The startup of Atal?
There are no excuses. We can all work on ourselves and create better versions of ourselves. It’s all about our priority.
The article was initially published here. This covers my story, my life, my dreams, my love, my lust, and my everything.
“There are no excuses. We can all work on ourselves and create better versions of ourselves. It’s all about our priority.”
Penning down my college journey, ahh, that’s tough!! So as I walk down memory lane, I think of the period when I was a JEE aspirant.
From the very beginning, KGP was my dream college. As I was from Delhi, I wanted to transition from the busy city life to the countryside. Ohh, what a transition !! Getting into KGP has been the best thing that happened to me. A part of me knows that I didn’t choose KGP; KGP chose me!
How it all started?
It was around 2012 I was in Delhi, preparing for JEE, seeing the country going through a tough time — protests against corruption and for women’s rights. I participated in different protests — sometimes by showing up at Jantar Mantar while sometimes fasting by myself and writing my JEE coaching preparation exams.
As I look back at my younger self when I contemplated which college to choose. I had in my mind that irrespective of the department I get, I just wanted to get into IIT KGP. Choosing KGP was one of my best decisions, and oh, it did change my life. Having spent my middle school in Delhi, I wanted to explore the countryside now, and there was no better place to do it than the lush green KGP Campus.
As I step in…
As I entered KGP, in the freshers’ orientation, I saw the then Vice President — Rinshul Chandra, on stage giving a speech along with the Director. His personality is such a charm — immediately, I told myself, this is what I want to be — to talk to freshers and guide them. Neither I could speak two sentences in English, neither I know how to lead such a strong and smart student body. All I knew was I would give my best — to learn, grow, and create a better version of myself.
During 1st year, I interacted with my batch, and my seniors and people started to know me. People at KGP were smart, and I got to learn about different aspects of life, ranging from academics and life in general.
I was allotted LBS Hall in my first year, and I contested for the post of mess secretary and won the same easily. The food quality was not up to the mark, and I would continuously nag after the mess contractors, and they would hate me for that. Once, the issue rose to such an extent that there was a conflict between the students and the mess staff, and the wardens had to interfere. As a result, I, being the student representative, was suspended from my post as mess secretary. I tried to talk to wardens to revive my position, but all in vain. I was very dejected, but I could hardly do much. Ultimately, I decided to focus on my work without pondering about the results it could bring. That’s the attitude one must have towards life. Moving on, I decided to contest for the elections for a secretary post at Gymkhana. Unfortunately, my opponent knew about my suspension from the mess secretary post and reported it to the officials. Again, my candidature was canceled. I was disheartened again. Every single thing I was trying to do was leading me to nowhere. But this is all life is about. Failures and dejections are bound to come, it’s on us how we handle them.
I went through interviews with every society in KGP — and was rejected almost every time. I was getting another mock interview — to give my best shot and then learn from that experience. Though a part of me always cared about not failing, I also knew that what was more important for me was learning from the experience. I was selfish for my growth, for creating a better version of myself — someone who can speak in English, someone who can understand things well. I was continuously giving my best to be a part of the culture at KGP — to fit into the status quo at KGP.
Moving to the 2nd phase…
As I entered my 2nd year, I was allotted, RK Hall. Since I was a popular kid with high energy and VP potential, I was supported by a lot of seniors, and they were curious to know me. I was very interested in the orientation program — I didn’t want to do the bad parts — where I would be hazed by seniors, but I wanted to explore new things through the experience. So participated thoroughly in it — met a lot of seniors — some of them are like my best friends now. They pushed me into exploring things that I wouldn’t do by myself — I did so many things for the 1st time — played hockey — I didn’t even know the rules till then, participated in open IIT elocution — seniors helped me prepare, participated in dramatics — played the lead role in Open IIT RK play. I think that all helped me build a ton of confidence — to be able to try and experience new things as they come my way. I was also selected in the alumni cell finally — because of seniors who thought I could be coached easily.
How things changed in my 3rd year…
As I was in 3rd year, my confidence was high; pretty much everyone in my circles knew I would take my shot at contesting for the VP position — irrespective of decisions of hall pacts. I knew I was destined for this — and since I am not afraid to fail — I would prioritize my learning experience more than anything else. And yes, I did contest in the elections, with a ton of support from everyone, and won with one of the highest margins in KGP history. People loved me because I demonstrated servant leadership. I was very clear I didn’t want a job from campus placements — neither did I apply for it at the end of my final year. Nor I knew or expect anything out of this position of responsibility. I was passionate and happy to serve the community without expecting anything in return.
