“I was reading your story... and suddenly I wasn’t just ‘reading’ anymore — I was experiencing it in my senses. Every moment, I felt like I was a part of your life. You didn’t just move me — you changed my beliefs around success. I can’t being to thank you enough for sharing your story with me…”
“I feel dangerous. I will never wait for permission again, I am the permission. I am the chosen one. I am the damn revolution.”
“This shook me. I found this deep, almost aggressive drive inside me that I didn’t know I had anymore. The way you told your story — the rawness, the clarity — you lit a wildfire!”
“It felt like you were saying out loud everything I’ve ever felt but never had the words for. I always felt like the ‘misunderstood genius.’ Like you pulled my own story out of me, cleaned it up, and handed it back with power instead of shame — and even my friend, who isn’t that much of a genius, felt the same. I don’t even recognise the life I’ve lived — you gave me a new life!”
“I don’t usually write stuff like this, but I had to. I feel cheated for the last 23 years with the bullsh*t I’ve been fed — all false and limiting. If I had a dollar for every one of those lies I’ve been fed, Kushal, I’d be a billionaire by now! I’m starting fresh now — you gave me the revival call.”
“I was reading your story... and suddenly I wasn’t just ‘reading’ anymore — I was experiencing it in my senses. Every moment, I was felt like I was a part of your life. You didn’t just move me — you changed my beliefs around success. I can’t being to think you enough for sharing this with me…”
“I feel dangerous. I will never wait for permission, I am the permission. I am the chosen one. I am the damn revolution.”
“This shook me. I found this deep, almost aggressive drive inside me that I didn’t know I had anymore. The way you told your story — the rawness, the clarity — you lit a wildfire!”
“It felt like you were saying out loud everything I’ve ever felt but never had the words for. I always felt like the ‘misunderstood genius.’ Like you pulled my own story out of me, cleaned it up, and handed it back with power instead of shame — and even my friend, who isn’t that much of a genius, felt the same. I don’t even recognise the life I’ve lived — you gave me a new life!”
“I don’t usually write stuff like this, but I had to. I feel cheated for the last 23 years with the bullsh*t I’ve been fed — all false and limiting. If I had a dollar for every one of those lies I’ve been fed, Kushal, I’d be a billionaire by now! I’m starting fresh now — you gave me the revival call.”
“I was reading your story... and suddenly I wasn’t just ‘reading’ anymore — I was experiencing it in my senses. Every moment, I felt like I was a part of your life. You didn’t just move me — you changed my beliefs around success. I can’t being to thank you enough for sharing your story with me…”
“I feel dangerous. I will never wait for permission again, I am the permission. I am the chosen one. I am the damn revolution.”
“This shook me. I found this deep, almost aggressive drive inside me that I didn’t know I had anymore. The way you told your story — the rawness, the clarity — you lit a wildfire!”
“It felt like you were saying out loud everything I’ve ever felt but never had the words for. I always felt like the ‘misunderstood genius.’ Like you pulled my own story out of me, cleaned it up, and handed it back with power instead of shame — and even my friend, who isn’t that much of a genius, felt the same. I don’t even recognise the life I’ve lived — you gave me a new life!”
“I don’t usually write stuff like this, but I had to. I feel cheated for the last 23 years with the bullsh*t I’ve been fed — all false and limiting. If I had a dollar for every one of those lies I’ve been fed, Kushal, I’d be a billionaire by now! I’m starting fresh now — you gave me the revival call.”
Have you ever been treated unfairly? Have you ever been hurt emotionally by another person? Have you ever felt powerless? Can travelling just two kilometres in a different direction completely change your life?
That one day:
When I was 9, I first heard the buzz about my rebellious grandfather. I had no memory of him. I asked my Dad: “Dad!? are the stories true?”
Dad: “Yes. The stories are indeed true.”
I sat on the edge of my seat as my Dad recounted my grandfather’s real story and how he was inspired by Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
“…He stood firmly at five feet four inches tall, sported a handlebar moustache—and wore crisp formals. On paper, he was a clerk. In the real world, he was something else (out of a novel). What truly set him apart were three abilities: first, immense knowledge; second, the skill to connect the dots; and third, the gift of connecting with anyone. Before long, on his own merit, he would build extraordinary networks, and leverage them, to change people’s lives for the better…”
Dad added: “…I’d watch all kinds of people—labourers, farmers, coolies, the educated, business folks, politicians, and even others I can’t quite name... visit our home, and consult him because he could solve problems that no one else could. He became wildly successful. His success is rebellious at its core - he shattered what it meant to be just a clerk into a million pieces.”
I thought to myself: “If someone who lived an underprivileged life for decades, coming from a family of seven brothers (so many mouths to feed!)—can skyrocket to such a level of success, then there’s always a way to make your dreams come true. If you can influence others, there’s no limit to your success. Influence is the name of the game. AND you can surely do what your heart says is correct. Rebellion is the real deal.” I can’t describe what I felt that day. It was one of the most profound moments of my formative years!
The same year, in autumn 2011, my dad brought home a second-hand Jet-Black iPhone 3G. I was instantly captivated by the design and the touch screen.
Have you ever been drawn to an object — only to discover the story behind it was even more captivating?
My dad shared a gripping story about how the iPhone came into existence. I hung onto every word as he spoke about Steve Jobs—a college dropout, written off as a failure by traditional norms—who defied all odds to become a legendary figure in the personal computing revolution. I immediately pulled up the recording of Steve Jobs unveiling the iPhone—on my dad’s own iPhone. I couldn’t get Steve’s presentation out of my head till date:
“An iPod, an Internet communicator, and a phone… are you getting it? These are not three separate devices.”
The crowd erupted!
“It is one device, and we are calling it… the iPhone.” More cheering. More gasps.
In many ways, Steve reminded me of my grandfather. Both were written off by the world, both defied expectations—and both proved to me, that rebellion is the only path to success.
One name kept surfacing in the background of Steve’s philosophy—Ayn Rand. I uncovered how her escape from Soviet Russia, her journey to build a life in America, and her authorship of a radical worldview had influenced Steve. Her objectivist ideals—centred on reason, individualism, and purposeful creation—echoed throughout Steve’s work, and I followed suit. I devoured Atlas Shrugged like something inside me had been waiting for it all along, like a vacuum had formed—and that book was the only thing that could fill it.
In December 2011, my dad showed me a quote that hit like lightning. It read:
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” — George Bernard Shaw
It all started to click. I instantly connected it to Apple’s iconic “Think Different” campaign from 1997. The spirit of rebellion, of challenging the status quo, of daring to dream boldly—it was all there. I could hear Richard Dreyfuss’ voice echoing in my mind: “Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
The beliefs of these icons (from my grandfather to Ayn Rand) were forever etched in my heart, soul, and overall persona. My life long learnings from 2011:
Sheer belief and commitment to the self in any endeavor. Everything that isn't tied to your goal is a distraction—run it on autopilot or outsource it.
There is only one way to view the world: always see it as a whole, and then connect the dots.
Money will flow to you if you follow your love, commitment, kaizen, authenticity, and step into abundance.
Unleash the beast—the lion within. You need its spirit if you want to do something remarkable—like entrepreneurship.
Always have strong beliefs in your ambition. Your beliefs determine your journey and your outcome.
****
Also, @ Age 9:
I come from a family that placed a huge emphasis on diverse experiences—mathematics (abacus), logic, reasoning, communication, sketching, developing the mind, building the right attitude, and music. From a very young age, my parents got me addicted to quenching my curiosity. They always found a way to keep my mind engaged through brain games, puzzles, CDs, DVDs, and non-fiction Books, no matter the circumstance.
My parents, in pursuit of better education for me, changed my school in 4th Standard. My new school was just 2 kilometres apart from my previous school. My new school had the who’s who of Bangalore attending it. From our shoes to our posture, everything had to be on point. And wherever an international brand had a product, the school made it a requirement.
My parents were beyond excited. They told me, “Son, you’ve joined a new school. It’s one of the best. We’re so excited for you!”
I was nervous. The school intimidated me—it felt bigger, sharper, stricter. I felt foreign in this new place, like I didn’t quite belong. As I made my way to an empty bench on my first day, I could feel all eyes fixed on me.
10 minutes later… the teacher introduced herself and began having us introduce ourselves one by one.
Mrs. In-Charge was a tall and well-built woman. She wore a thick black bindi and a white saree. She introduced herself as a perfectionist. She warned the class that students in her previous school, where she taught, had fallen victim to her slapping, and warned us that we shouldn’t test her patience. She never told us her name, and instructed us to call her as Ma’am.
The class was silent.
I understood English perfectly well, but when it came to speaking, I preferred Kannada everywhere—except when I was with my parents.
It was my turn now. I stood up.
"Nanna hesaru Kushal, nan Baldwins inda bandidini" (My name is Kushal, and I've come from Baldwin's)
The class erupted in laughter.
Feeling embarrassed, I looked down at my toes.
Mrs. In-Charge: "Also, we only speak in English here. Can you introduce yourself again? Go."
Me: "Okae… miss, my na…me Kushal, I came fro..m uh… Baldwin's."
The class erupted in more laughter; this time, fingers were pointing at me. I turned red like a tomato.
Mrs. In-Charge: "SILENCE! Do you not know how to speak English?"
I started to Panic!
Me: "I don’t… I know, miss."
Mrs. In-Charge: "Is that ‘know’ or ‘don’t know’?"
Me: "I kn…ow, miss."
Mrs. In-Charge: "We only say ‘Ma’am.’ Sit down."
I wished the ground would swallow me whole.
Before the last student finished introducing himself…
*RRINGGGGG*
Mrs. In-Charge: “Open your snack boxes everyone, it is time for the snacks break."
If you had been sitting in the classroom, you would have witnessed something you would not have forgotten for the rest of your life!
I opened my snacks box and turned to my neighbour "Adh yen thintiradu, modlu nodilla hantadau, channagi idhena?" (What's that you're eating, I haven't seen that before, do you like it?"
He went "What?"
I managed to string together a few words in english: "You're eating different, what is it?"
He YELLED: "MA'AM! HE IS INSULTING ME!"
My heart dropped eight floors, straight into the basement.
Mrs. In-Charge yelled her lungs out: "KUSHAL, IS THAT RIGHT?"
"No miss…"
"How many times do I have to tell you to use the word ma'am! AND you have serious behaviour problems!"
The classmate added, "Ma'am, he was talking in Kannada and using bad words!"
The teacher bangs her hand on the table, stands up furiously, and stares down into my soul.
Tears began swelling in my eyes.
Grinding her teeth: "I wonder how anyone even selected you, you are an embarrassment to this school, I am going to talk to the Principal! APOLOGISE TO HIM!"
Crying profusely, I mumbled "So..r.r.y"
"Don't think you are any smart, child. And, what is it with you speaking that village language in this class!"
"No ma’am…"
The teacher went louder and louder - “Kushal, I need to make it clear, we DO NOT TOLERATE SUCH BEHAVIOUR HERE, you will NEVER be forgiven for this!”
She walks over to me, drags me to the front of the class.
SLAPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!
She slapped me, and pushed me so hard that I fell back and hit the blackboard.
“Never think you will amount to anything in your lifetime, liar! You parents must be ashamed of you!"
“GET LOST! GO TO YOUR BENCH!”
The teacher left the class without saying anything. As she left, I made my way to my bench in tears.
I felt cheated. Not one person - classmate or teacher cared to listen to what had actually happened. I was labelled by my neighbour as the "outcast".
****
I had failed—on day one. But to me, failure didn’t mean anything. What got to me was the insult and humiliation. She had insulted me on my first day, and kicked me to the rock bottom.
I was ANGRY! And I was HURT!
The insult was so intense that all I wanted to do was prove my teacher wrong. But strangely I was torn between two absolutely conflicting emotions: the intense desire to explain myself versus the fear of being further humiliated. From time to time, the desire to prove my teacher wrong still kept simmering within but the FEAR kept on winning every single time.
As they say, “everything happens for a reason” and “you can connect the dots only looking backwards”. Today I feel extremely lucky to have experienced such an incident early in life.
****
A couple of months after the incident, my dad, mom, and me were travelling to North Karnataka. While sitting beside my dad in the front passenger seat (he was driving), I asked him innocently:
Me: “Pappa nan school yaak change maddri?” (“Dad, why did you change my school?”)
Dad: “Because your old school was not good. Also, why are you speaking in Kannada? I told you to practice speaking in English, right?”
Me: “Okay. But... I miss my friends.”
Dad: “This school is better. You’ll make new friends here.”
Me: “……”
Dad: "What's the matter?"
Me: “Yavudadru ond story helu” (“Tell me any story.”)
Dad: “Okay… but ask again in English.”
Me: “Tell me a story”
Dad: “Good. Did you know that your grandfather wanted me to become a doctor?"
My father was a Software Engineer, graduated from Gulbarga University.
Me: “Wha— I can't imagine you as a doctor.”
Dad: “And he wanted my brother, who is a doctor, to become an engineer.”
Me: “But he turned out to be a doctor.”
Dad: “Exactly. Do you know how he became a doctor while I became an engineer?”
Me: “How did it happen?”
Dad: “I never got the seat to become a doctor, but my brother did—or rather, he almost did.”
Me: “What do you mean?”
Dad: “He got a rank good enough to secure a seat, along with a few others. But as you might know, there are merit-based and management quota seats. My brother, and a few others who qualified for medical college, couldn't get the seat because some people had paid large donations to secure those seats.”
Me: “But that’s unfair!”
Dad: “Life is unfair.”
My dad is the tough-love type.
Me: “What do you mean, life is unfair?” (The wound from school was still fresh. I felt cheated in that incident... Is this what I should always expect from life? I thought.)
Dad: “Listen to me... life is unfair only when you’re unresourceful. Yes, your grandfather couldn’t match the donations, but he did something brilliant.”
Me: "Dad, what's being resourceful?"
Dad: “See, you might not always have everything you want. But when you’re resourceful, you take whatever you have, use it to get what you want. And remember—you always have something.”
Me: “That makes sense."
What followed was the most thrilling account: how my grandfather not only got my uncle a seat—without spending a single extra rupee—in one of the top medical colleges, but also helped many more students get admitted that year, without upsetting a single party!
Dad: “Your grandfather didn’t just think about his own son. He went beyond his family and changed the fortunes of many families—by connecting the dots of legal provisions, and by accelerating the approval of new medical seats. He played a masterstroke! If you want to be successful like your grandfather, always think beyond yourself.”
Me: “That’s awesome!”
Dad: “Yes. But what made it possible is this—he was able to connect the dots like no one else could. By connecting things no one saw a connection between, he turned a grim situation into a golden opportunity!"
Me: “Dad, what do you mean by connecting the dots? I’ve only heard Steve Jobs say it before. But every time you talk about Ajja (Grandfather)... you say the same.”
Dad: "Connecting the dots is like looking at all the stars in the sky and forming a constellation. The stars are always there—but the shape only forms when you connect them. Similarly, your mind has all the stars... all the dots of information. The more stars you collect, the more constellations you can create. And that’s how you make sense of the world.
Can any other teacher in the world make a 9-year-old understand strategy, and connecting the dots—just through a story about his grandfather?
On the return journey, I sat again in the front passenger’s seat. My dad understood. I was eager for another story.
Dad: "Whatever you do in life, make sure you’re in the top 5%."
Me: "What does that mean?"
Dad: "Never be average. Always be one of the few at the top."
Me: "Top of what?"
Dad: "Even among beggars, there are those who are at the top. How much do you think a regular beggar earns in a day?"
Me: "I don’t know… 50-100 rupees?"
Dad: "How much do you think the top beggar earns?"
Me: "I don't know."
Dad: "Multiply that by five and add a zero. That might be your answer."
Me: "5,000 rupees a day?"
Dad "Yes. In everything, being really good at what you do is the way to be."
Me: "Dad, even in school?"
Dad: "Yes—but even more so in the work that you do. Do you have a goal?"
Me: "I don't know what my goal is. Being a Scientist would be cool."
Dad: "Scientist, nice. Before you set a goal, you must know what you really want, and then aim for the best. I’ve told you about Steve Jobs. Want to know about Bill Gates?"
Me: "Yes! He dropped out of college too!"
Dad: "Just so you know, dropping out of school isn’t an option for you."
Me: "If they dropped out and became so successful, why isn’t it an option for me?"
Dad: "Steve Jobs went to Reed College—but still took calligraphy classes. He didn’t stop learning. And Bill Gates went to Harvard, the #1 university in the world. Once you get in, then you can drop out."
Me: "But if I know I can get there, why do I have to pay the fees, sit in a few classes, and leave?"
Dad: “You need an idea first. Bill Gates knew what he wanted to build. So did Steve Jobs. Without an idea, dropping out is risky. Secondly, once they were admitted into Harvard, they were positioned in the world as smart and ambitious people.”
Me: “What does ‘positioned’ mean?”
Dad: “What’s the best butter?”
Me: “Amul Butter Hai Asli Butter!”
Dad: “What’s the best soap?”
Me: “Medimix”
Dad: “I know you like the Medimix smell, but the nation believes the best soap to be Dettol. Do you know why?”
Me: “Why.”
Dad: “Because they have convinced the nation that it kills 99% of germs.”
Me: “Yes, I know.”
Dad: “Then why didn’t you tell?”
Me: “Because Medimix smells so good…”
Dad: "But do you open the packet and smell it before buying?"
