About us
Our Vision
Place of Possibilities seeks to create a better everyday life for people by supporting their meaningful connection to others and to spread the joy of belonging to a community. We do this by providing access to tools, activities, workshops, retreats, talks, circles, and co-created events that foster personal and collective transformation for any group of people.
Our Values
We see an increasing disconnection between people living in the same locality to each other, the nature around them, and their own inner world. This directly impacts wellbeing as the sense of community is lost. Especially in cities it seems that there is a lack of sharing, connection, and being there for each other. This creates an ever-growing population of seekers who are looking for alternative practices – spiritual, ecological, communal – in hopes of reconnecting to a sense of meaning and purpose.
POP Founder Pratul has been one of those seekers – but instead of finding utopia, he has found that there is no community on earth that is without its own struggles and problems, and that the perfect community is not a place ‘out there’. He also sees that creating meaningful connections with yourself and others can be done anywhere, anytime. Whatever we are looking for out there can be nurtured right at home, in our own village, city, society, initiative, or group of friends. That is what POP hopes to contribute to – a sense of community at home.
Meet the Team
Pratul
Pratul is seeking to embody the spirit of adventure, experimentation, and humanitarianism. His creativity led him to pursue fashion design and launch his own label. Though successful, he was curious about how other people outside of his world live and define happiness, development, success, and community. In 2011, he gave away most of what he owned, packed up a rucksack with bare essentials, and set out to explore the world.
In his journey, Pratul made it a point to understand the lives of people who had a different background to him. For example, he spent months working with the washermen of Dhobi Ghat in Mumbai, sleeping in a drainage pipe and spending all his time with the families there. With every experience – as a dishwasher, auto driver, farmer, teacher, skydiving instructor, mountaineer – he completely immersed himself in the lives of the people around him. In the end, he spent time all over the world, connecting to people from all walks of life who do amazing things in their own communities, working on their projects and learning from them.
From 2014 onwards, his experiences inspired him to create community programmes for young people all over Europe, Africa, and Asia. He also initiated “Connect The Dots,” which aims to connect knowledgeable individuals with rural communities, and “The Fourth Language Festival” project to help young people explore different life stories. All these projects would further his skills as a facilitator who can connect to people from all walks of life, social classes, and nationalities.
In 2020, Pratul decided to consolidate everything he’d learned and create a platform for community building. That was the start of Place of Possibilities. Pratul firmly believes that we can all grow and develop better by supporting one another, and he’s taking steps to make this beautiful initiative manifest.
Rasika
Rasika was born and brought up in Maharashtra, India. She is a speech therapist who works with adults and children with speech, language, and communication disorders. She grew up in a small town in India, which she considers a wonderful experience. Being part of a close-knit community taught her the value of collective responsibility and support.
Rasika believes in peace and harmony, and she emphasizes the importance of starting with oneself. Realizing how the hustle culture in cities can distract us from the small pleasures and peace in life, she began to make small, consistent changes in her own life. Through learning and unlearning, she started finding moments of joy and peace within herself and the world around her. Connecting with nature through yoga, meditation, permaculture, arts, and travel helped her on this journey, which she considers ongoing and beautiful.
Inspired by the idea of bringing back community culture where it has been lost, Rasika is eager to contribute her skills and thoughts wherever possible. She resonates with the philosophy of the Place of Possibilities and is committed to co-creating a beautiful present and future with the team. Her profession has taught her patience and calmness, which she brings to this collaboration.
Khuze
Khuzema is an entrepreneur from Chennai, India. His passion towards using technology as enabler to build better businesses led him to start Siam Computing. He works with companies from across the world and has helped build technology products for both startups and enterprises alike. A stickler for details, nothing pleases him more than a solution that’s well designed and crafted with the end user in mind.
