About Me:
These are the sort of questions which sometimes leave me uncomfortable especially when writing down for everyone out there to read. So, I guess I am not the typical Photographer | Philanthropist | Sapiosexual | Avid Reader | Start-Up Guy...
But what I am is a dreamer. I love to write. And I like to remain involved whether it is watching a movie or playing a sport...
I come from Jammu & Kashmir where I completed my schooling before moving to Ranchi for my graduation. I have been brought up in an environment where values like hard work and taking responsibility have been inculcated very strongly in me. There was a lot of focus on academics during my schooling and I did justice to it by consistently doing well. I am a Bachelor of Engineer from BIT Mesra in Electrical & Electronics. In college, I learnt to see things from different perspectives and respect the opinions which others have. I started an entrepreneurial venture of selling posters where I identified the nuances of setting up a business. I was placed in Maruti Suzuki R&D where I worked for 2 years before joining IIM Lucknow. The best part for me working was to imbibe the various Japanese philosophies and principles.
In IIM L, I am a part of Media & Communication Cell and the institute Frisbee team. I have also won B-school competitions like Accenture B-School Challenge (Campus Winners), RPG Blizzard (Campus Winners), ICICI Stockmind (Campus Runner Up), Colgate Transcend (Regionals), Samsung Edge (Zonals). I did my summers with Supply Chain division of Mondelez International and was offered a PPO. I am specialising in Finance, Marketing as well as Operations.
Through my work ex, summers and specialisation, I have gained a decent exposure.
Give us an instance when you failed miserably and how did you overcome that downfall?
When my 10th results had came out, there were huge expectations from me but I didn’t perform that well. Everyone around me was disappointed (my teachers and parents). I myself was heartbroken. This was the first major setback that I had faced but I knew I had another chance to prove myself again in 12th. So I stayed calm and carried on preparing religiously for the next two years. My good basics helped me and I did well not only in the Board exams but in competitive exams as well. I improved by learning the value of patience and persistence. I learnt that failures are bound to happen but the real challenge is to overcome them.
What is the biggest risk that you have taken so far and why?
In my college, a need gap analysis led to the spark of entrepreneurship in me as I came up with the idea of selling posters to students. There was significant demand as there was no source within the campus. And getting posters printed meant travelling to the city 20 kms away with very few shops available in the city. I along with a friend started a venture called Poster’d. We created an online portal and a Facebook page. We also created a database for the portal as well as devised pricing and promotional strategies. Also, we handled the logistics operations that were involved and were critical in ensuring timely delivery to the students. The implementation of the idea and micro managing the activities on a daily basis was an eventful and a great learning experience.
If you had a magic wand, what is the one problem in India that you would magically wish away? Explain why.
Illiteracy. It is the root cause of a lot of issues in India.
There is a majority of people who are poor and get taken advantage of because they are illiterate. India faces over population which can be tackled if people are educated. There are a lot of health issues which can be easily eradicated by education. Similarly, though it is difficult but an educated person will think before indulging in corruption as well.