Me: “No.”
Dad: “That’s why Dettol is the #1 soap. Because they have convinced the nation that even before washing their hands, that Dettol’s soap is the most powerful germ killing product! It may or may not kill 99% of the germs. But because people believe it so, they think it is the best soap. Same way you sang ‘Amul Butter Hai Asli Butter.’”
Me: “Don’t people want to check?”
Dad: "Even if there’s another soap that kills 99% of germs, would you buy it if no one ever told you about it?"
Me: "No… So we can say whatever we want?"
Dad: "No, just saying it isn’t enough. You have to say it over and over again until it becomes a connection. How many times have you watched the Amul ad?"
Me: "I don’t know… It comes every time I watch cartoons. So—many, many times."
Dad: "Exactly. That’s why you remember it so well."
Me: “Ohhh…”
Dad: "And do you notice something?"
Me: “What?”
Dad: "When we go to a store and ask for butter, we ask for Amul. And if it’s out of stock, we ask, ‘When will it come back?’—instead of picking the same butter from another brand."
Me: “So all butter is the same?”
Dad: "Of course! We can make delicious butter at home."
Me: "I know! But I thought Amul butter was a different type of butter."
Dad: (Chuckles) "It’s the same butter. Maybe it tastes a little different. But it’s the #1 butter because your mind believes: Butter = Amul."
Me: “That’s like Snacks=Kurkure!”
Dad: (Sternly) "Focus. It’s because when we think of butter, we think of Amul. Just like… Thanda (cold)…"
Me: “Matlab Coca-Cola!”
Dad: “Jaha tandurusti hai waha…”
Me: “Dad, it’s Lifebuoy hai waha tandurusti hai!”
Dad: “Exactly, it comes so fast.”
Me: “Woaaaaah! I never thought of it that way!
Then Dad gave me three powerful positioning lessons. How a small association of farmers started in 1946 to rebel against a dominant monopoly and went on to build a massive brand fascinated me no end. He told me three things that amuse me even to this day:
The fact that Amul Doodh Peetha Hai India changed the perception of milk from being seen as just a childhood or bedtime beverage to a youthful, energetic, and essential drink. Instantly, milk sales skyrocketed.
The fact about how Amul attached itself to the sentiment of rebellion as India was finding its own identity. It fought the exploitation of local milk producers, where the middle men would wipe out the money which belong to the farmers. When the British Raj ordered the farmers to quit the movement, they didn’t give up. Amul prevailed. Amul equalled Rebellion.
The fact that people ask exclusively for Amul, instead of Amul having to ask people one by one to buy their products.
Dad used to tell me tens of such stories every week. With every conversation with Dad, my command of the English language organically improved within just a year.
I got so sensationally enamoured of ‘POSITIONING’ that all I tried to do all the time was analyse all the ways it was done to people, things, nations, companies, narratives, anything that was a part of my life.
****
After the academic year was over, my parents were alarmed by the marks I scored. I hadn’t told parents about my first day, so they didn’t know the reason behind my lousy performance. According to my lazy teachers who encouraged learning by rote, it was all my fault that I hadn’t memorised enough. However, my parents empathized with me, and encouraged me to learn through understanding and never through rote, even if meant 10-20% lesser marks in the exam.
By mid-5th Grade, I caught up with my peers, and surpassed most of them. Delighted with an uptick in my performance, my dad purchased a Google Nexus tablet for me as a reward. He instructed me to use it wisely. Every day, he would remind me 3-4 more times to keep my usage in check and be careful of the sites I visited.
Once I set my Tab up, and I created my first Gmail account, I began browsing Apps to Install, I came across two applications: First, “The Economist” and Second, “Economic Times”. I had no Idea what I had just done when I installed the first one to just “explore” – I kickstarted an obsession that lasts till today.
At first, I found it difficult to read and my reading speed was slow. The Economist is anyway boring for most people to read. The suggestion he gave me, took down both the birds with a single stone!
My Dad suggested that I gain a basic understanding of all the disciplines of the world: Economics, Science and Technology, Business, Marketing, Positioning, Art, Storytelling, Language, Culture, War, Nations, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and History through explainer videos and documentaries. He nudged me to think of everything as a “Grand Story”. If I got stuck on a difficult topic, I’d ask my dad about it when he returned home from office in the evening, and he would conclude by giving me five more topics to explore.
Freakonomics podcast episodes and early CrashCourse YouTube videos planted the seeds of my obsession with unseen connections and mental models. My ALL TIME favourite... Top Gear (UK) taught me so much about engineering, sarcasm, and storytelling than any school lecture! When I felt on the edge, I would push myself further with Vice documentaries—raw, gritty, and borderline dangerous. They showed me underground economies, rogue nations, and Silicon Valley obsession in a way that no classroom ever could. Even Brain Games (National Geographic) blew my mind, along with dozens of other independent youtube channels. TIME WELL SPENT!
Reading The Economist became a cakewalk after this investment. I now had a mesh of how the world works, and everything here on was like solving a big fun jigsaw puzzle – I just had to find the right place to put the pieces! It’s an understatement to say that The Economist became insanely fun to read for me!
I loved Dad’s reasoning for understanding everything as a story, even if it was learning mathematics. I still can’t forget what he once told me when I asked him “Why stories?”
His answer: “You will never remember what I told you. But you will remember how I told it to you. If I told you straight up to learn positioning and left it at that, you might have forgotten it. But because I told it to you in the middle of our conversation, and told a story about it, you don’t just remember what positioning is, you remember how positioning feels. So, when you understand everything as a story, the learning becomes a part of you.”
Since then, learning through stories has been my all-time favourite hobby. It feels ecstatic. Getting into the experience of someone who has radically different perspectives on the world is like a ticket to every show on earth — past, present, and future. It kickstarts my brain to connect seemingly disparate dots of information to compose a harmonic meaning. Learning through someone who is more mature, has had more experiences, more knowledge — in any medium: CDs, books, DVDs, video tapes, independent articles — puts me on cloud nine. I can spend limitless hours with great materials.
I carried my curiosity into my school, but it was met with such disdain by every teacher! I was already growing frustrated that:
Teachers did not improve our performance. Every year, the same students who were the toppers the previous year remained toppers in the present year. The average or below-average students never got the attention in class to improve their marks.
Most of us in the class were lagging behind, and parents were blind to what happens in the classroom. The classroom was a place where frequent purges of freedom and expression took place. Every PTM was the same — throwing darts blindfolded, hoping that we students improved in our performance.
Friends were not really friends. Friends frequently bitched about each other. No one spoke of anything meaningful. It was petty fights everywhere. Such a waste of time.
Every year started off with the excitement of a fresh new academic year. Yet, it was always a repeat of the previous year. The excitement quickly died. The classes turned boring, the students were punished for being disengaged — stagnant performance, rinse and repeat.
On paper, we had one full sports class a week, but we never played for the whole duration. I loved sports. I couldn’t wait to let my body loose and shoot some baskets.
One day, I decided to ask one of my burning questions. I wanted to know the real reason behind studying mathematics.
I raised my hand.
Maths Teacher: “Yes, Kushal.”
She was 5’1”, wore a red and blue saree, and loved talking about her cat to no end. She had a shrill voice.
I stood up and asked politely: “Ma’am, could you give us the reason behind studying mathematics?”
Maths Teacher: “Do you want to fail?”
Classmates in unison: Kushaaaaal, sit downnn. Don’t create a sceneee.
Maths Teacher: “I asked you a question.”
Me: “No ma’am, I want to score well. What does my question have to do with my marks?”
Maths Teacher: “Your question is silly. Don’t waste my time and your classmates’ time with silly questions.”
Me: “Ma’am, I don’t think it is silly. I’m curious to know wh-”
Maths Teacher: “GET. OUT. OF. MY. CLASS."
For the next five days, I was punished by being made to sit on the floor. I happily obliged—until my curiosity got the best of me and I asked, “Ma’am, you didn’t answer the question I asked on Tuesday…”
I was asked to walk out of the class again. I never understood, to this day, why asking for the reason to study a subject was met with such consequences. It didn’t stop me from asking the other teachers.
The standard answer I received to “Why” was:
“You will understand one day”
“It is important because it is part of your syllabus”
“Don’t you want to be smart?”
Or the one that puzzled me the most: “You will understand when you have kids of your own”
Baffling
I couldn’t help but wonder….
Were students really not curious to know why a subject was studied?
Were the teachers unaware of the reason why mathematics is a subject they teach?
Was there no outcome to the subjects I was studying beyond just “marks”?
Everyone had a half-convincing answer to “Why school?” or “Why work hard?” But no one in my school had even a fraction of an answer to the question: “Why Maths? Why Science? Why History? Why English Grammar? Why a Second Language?”
What were we supposed to do with what we learnt the previous year? We never used any of that knowledge again in the next.
Not so fun exercise: You can take these same questions and apply it to whatever you are doing today – work or learning. You may come to the shocking realisation that we barely understand the reason behind the things we learn or do!
I took it onto myself to find the answers. Here’s what I discovered in 5th Std:
Mathematics is the language of the universe. It gives us eyes to see what we physically can’t. Take gravity—we don’t see it, we feel it. Mathematics helps us explain such abstract “feelings”. With the help of maths and physics, we are able to understand it so precisely that we predict the movement of satellites and planets with mind-blowing accuracy.
Grammar is more than rules—it’s time travel. It lets us jump across the past, present, and future without a clock – Past, Present & Future. Just the words “What if…” makes us imagine: “What if I were you?” .
Even how we ask for help—“Can you help me?” vs. “Would you be so kind as to help?”—affects how others feel. Grammar is a superpower.
History shows you the constructive and destructive sides of a human, and just how each of us are capable of both at any time. AND, I learnt that most of our mistakes are a repetition of our own previous mistakes or a mistake already committed by someone else. History is all about the lessons.
Science is the reason I can write to you. Five hundred years ago, all parts of the world looked the same. Today, the difference between Silicon Valley, California and Kabul, Afghanistan is as stark as day and night. The only difference is Science and the way it is used in Technology.
Most teachers hesitate to explain why mathematics is taught because they try to explain using logic – to which a student often replies: “I’ll use a calculator”. However, the real reason behind studying mathematics is to explain and understand the vast cosmos, starting here on earth.
Yes, most attendees of school are not curious.
****
My parents encouraged me to just learn, learn, and learn—and I took a fancy to it. In the absence of friends after school (who would have gobbled up 3–4 hours each day talking about useless topics without purpose), I had enough time to immerse myself in reading and watching documentaries for hours on end. Pragmatic success lessons from the most successful people and brands in the world were revealed to me in the form of gripping stories—dropped right into my lap! And thus began my soul’s biggest fixation—a fixation on satisfying my never-ending curiosity—one that continues to grow larger and stronger to this day. I soaked in every single documentary I watched. I could grasp the meaning because I invested time in understanding the basics of all the disciplines in the world.
The documentaries and publications that left the deepest mark on me included Robbins Madanes, The Economist, Atlas Shrugged, Positioning, Stephen Hawking’s works, Influence, Maverick, Aaron Clarey, Britannica’s Encyclopaedia Collection (32 volumes), National Geographic, Meditations, Man’s Search for Meaning, The Innovator’s Dilemma, and On the Origin of Species. Each of these masterpieces was a mental thrill ride. With every new insight, I felt increasingly sharpened, refined, and ready to take on the world.
As I read even more complex stuff, I faced two new problems: poor vocabulary and recall. I got so frustrated by my limited vocabulary that I binge-watched every vocabulary video on YouTube. I even asked my dad for a Kindle that could help improve my vocabulary on the fly. Within the next year, my vocabulary problem was solved, once and for all.
Every evening, Dad dedicated two hours—from 7PM to 9PM—to teaching me Mathematics and Physics. He emphasized “understanding the logic” and developing a “step-by-step system”, which initially felt foreign to my abacus-trained mind. He instructed me: “Do what you do mentally. Just make sure to write down whatever you did, because teachers are instructed to grade you on steps.” I followed his method faithfully—and it paid off brilliantly.
In addition, my mother, Sunita, made me fall in love with creativity and expression. By the time I turned 18, I had crafted over 850 unique creations—ranging from music (I was trained to play the keyboard at age 6) to writing. I also started to write during my “alone” moments.
The only problem was that my recall speed and capacity were poor for the materials I was reading.
To fix this problem, Mom suggested that I remember in pictures, not information. To test it out, I decided to read even more on the basic human disciplines my Dad had suggested. However, this time it was a double bind—a dilemma. To create the pictures, I had to understand the meaning. To understand the meaning, I had to know the context, which was often elaborate. To remember the elaborate context, I had to create pictures.
Mom suggested a different approach. She encouraged me to watch documentaries and movies. Around the same time, Discovery Channel, History Channel, HBO, and SnagFilms were available over cable and internet streaming in my home. She also suggested watching foreign programmes on TV with her. It took me 3.5 years, but I must say I have never made a better investment in my life.
Watching Final Destination turned out to be an unexpectedly extraordinary investment — it exploded the limits of my imagination. I learned about World War I & II, the Six-Day War, space exploration, human behavior, design, creative thinking, and a zillion other disciplines — from the 2008 financial crisis to the inner workings of gigantic factories, to how things are made, and the stunning innovations in science and technology. I also grasped the duality of our world in a way textbooks never could. The visuals proved extremely useful. For instance, imagine a deep dive into the coral reefs of Australia — no biology or science book can match the learning of a single picture. Charlie Chaplin, Space Exploration, MythBusters, Do or Die, Animated Films, Three Identical Strangers, Miss Representation, Life in a Day, Jiro Dreams of Sushi — each slingshot me into thinking like a creator, not just a consumer. I ended up watching more than 250 documentaries on almost every subject in the world. THE GREATEST ROI OF MY LIFE!
My memory became like Google after this investment. My obsession with imagination catapulted into building elaborate mind palaces. Just like my Dad’s answer for “Why stories?”, I loved Mom’s reasoning for imagining in visuals:
My mom’s explanation: “The Taj Mahal was built twice. First in the mind. Someone who has created a masterpiece must have first imagined it. Now, let’s say this person had all the skills and ability to create the masterpiece. Can they create it by ‘accident,’ without following an imagination, even if they do not realise it? Obviously not. They imagine it first in their mind’s eye and then it is created. So, in effect, the person with a vivid imagination can dream of any future — and the way to create it. Not only that, your mind becomes an infinite whiteboard in three dimensions.”
****
In 8th Standard, I got my first opportunity to participate in a Science Competition. I signed up the moment I heard about it. In fact, I was the first to do so. Mrs. Sudha, who was in charge of the team representing the school, tasked me with putting together a team of six students who showed genuine interest.
Mrs. Sudha carried herself seriously. She was around 5 and a half feet tall, wore light-coloured kurtis, and was always seen with her favourite students. She displayed strong contempt for those who weren’t from her class. I wasn’t from her class. No one wanted to end up on her wrong side — not even the teachers.
I did as she asked and recruited a team of six who were raring to go. Mrs. Sudha had a favourite student who hadn’t signed up yet. She insisted that he sign up and assured me she would find a way to accommodate all of us. I convinced him to join.
The next day, Mrs. Sudha told me that she had decided to drop me from the team. She said I wasn’t cut out for it and that the team needed “better talent.” I was dejected, but I smiled and said, “No worries, Ma’am. I’ll participate in the next competition.” She walked away.
A few hours later, a classmate runs to me panting: “Kushal, I heard that you’ve been dropped from the team?”
I replied: “Yes… there was not enough space.”
Classmate: “Not enough space? I heard Mrs. Sudha just wanted to use you to prepare the team.”
Me: “What do you mean?”
Classmate: “Don’t you know her? She is partial. She is the most selfish woman I’ve ever seen.”
Me: “You mean she planned to drop me from the start?”
Classmate: “I think so. We all do. Didn’t you really want to come to the exhibition?”
Me: “Of course! I never get these opportunities. Somehow, by the time I hear about them, they’re all gone!”
Classmate: “God, talk to your class teacher about it, tell her what happened…”
I inform my class teacher Mrs. Surekha.
Mrs. Surekha: “Kushal, she cannot do that. You signed up for it. She accepted. You are going. I’ll take care of it for you. Have a seat. Amma, call Sudha, please.”
Mrs. Sudha walks in with style.
Mrs. Sudha: “Surekha, you called me?”
Mrs. Surekha: “Sudha, my student told me that he signed up for the Science Exhibition, and now he’s being told he isn’t going. Is this true?”
Mrs. Sudha: “Yes Surekha, I told him, that there is not enough space…”
Mrs. Surekha: “But he says he signed up first. Is that true? He also says he helped you put the team together.”
Mrs. Sudha: “Surekha, try to understand. How can I take him? Look at him—he’s so shabby. The image of the school will be spoilt.”
My heart instantly sank.
Mrs. Surekha (visibly frustrated): “Sudha, Kushal is a great child. He is always well-behaved. I don’t understand what you mean. He even helped you with the preparation. Tell me—did anyone else on the team help you with that?”
Mrs. Sudha: “I know he did… but I can’t. He’s not smart enough.”
Mrs. Surekha (stands up & stares into Mrs. Sudha’s Eyes): “You are taking Kushal with you. End of discussion.”
