I hail from the cultural capital of Gujarat – Baroda. My father is a manager in Gujarat Alkalies & Chemicals Limited and my mother is a housewife. I did my early schooling from Bhartiya Vidhya Bhavans, Baroda, which imbibed in me strong ethics and Indian values. These values were strongly internalized as my family passed through the ups and downs of a typical Indian middle class family.
Bhavans being a school which encourages extra-curricular activities, I got a chance to explore a number of hobbies. I won many prizes in dramatics and skit competitions and represented my district in hockey. In class IX I moved to Don Bosco High School, Baroda where I held many positions of leadership like prefect, deputy leader and chief leader of the school. I have been selected as the best marcher of the school as well. Football has always been larger than life for me. I have captained the football team of all Institutes I have been part of throughout my academic career.
I did my Electronics and communication engineering from NIT, Ahmedabad. Here I was elected President of the Football Club and captain of the Nirma University football team. Winning the Nirma Cup twice with a team which was considered weak has been one of the finest achievements of my life.
Life at SCMHRD brought out a new perspective in me. I joined the Consultancy Cell of SCMHRD and delivered a real time project to design a marketing campaign for T.I.M.E. Education. I was part of the team which was runners-up at L’Oreal Brandstorm at the national level – the biggest marketing competition for B-schools globally. During this time I had the opportunity to interact with several experts in the marketing industry and this was indeed one of the most productive periods of my life. Besides this competition, I also was part of the team which reached the national finals of Avalon – Finding Sun Tzu, an inter B-school business strategy case study competition, and was awarded a Pre-Placement Interview in appreciation of the work done. I was also fortunate to get a PPO from ITC at the end of my summer internship which taught me a lot through my stint in the retail division at Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh.
Besides co-curricular activities, I lead the football team of SCMHRD to a gold medal, and was also part of the team that won the silver medal in cricket and a few prizes in athletics at the National Inter B-School Sports Meet at SPJIMR. I also captained the water polo team which was runners up at the SIBM water sports meet. The most beautiful achievement was the wonderful friends I made during the entire life, I can’t thank god enough for that.
Along with a few other like-minded students, I gave shape to an initiative called Prayatna which is today a registered non-profit organization that takes care of the education of underprivileged children living in slums. With an increasing volunteer base, corporate participation and more children being taken into its fold every year, I can proudly say that Prayatna continues to grow and enrich the lives of these children.
I am also a wild life enthusiast who equally enjoys watching nature shows on TV and taking long treks in the forests. I have now taken this interest to the next level with my new hobby, which is wildlife photography.
I love to read both fiction and non-fiction and I’m particularly impressed by GK Chesterton’s works. I am an eternal fan of Pink Floyd, Green Day and Poets of The Fall. I am a biking enthusiast and have been on several adventurous bike trips across the country.
I am really lucky to have felt at the end of every year since I can ever remember - “that was the best year of my life”. And every coming day I fight to make the next year better - day by day, learning and living every moment. Stay hungry, stay foolish – that’s what I live by.
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