Audiogyan is a collection of conversations with luminaries from the Indian creative world. It is a podcast that has been running since 2016, documenting the ideas and philosophies of Indian designers, artists, musicians, writers, thinkers, and more.
Since we just got over with Kumbh Mela, 2025 (the festival of the sacred Pitcher), this week’s Samachar dives into my conversation with Deshna Mehta ( ▶️Audiogyan Ep.7 & Ep.8 ), where we explore how meeting 80 people at the Kumbh in Allahabad (now Prayagraj) in 2013 was a journey of self-emergence—one conversation leading to another like a river finding its course. These varied and rich voices shaped what became an 8-volume A3-sized book - “Being in it and being of it”. Each captures a unique shade of the Kumbh. The stories unfolded organically, much like the Mela, a landscape of faith, philosophy, and humanity.
Deshna Mehta is a visual artist, writer, and co-founder of studio Anugraha, specializing in documenting culture and design through storytelling and publishing.
1️⃣ How did you manage to structure such complex content for your Kumbh Mela books?
Short Answer: Eight-by-eight matrix.
Long Answer: We created what I call a two-layered information architecture. First, we organized content into eight volumes, each with its color. For example, book three is blue since it is about rivers. Then within each volume, we used eight different writing styles - introduction, poetry, diary notes, essays, character stories, photo stories, interviews, insights, and reflection. We marked these with different flag symbols in the footer. So when you're flipping through, you immediately know which book you're in from the color, and what type of content you're reading from the flag symbol. We didn't plan this system overnight. It took six months of organizing and refining to make sense of all the information we had.
“So I try to use two words when I describe the process of documentation and design. One is self organization and the second is emergence.”
2️⃣ What kind of archiving system did you implement during your documentation?
Short Answer: Field journaling.
Long Answer: On all 60 days we were at the Kumbh, no matter how exhausted we were, we'd sit down at the end of each day and meticulously log everything. We recorded who we interviewed, where exactly the interview took place, which team members were present, whether it was sound recorded or video recorded and brief minutes of the meeting. We had to do this daily because, by the second day, we would forget who we met on the first day. That diary log still lies on our studio wall after so many years. That diary helps us remember exactly what happened on which date. This became essential for our bibliography and permissions later.
“As designers, we see our role as facilitators, not as creators.”
3️⃣ How did you handle permissions for all those interviews and photos?
Short Answer: Permission hunt.
Long Answer: This was incredibly challenging. Since our tagging system meant one person might appear in multiple volumes, we had to create custom PDFs showing each person exactly where they appeared across all eight books. We needed signed approvals from everyone, including journalists and Naga Sadhus, many of whom had no fixed address. For some sadhus, we had to work through their Akhara offices. In one case, we couldn't contact a sadhwiji because her phone number didn't work and mail bounced back. So my colleague zoomed into photos, found the contact info of the person who printed her event banner, and through him, got her new address! Getting these permissions took six months before we could even begin production.
“It's inappropriate or very selective on our part to be like, okay, we forget the Naga sadhus, we'll get Mark Tully's permission for what he said. It's inappropriate or incomplete as a process”
4️⃣ What are some of the failures of this documentation project?
Short Answer: Books' size.
Long Answer: Honestly, the format was our biggest failure. We thought large A3-ish hardbound volumes would do justice to the landscape. But we ended up with eight volumes weighing 16 kilos! It's the most inaccessible body of work imaginable. Amazon won't even list it as books - they categorize it as 'white goods' because of the weight! This completely contradicted our patron's intention of making this information widely available. Libraries and institutions buy them, but individuals rarely can. When we documented the Nasik Kumbh later, we corrected this by making smaller A4 softbound volumes. We're also planning ebook versions of the Allahabad content to improve accessibility.
Honesty in approach, diligence in execution, and open-mindedness not just in words but in action are the defining traits of Deshna Mehta’s voluminous work on Kumbh. It was an absolute pleasure revisiting this conversation. For the full conversation check out 👉 Spotify(Part1 & Part2) | Youtube(Part1 & Part2) | Substack(Part1 & Part2) | ApplePodcast(Part1 & Part2).