Mrs. Sudha: “Surekha… okay… fine…” walks out the door muttering to herself something I couldn’t decipher…
Mrs. Surekha smiled gently: “Kushal, I’m sorry you had to hear all that. You will participate in the competition, child. I’ll make sure of it. If anyone troubles you, tell me. I’ll take care of it. Here, I have an extra sandwich, have child.”
Was this really happening? Was I going to the FIRST opportunity of my LIFE? Why was Mrs. Surkha so kind to me? Is she an Angel? No one had stood up for me all these years when I was Slapped and… no… don’t go there… this is a happy moment…
Tears start swelling in my eyes.
Me: “Ma’am.. I… Thank you ma’am… I can’t thank you enough… You stood up for me… no one ever has…”
Mrs. Surekha: “I admire your honesty. You will do well. I’m sure of it.”
Me: “Thank you ma’am”
My team won first place in the competition. For the first time through my school, I truly realised my potential — all thanks to a kind and generous teacher. 🙂
That day, I made a promise to myself that I will always, come what may, stand up for anyone who seeks opportunities. I strongly believe in equality of opportunity. There will only be a single winner, but there must never be any barrier to participation. This philosophy has stayed with me—a lifelong learning.
Mrs. Surekha and I spent time during lunch breaks talking about the subjects she taught. I fascinated her with the way I thought about things. She believed I just needed a “push.” She shared with me the intersection of fulfilment, which had four elements: Love, Skill, Service, and Wealth.
Have you ever been treated unfairly? Have you ever been hurt emotionally by another person? Have you ever felt powerless? Can travelling just two kilometres in a different direction completely change your life?
That one day:
When I was 9, I first heard the buzz about my rebellious grandfather. I had no memory of him. I asked my Dad: “Dad!? are the stories true?”
Dad: “Yes. The stories are indeed true.”
I sat on the edge of my seat as my Dad recounted my grandfather’s real story and how he was inspired by Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
“…He stood firmly at five feet four inches tall, sported a handlebar moustache—and wore crisp formals. On paper, he was a clerk. In the real world, he was something else (out of a novel). What truly set him apart were three abilities: first, immense knowledge; second, the skill to connect the dots; and third, the gift of connecting with anyone. Before long, on his own merit, he would build extraordinary networks, and leverage them, to change people’s lives for the better…”
Dad added: “…I’d watch all kinds of people—labourers, farmers, coolies, the educated, business folks, politicians, and even others I can’t quite name... visit our home, and consult him because he could solve problems that no one else could. He became wildly successful. His success is rebellious at its core - he shattered what it meant to be just a clerk into a million pieces.”
I thought to myself: “If someone who lived an underprivileged life for decades, coming from a family of seven brothers (so many mouths to feed!)—can skyrocket to such a level of success, then there’s always a way to make your dreams come true. If you can influence others, there’s no limit to your success. Influence is the name of the game. AND you can surely do what your heart says is correct. Rebellion is the real deal.” I can’t describe what I felt that day. It was one of the most profound moments of my formative years!
The same year, in autumn 2011, my dad brought home a second-hand Jet-Black iPhone 3G. I was instantly captivated by the design and the touch screen.
Have you ever been drawn to an object — only to discover the story behind it was even more captivating?
My dad shared a gripping story about how the iPhone came into existence. I hung onto every word as he spoke about Steve Jobs—a college dropout, written off as a failure by traditional norms—who defied all odds to become a legendary figure in the personal computing revolution. I immediately pulled up the recording of Steve Jobs unveiling the iPhone—on my dad’s own iPhone. I couldn’t get Steve’s presentation out of my head till date:
“An iPod, an Internet communicator, and a phone… are you getting it? These are not three separate devices.”
The crowd erupted!
“It is one device, and we are calling it… the iPhone.” More cheering. More gasps.
In many ways, Steve reminded me of my grandfather. Both were written off by the world, both defied expectations—and both proved to me, that rebellion is the only path to success.
One name kept surfacing in the background of Steve’s philosophy—Ayn Rand. I uncovered how her escape from Soviet Russia, her journey to build a life in America, and her authorship of a radical worldview had influenced Steve. Her objectivist ideals—centred on reason, individualism, and purposeful creation—echoed throughout Steve’s work, and I followed suit. I devoured Atlas Shrugged like something inside me had been waiting for it all along, like a vacuum had formed—and that book was the only thing that could fill it.
In December 2011, my dad showed me a quote that hit like lightning. It read:
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” — George Bernard Shaw
It all started to click. I instantly connected it to Apple’s iconic “Think Different” campaign from 1997. The spirit of rebellion, of challenging the status quo, of daring to dream boldly—it was all there. I could hear Richard Dreyfuss’ voice echoing in my mind: “Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
The beliefs of these icons (from my grandfather to Ayn Rand) were forever etched in my heart, soul, and overall persona. My life long learnings from 2011:
Sheer belief and commitment to the self in any endeavor. Everything that isn't tied to your goal is a distraction—run it on autopilot or outsource it.
There is only one way to view the world: always see it as a whole, and then connect the dots.
Money will flow to you if you follow your love, commitment, kaizen, authenticity, and step into abundance.
Unleash the beast—the lion within. You need its spirit if you want to do something remarkable—like entrepreneurship.
Always have strong beliefs in your ambition. Your beliefs determine your journey and your outcome.
****
Also, @ Age 9:
I come from a family that placed a huge emphasis on diverse experiences—mathematics (abacus), logic, reasoning, communication, sketching, developing the mind, building the right attitude, and music. From a very young age, my parents got me addicted to quenching my curiosity. They always found a way to keep my mind engaged through brain games, puzzles, CDs, DVDs, and non-fiction Books, no matter the circumstance.
My parents, in pursuit of better education for me, changed my school in 4th Standard. My new school was just 2 kilometres apart from my previous school. My new school had the who’s who of Bangalore attending it. From our shoes to our posture, everything had to be on point. And wherever an international brand had a product, the school made it a requirement.
My parents were beyond excited. They told me, “Son, you’ve joined a new school. It’s one of the best. We’re so excited for you!”
I was nervous. The school intimidated me—it felt bigger, sharper, stricter. I felt foreign in this new place, like I didn’t quite belong. As I made my way to an empty bench on my first day, I could feel all eyes fixed on me.
10 minutes later… the teacher introduced herself and began having us introduce ourselves one by one.
Mrs. In-Charge was a tall and well-built woman. She wore a thick black bindi and a white saree. She introduced herself as a perfectionist. She warned the class that students in her previous school, where she taught, had fallen victim to her slapping, and warned us that we shouldn’t test her patience. She never told us her name, and instructed us to call her as Ma’am.
The class was silent.
I understood English perfectly well, but when it came to speaking, I preferred Kannada everywhere—except when I was with my parents.
It was my turn now. I stood up.
"Nanna hesaru Kushal, nan Baldwins inda bandidini" (My name is Kushal, and I've come from Baldwin's)
The class erupted in laughter.
Feeling embarrassed, I looked down at my toes.
Mrs. In-Charge: "Also, we only speak in English here. Can you introduce yourself again? Go."
Me: "Okae… miss, my na…me Kushal, I came fro..m uh… Baldwin's."
The class erupted in more laughter; this time, fingers were pointing at me. I turned red like a tomato.
Mrs. In-Charge: "SILENCE! Do you not know how to speak English?"
I started to Panic!
Me: "I don’t… I know, miss."
Mrs. In-Charge: "Is that ‘know’ or ‘don’t know’?"
Me: "I kn…ow, miss."
Mrs. In-Charge: "We only say ‘Ma’am.’ Sit down."
I wished the ground would swallow me whole.
Before the last student finished introducing himself…
*RRINGGGGG*
Mrs. In-Charge: “Open your snack boxes everyone, it is time for the snacks break."
If you had been sitting in the classroom, you would have witnessed something you would not have forgotten for the rest of your life!
I opened my snacks box and turned to my neighbour "Adh yen thintiradu, modlu nodilla hantadau, channagi idhena?" (What's that you're eating, I haven't seen that before, do you like it?"
He went "What?"
I managed to string together a few words in english: "You're eating different, what is it?"
He YELLED: "MA'AM! HE IS INSULTING ME!"
My heart dropped eight floors, straight into the basement.
Mrs. In-Charge yelled her lungs out: "KUSHAL, IS THAT RIGHT?"
"No miss…"
"How many times do I have to tell you to use the word ma'am! AND you have serious behaviour problems!"
The classmate added, "Ma'am, he was talking in Kannada and using bad words!"
The teacher bangs her hand on the table, stands up furiously, and stares down into my soul.
Tears began swelling in my eyes.
Grinding her teeth: " I wonder how anyone even selected you, you are an embarrassment to this school, I am going to talk to the Principal! APOLOGISE TO HIM!"
Crying profusely, I mumbled "So..r.r.y"
"Don't think you are any smart, child. And, what is it with you speaking that village language in this class!"
"No ma’am…"
The teacher went louder and louder - “Kushal, I need to make it clear, we DO NOT TOLERATE SUCH BEHAVIOUR HERE, you will NEVER be forgiven for this!”
She walks over to me, drags me to the front of the class.
SLAPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!
She slapped me, and pushed me so hard that I fell back and hit the blackboard.
“Never think you will amount to anything in your lifetime, liar! You parents must be ashamed of you!"
“GET LOST! GO TO YOUR BENCH!”
The teacher left the class without saying anything. As she left, I made my way to my bench in tears.
I felt cheated. Not one person - classmate or teacher cared to listen to what had actually happened. I was labelled by my neighbour as the "outcast".
****
I had failed—on day one. But to me, failure didn’t mean anything. What got to me was the insult and humiliation. She had insulted me on my first day, and kicked me to the rock bottom.
I was ANGRY! And I was HURT!
The insult was so intense that all I wanted to do was prove my teacher wrong. But strangely I was torn between two absolutely conflicting emotions: the intense desire to explain myself versus the fear of being further humiliated. From time to time, the desire to prove my teacher wrong still kept simmering within but the FEAR kept on winning every single time.
As they say, “everything happens for a reason” and “you can connect the dots only looking backwards”. Today I feel extremely lucky to have experienced such an incident early in life.
****
A couple of months after the incident, my dad, mom, and me were travelling to North Karnataka. While sitting beside my dad in the front passenger seat (he was driving), I asked him innocently:
Me: “Pappa nan school yaak change maddri?” (“Dad, why did you change my school?”)
Dad: “Because your old school was not good. Also, why are you speaking in Kannada? I told you to practice speaking in English, right?”
Me: “Okay. But... I miss my friends.”
Dad: “This school is better. You’ll make new friends here.”
Me: “……”
Dad: "What's the matter?"
Me: “Yavudadru ond story helu” (“Tell me any story.”)
Dad: “Okay… but ask again in English.”
Me: “Tell me a story”
Dad: “Good. Did you know that your grandfather wanted me to become a doctor?"
My father was a Software Engineer, graduated from Gulbarga University.
Me: “Wha— I can't imagine you as a doctor.”
Dad: “And he wanted my brother, who is a doctor, to become an engineer.”
Me: “But he turned out to be a doctor.”
Dad: “Exactly. Do you know how he became a doctor while I became an engineer?”
Me: “How did it happen?”
Dad: “I never got the seat to become a doctor, but my brother did—or rather, he almost did.”
Me: “What do you mean?”
Dad: “He got a rank good enough to secure a seat, along with a few others. But as you might know, there are merit-based and management quota seats. My brother, and a few others who qualified for medical college, couldn't get the seat because some people had paid large donations to secure those seats.”
Me: “But that’s unfair!”
Dad: “Life is unfair.”
My dad is the tough-love type.
Me: “What do you mean, life is unfair?” (The wound from school was still fresh. I felt cheated in that incident... Is this what I should always expect from life? I thought.)
Dad: “Listen to me... life is unfair only when you’re unresourceful. Yes, your grandfather couldn’t match the donations, but he did something brilliant.”
Me: "Dad, what's being resourceful?"
Dad: “See, you might not always have everything you want. But when you’re resourceful, you take whatever you have, use it to get what you want. And remember—you always have something.”
Me: “That makes sense."
What followed was the most thrilling account: how my grandfather not only got my uncle a seat—without spending a single extra rupee—in one of the top medical colleges, but also helped many more students get admitted that year, without upsetting a single party!
Dad: “Your grandfather didn’t just think about his own son. He went beyond his family and changed the fortunes of many families—by connecting the dots of legal provisions, and by accelerating the approval of new medical seats. He played a masterstroke! If you want to be successful like your grandfather, always think beyond yourself.”
Me: “That’s awesome!”
Dad: “Yes. But what made it possible is this—he was able to connect the dots like no one else could. By connecting things no one saw a connection between, he turned a grim situation into a golden opportunity!"
Me: “Dad, what do you mean by connecting the dots? I’ve only heard Steve Jobs say it before. But every time you talk about Ajja (Grandfather)... you say the same.”
Dad: "Connecting the dots is like looking at all the stars in the sky and forming a constellation. The stars are always there—but the shape only forms when you connect them. Similarly, your mind has all the stars... all the dots of information. The more stars you collect, the more constellations you can create. And that’s how you make sense of the world.
Can any other teacher in the world make a 9-year-old understand strategy, and connecting the dots—just through a story about his grandfather?
On the return journey, I sat again in the front passenger’s seat. My dad understood. I was eager for another story.
Dad: "Whatever you do in life, make sure you’re in the top 5%."
Me: "What does that mean?"
Dad: "Never be average. Always be one of the few at the top."
Me: "Top of what?"
Dad: "Even among beggars, there are those who are at the top. How much do you think a regular beggar earns in a day?"
Me: "I don’t know… 50-100 rupees?"
Dad: "How much do you think the top beggar earns?"
Me: "I don't know."
Dad: "Multiply that by five and add a zero. That might be your answer."
Me: "5,000 rupees a day?"
Dad "Yes. In everything, being really good at what you do is the way to be."
Me: "Dad, even in school?"
Dad: "Yes—but even more so in the work that you do. Do you have a goal?"
Me: "I don't know what my goal is. Being a Scientist would be cool."
Dad: "Scientist, nice. Before you set a goal, you must know what you really want, and then aim for the best. I’ve told you about Steve Jobs. Want to know about Bill Gates?"
Me: "Yes! He dropped out of college too!"
Dad: "Just so you know, dropping out of school isn’t an option for you."
Me: "If they dropped out and became so successful, why isn’t it an option for me?"
Dad: "Steve Jobs went to Reed College—but still took calligraphy classes. He didn’t stop learning. And Bill Gates went to Harvard, the #1 university in the world. Once you get in, then you can drop out."
Me: "But if I know I can get there, why do I have to pay the fees, sit in a few classes, and leave?"
Dad: “You need an idea first. Bill Gates knew what he wanted to build. So did Steve Jobs. Without an idea, dropping out is risky. Secondly, once they were admitted into Harvard, they were positioned in the world as smart and ambitious people.”
Me: “What does ‘positioned’ mean?”
Dad: “What’s the best butter?”
Me: “Amul Butter Hai Asli Butter!”
Dad: “What’s the best soap?”
Me: “Medimix”
Dad: “I know you like the Medimix smell, but the nation believes the best soap to be Dettol. Do you know why?”
Me: “Why.”
Dad: “Because they have convinced the nation that it kills 99% of germs.”
Me: “Yes, I know.”
Dad: “Then why didn’t you tell?”
Me: “Because Medimix smells so good…”
Dad: "But do you open the packet and smell it before buying?"
Me: “No.”
Dad: “That’s why Dettol is the #1 soap. Because they have convinced the nation that even before washing their hands, that Dettol’s soap is the most powerful germ killing product! It may or may not kill 99% of the germs. But because people believe it so, they think it is the best soap. Same way you sang ‘Amul Butter Hai Asli Butter.’”
Me: “Don’t people want to check?”
Dad: "Even if there’s another soap that kills 99% of germs, would you buy it if no one ever told you about it?"
Me: "No… So we can say whatever we want?"
Dad: "No, just saying it isn’t enough. You have to say it over and over again until it becomes a connection. How many times have you watched the Amul ad?"
Me: "I don’t know… It comes every time I watch cartoons. So—many, many times."
Dad: "Exactly. That’s why you remember it so well."
Me: “Ohhh…”
Dad: "And do you notice something?"
Me: “What?”
Dad: "When we go to a store and ask for butter, we ask for Amul. And if it’s out of stock, we ask, ‘When will it come back?’—instead of picking the same butter from another brand."
Me: “So all butter is the same?”
Dad: "Of course! We can make delicious butter at home."
Me: "I know! But I thought Amul butter was a different type of butter."
Dad: (Chuckles) "It’s the same butter. Maybe it tastes a little different. But it’s the #1 butter because your mind believes: Butter = Amul."
Me: “That’s like Snacks=Kurkure!”
Dad: (Sternly) "Focus. It’s because when we think of butter, we think of Amul. Just like… Thanda (cold)…"
Me: “Matlab Coca-Cola!”
Dad: “Jaha tandurusti hai waha…”
Me: “Dad, it’s Lifebuoy hai waha tandurusti hai!”
Dad: “Exactly, it comes so fast.”
Me: “Woaaaaah! I never thought of it that way!
Then Dad gave me three powerful positioning lessons. How a small association of farmers started in 1946 to rebel against a dominant monopoly and went on to build a massive brand fascinated me no end. He told me three things that amuse me even to this day:
The fact that Amul Doodh Peetha Hai India changed the perception of milk from being seen as just a childhood or bedtime beverage to a youthful, energetic, and essential drink. Instantly, milk sales skyrocketed.
