked at three different places: Reliance Retail, ICICI OneSource (now Firstsource) and then at Sandip Soparrkar's dance institute.

A few years at Soparrkar's institute gave him the confidence to start out on his own. It also helped that Siddharth's mother had a dance institute in Dadar, northcentral Mumbai, where she teaches Odissi and folk dance.

Currently pursuing an MBA in HR and marketing at the Indian Institute of Planning and Management, IIPM, he says he would love to teach dance to his colleagues at a future employer's workplace just as he did with co-workers at ICICI OneSource.

Siddharth spoke with Prasanna D Zore about his love for salsa, and how he copes with teaching dance and being a first class student throughout his academic life.

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How did salsa happen?

Right from my childhood I was attracted towards dance. I used to participate in inter-school and inter-college competitions and would always emerge a winner. As far as dance is concerned it is a part of my life. In college importance was given to ballroom dancing. And I didn't know much about it. So I joined Sandip Soparrkar's institute.

I went there with the intention of learning dance. He liked my dance and offered me to teach dance for free in return for being a part of his troupe. That was a good offer which I accepted. Then I started teaching at Sandip's academy for two-and-a-half years. Later, I left the academy and started on my own.

My biggest asset then was the fact that my mom was running a dance institute. I thought of joining her. I started my own dancing class when I was 19, 20.

It just took off. Now I teach as many as 60, 70 students annually.

How did you manage studies and business?

I teach seven days a week. I arrange my students accordingly. Normally I start my classes after I finish college at around 5 pm. However, during the summer and Diwali vacations the number of students goes up tremendously.

Though I hardly attended college I always scored a first class throughout my academic career. Even in the first two terms of my MBA I have scored over 60 per cent marks. I was more interested in dancing and teaching dance fetched me a good amount of money that took care of my college and MBA fees.

I always knew that teaching dance would always fetch me more money so I thought of focusing on teaching more than attending college. I always believed that you learn more by reading on your own than attending college. That was my belief.

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Dancing never acted as a distraction in my academic life. It was all gelling well. I didn't mind managing my dancing career with my studies. I don't know about tomorrow; once I start working the scenario might change. But it's not that I am going to stop my dance.

I am sure I will continue teaching dance even when I will start working. Most of my classes now are conducted after 9 pm. And most of my students are now married couples who want to learn salsa and ballroom dancing.

How much do you earn teaching salsa?

Excluding all my expenses I make around Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 per month. That takes it to Rs 240,000 to Rs 300,000 per annum. There was a time after I finished my graduation when I earned Rs 65,000 in a month. That was when I had conducted an open dance workshop and had a huge number of students for a month.

In a way teaching salsa helps me finance my MBA. My entire two-year MBA course fee is Rs 625,000. Of which I have taken a loan of Rs 400,000 based on dad's property. I paid the remainder from my own pocket.

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Till now I have myself financed my graduation and law fees. I have never been a liability on my parents. Even today when I go for a vacation I pay from my own earnings.

What after completing your MBA?

I have already got a six-month experience of working with Reliance Retail. I was greatly motivated by the HR function there which motivated me to do an MBA in HR and marketing. Both go hand in hand. I am good in handling people. I have been teaching students since a long time now. Hence I know the mindset of a person who gets into my class and I know how to handle them.

When I was working at ICICI OneSource during my college days I taught dancing to my colleagues there after office hours. The feedback I received was tremendous. The employees were happy as they got to relax post work and the employer was happy too for it got happy employees.

I might seek my employer's permission to allow me to teach dancing to interested employees after office hours. This would help the employees to relax and I will end up pursuing a career in my MBA domain as well as teach dancing.

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