When you listen to Nirvaan Birla’s first song Alvida, you are pleasantly surprised. It’s not cliché, and it’s not following a trend—it’s soothing, with an acoustic guitar and a light percussion beat highlighting his easy, sweet voice. We find it more original than most indie songs we have heard in the past. A mix of English and Hindi, it is reminiscent of the Dave Mathews Band, or closer home, what Lucky Ali used to be—“Band karke aankhein, khud ko abhi jaga,” he sings. And though, this could have been a love song about bidding adieu to a lover—Birla had broken up a few months before he wrote it—in retrospect, it’s about letting go of things we know aren’t good for us. “We are afraid to let go; be it bad businesses, bad relationships, bad friendships. So, in the end, the song was about saying alvida to things we keep holding on to,” says the 29-year-old.

We meet Birla early on a Friday evening at the Churchgate office of Birla Open Minds, where he is CEO and MD. The educational brand runs over 160+ schools in India, and is a leader in edutech. He has joined us in crutches after he suffered a ligament tear, while playing football, a sport he is equally passionate about.