The fact about how Amul attached itself to the sentiment of rebellion as India was finding its own identity. It fought the exploitation of local milk producers, where the middle men would wipe out the money which belong to the farmers. When the British Raj ordered the farmers to quit the movement, they didn’t give up. Amul prevailed. Amul equalled Rebellion.
The fact that people ask exclusively for Amul, instead of Amul having to ask people one by one to buy their products.
Dad used to tell me tens of such stories every week. With every conversation with Dad, my command of the English language organically improved within just a year.
I got so sensationally enamoured of ‘POSITIONING’ that all I tried to do all the time was analyse all the ways it was done to people, things, nations, companies, narratives, anything that was a part of my life.
****
After the academic year was over, my parents were alarmed by the marks I scored. I hadn’t told parents about my first day, so they didn’t know the reason behind my lousy performance. According to my lazy teachers who encouraged learning by rote, it was all my fault that I hadn’t memorised enough. However, my parents empathized with me, and encouraged me to learn through understanding and never through rote, even if meant 10-20% lesser marks in the exam.
By mid-5th Grade, I caught up with my peers, and surpassed most of them. Delighted with an uptick in my performance, my dad purchased a Google Nexus tablet for me as a reward. He instructed me to use it wisely. Every day, he would remind me 3-4 more times to keep my usage in check and be careful of the sites I visited.
Once I set my Tab up, and I created my first Gmail account, I began browsing Apps to Install, I came across two applications: First, “The Economist” and Second, “Economic Times”. I had no Idea what I had just done when I installed the first one to just “explore” – I kickstarted an obsession that lasts till today.
At first, I found it difficult to read and my reading speed was slow. The Economist is anyway boring for most people to read. The suggestion he gave me, took down both the birds with a single stone!
My Dad suggested that I gain a basic understanding of all the disciplines of the world: Economics, Science and Technology, Business, Marketing, Positioning, Art, Storytelling, Language, Culture, War, Nations, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and History through explainer videos and documentaries. He nudged me to think of everything as a “Grand Story”. If I got stuck on a difficult topic, I’d ask my dad about it when he returned home from office in the evening, and he would conclude by giving me five more topics to explore.
Freakonomics podcast episodes and early CrashCourse YouTube videos planted the seeds of my obsession with unseen connections and mental models. My ALL TIME favourite... Top Gear (UK) taught me so much about engineering, sarcasm, and storytelling than any school lecture! When I felt on the edge, I would push myself further with Vice documentaries—raw, gritty, and borderline dangerous. They showed me underground economies, rogue nations, and Silicon Valley obsession in a way that no classroom ever could. Even Brain Games (National Geographic) blew my mind, along with dozens of other independent youtube channels. TIME WELL SPENT!
Reading The Economist became a cakewalk after this investment. I now had a mesh of how the world works, and everything here on was like solving a big fun jigsaw puzzle – I just had to find the right place to put the pieces! It’s an understatement to say that The Economist became insanely fun to read for me!
I loved Dad’s reasoning for understanding everything as a story, even if it was learning mathematics. I still can’t forget what he once told me when I asked him “Why stories?”
His answer: “You will never remember what I told you. But you will remember how I told it to you. If I told you straight up to learn positioning and left it at that, you might have forgotten it. But because I told it to you in the middle of our conversation, and told a story about it, you don’t just remember what positioning is, you remember how positioning feels. So, when you understand everything as a story, the learning becomes a part of you.”
Since then, learning through stories has been my all-time favourite hobby. It feels ecstatic. Getting into the experience of someone who has radically different perspectives on the world is like a ticket to every show on earth — past, present, and future. It kickstarts my brain to connect seemingly disparate dots of information to compose a harmonic meaning. Learning through someone who is more mature, has had more experiences, more knowledge — in any medium: CDs, books, DVDs, video tapes, independent articles — puts me on cloud nine. I can spend limitless hours with great materials.
I carried my curiosity into my school, but it was met with such disdain by every teacher! I was already growing frustrated that:
Teachers did not improve our performance. Every year, the same students who were the toppers the previous year remained toppers in the present year. The average or below-average students never got the attention in class to improve their marks.
Most of us in the class were lagging behind, and parents were blind to what happens in the classroom. The classroom was a place where frequent purges of freedom and expression took place. Every PTM was the same — throwing darts blindfolded, hoping that we students improved in our performance.
Friends were not really friends. Friends frequently bitched about each other. No one spoke of anything meaningful. It was petty fights everywhere. Such a waste of time.
Every year started off with the excitement of a fresh new academic year. Yet, it was always a repeat of the previous year. The excitement quickly died. The classes turned boring, the students were punished for being disengaged — stagnant performance, rinse and repeat.
On paper, we had one full sports class a week, but we never played for the whole duration. I loved sports. I couldn’t wait to let my body loose and shoot some baskets.
One day, I decided to ask one of my burning questions. I wanted to know the real reason behind studying mathematics.
I raised my hand.
Maths Teacher: “Yes, Kushal.”
She was 5’1”, wore a red and blue saree, and loved talking about her cat to no end. She had a shrill voice.
I stood up and asked politely: “Ma’am, could you give us the reason behind studying mathematics?”
Maths Teacher: “Do you want to fail?”
Classmates in unison: Kushaaaaal, sit downnn. Don’t create a sceneee.
Maths Teacher: “I asked you a question.”
Me: “No ma’am, I want to score well. What does my question have to do with my marks?”
Maths Teacher: “Your question is silly. Don’t waste my time and your classmates’ time with silly questions.”
Me: “Ma’am, I don’t think it is silly. I’m curious to know wh-”
Maths Teacher: “GET. OUT. OF. MY. CLASS."
For the next five days, I was punished by being made to sit on the floor. I happily obliged—until my curiosity got the best of me and I asked, “Ma’am, you didn’t answer the question I asked on Tuesday…”
I was asked to walk out of the class again. I never understood, to this day, why asking for the reason to study a subject was met with such consequences. It didn’t stop me from asking the other teachers.
The standard answer I received to “Why” was:
“You will understand one day”
“It is important because it is part of your syllabus”
“Don’t you want to be smart?”
Or the one that puzzled me the most: “You will understand when you have kids of your own”
Baffling
I couldn’t help but wonder….
Were students really not curious to know why a subject was studied?
Were the teachers unaware of the reason why mathematics is a subject they teach?
Was there no outcome to the subjects I was studying beyond just “marks”?
Everyone had a half-convincing answer to “Why school?” or “Why work hard?” But no one in my school had even a fraction of an answer to the question: “Why Maths? Why Science? Why History? Why English Grammar? Why a Second Language?”
What were we supposed to do with what we learnt the previous year? We never used any of that knowledge again in the next.
Not so fun exercise: You can take these same questions and apply it to whatever you are doing today – work or learning. You may come to the shocking realisation that we barely understand the reason behind the things we learn or do!
I took it onto myself to find the answers. Here’s what I discovered in 5th Std:
Mathematics is the language of the universe. It gives us eyes to see what we physically can’t. Take gravity—we don’t see it, we feel it. Mathematics helps us explain such abstract “feelings”. With the help of maths and physics, we are able to understand it so precisely that we predict the movement of satellites and planets with mind-blowing accuracy.
Grammar is more than rules—it’s time travel. It lets us jump across the past, present, and future without a clock – Past, Present & Future. Just the words “What if…” makes us imagine: “What if I were you?” .
Even how we ask for help—“Can you help me?” vs. “Would you be so kind as to help?”—affects how others feel. Grammar is a superpower.
History shows you the constructive and destructive sides of a human, and just how each of us are capable of both at any time. AND, I learnt that most of our mistakes are a repetition of our own previous mistakes or a mistake already committed by someone else. History is all about the lessons.
Science is the reason I can write to you. Five hundred years ago, all parts of the world looked the same. Today, the difference between Silicon Valley, California and Kabul, Afghanistan is as stark as day and night. The only difference is Science and the way it is used in Technology.
Most teachers hesitate to explain why mathematics is taught because they try to explain using logic – to which a student often replies: “I’ll use a calculator”. However, the real reason behind studying mathematics is to explain and understand the vast cosmos, starting here on earth.
Yes, most attendees of school are not curious.
****
My parents encouraged me to just learn, learn, and learn—and I took a fancy to it. In the absence of friends after school (who would have gobbled up 3–4 hours each day talking about useless topics without purpose), I had enough time to immerse myself in reading and watching documentaries for hours on end. Pragmatic success lessons from the most successful people and brands in the world were revealed to me in the form of gripping stories—dropped right into my lap! And thus began my soul’s biggest fixation—a fixation on satisfying my never-ending curiosity—one that continues to grow larger and stronger to this day. I soaked in every single documentary I watched. I could grasp the meaning because I invested time in understanding the basics of all the disciplines in the world.
The documentaries and publications that left the deepest mark on me included Robbins Madanes, The Economist, Atlas Shrugged, Positioning, Stephen Hawking’s works, Influence, Maverick, Aaron Clarey, Britannica’s Encyclopaedia Collection (32 volumes), National Geographic, Meditations, Man’s Search for Meaning, The Innovator’s Dilemma, and On the Origin of Species. Each of these masterpieces was a mental thrill ride. With every new insight, I felt increasingly sharpened, refined, and ready to take on the world.
As I read even more complex stuff, I faced two new problems: poor vocabulary and recall. I got so frustrated by my limited vocabulary that I binge-watched every vocabulary video on YouTube. I even asked my dad for a Kindle that could help improve my vocabulary on the fly. Within the next year, my vocabulary problem was solved, once and for all.
Every evening, Dad dedicated two hours—from 7PM to 9PM—to teaching me Mathematics and Physics. He emphasized “understanding the logic” and developing a “step-by-step system”, which initially felt foreign to my abacus-trained mind. He instructed me: “Do what you do mentally. Just make sure to write down whatever you did, because teachers are instructed to grade you on steps.” I followed his method faithfully—and it paid off brilliantly.
In addition, my mother, Sunita, made me fall in love with creativity and expression. By the time I turned 18, I had crafted over 850 unique creations—ranging from music (I was trained to play the keyboard at age 6) to writing. I also started to write during my “alone” moments.
The only problem was that my recall speed and capacity were poor for the materials I was reading.
To fix this problem, Mom suggested that I remember in pictures, not information. To test it out, I decided to read even more on the basic human disciplines my Dad had suggested. However, this time it was a double bind—a dilemma. To create the pictures, I had to understand the meaning. To understand the meaning, I had to know the context, which was often elaborate. To remember the elaborate context, I had to create pictures.
Mom suggested a different approach. She encouraged me to watch documentaries and movies. Around the same time, Discovery Channel, History Channel, HBO, and SnagFilms were available over cable and internet streaming in my home. She also suggested watching foreign programmes on TV with her. It took me 3.5 years, but I must say I have never made a better investment in my life.
Watching Final Destination turned out to be an unexpectedly extraordinary investment — it exploded the limits of my imagination. I learned about World War I & II, the Six-Day War, space exploration, human behavior, design, creative thinking, and a zillion other disciplines — from the 2008 financial crisis to the inner workings of gigantic factories, to how things are made, and the stunning innovations in science and technology. I also grasped the duality of our world in a way textbooks never could. The visuals proved extremely useful. For instance, imagine a deep dive into the coral reefs of Australia — no biology or science book can match the learning of a single picture. Charlie Chaplin, Space Exploration, MythBusters, Do or Die, Animated Films, Three Identical Strangers, Miss Representation, Life in a Day, Jiro Dreams of Sushi — each slingshot me into thinking like a creator, not just a consumer. I ended up watching more than 250 documentaries on almost every subject in the world. THE GREATEST ROI OF MY LIFE!
My memory became like Google after this investment. My obsession with imagination catapulted into building elaborate mind palaces. Just like my Dad’s answer for “Why stories?”, I loved Mom’s reasoning for imagining in visuals:
My mom’s explanation: “The Taj Mahal was built twice. First in the mind. Someone who has created a masterpiece must have first imagined it. Now, let’s say this person had all the skills and ability to create the masterpiece. Can they create it by ‘accident,’ without following an imagination, even if they do not realise it? Obviously not. They imagine it first in their mind’s eye and then it is created. So, in effect, the person with a vivid imagination can dream of any future — and the way to create it. Not only that, your mind becomes an infinite whiteboard in three dimensions.”
****
In 8th Standard, I got my first opportunity to participate in a Science Competition. I signed up the moment I heard about it. In fact, I was the first to do so. Mrs. Sudha, who was in charge of the team representing the school, tasked me with putting together a team of six students who showed genuine interest.
Mrs. Sudha carried herself seriously. She was around 5 and a half feet tall, wore light-coloured kurtis, and was always seen with her favourite students. She displayed strong contempt for those who weren’t from her class. I wasn’t from her class. No one wanted to end up on her wrong side — not even the teachers.
I did as she asked and recruited a team of six who were raring to go. Mrs. Sudha had a favourite student who hadn’t signed up yet. She insisted that he sign up and assured me she would find a way to accommodate all of us. I convinced him to join.
The next day, Mrs. Sudha told me that she had decided to drop me from the team. She said I wasn’t cut out for it and that the team needed “better talent.” I was dejected, but I smiled and said, “No worries, Ma’am. I’ll participate in the next competition.” She walked away.
A few hours later, a classmate runs to me panting: “Kushal, I heard that you’ve been dropped from the team?”
I replied: “Yes… there was not enough space.”
Classmate: “Not enough space? I heard Mrs. Sudha just wanted to use you to prepare the team.”
Me: “What do you mean?”
Classmate: “Don’t you know her? She is partial. She is the most selfish woman I’ve ever seen.”
Me: “You mean she planned to drop me from the start?”
Classmate: “I think so. We all do. Didn’t you really want to come to the exhibition?”
Me: “Of course! I never get these opportunities. Somehow, by the time I hear about them, they’re all gone!”
Classmate: “God, talk to your class teacher about it, tell her what happened…”
I inform my class teacher Mrs. Surekha.
Mrs. Surekha: “Kushal, she cannot do that. You signed up for it. She accepted. You are going. I’ll take care of it for you. Have a seat. Amma, call Sudha, please.”
Mrs. Sudha walks in with style.
Mrs. Sudha: “Surekha, you called me?”
Mrs. Surekha: “Sudha, my student told me that he signed up for the Science Exhibition, and now he’s being told he isn’t going. Is this true?”
Mrs. Sudha: “Yes Surekha, I told him, that there is not enough space…”
Mrs. Surekha: “But he says he signed up first. Is that true? He also says he helped you put the team together.”
Mrs. Sudha: “Surekha, try to understand. How can I take him? Look at him—he’s so shabby. The image of the school will be spoilt.”
My heart instantly sank.
Mrs. Surekha (visibly frustrated): “Sudha, Kushal is a great child. He is always well-behaved. I don’t understand what you mean. He even helped you with the preparation. Tell me—did anyone else on the team help you with that?”
Mrs. Sudha: “I know he did… but I can’t. He’s not smart enough.”
Mrs. Surekha (stands up & stares into Mrs. Sudha’s Eyes): “You are taking Kushal with you. End of discussion.”
Mrs. Sudha: “Surekha… okay… fine…” walks out the door muttering to herself something I couldn’t decipher…
Mrs. Surekha smiled gently: “Kushal, I’m sorry you had to hear all that. You will participate in the competition, child. I’ll make sure of it. If anyone troubles you, tell me. I’ll take care of it. Here, I have an extra sandwich, have child.”
Was this really happening? Was I going to the FIRST opportunity of my LIFE? Why was Mrs. Surkha so kind to me? Is she an Angel? No one had stood up for me all these years when I was Slapped and… no… don’t go there… this is a happy moment…
Tears start swelling in my eyes.
Me: “Ma’am.. I… Thank you ma’am… I can’t thank you enough… You stood up for me… no one ever has…”
Mrs. Surekha: “I admire your honesty. You will do well. I’m sure of it.”
Me: “Thank you ma’am”
My team won first place in the competition. For the first time through my school, I truly realised my potential — all thanks to a kind and generous teacher. 🙂
That day, I made a promise to myself that I will always, come what may, stand up for anyone who seeks opportunities. I strongly believe in equality of opportunity. There will only be a single winner, but there must never be any barrier to participation. This philosophy has stayed with me—a lifelong learning.
Mrs. Surekha and I spent time during lunch breaks talking about the subjects she taught. I fascinated her with the way I thought about things. She believed I just needed a “push.” She shared with me the intersection of fulfilment, which had four elements: Love, Skill, Service, and Wealth.
Have you ever been treated unfairly? Have you ever been hurt emotionally by another person? Have you ever felt powerless? Can travelling just two kilometres in a different direction completely change your life?
That one day:
When I was 9, I first heard the buzz about my rebellious grandfather. I had no memory of him. I asked my Dad: “Dad!? are the stories true?”
Dad: “Yes. The stories are indeed true.”
I sat on the edge of my seat as my Dad recounted my grandfather’s real story and how he was inspired by Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
“…He stood firmly at five feet four inches tall, sported a handlebar moustache—and wore crisp formals. On paper, he was a clerk. In the real world, he was something else (out of a novel). What truly set him apart were three abilities: first, immense knowledge; second, the skill to connect the dots; and third, the gift of connecting with anyone. Before long, on his own merit, he would build extraordinary networks, and leverage them, to change people’s lives for the better…”
Dad added: “…I’d watch all kinds of people—labourers, farmers, coolies, the educated, business folks, politicians, and even others I can’t quite name... visit our home, and consult him because he could solve problems that no one else could. He became wildly successful. His success is rebellious at its core - he shattered what it meant to be just a clerk into a million pieces.”
