<h1 class="centre">“We used to have movie nights in the lawn, I’ve watched several films like The Godfather and Titanic, outdoors and not in a theatre,” says Khanna. I imagine a room full of pubescent boys watching Titanic, giggles erupting through the school’s marbled walls. “So, the scene came on when Jack is about to paint a naked Rose, and the co-ordinator sprints urgently up the pavilion in hopes to pause the explicit content while we threw popcorn at each other. It was hilarious.”The Aravalli-fringed historical campus has been home to many formative experiences for Khanna– both comical and militant. Sifting through colourful Safas for ceremonial mornings to chaps and jodhpurs for horse riding lessons, uniforms were central to the boarding school life, each signalling rank and occasion – a general sharpness was sacrosanct. Years later, Khanna tailors his own uniform with Rkive – through the sharp shoulders of a denim blazer and in the knife-like pleats of a canvas skirt, all made from post-consumer scrap fabric. As he prepares for a show close to his heart, where models will strut down his old stomping grounds, he takes a trip down memory lane to speak about teenage romances, dismal report cards and special life lessons.</h1>
<h1 class="left">How are you holding up? Have you gotten any sleep yet?</h1>
<h1 class="centre">I slept for 6 hours. So, not bad.</h1>
<h1 class="left">How did the idea of going to boarding school come up?</h1>
<h1 class="centre">My dad went to boarding school in Mussoorie and it was a norm amongst other family members. At the time the education system in Amritsar from where I am wasn't great so it was quite normal for people to study elsewhere. Boarding schools have this negative connotation – like the stuff they show in Taare Zameen Par but I was always really excited be like, fuck, okay, I'm going to get to go to a new place. And I hadn't even visited the campus of Mayo, I just saw some pictures and I knew I wanted to go there.</h1>
<h1 class="left">What were you like during this time?</h1>
<h1 class="centre">I got there when I was 12 years old, and I wanted to get to know everybody, always chatty – I’m literally the same today. I was never an academic kid, you saw my report card. I scored 69% – every year.</h1>
<h1 class="left">Every year? The same number? That's some crazy consistency</h1>
<h1 class="centre">Yeah, I scored it on my 12th board exams too.</h1>
<h1 class="centre">Every teacher was like – Ritwik has so much potential but is a disappointment. I was consistently spending a lot of time outside the classroom – either in the computer lab or in a photography class or just bunking class altogether – I made a lot of friends quite easily.</h1>
<h1 class="left">How did being in an all boys boarding school not only shape your identity but also your sexuality?</h1>
<h1 class="centre">I had friends who were very shy to even speak to a girl. We’d meet girls from the Mayo girls school twice a year maybe on campus during these fetes, and if you liked a girl and held hands with her you could be suspended. So you’d have to write letters and those had to be smuggled, we didn't even have phones in the early years.</h1>
<h1 class="left">So how did these covert operations take place?</h1>
<h1 class="centre">The common shooting range was situated on our campus so when those girls visited these chits had to be packaged and discreetly handed to them and they’d know exactly who to deliver it to. And we’d all befriend the tech bros who gave us access to a VPN so we could use Facebook to talk to girls.</h1>
<h1 class="left">So you weren't ever shy like your peers then…</h1>
<h1 class="centre">I grew up in a large joint family surrounded by many cousins and aunts, so that female energy never felt alien to me.</h1>
<h1 class="left">And did you have a secret crush while at school?</h1>
<h1 class="centre">Dude, I had, like, 100 crushes – it was a running joke, I had a crush on all my female friends at some point.</h1>
<h1 class="left">And it seems like these feelings were mutual </h1>
<h1 class="centre">I was once sent a book titled ‘Ritwik, don't have a heart attack reading this’ compiled by a group of girls from the adjacent school, they had dedicated songs to me, there’s even a note on lesbianism.</h1>
<h1 class="left">I didn't think somebody from a boys school needed an education in lesbianism</h1>
<h1 class="centre">I think it was for the rest of the batch, I was just the medium</h1>
<h1 class="left">What did the walls in your dorm room look like?</h1>
