Dooron dooron…. many may not know Shiv Tandan. But look closer and here stands a multidisciplinary artiste whose creativity flows in many directions. Not only does he write viral songs like Dooron Dooron and Bottlan, and award winning plays, he also tries to fix what is missing in our education system through a Youbtube channel, called Central Board for Fixing Education.Lately, he has directed a short film, Roy Is Missing, which gives voice to young students who are fast falling prey to all-encompassing tentacles of our education system. As he muses, “System has become everything,” and quotes Rabindranath Tagore’s story, The Parrot’s Training, he drives home the futility of external validation and achievement oriented education goals.“Art,’ he observes, is “meant to make us look inwards.” Interestingly, this lesson he learnt while doing systems engineering in Singapore and became part of a theatre group. Huzir Sulaiman became his guardian angel under whose mentorship he wrote his first play, The Good, the Bad and the Sholay. Why he chose the iconic film as a reference point was unclear to him in the beginning but soon it became a metaphor of longing for home. Cities define artistic sensibilities and in another play, Fistful of Rupees, he wrote extended monologues on the Maximum City. Chandigarh, which he visits quite often these days, too could emerge as a character in his next.While codirecting a performance piece, Unicorn Moment, he discovered what it means to be an artiste. “Art is not just food for the soul but a hospital, in short panacea for mankind,” he says. In a world increasingly being overtaken by algorithm, he strongly believes, “Only art can reinforce shared reality, connect us to the spiritual and make us enjoy the process.” Thus he frowns upon AI makers who want to circumvent the entire process of creation of art, which is where the real magic lies.When Shiv writes songs there is no escaping the Sufi influence, organic outcome of being a Punjabi for whom Tujh mein rab dikhda hai is a natural sentiment and lines like Ishq soch ke kita te ki kita automatically flow. His association with singer-actor Paresh Pahuja, whose voice has lent immense popularity to his lyrics, goes back in time.Dismayed with country’s polity, when Shiv wrote the song, Kya Chunega, Paresh got in touch with him. Rest, as they say, is history; creative partnership during which he even directed Paresh’s concert, Voice Notes, is going strong. So is Shiv’s passion. Is there a separate mood or mode which dictates varying artistic pursuits? He laughs, “I am a working artiste and there are deadlines to meet.” But, he tries not to lose sight of real purpose of art. The young writer-educationist fully understands, “As we inhabit sharp-edged society where tensions run high, only art can lend the much-needed softness and invoke empathy.”