I thought to myself: “If someone who lived an underprivileged life for decades, coming from a family of seven brothers (so many mouths to feed!)—can skyrocket to such a level of success, then there’s always a way to make your dreams come true. If you can influence others, there’s no limit to your success. Influence is the name of the game. AND you can surely do what your heart says is correct. Rebellion is the real deal.” I can’t describe what I felt that day. It was one of the most profound moments of my formative years!
The same year, in autumn 2011, my dad brought home a second-hand Jet-Black iPhone 3G. I was instantly captivated by the design and the touch screen.
Have you ever been drawn to an object — only to discover the story behind it was even more captivating?
My dad shared a gripping story about how the iPhone came into existence. I hung onto every word as he spoke about Steve Jobs—a college dropout, written off as a failure by traditional norms—who defied all odds to become a legendary figure in the personal computing revolution. I immediately pulled up the recording of Steve Jobs unveiling the iPhone—on my dad’s own iPhone. I couldn’t get Steve’s presentation out of my head till date:
“An iPod, an Internet communicator, and a phone… are you getting it? These are not three separate devices.”
The crowd erupted!
“It is one device, and we are calling it… the iPhone.” More cheering. More gasps.
In many ways, Steve reminded me of my grandfather. Both were written off by the world, both defied expectations—and both proved to me, that rebellion is the only path to success.
One name kept surfacing in the background of Steve’s philosophy—Ayn Rand. I uncovered how her escape from Soviet Russia, her journey to build a life in America, and her authorship of a radical worldview had influenced Steve. Her objectivist ideals—centred on reason, individualism, and purposeful creation—echoed throughout Steve’s work, and I followed suit. I devoured Atlas Shrugged like something inside me had been waiting for it all along, like a vacuum had formed—and that book was the only thing that could fill it.
In December 2011, my dad showed me a quote that hit like lightning. It read:
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” — George Bernard Shaw
It all started to click. I instantly connected it to Apple’s iconic “Think Different” campaign from 1997. The spirit of rebellion, of challenging the status quo, of daring to dream boldly—it was all there. I could hear Richard Dreyfuss’ voice echoing in my mind: “Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
The beliefs of these icons (from my grandfather to Ayn Rand) were forever etched in my heart, soul, and overall persona. My life long learnings from 2011:
Sheer belief and commitment to the self in any endeavor. Everything that isn't tied to your goal is a distraction—run it on autopilot or outsource it.
There is only one way to view the world: always see it as a whole, and then connect the dots.
Money will flow to you if you follow your love, commitment, kaizen, authenticity, and step into abundance.
Unleash the beast—the lion within. You need its spirit if you want to do something remarkable—like entrepreneurship.
Always have strong beliefs in your ambition. Your beliefs determine your journey and your outcome.
****
Also, @ Age 9:
I come from a family that placed a huge emphasis on diverse experiences—mathematics (abacus), logic, reasoning, communication, sketching, developing the mind, building the right attitude, and music. From a very young age, my parents got me addicted to quenching my curiosity. They always found a way to keep my mind engaged through brain games, puzzles, CDs, DVDs, and non-fiction Books, no matter the circumstance.
My parents, in pursuit of better education for me, changed my school in 4th Standard. My new school was just 2 kilometres apart from my previous school. My new school had the who’s who of Bangalore attending it. From our shoes to our posture, everything had to be on point. And wherever an international brand had a product, the school made it a requirement.
My parents were beyond excited. They told me, “Son, you’ve joined a new school. It’s one of the best. We’re so excited for you!”
I was nervous. The school intimidated me—it felt bigger, sharper, stricter. I felt foreign in this new place, like I didn’t quite belong. As I made my way to an empty bench on my first day, I could feel all eyes fixed on me.
10 minutes later… the teacher introduced herself and began having us introduce ourselves one by one.
Mrs. In-Charge was a tall and well-built woman. She wore a thick black bindi and a white saree. She introduced herself as a perfectionist. She warned the class that students in her previous school, where she taught, had fallen victim to her slapping, and warned us that we shouldn’t test her patience. She never told us her name, and instructed us to call her as Ma’am.
The class was silent.
I understood English perfectly well, but when it came to speaking, I preferred Kannada everywhere—except when I was with my parents.
It was my turn now. I stood up.
"Nanna hesaru Kushal, nan Baldwins inda bandidini" (My name is Kushal, and I've come from Baldwin's)
The class erupted in laughter.
Feeling embarrassed, I looked down at my toes.
Mrs. In-Charge: "Also, we only speak in English here. Can you introduce yourself again? Go."
Me: "Okae… miss, my na…me Kushal, I came fro..m uh… Baldwin's."
The class erupted in more laughter; this time, fingers were pointing at me. I turned red like a tomato.
Mrs. In-Charge: "SILENCE! Do you not know how to speak English?"
I started to Panic!
Me: "I don’t… I know, miss."
Mrs. In-Charge: "Is that ‘know’ or ‘don’t know’?"
Me: "I kn…ow, miss."
Mrs. In-Charge: "We only say ‘Ma’am.’ Sit down."
I wished the ground would swallow me whole.
Before the last student finished introducing himself…
*RRINGGGGG*
Mrs. In-Charge: “Open your snack boxes everyone, it is time for the snacks break."
If you had been sitting in the classroom, you would have witnessed something you would not have forgotten for the rest of your life!
I opened my snacks box and turned to my neighbour "Adh yen thintiradu, modlu nodilla hantadau, channagi idhena?" (What's that you're eating, I haven't seen that before, do you like it?"
He went "What?"
I managed to string together a few words in english: "You're eating different, what is it?"
He YELLED: "MA'AM! HE IS INSULTING ME!"
My heart dropped eight floors, straight into the basement.
Mrs. In-Charge yelled her lungs out: "KUSHAL, IS THAT RIGHT?"
"No miss…"
"How many times do I have to tell you to use the word ma'am! AND you have serious behaviour problems!"
The classmate added, "Ma'am, he was talking in Kannada and using bad words!"
The teacher bangs her hand on the table, stands up furiously, and stares down into my soul.
Tears began swelling in my eyes.
Grinding her teeth: " I wonder how anyone even selected you, you are an embarrassment to this school, I am going to talk to the Principal! APOLOGISE TO HIM!"
Crying profusely, I mumbled "So..r.r.y"
"Don't think you are any smart, child. And, what is it with you speaking that village language in this class!"
"No ma’am…"
The teacher went louder and louder - “Kushal, I need to make it clear, we DO NOT TOLERATE SUCH BEHAVIOUR HERE, you will NEVER be forgiven for this!”
She walks over to me, drags me to the front of the class.
SLAPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!
She slapped me, and pushed me so hard that I fell back and hit the blackboard.
“Never think you will amount to anything in your lifetime, liar! You parents must be ashamed of you!"
“GET LOST! GO TO YOUR BENCH!”
The teacher left the class without saying anything. As she left, I made my way to my bench in tears.
I felt cheated. Not one person - classmate or teacher cared to listen to what had actually happened. I was labelled by my neighbour as the "outcast".
****
I had failed—on day one. But to me, failure didn’t mean anything. What got to me was the insult and humiliation. She had insulted me on my first day, and kicked me to the rock bottom.
I was ANGRY! And I was HURT!
The insult was so intense that all I wanted to do was prove my teacher wrong. But strangely I was torn between two absolutely conflicting emotions: the intense desire to explain myself versus the fear of being further humiliated. From time to time, the desire to prove my teacher wrong still kept simmering within but the FEAR kept on winning every single time.
As they say, “everything happens for a reason” and “you can connect the dots only looking backwards”. Today I feel extremely lucky to have experienced such an incident early in life.
****
A couple of months after the incident, my dad, mom, and me were travelling to North Karnataka. While sitting beside my dad in the front passenger seat (he was driving), I asked him innocently:
Me: “Pappa nan school yaak change maddri?” (“Dad, why did you change my school?”)
Dad: “Because your old school was not good. Also, why are you speaking in Kannada? I told you to practice speaking in English, right?”
Me: “Okay. But... I miss my friends.”
Dad: “This school is better. You’ll make new friends here.”
Me: “……”
Dad: "What's the matter?"
Me: “Yavudadru ond story helu” (“Tell me any story.”)
Dad: “Okay… but ask again in English.”
Me: “Tell me a story”
Dad: “Good. Did you know that your grandfather wanted me to become a doctor?"
My father was a Software Engineer, graduated from Gulbarga University.
Me: “Wha— I can't imagine you as a doctor.”
Dad: “And he wanted my brother, who is a doctor, to become an engineer.”
Me: “But he turned out to be a doctor.”
Dad: “Exactly. Do you know how he became a doctor while I became an engineer?”
Me: “How did it happen?”
Dad: “I never got the seat to become a doctor, but my brother did—or rather, he almost did.”
Me: “What do you mean?”
Dad: “He got a rank good enough to secure a seat, along with a few others. But as you might know, there are merit-based and management quota seats. My brother, and a few others who qualified for medical college, couldn't get the seat because some people had paid large donations to secure those seats.”
Me: “But that’s unfair!”
Dad: “Life is unfair.”
My dad is the tough-love type.
Me: “What do you mean, life is unfair?” (The wound from school was still fresh. I felt cheated in that incident... Is this what I should always expect from life? I thought.)
Dad: “Listen to me... life is unfair only when you’re unresourceful. Yes, your grandfather couldn’t match the donations, but he did something brilliant.”
Me: "Dad, what's being resourceful?"
Dad: “See, you might not always have everything you want. But when you’re resourceful, you take whatever you have, use it to get what you want. And remember—you always have something.”
Me: “That makes sense."
What followed was the most thrilling account: how my grandfather not only got my uncle a seat—without spending a single extra rupee—in one of the top medical colleges, but also helped many more students get admitted that year, without upsetting a single party!
Dad: “Your grandfather didn’t just think about his own son. He went beyond his family and changed the fortunes of many families—by connecting the dots of legal provisions, and by accelerating the approval of new medical seats. He played a masterstroke! If you want to be successful like your grandfather, always think beyond yourself.”
Me: “That’s awesome!”
Dad: “Yes. But what made it possible is this—he was able to connect the dots like no one else could. By connecting things no one saw a connection between, he turned a grim situation into a golden opportunity!"
Me: “Dad, what do you mean by connecting the dots? I’ve only heard Steve Jobs say it before. But every time you talk about Ajja (Grandfather)... you say the same.”
Dad: "Connecting the dots is like looking at all the stars in the sky and forming a constellation. The stars are always there—but the shape only forms when you connect them. Similarly, your mind has all the stars... all the dots of information. The more stars you collect, the more constellations you can create. And that’s how you make sense of the world.
Can any other teacher in the world make a 9-year-old understand strategy, and connecting the dots—just through a story about his grandfather?
On the return journey, I sat again in the front passenger’s seat. My dad understood. I was eager for another story.
Dad: "Whatever you do in life, make sure you’re in the top 5%."
Me: "What does that mean?"
Dad: "Never be average. Always be one of the few at the top."
Me: "Top of what?"
Dad: "Even among beggars, there are those who are at the top. How much do you think a regular beggar earns in a day?"
Me: "I don’t know… 50-100 rupees?"
Dad: "How much do you think the top beggar earns?"
Me: "I don't know."
Dad: "Multiply that by five and add a zero. That might be your answer."
Me: "5,000 rupees a day?"
Dad "Yes. In everything, being really good at what you do is the way to be."
Me: "Dad, even in school?"
Dad: "Yes—but even more so in the work that you do. Do you have a goal?"
Me: "I don't know what my goal is. Being a Scientist would be cool."
Dad: "Scientist, nice. Before you set a goal, you must know what you really want, and then aim for the best. I’ve told you about Steve Jobs. Want to know about Bill Gates?"
Me: "Yes! He dropped out of college too!"
Dad: "Just so you know, dropping out of school isn’t an option for you."
Me: "If they dropped out and became so successful, why isn’t it an option for me?"
Dad: "Steve Jobs went to Reed College—but still took calligraphy classes. He didn’t stop learning. And Bill Gates went to Harvard, the #1 university in the world. Once you get in, then you can drop out."
Me: "But if I know I can get there, why do I have to pay the fees, sit in a few classes, and leave?"
Dad: “You need an idea first. Bill Gates knew what he wanted to build. So did Steve Jobs. Without an idea, dropping out is risky. Secondly, once they were admitted into Harvard, they were positioned in the world as smart and ambitious people.”
Me: “What does ‘positioned’ mean?”
Dad: “What’s the best butter?”
Me: “Amul Butter Hai Asli Butter!”
Dad: “What’s the best soap?”
Me: “Medimix”
Dad: “I know you like the Medimix smell, but the nation believes the best soap to be Dettol. Do you know why?”
Me: “Why.”
Dad: “Because they have convinced the nation that it kills 99% of germs.”
Me: “Yes, I know.”
Dad: “Then why didn’t you tell?”
Me: “Because Medimix smells so good…”
Dad: "But do you open the packet and smell it before buying?"
Me: “No.”
Dad: “That’s why Dettol is the #1 soap. Because they have convinced the nation that even before washing their hands, that Dettol’s soap is the most powerful germ killing product! It may or may not kill 99% of the germs. But because people believe it so, they think it is the best soap. Same way you sang ‘Amul Butter Hai Asli Butter.’”
Me: “Don’t people want to check?”
Dad: "Even if there’s another soap that kills 99% of germs, would you buy it if no one ever told you about it?"
Me: "No… So we can say whatever we want?"
Dad: "No, just saying it isn’t enough. You have to say it over and over again until it becomes a connection. How many times have you watched the Amul ad?"
Me: "I don’t know… It comes every time I watch cartoons. So—many, many times."
Dad: "Exactly. That’s why you remember it so well."
Me: “Ohhh…”
Dad: "And do you notice something?"
Me: “What?”
Dad: "When we go to a store and ask for butter, we ask for Amul. And if it’s out of stock, we ask, ‘When will it come back?’—instead of picking the same butter from another brand."
Me: “So all butter is the same?”
Dad: "Of course! We can make delicious butter at home."
Me: "I know! But I thought Amul butter was a different type of butter."
Dad: (Chuckles) "It’s the same butter. Maybe it tastes a little different. But it’s the #1 butter because your mind believes: Butter = Amul."
Me: “That’s like Snacks=Kurkure!”
Dad: (Sternly) "Focus. It’s because when we think of butter, we think of Amul. Just like… Thanda (cold)…"
Me: “Matlab Coca-Cola!”
Dad: “Jaha tandurusti hai waha…”
Me: “Dad, it’s Lifebuoy hai waha tandurusti hai!”
Dad: “Exactly, it comes so fast.”
Me: “Woaaaaah! I never thought of it that way!
Then Dad gave me three powerful positioning lessons. How a small association of farmers started in 1946 to rebel against a dominant monopoly and went on to build a massive brand fascinated me no end. He told me three things that amuse me even to this day:
The fact that Amul Doodh Peetha Hai India changed the perception of milk from being seen as just a childhood or bedtime beverage to a youthful, energetic, and essential drink. Instantly, milk sales skyrocketed.
The fact about how Amul attached itself to the sentiment of rebellion as India was finding its own identity. It fought the exploitation of local milk producers, where the middle men would wipe out the money which belong to the farmers. When the British Raj ordered the farmers to quit the movement, they didn’t give up. Amul prevailed. Amul equalled Rebellion.
The fact that people ask exclusively for Amul, instead of Amul having to ask people one by one to buy their products.
Dad used to tell me tens of such stories every week. With every conversation with Dad, my command of the English language organically improved within just a year.
I got so sensationally enamoured of ‘POSITIONING’ that all I tried to do all the time was analyse all the ways it was done to people, things, nations, companies, narratives, anything that was a part of my life.
****
After the academic year was over, my parents were alarmed by the marks I scored. I hadn’t told parents about my first day, so they didn’t know the reason behind my lousy performance. According to my lazy teachers who encouraged learning by rote, it was all my fault that I hadn’t memorised enough. However, my parents empathized with me, and encouraged me to learn through understanding and never through rote, even if meant 10-20% lesser marks in the exam.
By mid-5th Grade, I caught up with my peers, and surpassed most of them. Delighted with an uptick in my performance, my dad purchased a Google Nexus tablet for me as a reward. He instructed me to use it wisely. Every day, he would remind me 3-4 more times to keep my usage in check and be careful of the sites I visited.
Once I set my Tab up, and I created my first Gmail account, I began browsing Apps to Install, I came across two applications: First, “The Economist” and Second, “Economic Times”. I had no Idea what I had just done when I installed the first one to just “explore” – I kickstarted an obsession that lasts till today.
At first, I found it difficult to read and my reading speed was slow. The Economist is anyway boring for most people to read. The suggestion he gave me, took down both the birds with a single stone!
My Dad suggested that I gain a basic understanding of all the disciplines of the world: Economics, Science and Technology, Business, Marketing, Positioning, Art, Storytelling, Language, Culture, War, Nations, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and History through explainer videos and documentaries. He nudged me to think of everything as a “Grand Story”. If I got stuck on a difficult topic, I’d ask my dad about it when he returned home from office in the evening, and he would conclude by giving me five more topics to explore.