<h1 class="centre">I was collaging like crazy. I was always obsessed with Mayo so that was at the centre of everything and then it was random-ass things – Dell logos, Mercedes symbols, remember how Livestrong was a big deal? So anything that felt aspirational. Kuch bhi, you know, you're kids. You just need something to fantasise about – these scrapbooks became one of those things for me. And then I had a company at Mayo called Memory Minter.</h1>
<h1 class="left">Hustling at a young age, I love that, what did you sell?</h1>
<h1 class="centre">I made custom t-shirts for entire batches of Mayo – I still have pamphlets for it. With the family background in the clothing business, I was exposed to it from a young age, my father made me weave something before I was given my Diwali money, so it’s been ingrained. I had a great business model in school. I realised the best way to sell clothes is to put somebody’s name on a T-shirt and they can't refuse to buy it. And then I’d put names of the names of the batch at the back of the T-shirt, if anyone didn't pay, they didn't get their name included. It was all about employing the concept of validation, cleverly.</h1>
<h1 class="left">You wrote your parents letters while at school..</h1>
<h1 class="centre">Because writing letters was compulsory. It's really funny because at first I used to update them on sweet things like making a new friend, later, when we were allowed phones, it used to be one liner because by the time the letters reached them I’d already spoken to them.</h1>
<h1 class="left">Mayo is a school with several noteworthy predecessors spanning royalty, some famous authors. Was there anyone who inspired you?</h1>
<h1 class="centre">Rid Burman the photographer was also a Mayoite, by the way. I love his work. One day he walked into my studio and I told him – I’m a big fan, I’ve been DM’ing you for two years. We chatted and I discovered not only was he in the same house as me – BT house but he inhabited the same room I went on to stay in – twenty years apart.</h1>
<h1 class="left">That's an insane co-incidence</h1>
<h1 class="left">When you weren't in a uniform what were you wearing?</h1>
<h1 class="centre">Oh, really ratchet stuff – stuff with big graphics, I had a cap that said ‘Swag’ and then when that song was trending I also wore this t-shirt with ‘Saadda Haq’ emblazoned on it. But, we had five uniforms a day. And if you wanted to wear ‘home clothes’ you needed a senior’s permission. If you failed to do that you’re dead meat, they’d make you run back to your dorm and change into the next uniform of the day, all in under a minute, and the cycle went on.</h1>
<h1 class="left">That sounds like models changing backstage!</h1>
<h1 class="centre">Yes, except you’re running half a kilometer each time, it was nightmare</h1>
<h1 class="left">What does your daily uniform look like today?</h1>
<h1 class="centre"> I have this one indigo kurta, and my double-knees, and if it's a formalish event I throw on my Kartik Research Jacket that's made in collaboration with Rkive. Even for weddings I don't make sherwanis and that kind of stuff – I don't understand how people do that shit, it sounds hectic.</h1>
<h1 class="left">What non academic learnings from school have influenced the way you create today?</h1>
<h1 class="centre">The biggest take away is preservation. We come from cities where skyscrapers are replacing heritage buildings. In Mayo, you have the privilege of walking alongside peacocks, living in 100-year-old buildings. It's a real time capsule that makes you appreciate the value of beauty at a much younger age, and that shifts the entirety of your perspective. Positive impact and excellence were also important principles.</h1>
<h1 class="left">And that’s something we continue to chase – excellence.</h1>
<h1 class="centre">What happens in school mimics adult life, you learn life lessons quite early on. I’m often told to slow down but that doesn't fit well with my personality, like my teachers said – I get bored quite easily.</h1>
<h1 class="left">150 years of Mayo, a homecoming collection of sorts, what can we expect?</h1>
<h1 class="centre">I revisited Mayo’s archives a lot, which we were never allowed to see while we were students there which is a hotbed of inspiration – everything and everyone who attended pre-independence and post has been documented so beautifully. The casting has been important because I didn't want to go the conventional route but also have people of different ages be a part of this show. Co-incidentally I received a call sometime ago from an gentleman called General Alok Singh Kler who is an ex-Mayoite inviting me to a cycling marathon, I went on to google him and he’s a really good looking, distinguished man, I beseeched him to walk the show, at first he was reluctant but eventually agreed. It’s going to be a full circle for not just me but others as well. </h1>