Henrike
Henrike came to India looking for connection – and landed up in Auroville, Tamil Nadu, the largest experiment in alternative community living in the world. Living and working there, she came to see a lot of the dynamics that make building a community so challenging, and at the same time so rewarding. Before coming to Auroville, Henrike studied both anthropology and law, and worked in several NGOs seeking to support the ever-growing
population of refugees in Holland. She also worked as a researcher, studying how to make human rights accessible to people in different cultural contexts – a question that continues to intrigue her.
In Auroville, Henrike has worked on a farm, in the Auroville administration, has helped build a new community, dug a lot of trenches, ran a blog, taught Nonviolent Communication, and landed up in conflict resolution and facilitation as her passion. She would like to see a world where learning how to be a peacemaker in our own communities is just part of the curriculum of life – and is now working to become one herself, so that she can live her values and share the skills that her mentors have been kind enough to teach. She shares Pratul’s vision that a lot of the tools available from places like Auroville can, and should be, used to improve life for people wherever they find themselves.
Swetha
Swetha is a vibrant individual driven by her passion for storytelling and meditation. She possesses a deep curiosity that compels her to question the established norms surrounding immigration, capitalism, and gender, all in the pursuit of fostering inclusivity. Through her exploration of inclusive storytelling and entrepreneurship, Swetha envisions a transformative change that transcends traditional boundaries.
Motivated by the principles of sustainability and community building, Swetha actively seeks out initiatives that align with the values of People Over Profit (POP). With boundless enthusiasm, she embarks on a meaningful journey, dedicated to making a lasting impact and creating a harmonious world.
Swetha’s love for storytelling is intertwined with her desire to challenge societal constructs. She believes that narratives have the power to shape perspectives, influence change, and bring marginalized voices to the forefront. By using inclusive storytelling as a tool, Swetha aims to dismantle existing barriers and create spaces where everyone’s experiences are acknowledged and celebrated.
In addition to her storytelling endeavors, Swetha embraces entrepreneurship as a means of enacting positive change. She recognizes the potential of business to go beyond profit-seeking and become a force for social and environmental good. With a focus on sustainability, she seeks out ventures that prioritize ethical practices, resource conservation, and community well-being.
Driven by her vision, Swetha is determined to collaborate with like-minded individuals and organizations who share her values. Through these partnerships, she aspires to bring about tangible transformations, fostering inclusivity, empowering communities, and paving the way for a harmonious world where everyone thrives
FAQ’s
01 Do you have a physical space?
No, we do not. It’s important to us that we work in a public space or venue that makes sense to the group of people we are working with.
02 What do you really do?
What we do depends on you, because we are co-creative. Whether your community or interest group needs to have fun together, have a serious conversation, exchange, learn, make decisions, or connect to nature: the facilitators of POP can bring you the experience most meaningful to your community. Reach out to us to discuss the options at [email].
03 What does it cost to work with POP?
Our fees are on a case-by-case basis, depending on the financial capacity of the community. We work as a social enterprise and while we want to help create financial abundance for our facilitators, our aim is not to make any profit.
04 What is a facilitator?
A facilitator is a kind of guide, helping a group of people to foster discussion, gain insights, learn, engage, and connect. The facilitator is the one holding the group together, leading them through exercises and learnings, making sure that everyone is on board and engaged. Our facilitators all have wide-ranging experience of holding space in a variety of settings.
05 What if my community is not willing to engage?
These days, people often feel overworked and retreat into smaller communities, such as their family, to deal with the stressors. It can be hard to engage a community when this is the case. Because the facilitators of POP are used to working in these kinds of spaces, we can support you in getting your community engaged by offering what is really meaningful for them – even if it’s just an event that offers fun and a chance to let off steam, it will be a start on the road to ensuring that your community feels more connected.
06 How can my [organization, school, society, building, group of friends, community] get engaged with POP?
If you are interested in building a sense of community, we are here to help. Please see our offerings page for some ideas of what we can bring. Then send us an email at pop.placeofpossibilities@gmail.com with your request, and the team will get in touch with you to discuss how we can work together.