Freakonomics podcast episodes and early CrashCourse YouTube videos planted the seeds of my obsession with unseen connections and mental models. My ALL TIME favourite... Top Gear (UK) taught me so much about engineering, sarcasm, and storytelling than any school lecture! When I felt on the edge, I would push myself further with Vice documentaries—raw, gritty, and borderline dangerous. They showed me underground economies, rogue nations, and Silicon Valley obsession in a way that no classroom ever could. Even Brain Games (National Geographic) blew my mind, along with dozens of other independent youtube channels. TIME WELL SPENT!
Reading The Economist became a cakewalk after this investment. I now had a mesh of how the world works, and everything here on was like solving a big fun jigsaw puzzle – I just had to find the right place to put the pieces! It’s an understatement to say that The Economist became insanely fun to read for me!
I loved Dad’s reasoning for understanding everything as a story, even if it was learning mathematics. I still can’t forget what he once told me when I asked him “Why stories?”
His answer: “You will never remember what I told you. But you will remember how I told it to you. If I told you straight up to learn positioning and left it at that, you might have forgotten it. But because I told it to you in the middle of our conversation, and told a story about it, you don’t just remember what positioning is, you remember how positioning feels. So, when you understand everything as a story, the learning becomes a part of you.”
Since then, learning through stories has been my all-time favourite hobby. It feels ecstatic. Getting into the experience of someone who has radically different perspectives on the world is like a ticket to every show on earth — past, present, and future. It kickstarts my brain to connect seemingly disparate dots of information to compose a harmonic meaning. Learning through someone who is more mature, has had more experiences, more knowledge — in any medium: CDs, books, DVDs, video tapes, independent articles — puts me on cloud nine. I can spend limitless hours with great materials.
I carried my curiosity into my school, but it was met with such disdain by every teacher! I was already growing frustrated that:
Teachers did not improve our performance. Every year, the same students who were the toppers the previous year remained toppers in the present year. The average or below-average students never got the attention in class to improve their marks.
Most of us in the class were lagging behind, and parents were blind to what happens in the classroom. The classroom was a place where frequent purges of freedom and expression took place. Every PTM was the same — throwing darts blindfolded, hoping that we students improved in our performance.
Friends were not really friends. Friends frequently bitched about each other. No one spoke of anything meaningful. It was petty fights everywhere. Such a waste of time.
Every year started off with the excitement of a fresh new academic year. Yet, it was always a repeat of the previous year. The excitement quickly died. The classes turned boring, the students were punished for being disengaged — stagnant performance, rinse and repeat.
On paper, we had one full sports class a week, but we never played for the whole duration. I loved sports. I couldn’t wait to let my body loose and shoot some baskets.
One day, I decided to ask one of my burning questions. I wanted to know the real reason behind studying mathematics.
I raised my hand.
Maths Teacher: “Yes, Kushal.”
She was 5’1”, wore a red and blue saree, and loved talking about her cat to no end. She had a shrill voice.
I stood up and asked politely: “Ma’am, could you give us the reason behind studying mathematics?”
Maths Teacher: “Do you want to fail?”
Classmates in unison: Kushaaaaal, sit downnn. Don’t create a sceneee.
Maths Teacher: “I asked you a question.”
Me: “No ma’am, I want to score well. What does my question have to do with my marks?”
Maths Teacher: “Your question is silly. Don’t waste my time and your classmates’ time with silly questions.”
Me: “Ma’am, I don’t think it is silly. I’m curious to know wh-”
Maths Teacher: “GET. OUT. OF. MY. CLASS."
For the next five days, I was punished by being made to sit on the floor. I happily obliged—until my curiosity got the best of me and I asked, “Ma’am, you didn’t answer the question I asked on Tuesday…”
I was asked to walk out of the class again. I never understood, to this day, why asking for the reason to study a subject was met with such consequences. It didn’t stop me from asking the other teachers.
The standard answer I received to “Why” was:
“You will understand one day”
“It is important because it is part of your syllabus”
“Don’t you want to be smart?”
Or the one that puzzled me the most: “You will understand when you have kids of your own”
Baffling
I couldn’t help but wonder….
Were students really not curious to know why a subject was studied?
Were the teachers unaware of the reason why mathematics is a subject they teach?
Was there no outcome to the subjects I was studying beyond just “marks”?
Everyone had a half-convincing answer to “Why school?” or “Why work hard?” But no one in my school had even a fraction of an answer to the question: “Why Maths? Why Science? Why History? Why English Grammar? Why a Second Language?”
What were we supposed to do with what we learnt the previous year? We never used any of that knowledge again in the next.
Not so fun exercise: You can take these same questions and apply it to whatever you are doing today – work or learning. You may come to the shocking realisation that we barely understand the reason behind the things we learn or do!
I took it onto myself to find the answers. Here’s what I discovered in 5th Std:
Mathematics is the language of the universe. It gives us eyes to see what we physically can’t. Take gravity—we don’t see it, we feel it. Mathematics helps us explain such abstract “feelings”. With the help of maths and physics, we are able to understand it so precisely that we predict the movement of satellites and planets with mind-blowing accuracy.
Grammar is more than rules—it’s time travel. It lets us jump across the past, present, and future without a clock – Past, Present & Future. Just the words “What if…” makes us imagine: “What if I were you?” .
Even how we ask for help—“Can you help me?” vs. “Would you be so kind as to help?”—affects how others feel. Grammar is a superpower.
History shows you the constructive and destructive sides of a human, and just how each of us are capable of both at any time. AND, I learnt that most of our mistakes are a repetition of our own previous mistakes or a mistake already committed by someone else. History is all about the lessons.
Science is the reason I can write to you. Five hundred years ago, all parts of the world looked the same. Today, the difference between Silicon Valley, California and Kabul, Afghanistan is as stark as day and night. The only difference is Science and the way it is used in Technology.
Most teachers hesitate to explain why mathematics is taught because they try to explain using logic – to which a student often replies: “I’ll use a calculator”. However, the real reason behind studying mathematics is to explain and understand the vast cosmos, starting here on earth.
Yes, most attendees of school are not curious.
****
My parents encouraged me to just learn, learn, and learn—and I took a fancy to it. In the absence of friends after school (who would have gobbled up 3–4 hours each day talking about useless topics without purpose), I had enough time to immerse myself in reading and watching documentaries for hours on end. Pragmatic success lessons from the most successful people and brands in the world were revealed to me in the form of gripping stories—dropped right into my lap! And thus began my soul’s biggest fixation—a fixation on satisfying my never-ending curiosity—one that continues to grow larger and stronger to this day. I soaked in every single documentary I watched. I could grasp the meaning because I invested time in understanding the basics of all the disciplines in the world.
The documentaries and publications that left the deepest mark on me included Robbins Madanes, The Economist, Atlas Shrugged, Positioning, Stephen Hawking’s works, Influence, Maverick, Aaron Clarey, Britannica’s Encyclopaedia Collection (32 volumes), National Geographic, Meditations, Man’s Search for Meaning, The Innovator’s Dilemma, and On the Origin of Species. Each of these masterpieces was a mental thrill ride. With every new insight, I felt increasingly sharpened, refined, and ready to take on the world.
As I read even more complex stuff, I faced two new problems: poor vocabulary and recall. I got so frustrated by my limited vocabulary that I binge-watched every vocabulary video on YouTube. I even asked my dad for a Kindle that could help improve my vocabulary on the fly. Within the next year, my vocabulary problem was solved, once and for all.
Every evening, Dad dedicated two hours—from 7PM to 9PM—to teaching me Mathematics and Physics. He emphasized “understanding the logic” and developing a “step-by-step system”, which initially felt foreign to my abacus-trained mind. He instructed me: “Do what you do mentally. Just make sure to write down whatever you did, because teachers are instructed to grade you on steps.” I followed his method faithfully—and it paid off brilliantly.
In addition, my mother, Sunita, made me fall in love with creativity and expression. By the time I turned 18, I had crafted over 850 unique creations—ranging from music (I was trained to play the keyboard at age 6) to writing. I also started to write during my “alone” moments.
The only problem was that my recall speed and capacity were poor for the materials I was reading.
To fix this problem, Mom suggested that I remember in pictures, not information. To test it out, I decided to read even more on the basic human disciplines my Dad had suggested. However, this time it was a double bind—a dilemma. To create the pictures, I had to understand the meaning. To understand the meaning, I had to know the context, which was often elaborate. To remember the elaborate context, I had to create pictures.
Mom suggested a different approach. She encouraged me to watch documentaries and movies. Around the same time, Discovery Channel, History Channel, HBO, and SnagFilms were available over cable and internet streaming in my home. She also suggested watching foreign programmes on TV with her. It took me 3.5 years, but I must say I have never made a better investment in my life.
Watching Final Destination turned out to be an unexpectedly extraordinary investment — it exploded the limits of my imagination. I learned about World War I & II, the Six-Day War, space exploration, human behavior, design, creative thinking, and a zillion other disciplines — from the 2008 financial crisis to the inner workings of gigantic factories, to how things are made, and the stunning innovations in science and technology. I also grasped the duality of our world in a way textbooks never could. The visuals proved extremely useful. For instance, imagine a deep dive into the coral reefs of Australia — no biology or science book can match the learning of a single picture. Charlie Chaplin, Space Exploration, MythBusters, Do or Die, Animated Films, Three Identical Strangers, Miss Representation, Life in a Day, Jiro Dreams of Sushi — each slingshot me into thinking like a creator, not just a consumer. I ended up watching more than 250 documentaries on almost every subject in the world. THE GREATEST ROI OF MY LIFE!
My memory became like Google after this investment. My obsession with imagination catapulted into building elaborate mind palaces. Just like my Dad’s answer for “Why stories?”, I loved Mom’s reasoning for imagining in visuals:
My mom’s explanation: “The Taj Mahal was built twice. First in the mind. Someone who has created a masterpiece must have first imagined it. Now, let’s say this person had all the skills and ability to create the masterpiece. Can they create it by ‘accident,’ without following an imagination, even if they do not realise it? Obviously not. They imagine it first in their mind’s eye and then it is created. So, in effect, the person with a vivid imagination can dream of any future — and the way to create it. Not only that, your mind becomes an infinite whiteboard in three dimensions.”
****
In 8th Standard, I got my first opportunity to participate in a Science Competition. I signed up the moment I heard about it. In fact, I was the first to do so. Mrs. Sudha, who was in charge of the team representing the school, tasked me with putting together a team of six students who showed genuine interest.
Mrs. Sudha carried herself seriously. She was around 5 and a half feet tall, wore light-coloured kurtis, and was always seen with her favourite students. She displayed strong contempt for those who weren’t from her class. I wasn’t from her class. No one wanted to end up on her wrong side — not even the teachers.
I did as she asked and recruited a team of six who were raring to go. Mrs. Sudha had a favourite student who hadn’t signed up yet. She insisted that he sign up and assured me she would find a way to accommodate all of us. I convinced him to join.
The next day, Mrs. Sudha told me that she had decided to drop me from the team. She said I wasn’t cut out for it and that the team needed “better talent.” I was dejected, but I smiled and said, “No worries, Ma’am. I’ll participate in the next competition.” She walked away.
A few hours later, a classmate runs to me panting: “Kushal, I heard that you’ve been dropped from the team?”
I replied: “Yes… there was not enough space.”
Classmate: “Not enough space? I heard Mrs. Sudha just wanted to use you to prepare the team.”
Me: “What do you mean?”
Classmate: “Don’t you know her? She is partial. She is the most selfish woman I’ve ever seen.”
Me: “You mean she planned to drop me from the start?”
Classmate: “I think so. We all do. Didn’t you really want to come to the exhibition?”
Me: “Of course! I never get these opportunities. Somehow, by the time I hear about them, they’re all gone!”
Classmate: “God, talk to your class teacher about it, tell her what happened…”
I inform my class teacher Mrs. Surekha.
Mrs. Surekha: “Kushal, she cannot do that. You signed up for it. She accepted. You are going. I’ll take care of it for you. Have a seat. Amma, call Sudha, please.”
Mrs. Sudha walks in with style.
Mrs. Sudha: “Surekha, you called me?”
Mrs. Surekha: “Sudha, my student told me that he signed up for the Science Exhibition, and now he’s being told he isn’t going. Is this true?”
Mrs. Sudha: “Yes Surekha, I told him, that there is not enough space…”
Mrs. Surekha: “But he says he signed up first. Is that true? He also says he helped you put the team together.”
Mrs. Sudha: “Surekha, try to understand. How can I take him? Look at him—he’s so shabby. The image of the school will be spoilt.”
My heart instantly sank.
Mrs. Surekha (visibly frustrated): “Sudha, Kushal is a great child. He is always well-behaved. I don’t understand what you mean. He even helped you with the preparation. Tell me—did anyone else on the team help you with that?”
Mrs. Sudha: “I know he did… but I can’t. He’s not smart enough.”
Mrs. Surekha (stands up & stares into Mrs. Sudha’s Eyes): “You are taking Kushal with you. End of discussion.”
Mrs. Sudha: “Surekha… okay… fine…” walks out the door muttering to herself something I couldn’t decipher…
Mrs. Surekha smiled gently: “Kushal, I’m sorry you had to hear all that. You will participate in the competition, child. I’ll make sure of it. If anyone troubles you, tell me. I’ll take care of it. Here, I have an extra sandwich, have child.”
Was this really happening? Was I going to the FIRST opportunity of my LIFE? Why was Mrs. Surkha so kind to me? Is she an Angel? No one had stood up for me all these years when I was Slapped and… no… don’t go there… this is a happy moment…
Tears start swelling in my eyes.
Me: “Ma’am.. I… Thank you ma’am… I can’t thank you enough… You stood up for me… no one ever has…”
Mrs. Surekha: “I admire your honesty. You will do well. I’m sure of it.”
Me: “Thank you ma’am”
My team won first place in the competition. For the first time through my school, I truly realised my potential — all thanks to a kind and generous teacher. 🙂
That day, I made a promise to myself that I will always, come what may, stand up for anyone who seeks opportunities. I strongly believe in equality of opportunity. There will only be a single winner, but there must never be any barrier to participation. This philosophy has stayed with me—a lifelong learning.
Mrs. Surekha and I spent time during lunch breaks talking about the subjects she taught. I fascinated her with the way I thought about things. She believed I just needed a “push.” She shared with me the intersection of fulfilment, which had four elements: Love, Skill, Service, and Wealth.
Love: Do you feel a deep love for the work you do? Can you teach or work as passionately as Mrs. Surekha did? Do you love it so much that you’re willing to spend your lunch breaks doing it?
Skill: Are you truly good at what you do? In my father’s words, “Are you in the top 5%?” If you are, are you preparing to become the best in the world? Do you hone your skills every day? Mrs. Surekha taught me so well that both my understanding and grades improved.
Service: Are you making a real impact on people? Are you doing something beyond yourself or your family? Are you directly contributing to that impact? Mrs. Surekha helped me realize my potential like a true teacher would. Can others say that about you?
Wealth: Do you make money that satisfies you?
And finally, are you at the intersection of the four circles?
Love: Do you feel a deep love for the work you do? Can you teach or work as passionately as Mrs. Surekha did? Do you love it so much that you’re willing to spend your lunch breaks doing it?
Skill: Are you truly good at what you do? In my father’s words, “Are you in the top 5%?” If you are, are you preparing to become the best in the world? Do you hone your skills every day? Mrs. Surekha taught me so well that both my understanding and grades improved.
Service: Are you making a real impact on people? Are you doing something beyond yourself or your family? Are you directly contributing to that impact? Mrs. Surekha helped me realize my potential like a true teacher would. Can others say that about you?
Wealth: Do you make money that satisfies you?
And finally, are you at the intersection of the four circles?
Love: Do you feel a deep love for the work you do? Can you teach or work as passionately as Mrs. Surekha did? Do you love it so much that you’re willing to spend your lunch breaks doing it?
Skill: Are you truly good at what you do? In my father’s words, “Are you in the top 5%?” If you are, are you preparing to become the best in the world? Do you hone your skills every day? Mrs. Surekha taught me so well that both my understanding and grades improved.
Service: Are you making a real impact on people? Are you doing something beyond yourself or your family? Are you directly contributing to that impact? Mrs. Surekha helped me realize my potential like a true teacher would. Can others say that about you?
Wealth: Do you make money that satisfies you?
And finally, are you at the intersection of the four circles?
Our conversations often revolved around what the world could become if the answer to all those questions was a resounding “YES!”
I wanted that kind of life for myself — living at the intersection of all four circles. From that day forward, this became my personal map for life.
Am I learning? Am I actively striving to be the best at what I do?
Is it worth my time? Will it still matter to me in the next 10 months, or even 10 years?
Am I serving others? Can people say I’ve directly helped them?
Am I loving it? Does it feel like play?
Of all my school years, 8th standard was the happiest, thanks to Mrs. Surekha. It’s the only year I ever shed tears of joy. After summer vacation, I was devastated to learn she had left the school. Compared to what came after, 8th standard was my Mount Everest of happiness.
****
At the start of 9th standard, I began experiencing chest pains. I struggled to breathe, followed by a growing tightness in the middle of my chest that made moving painful. When the pain worsened, this is how I felt:
“It feels like the walls of my heart have rusted and are scratching against each other. Every breath I take makes it more painful. I can’t even think of moving until the pain subsides. It generally takes about 30 minutes to ease.”