When I got elected at the end of my third year, Mr. Vinod Gupta came to campus. We met outside RK Hall, and he liked something about my personality. Impressed with my work, he offered me an iPhone, which I first couldn’t believe myself standing there, well, I used to use a 10,000 rupees phone, and this costly gift did come as a shock to me. He also offered me an internship in his company which was situated in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. He had offered an internship to 4 people from campus, 3 from CS, and me from Mining — yes, I get lucky like this most of the time in my life :)
At the end of 4th year, Vinod Gupta again offered me an internship which I accepted.
I never wanted to do a job — I wanted to start my own company at that time — to take my shot — try something new. Hence, I did not apply for campus placements. I always had the inbuilt confidence that no matter what, I would figure out things — find a place to sleep on the floor and arrange two meals for the day. Yes, that’s the expectations I keep for myself as I live my life.
As I move on…
During my fifth year, in February, I gave the GRE. I found two colleges — Stanford and UC Santa Barbara and applied for both. I always wanted to have a good time irrespective of the course -so the location of Santa Barbara was appealing to me. After researching, I decided to pursue a Master in Technology Management at UC Santa Barbara which was a 9 months course. I studied sincerely there — the fees were high, and I got a 3.93 GPA out of 4. It made me feel really good — it boosted my confidence that I can study if I am interested in it
UC Santa Barbara organized a competition called the ‘New Venture Competition’ to help startups. I participated in the competition, and my team won the first prize in the competition. We won prize money of $12,500 (around 8–10 lakhs)
I was inspired to do a startup always, and this opportunity just made me believe that this might be my billion-dollar company. I do ok with sales skills, so my team and I sold our story to a couple of investors who also believed in us and gave $75,000 to continue exploring the idea. But unfortunately, after 3–6 months into the hardware startup, we realized it was an R & D problem that we were trying to solve and no product could come out of it in the short term. So we took a very conscious decision and returned back the investment and decided to take up a job. So I took up a job as an Associate Product Manager at Castlight Health in the healthcare industry. I got very lucky to be able to experiment with a product called COVID-19 Test Finder which helped 10M+ people find COVID-19 Testing locations. As this job ended, I joined EHEALTH and worked there as Staff, Product Manager. I enjoy working with this team and mission — it’s the most contentful part of my professional career.
How things have been recently…
Last year I achieved many things which I thought I could not. I ran three marathons and multiple half marathons last year. After one of my marathons, I had so much energy that I did a handstand at the finish line after 26.2 miles. Running is like meditation for me.
It helped me realize that everything is possible. We need to figure out how to focus and have the mindset for it.
I also had a near-death experience which has made me much more grateful for life. I did not know how to swim, and I was in a kayak without a life jacket. My kayak flipped and the only way was to swim back to shore. That was the toughest 100 m swim of my life. After returning to shore, I knew I did not want to carry this fear of water with myself anymore. I returned to the kayak and spent around 10–15 minutes there. I decided that I wanted to get over my fear of water. So after the incident, I trained a lot by myself, and now I enjoy swimming. I swam in the ocean from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco (it used to be a jail at some point, so prisoners can’t escape).
I also enjoy biking. I went on my longest bike ride, which was 188.91 miles in a day. I figured out that it is all about consistency and processes. We all get attached to things as human beings but we need to understand how to detach ourselves from those things and look at life from a different perspective. We need to learn how to control our emotions — so that we can consciously create a better world.
I always try to look at life from an explorer’s perspective. This way, you absorb things without an opinion about them. You accept the world how it is and look to find your mission in it. I believe this is a good way to think and live — since there is space for disagreements in this approach to life. I am a very self-disciplined guy. I believe that in life, if eating, sleeping, and exercising are cleared out and mastered, everything else falls into place. So I have a very strict discipline around these three things.
Some advice for the KGP junta…
Having traveled a good part of the world and meeting people from most colleges, I still believe that KGP is one place with the world’s best raw intellect along students. You talk to anyone in campus, and you will understand how unique they are in their own ways. Well, they worked hard during some of the hardest years — high school to prepare and get into this college. The skills developed in that preparation are lifelong skills. So please believe in yourself — love yourself, and be a friend to yourself. You are your own warrior, you are your inspiration. The more honest you are with yourself, the better you can do in your own beautiful journey.
KGP is a great time for exploration. Be extremely selfish about taking out the most value for yourself from this experience. Reflect as much as you can on how you can make this experience in your favor in the best way. You should not worry about rejections, interns, or placements. In the long run, these things do not matter. You should focus on creating your brand. Always believe in living a big life (larger than yourself). A life that’s focused on quality and not quantity. And having an explorer mindset does that wonders for me — for my happiness.
If you would ask me today — what human skills help in living a good quality life — it’s adaptation — adapting to new things/environments (They say when in Rome, live like a Roman) and endurance — able to endure pain for the phases of life that are not as per your expectations.
Have a beautiful day in paradise; let’s live today; it’s not forever! 😘🥰💕💜