Nikhil D’Souza
singer-songwriter, 28

Hometown: Mumbai

So far: Soloist winner for South Asia on pan-Asian music contest Sutasi, on Rolling Stone India’s 2009 list of artists to watch out for; gigging around the world solo and with my band K*N*A*P*.

Beginnings: I only started writing meaningful lyrics when I was 25. I was in Muscat then, my work hours afforded me a lot of time and space and introspection. I made some money, bought some recording gear, put down a few of my songs and in 2007, felt the time was right to come back here and get into the music scene again.

If not a musician: I would logically be working in a geology-related job in some desert region. I’d much rather be a chef though.

On being compared to Jeff Buckley and Sting: Every time I write a song, I stop and ask myself, ‘Would Sting approve of this?’ or ‘Hmm, I wonder where Buckley would take the song?’

An iPod constant: Radiohead’s Fake Plastic Trees.

A song you wish you’d written: Leonard Cohen’s Sisters of Mercy.

Britney Spears or Lady Gaga? Can I have them both? Please?

Three things you would take to a lonely isle: Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and Catfight, a book by Leora Tanenbaum.

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