One day, I felt an extremely tight pain in my chest and was gasping for breath. I asked my English teacher, Kavitha, if I could visit the nurse, but she replied, “Why are you interrupting the class?”
Me: “Ma’am, I feel sick.” I said sternly
Kavitha: “I don’t feel that you are sick, go to your bench. So anyways…where were we?”
Me: “Ma’am, I do… I feel I can’t breathe.”
Kavitha: “Stop wasting my time and your classmates’ time.”
I walked back to my bench clenching my chest.
I had no idea what was happening. My skin turned icy cold, sweat soaked my palms, and my left leg went numb. Each minute dragged on like an aeon. Somehow, I managed to sit through the agony until the next teacher arrived.
As soon as Mrs. Premlatha arrived, I went to her.
Me: “Ma’am, I feel sick. Can you please call the nurse?”
Premlatha: “What happened Kushal? What are you feeling?”
Me: “I.. fee..l brea..thless and sic..k…”
Premlatha: “Wait, I’ll call the nurse.”
I went to the nurse’s room while Mrs. Premlatha went to call my parents. The tightness in my chest kept growing —deeper, sharper —until I broke into tears, unable to bear the pain.
My dad finally came to pick me up. As soon as I saw him, I hugged him, tears streaming down my face like Angel Falls.
****
Later that evening, we travelled to a Cardiovascular Hospital. My Dad and I walked through the ICU, I was scared. I had never seen rows of beds filled with sick patients and their loved ones. Some all alone. I never wanted to enter this place again. This place alone could have given an anxiety attack!
After spending an entire day moving from one scan to another, I was exhausted. I just wanted to sleep.
I finally got my turn.
The doctor glanced over everything and said, “Don’t worry about the exams. You’ll be alright.”
Can you believe it?
I was so frustrated! A doctor who didn’t know his damn job! Why can’t anything in this country work well? Why does everything have to be broken, like this doctor’s brain?
I snapped back: “It’s not the exams! I know my body! The year has just started. Besides, exams never bothered me!”
Doctor: “It’s okay. Don’t worry. I’ll talk to your dad.”
I walked away fuming. WHAT AN IDIOT!
****
The next day… I returned to School. I knew things would go bad, and they did. I just didn’t expect it to go THAT BAD!
This is how my experience went for days and days—over four hundred days…
Classmate 1: “Stop over reacting Kushal, even your parents think you are joking. No one takes you seriously. Why don’t you just die?”
Me: “…..”
Classmate 2: “Leave it, he just wants attention. You’ve seen him. He thinks he is too smart, and all he tries to do is play victim so people sympathise with him”
Me: “That’s so not true!”
Classmate 1: “Haha, careful, you might die if you strain yourself.”
Classmate 3: “You’re such a waste of space, FREAK!”
Tears would swell in my eyes, as I’d feel my chest grow tighter, and my breaths shallower.
A few days later, the chest pains grew stronger and worse. My dad took me to another hospital. They tried, we tried multiple diagnoses, but nothing showed up on the doctors’ radar to deduce. I felt like I was wasting everyone’s time in these hospitals
The lines… “Never think you will amount to anything in your lifetime, liar! You parents must be ashamed of you!" kept ringing in my ears, making me sadder and sadder…
Worse, I had to wear a Holter monitor to school. It’s a device that records ECG every few seconds. There are these metallic nodes attached to your chest using sticky pads, and one of them had fallen off. It wasn’t easy to fix it alone. I didn’t ask anyone for help. I didn’t think anyone even wanted to help me, let alone be my friend.
Such occurrences with Teachers were regular:
Kavitha: “Kushal, can you help me with the books?”
Me: “Sure ma’am, just a second, I am just helping Yojith…”
Kavitha: “Oh never mind, you’re disabled, I forgot.”
The class became so silent, you could hear a pin drop.
Me (thinking): Did she just say that?
Just when life had shown me a teacher like Mrs. Surekha, it decided to rob me of my happiness, and peace for the next two years.
At this point, my blood was boiling. I was losing my cool over how I was being treated. The realisation that the world runs on one thing alone — what people think of you — was painfully, excruciatingly dawning on me.
I was battling an intense turmoil of loneliness, depression, physical pain, humiliation, disrespect, and bullying. However, to the outside world, I was seen as an overreacting, attention-seeking parasite. This was made painfully clear when Nihal, one of my classmates, drew a hangman on the board and wrote below it: “Kushal is dead, just like Avicii.”
I just wanted someone to comfort me and tell me that I would be alright. I longed for that—for those two years—until my spirit broke, and I felt that no one really cared enough to show it, I gave up.
To say that this was the darkest time of my life would be an understatement!
Even my mom and dad remained silent. They didn’t know what to say, nor did they want to say anything. I would look into my family’s eyes for answers, and I found none. I had never felt so “alone.”
****
I started to hate authority in all its forms. Everyone who was supposed to be there for me had betrayed me. I didn’t care for:
Respecting anyone for their age anymore.
Respecting anyone for their profession.
Respecting anyone for their speeches.
Respecting anyone for their blood relations.
Respecting anyone because others did so.
I cared about one thing and one thing alone: Was your heart as big as Mrs. Surekha’s? If yes, you had my respect. If not, you had to earn it. The rest of them could go burn in hell!
To express, create, and transmute my inner turmoil, I started writing songs. I found my escape. No one understands—nor will anyone ever realize—just how much music saved my life. I wouldn’t be here today without it. I feel its impact deep in my gut.
All I craved was to go home, pour out my heavy heart, and mix it all into a cocktail of pure ecstasy and bliss—set to a four-on-the-floor beat.
I convinced my Dad to get me a MacBook Pro. Over two years, I produced 450 songs. It’s funny how much you can create when emotions are coursing through your body. Even in this furnace of a time, I learned what it truly means to transmute energy. I started breathwork and grew spiritual. I felt the need for a philosophy—because my world had completely crashed.
Then, just as I was sitting on a chair, I collapsed. I felt myself plop onto the ground. Tears poured from my eyes. A warm feeling flowed through me—something I hadn’t felt in months. I gave in to it.
Bliss. For 2 minutes.
Even with my deep study of neuroscience, I refuse to believe that experience was just a chemical reaction. It felt like I was protected, and that my pain was not going unnoticed.
Throughout my school years, I never put my talents and knowledge to use except in front of my parents. Every time I tried to put my talents to use, my teacher’s words kept coming back to my mind. "I wonder how anyone even selected you, you are an embarrassment to this school… Don't think you are any smart, child. And, what is it with you speaking that village language in this class! Never think you will amount to anything in your lifetime, liar! You parents must be ashamed of you!". It was not confidence. It was that the world thinks I am a liar, an embarrassment, and a waste of space. The more I tried to showcase my talents, the more I would go deeper into my world of books / documentaries / TV / writing.
BUT, Even Darkness eventually gets tired of itself, and calls upon the Light.
****
By age 17, I had my first label release. My music had reached listeners in 92 countries. It was played on Alta Gracia, in Argentina; LifeTalk Music, in Ugandan; Radio Judaïca Bruxelles in Belgium; and I even got a mention in the newspaper. I received 100s of messages from strangers telling me how my music had “uplifted” their spirits during tough times.
While chatting with one of my “fans,” she grew curious about my story (our identities were hidden since I released music under an alias). We spoke regularly for a few months.
Then one evening, feeling a stranger trust between us, we moved to a secure messaging app to keep everything private. Like a dam holding back six years of memories, I finally let my story gush out. One memory after another flooded out. She was completely hooked — we ended up talking from 5pm all the way to 5am.
When I finally stopped talking, she was silent for a moment.
Then she said: “OMG!!! Are you going to keep this story to yourself? Or speak it out?”
Me: “What do you mean?”
Her: “It felt like you were saying out loud everything I’ve ever felt but never had the courage to say. I always felt like the ‘misunderstood genius.’ Like you pulled my own story out of me, cleaned it up, and handed it back with power instead of shame.”
Me: “I didn’t think you’d say that…”
Her: “You had SIX years of mistreatment, you were misunderstood, you had health challenges, and as far as I can tell, you nailed your perspectives. I’ve read close to 700 books in my life, and you’ve given me a fresh outlook on life.”
Me: “What do you suggest I do?”
Her: “Write it out, share your story. Do you know who the most remembered individuals in the world are?”
Me: “Teachers?”
Her: “Exactly! Your story is so profound the world deserves to hear it.”
Me: “But…”
Her: “What is it?”
Me: “My teacher.”
Her: “Overcome it. I am no expert in how you are going to overcome it, but I suggest that you follow Tony Robbins. My world has become better ever since I started listening to him.”
Me: “Yeah, I’ve heard of him, but my dad says, ‘Don’t listen to too much motivation.’”
Her: “Are you kidding me? You’re the opposite of someone who listens to too much motivation. You need to conquer this fear and show the world that you’re unabashed. Challenge the world and the way they think! For that, you need to be in the right state, tell yourself the right story, and then worry about the strategy! From what I can tell, these bastards have been so unfair and toxic toward you that they’ve sucked out your pure energy! Fill your cup, and then give it to others, my friend!”
Me: “Wow! Tell me again—what impact did my music make on you, when you’re already so fired up!?”
Her: “Your music touched me because you’re honest. Not a lot of honest people out there. Tony is the only other one who comes to mind. Everything else is so commercial. There’s nothing wrong with being commercial, but Tony’s done it by being authentic—and I think the world would love to hear your story.”
Me: “Thanks, I can’t begin to describe the state you’ve put me in!”
Her: “I’m grateful.”
Even though we only messaged each other, and didn’t even know each other’s names, she reached in and touched something deep inside me. She gave the almost extinguished candle inside me a gentle blow. Suddenly - there was fire.
There was no reason for a stranger who didn’t even know me, to listen to my life story for 12 straight hours—yet she did. She showed me that strangers do care.
We connected every week, pushing each other to grow and do uncomfortable things. It only made sense to challenge ourselves to read a book a day or watch a documentary every day. If one of us missed a day, the loser had to share a failure or fuck-up from life. By the end of the year, we’d read 497 books combined and shared 235 failures and fuck-ups. Even though our target was 732, we were thrilled to have gained the knowledge and wisdom from 497 books in just one year.
Eventually, she and I parted ways—she was heading off to college. Before she left, she sent me a link to Tony Robbins’ New World New You Challenge in June 2020. After hearing about Tony Robbins from her, I read every book Tony Robbins had ever written. I was starting to get interested in the world of story businesses and solopreneurship, alongside music production. I knew I wanted to do something that served people because the moments when life touched me the most were when someone served me, or I served someone else. I was beginning to realise that whenever I lived with purpose, I felt like nothing could break me.
By the time Tony Robbins’ event rolled around, I had composed 958 songs—all driven by the purpose of making people happy. In return, my heart felt warm, and I slept peacefully.
Tony’s Event: It is nothing like you have ever experienced in your life. You login in, and you find 400,000 people from every corner of the world, keenly listening to Tony!
I took notes at every pause and gave it my all. Tony had my full attention from start to finish. Throughout his time on stage, he shared a rich tapestry of references, stories, books, strategies, and mentors that shaped his life. I attended his other programs and I went on a learning spree on each of them:
Here’s a list of all that I read: As a Man Thinketh, The Untethered Soul, The Mastery of Love, A New Earth, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, The Road Less Travelled, The Art of Winning, The Obstacle is the Way, A Mind at Home with Itself, Linchpin, Tribes, Good to Great, Principles, Behind the Cloud, The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, The E-Myth, Extreme Ownership, The Ascent of Money, The Richest Man in Babylon, Singularity is Near, Letters from a Stoic, The Seat of the Soul, The TB12 Method, and Superlife.
Here's a list of Tony Robbins’ programs that I have attended (I recommend each one of them, if you ask me!): Overcoming Addiction, Ultimate Relationship Program, Personal Power, Personal Power II, The Time of Your Life, Creating Lasting Change, Mastering Influence, Money Masters, and Breakthrough – The Complete Collection.
Tony mentioned, “Leaders are readers,” and I made it a part of my routine to read 100 pages every day. I have been doing it for 5 years now, without missing a single day. Had I not made music, I wouldn’t have met the fan, and I wouldn’t be having this experience. I can’t imagine the power of coincidences (talk about the butterfly effect!).
****
I remember people coming to Tony’s seminar from 195 countries. And I couldn’t help but wonder:
“This is truly powerful! It is massive! Life-changing! BUT why are the depressed people I know administered drugs? Why is it that even in a developed nation like the USA, drugs are promoted while one could just walk into a Tony Robbins seminar and walk away a NEW person? What a shame that I would have never learned about this had it not been for my fan!”
I suddenly felt a sense of intense drive brewing inside me. I wanted to change people’s lives the way Tony did. I wanted to be like the guy who impacted 400,000 individuals in seven days! Heck, I wanted to serve millions!
A little voice whispered inside me: “Maybe this is why life threw all those challenges at you. Maybe this is why you discovered music. You’re meant to give people life-changing experiences. Maybe YOU are meant to do this. Maybe this is why you read all those self-help books! Maybe life had a grand plan — a plan to make you experience how quickly lives can turn around, so that you can become a speaker yourself and help millions reach their goals.”
At the same time, the dreaded familiar voice crept up: “Never…think…you…will AMOUNT TO ANYTHING IN YOUR LIFETIME, LIAR!” Another voice followed: “He started Speaking around the time he turned 17. You are 17. You will never be able to catch up to him. Look at him, look at you. His muscles are stronger than your bones. Give up. Just give it up.”
****
My Phone Beeped!
My Fan texted me: “Hey, how was the event?"
I was delighted to hear back from her!
Me: "AMAZING!!! I didn’t expect you to message me — how’s college?"
Her: "Good. Just started. Did you have a breakthrough?"
Me: "I did! I found so many answers!"
Her: "Did you find the answer to the big question?"
Me: "No."
Her: "Don’t worry, hang in there… (I had written her a compilation of our most powerful lessons from our learning spree.) The 43 lessons you gave me are brilliant. I keep pondering over them."
Me: "I’m glad you’re finding them useful. I can give you 430 more if you want!"
Her: "Haha! Don’t just go on collecting lessons — make sure you use them..."
Me: "Of course! Just flexing my writing muscles!"
After our conversation, I went back on YouTube to have a crack at being a speaker. My efforts were lousy. The voice inside my head was going “You can’t… Don’t think about it… Don’t you remember your humiliation?... Do you want more humiliation?... You can’t…”
The next day, I had a YouTube recommendation. It was a speech by a public speaker called Andy Harrington. I had never heard of him before. The YouTube recommendation must have picked this video for me from my sudden interest in professional speaking. I thought: “If I couldn’t be a speaker, at least I could be in the audience and attend more training programs.” I instantly clicked on the video.
Andy Harrington narrated a story in the middle of his speech that touched me to the core.
****
Share Your Gifts
A young boy woke up on Christmas Day. He was happy and he was excited. He was six years old.
Maybe you can remember that, a feeling like that.
He ran downstairs excitedly to open his gifts.
He opened the first one and he was shocked and surprised he said “Hey! This is the same gift they got me last year!”
He opened up the next one and thought, “they must have made a mistake” and opened up the third one “HEY! It’s the same gift!”.
Fourth one (the same gift) “HEY!”
Fifth one (the same gift again) “HEYY!”
Sixth one “HEYYY!!!” He finally had enough.
He ran upstairs as fast as he could.
“MaMa! what happened!? Why did you… do what you did. You just wrapped up last year’s gifts and gave them to me all over again! Why did you do that? Why? Why? Why?”
The Mom: “Because, you haven’t used them yet.”
WOW!
“Use your gifts this year….and you’ll get more next year.”
She concluded with: “Share your gifts this year, and you’ll get double next year.”
Are you going to share your gifts? Before it’s too late?
****
With a newfound junoon (passion), I decided to teach everything I had learned so far. I told myself, “Even if I’m not ready to be a speaker, I’m ready to share my gifts!”
I started to reach out, and share my gifts.
The same day, I read about the values Tony Robbins and Andy Harrington live by. I inscribed them into my heart:
“Give more than you ever ask for in payment.”
“Your real influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.”
“The most valuable gift you can offer someone is your own growth.”
SPELL BOUND! I marvel about these lines all the time.
****
At the age of 18, my profile was accepted by six business schools—I was accepted everywhere I applied. I made my choice and moved on.
I quickly realised that the ambition of most students was either to join the family business or find employment. During the three years I spent there, not a single conversation was about starting a new venture. Forget launching a startup in AI or Machine Learning, or building something revolutionary. Given my lifelong learnings in business, this turned out to be Anticlimactic ASF!
We had just one class on Entrepreneurship, taught by a teacher with no entrepreneurial experience, who “punished” us by sending us to the library where books written by real entrepreneurs were kept! Can you feel my frustration?
Inter-college fests seemed like a circus to me. Case studies written by students, presented by juniors, ragged by seniors—“When you pitch to investors, you get only 2 minutes, so wrap it up”—graded by seniors as well, and awarded by the “elected” council, with no feedback given even to those who genuinely put their heart and soul into it. Then, these wins were shared —only for everyone to graduate and realize that all the drama only led to a job they love to hate.
Not once did a teacher explain what the business world is really made of.