<h1 class="full">“We used to have movie nights in the lawn, I’ve watched several films like The Godfather and Titanic, outdoors and not in a theatre,” says Khanna. I imagine a room full of pubescent boys watching Titanic, giggles erupting through the school’s marbled walls. “So, the scene came on when Jack is about to paint a naked Rose, and the co-ordinator sprints urgently up the pavilion in hopes to pause the explicit content while we threw popcorn at each other. It was hilarious.”The Aravalli-fringed historical campus has been home to many formative experiences for Khanna– both comical and militant. Sifting through colourful Safas for ceremonial mornings to chaps and jodhpurs for horse riding lessons, uniforms were central to the boarding school life, each signalling rank and occasion – a general sharpness was sacrosanct. Years later, Khanna tailors his own uniform with Rkive – through the sharp shoulders of a denim blazer and in the knife-like pleats of a canvas skirt, all made from post-consumer scrap fabric. As he prepares for a show close to his heart, where models will strut down his old stomping grounds, he takes a trip down memory lane to speak about teenage romances, dismal report cards and special life lessons.</h1>
<h1 class="full">How are you holding up? Have you gotten any sleep yet?</h1>
<h1 class="full">I slept for 6 hours. So, not bad.</h1>
<h1 class="full">How did the idea of going to boarding school come up?</h1>
<h1 class="full">My dad went to boarding school in Mussoorie and it was a norm amongst other family members. At the time the education system in Amritsar from where I am wasn't great so it was quite normal for people to study elsewhere. Boarding schools have this negative connotation – like the stuff they show in Taare Zameen Par but I was always really excited be like, fuck, okay, I'm going to get to go to a new place. And I hadn't even visited the campus of Mayo, I just saw some pictures and I knew I wanted to go there.</h1>
<h1 class="full">What were you like during this time?</h1>
<h1 class="full">I got there when I was 12 years old, and I wanted to get to know everybody, always chatty – I’m literally the same today. I was never an academic kid, you saw my report card. I scored 69% – every year.</h1>
<h1 class="full">Every year? The same number? That's some crazy consistency</h1>
<h1 class="full">Yeah, I scored it on my 12th board exams too.</h1>
<h1 class="full">Every teacher was like – Ritwik has so much potential but is a disappointment. I was consistently spending a lot of time outside the classroom – either in the computer lab or in a photography class or just bunking class altogether – I made a lot of friends quite easily.</h1>
<h1 class="full">How did being in an all boys boarding school not only shape your identity but also your sexuality?</h1>
<h1 class="full">I had friends who were very shy to even speak to a girl. We’d meet girls from the Mayo girls school twice a year maybe on campus during these fetes, and if you liked a girl and held hands with her you could be suspended. So you’d have to write letters and those had to be smuggled, we didn't even have phones in the early years.</h1>
<h1 class="full">So how did these covert operations take place?</h1>
<h1 class="full">The common shooting range was situated on our campus so when those girls visited these chits had to be packaged and discreetly handed to them and they’d know exactly who to deliver it to. And we’d all befriend the tech bros who gave us access to a VPN so we could use Facebook to talk to girls.</h1>
<h1 class="full">So you weren't ever shy like your peers then…</h1>
<h1 class="full">I grew up in a large joint family surrounded by many cousins and aunts, so that female energy never felt alien to me.</h1>
<h1 class="full">And did you have a secret crush while at school?</h1>
<h1 class="full">Dude, I had, like, 100 crushes – it was a running joke, I had a crush on all my female friends at some point.</h1>
<h1 class="full">And it seems like these feelings were mutual </h1>
<h1 class="full">I was once sent a book titled ‘Ritwik, don't have a heart attack reading this’ compiled by a group of girls from the adjacent school, they had dedicated songs to me, there’s even a note on lesbianism.</h1>
<h1 class="full">I didn't think somebody from a boys school needed an education in lesbianism</h1>
<h1 class="full">I think it was for the rest of the batch, I was just the medium</h1>
<h1 class="full">What did the walls in your dorm room look like?</h1>
<h1 class="full">I was collaging like crazy. I was always obsessed with Mayo so that was at the centre of everything and then it was random-ass things – Dell logos, Mercedes symbols, remember how Livestrong was a big deal? So anything that felt aspirational. Kuch bhi, you know, you're kids. You just need something to fantasise about – these scrapbooks became one of those things for me. And then I had a company at Mayo called Memory Minter.</h1>
<h1 class="full">Hustling at a young age, I love that, what did you sell?</h1>
<h1 class="full">I made custom t-shirts for entire batches of Mayo – I still have pamphlets for it. With the family background in the clothing business, I was exposed to it from a young age, my father made me weave something before I was given my Diwali money, so it’s been ingrained. I had a great business model in school. I realised the best way to sell clothes is to put somebody’s name on a T-shirt and they can't refuse to buy it. And then I’d put names of the names of the batch at the back of the T-shirt, if anyone didn't pay, they didn't get their name included. It was all about employing the concept of validation, cleverly.</h1>
<h1 class="full">You wrote your parents letters while at school..</h1>
<h1 class="full">Because writing letters was compulsory. It's really funny because at first I used to update them on sweet things like making a new friend, later, when we were allowed phones, it used to be one liner because by the time the letters reached them I’d already spoken to them.</h1>
<h1 class="full">Mayo is a school with several noteworthy predecessors spanning royalty, some famous authors. Was there anyone who inspired you?</h1>
<h1 class="full">Rid Burman the photographer was also a Mayoite, by the way. I love his work. One day he walked into my studio and I told him – I’m a big fan, I’ve been DM’ing you for two years. We chatted and I discovered not only was he in the same house as me – BT house but he inhabited the same room I went on to stay in – twenty years apart.</h1>
<h1 class="full">That's an insane co-incidence</h1>
<h1 class="full">When you weren't in a uniform what were you wearing?</h1>
<h1 class="full">Oh, really ratchet stuff – stuff with big graphics, I had a cap that said ‘Swag’ and then when that song was trending I also wore this t-shirt with ‘Saadda Haq’ emblazoned on it. But, we had five uniforms a day. And if you wanted to wear ‘home clothes’ you needed a senior’s permission. If you failed to do that you’re dead meat, they’d make you run back to your dorm and change into the next uniform of the day, all in under a minute, and the cycle went on.</h1>
<h1 class="full">That sounds like models changing backstage!</h1>
<h1 class="full">Yes, except you’re running half a kilometer each time, it was nightmare</h1>
<h1 class="full">What does your daily uniform look like today?</h1>
<h1 class="full"> I have this one indigo kurta, and my double-knees, and if it's a formalish event I throw on my Kartik Research Jacket that's made in collaboration with Rkive. Even for weddings I don't make sherwanis and that kind of stuff – I don't understand how people do that shit, it sounds hectic.</h1>
<h1 class="full">What non academic learnings from school have influenced the way you create today?</h1>
<h1 class="full">The biggest take away is preservation. We come from cities where skyscrapers are replacing heritage buildings. In Mayo, you have the privilege of walking alongside peacocks, living in 100-year-old buildings. It's a real time capsule that makes you appreciate the value of beauty at a much younger age, and that shifts the entirety of your perspective. Positive impact and excellence were also important principles.</h1>
<h1 class="full">And that’s something we continue to chase – excellence.</h1>
<h1 class="full">What happens in school mimics adult life, you learn life lessons quite early on. I’m often told to slow down but that doesn't fit well with my personality, like my teachers said – I get bored quite easily.</h1>
<h1 class="full">150 years of Mayo, a homecoming collection of sorts, what can we expect?</h1>
<h1 class="full">I revisited Mayo’s archives a lot, which we were never allowed to see while we were students there which is a hotbed of inspiration – everything and everyone who attended pre-independence and post has been documented so beautifully. The casting has been important because I didn't want to go the conventional route but also have people of different ages be a part of this show. Co-incidentally I received a call sometime ago from an gentleman called General Alok Singh Kler who is an ex-Mayoite inviting me to a cycling marathon, I went on to google him and he’s a really good looking, distinguished man, I beseeched him to walk the show, at first he was reluctant but eventually agreed. It’s going to be a full circle for not just me but others as well. </h1>