Most teachers were busy chasing promotions and bragging to their rivals: “Look what we pulled!” Nothing wrong with competition, but everything wrong with meaningless competition.
The Teacher’s Ass Lickers were miraculously found with all the opportunities.
I was made President of an association called Conexus. The HoD turned a blind eye to the glaring issues I reported. To save face, she threw a nasty comment: “You will never succeed in life, Kushal. Mark my words.” I hated being anyone’s bitch. I eventually solved all the problems. Later, she said, “Kushal, I’m sorry for what I said six months ago. It’s truly because of you that Conexus thrived. I’m thankful for it.” Meh.
The sad part? The silent student a real idea to explore went unheard (because he was not noisy like the others).
In the grand scheme of things, what did I learn about business? Very little. I attended every class, no matter how painfully boring, and graduated with nothing meaningful added to my mind. All we got was a landscape degree paper with a logo to put on the shelves.
On the OTHER hand, let’s compare this to the true spirit of a B School:
Thriving Entrepreneurial Spirit: Around the world, VCs are hunting for the next big “thing” to invest in. There’s no reason why the next breakthrough business idea can’t come from India — if we genuinely prioritize entrepreneurship, starting with our B-Schools. MIT, Harvard, Insead, etc. encourage students to build, and pitch every single day!
In China, kids are encouraged to build from their teens. In the U.S., business is taught even in schools. Here, even after graduation, you’re left searching your mind for answers: “What exactly is business? How do I actually run one?”
Reality Checks: Business is hard. As Jack Welch, former head of GE, famously said—“It’s dog-eat-dog.” The best B-Schools in the world expose students to the real challenges of running a business. Truly challenging case studies are a part and parcel of studying in a B School in any corner of the world, but not ours. The best B Schools immerse students in the heat of real-world experience and plan these programs thoughtfully.
They ALSO, teach subjects with real-world implications: Positioning, Story Selling (extremely powerful — those who master this could be the next Steve Jobs), Sales (without which, you have no business), Magnetic Marketing, Hiring, Firing, Leadership, Modern Management (not outdated theories), Delegation, War Strategy (extremely fascinating), Psychology, and more… in a way can be implemented in the real world.
There is more to the world than CA, CFA, CPA, and professional certifications. The world needs leaders—specifically those leaders who can solve complex problems. The top B Schools have always and will continue to lay emphasis on leadership. AND, leadership not of elections, but of competence. Can you give me a logically sound implementable solution to the following hottest debates / topics?
Global Warming
Artificial Intelligence
Nanotechnology
Silicone Crisis
Neuromarketing
Nanotechnology
Bio Warfare
Ethics
Human Potential
Don’t get me wrong—I’m not against being an employee. I’m only against presenting employment as the only option to students. AND, if we fail to challenge students’ thinking within our education system, then who is this system really for? Even the world doesn’t want human robots anymore.
****
I only had four hours of classes, so I had a lot of extra time on my hands. I subscribed to Harvard Business Review, Bloomberg Businessweek, The CEO Magazine, and MIT Sloan Management Review.
I was back on the learning bandwagon. I started my own mastermind group, recruiting five individuals from around the world who shared—or even better exceeded my hunger for knowledge. Every weekend, we presented ten powerful lessons we had learned that week. The rules were simple:
The lesson had to be absolutely shocking and challenge the other members’ beliefs.
No scripts whatsoever.
If either rule was broken, the member who broke the rule was not allowed to sit in the next mastermind.
One member dropped off after a few weeks. The rest of us continued to meet for a total of 47 weekends.
The mastermind helped me practice my presentation skills and the hold over my content. I developed my articulation as well. I soon received compliments on how I could condense complex ideas into simple but witty analogies:
The Indian education system is like a black hole. Every year, the top 96 universities earn ₹20,000 crore in fees alone — twice as much as the most publicized “scam” in India (Vijay Mallya). The government has recovered the money in the latter case, but in the former, what has been the result so far? Dispassionate teachers, average education (none of our universities rank in the top 100 in the world), and below-average results for students (the engineering skills of most students in India fetch the same ₹3 lakh/year salary since the early 2000s).
When asked why stop losses? I replied, if you have purchased a stop loss, you would have paid some premium. Let’s say you bought a stock at ₹500, but then it becomes ₹100 rupees, and you bought a stop loss at ₹450. Even if the price drops below ₹450, your price won’t fall less than ₹100. FOLLOWED BY:
What happens when you enter a relationship: Sometimes you’re in pleasure, sometimes you’re in pain. Sometimes you’re enjoying, sometimes you’re crying. Sometimes you’re bitching, sometimes you’re the one being bitched about. Some days, you went that low, that terrible, because you didn’t have protection. Stop losses are those protections that you buy to keep you from falling that low, by paying a little more.
If you’re like most people, you remember just 2% of all that you’ve studied (especially in college). Let’s say you study 7 subjects each semester with an average of 200 pages of handouts for each subject, which totals 1,400 pages (7 subjects × 200 pages). And you do that a total of 6 times (6 semesters), bringing the total number of pages studied to 8,400 pages. Assuming that each page contains 500 words, you’ve stored 4.2 million words in your memory. But, if you’re like most people, you are able to recall only about 84,000 words. To put things into perspective, 4.2 million seconds is roughly 48 days, whereas 84,000 seconds is less than 1 day! That’s like saying you went on vacation to 48 countries (one on each day), but you don’t remember your visit to even one of the 48 countries entirely!
****
Exams rolled around. I killed it (with zero studying). My presentations were considered the best. I always received a round of sincere applause at the end of my presentations. I started to soften up to the idea of becoming a professional speaker. But I had no idea where or how to start. I had heard of Toastmasters, but I HATED the idea of speaking about myself for an applause. I wanted to serve my audience for hours, not talk for 7 minutes about myself. I wanted my audience to reflect.
One of the lessons that I delivered in my Mastermind was my 7 E’s of Human Experience, a simple diagram I had drawn that captured our entire existence into a Heptagon.
Our conversations often revolved around what the world could become if the answer to all those questions was a resounding “YES!”
I wanted that kind of life for myself — living at the intersection of all four circles. From that day forward, this became my personal map for life.
Am I learning? Am I actively striving to be the best at what I do?
Is it worth my time? Will it still matter to me in the next 10 months, or even 10 years?
Am I serving others? Can people say I’ve directly helped them?
Am I loving it? Does it feel like play?
Of all my school years, 8th standard was the happiest, thanks to Mrs. Surekha. It’s the only year I ever shed tears of joy. After summer vacation, I was devastated to learn she had left the school. Compared to what came after, 8th standard was my Mount Everest of happiness.
****
At the start of 9th standard, I began experiencing chest pains. I struggled to breathe, followed by a growing tightness in the middle of my chest that made moving painful. When the pain worsened, this is how I felt:
“It feels like the walls of my heart have rusted and are scratching against each other. Every breath I take makes it more painful. I can’t even think of moving until the pain subsides. It generally takes about 30 minutes to ease.”
One day, I felt an extremely tight pain in my chest and was gasping for breath. I asked my English teacher, Kavitha, if I could visit the nurse, but she replied, “Why are you interrupting the class?”
Me: “Ma’am, I feel sick.” I said sternly
Kavitha: “I don’t feel that you are sick, go to your bench. So anyways…where were we?”
Me: “Ma’am, I do… I feel I can’t breathe.”
Kavitha: “Stop wasting my time and your classmates’ time.”
I walked back to my bench clenching my chest.
I had no idea what was happening. My skin turned icy cold, sweat soaked my palms, and my left leg went numb. Each minute dragged on like an aeon. Somehow, I managed to sit through the agony until the next teacher arrived.
As soon as Mrs. Premlatha arrived, I went to her.
Me: “Ma’am, I feel sick. Can you please call the nurse?”
Premlatha: “What happened Kushal? What are you feeling?”
Me: “I.. fee..l brea..thless and sic..k…”
Premlatha: “Wait, I’ll call the nurse.”
I went to the nurse’s room while Mrs. Premlatha went to call my parents. The tightness in my chest kept growing —deeper, sharper —until I broke into tears, unable to bear the pain.
My dad finally came to pick me up. As soon as I saw him, I hugged him, tears streaming down my face like Angel Falls.
****
Later that evening, we travelled to a Cardiovascular Hospital. My Dad and I walked through the ICU, I was scared. I had never seen rows of beds filled with sick patients and their loved ones. Some all alone. I never wanted to enter this place again. This place alone could have given an anxiety attack!
After spending an entire day moving from one scan to another, I was exhausted. I just wanted to sleep.
I finally got my turn.
The doctor glanced over everything and said, “Don’t worry about the exams. You’ll be alright.”
Can you believe it?
I was so frustrated! A doctor who didn’t know his damn job! Why can’t anything in this country work well? Why does everything have to be broken, like this doctor’s brain?
I snapped back: “It’s not the exams! I know my body! The year has just started. Besides, exams never bothered me!”
Doctor: “It’s okay. Don’t worry. I’ll talk to your dad.”
I walked away fuming. WHAT AN IDIOT!
****
The next day… I returned to School. I knew things would go bad, and they did. I just didn’t expect it to go THAT BAD!
This is how my experience went for days and days—over four hundred days…
Classmate 1: “Stop over reacting Kushal, even your parents think you are joking. No one takes you seriously. Why don’t you just die?”
Me: “…..”
Classmate 2: “Leave it, he just wants attention. You’ve seen him. He thinks he is too smart, and all he tries to do is play victim so people sympathise with him”
Me: “That’s so not true!”
Classmate 1: “Haha, careful, you might die if you strain yourself.”
Classmate 3: “You’re such a waste of space, FREAK!”
Tears would swell in my eyes, as I’d feel my chest grow tighter, and my breaths shallower.
A few days later, the chest pains grew stronger and worse. My dad took me to another hospital. They tried, we tried multiple diagnoses, but nothing showed up on the doctors’ radar to deduce. I felt like I was wasting everyone’s time in these hospitals
The lines… “Never think you will amount to anything in your lifetime, liar! You parents must be ashamed of you!" kept ringing in my ears, making me sadder and sadder…
Worse, I had to wear a Holter monitor to school. It’s a device that records ECG every few seconds. There are these metallic nodes attached to your chest using sticky pads, and one of them had fallen off. It wasn’t easy to fix it alone. I didn’t ask anyone for help. I didn’t think anyone even wanted to help me, let alone be my friend.
Such occurrences with Teachers were regular:
Kavitha: “Kushal, can you help me with the books?”
Me: “Sure ma’am, just a second, I am just helping Yojith…”
Kavitha: “Oh never mind, you’re disabled, I forgot.”
The class became so silent, you could hear a pin drop.
Me (thinking): Did she just say that?
Just when life had shown me a teacher like Mrs. Surekha, it decided to rob me of my happiness, and peace for the next two years.
At this point, my blood was boiling. I was losing my cool over how I was being treated. The realisation that the world runs on one thing alone — what people think of you — was painfully, excruciatingly dawning on me.
I was battling an intense turmoil of loneliness, depression, physical pain, humiliation, disrespect, and bullying. However, to the outside world, I was seen as an overreacting, attention-seeking parasite. This was made painfully clear when Nihal, one of my classmates, drew a hangman on the board and wrote below it: “Kushal is dead, just like Avicii.”
I just wanted someone to comfort me and tell me that I would be alright. I longed for that—for those two years—until my spirit broke, and I felt that no one really cared enough to show it, I gave up.
To say that this was the darkest time of my life would be an understatement!
Even my mom and dad remained silent. They didn’t know what to say, nor did they want to say anything. I would look into my family’s eyes for answers, and I found none. I had never felt so “alone.”
****
I started to hate authority in all its forms. Everyone who was supposed to be there for me had betrayed me. I didn’t care for:
Respecting anyone for their age anymore.
Respecting anyone for their profession.
Respecting anyone for their speeches.
Respecting anyone for their blood relations.
Respecting anyone because others did so.
I cared about one thing and one thing alone: Was your heart as big as Mrs. Surekha’s? If yes, you had my respect. If not, you had to earn it. The rest of them could go burn in hell!
To express, create, and transmute my inner turmoil, I started writing songs. I found my escape. No one understands—nor will anyone ever realize—just how much music saved my life. I wouldn’t be here today without it. I feel its impact deep in my gut.
All I craved was to go home, pour out my heavy heart, and mix it all into a cocktail of pure ecstasy and bliss—set to a four-on-the-floor beat.
I convinced my Dad to get me a MacBook Pro. Over two years, I produced 450 songs. It’s funny how much you can create when emotions are coursing through your body. Even in this furnace of a time, I learned what it truly means to transmute energy. I started breathwork and grew spiritual. I felt the need for a philosophy—because my world had completely crashed.
Then, just as I was sitting on a chair, I collapsed. I felt myself plop onto the ground. Tears poured from my eyes. A warm feeling flowed through me—something I hadn’t felt in months. I gave in to it.
Bliss. For 2 minutes.
Even with my deep study of neuroscience, I refuse to believe that experience was just a chemical reaction. It felt like I was protected, and that my pain was not going unnoticed.
Throughout my school years, I never put my talents and knowledge to use except in front of my parents. Every time I tried to put my talents to use, my teacher’s words kept coming back to my mind. "I wonder how anyone even selected you, you are an embarrassment to this school… Don't think you are any smart, child. And, what is it with you speaking that village language in this class! Never think you will amount to anything in your lifetime, liar! You parents must be ashamed of you!". It was not confidence. It was that the world thinks I am a liar, an embarrassment, and a waste of space. The more I tried to showcase my talents, the more I would go deeper into my world of books / documentaries / TV / writing.
BUT, Even Darkness eventually gets tired of itself, and calls upon the Light.
****
By age 17, I had my first label release. My music had reached listeners in 92 countries. It was played on Alta Gracia, in Argentina; LifeTalk Music, in Ugandan; Radio Judaïca Bruxelles in Belgium; and I even got a mention in the newspaper. I received 100s of messages from strangers telling me how my music had “uplifted” their spirits during tough times.
While chatting with one of my “fans,” she grew curious about my story (our identities were hidden since I released music under an alias). We spoke regularly for a few months.
Then one evening, feeling a stranger trust between us, we moved to a secure messaging app to keep everything private. Like a dam holding back six years of memories, I finally let my story gush out. One memory after another flooded out. She was completely hooked — we ended up talking from 5pm all the way to 5am.
When I finally stopped talking, she was silent for a moment.
Then she said: “OMG!!! Are you going to keep this story to yourself? Or speak it out?”
Me: “What do you mean?”
Her: “It felt like you were saying out loud everything I’ve ever felt but never had the courage to say. I always felt like the ‘misunderstood genius.’ Like you pulled my own story out of me, cleaned it up, and handed it back with power instead of shame.”
Me: “I didn’t think you’d say that…”
Her: “You had SIX years of mistreatment, you were misunderstood, you had health challenges, and as far as I can tell, you nailed your perspectives. I’ve read close to 700 books in my life, and you’ve given me a fresh outlook on life.”
Me: “What do you suggest I do?”
Her: “Write it out, share your story. Do you know who the most remembered individuals in the world are?”
Me: “Teachers?”
Her: “Exactly! Your story is so profound the world deserves to hear it.”
Me: “But…”
Her: “What is it?”
Me: “My teacher.”
Her: “Overcome it. I am no expert in how you are going to overcome it, but I suggest that you follow Tony Robbins. My world has become better ever since I started listening to him.”
Me: “Yeah, I’ve heard of him, but my dad says, ‘Don’t listen to too much motivation.’”
Her: “Are you kidding me? You’re the opposite of someone who listens to too much motivation. You need to conquer this fear and show the world that you’re unabashed. Challenge the world and the way they think! For that, you need to be in the right state, tell yourself the right story, and then worry about the strategy! From what I can tell, these bastards have been so unfair and toxic toward you that they’ve sucked out your pure energy! Fill your cup, and then give it to others, my friend!”
Me: “Wow! Tell me again—what impact did my music make on you, when you’re already so fired up!?”
Her: “Your music touched me because you’re honest. Not a lot of honest people out there. Tony is the only other one who comes to mind. Everything else is so commercial. There’s nothing wrong with being commercial, but Tony’s done it by being authentic—and I think the world would love to hear your story.”
Me: “Thanks, I can’t begin to describe the state you’ve put me in!”
Her: “I’m grateful.”
Even though we only messaged each other, and didn’t even know each other’s names, she reached in and touched something deep inside me. She gave the almost extinguished candle inside me a gentle blow. Suddenly - there was fire.
There was no reason for a stranger who didn’t even know me, to listen to my life story for 12 straight hours—yet she did. She showed me that strangers do care.
We connected every week, pushing each other to grow and do uncomfortable things. It only made sense to challenge ourselves to read a book a day or watch a documentary every day. If one of us missed a day, the loser had to share a failure or fuck-up from life. By the end of the year, we’d read 497 books combined and shared 235 failures and fuck-ups. Even though our target was 732, we were thrilled to have gained the knowledge and wisdom from 497 books in just one year.
Eventually, she and I parted ways—she was heading off to college. Before she left, she sent me a link to Tony Robbins’ New World New You Challenge in June 2020. After hearing about Tony Robbins from her, I read every book Tony Robbins had ever written. I was starting to get interested in the world of story businesses and solopreneurship, alongside music production. I knew I wanted to do something that served people because the moments when life touched me the most were when someone served me, or I served someone else. I was beginning to realise that whenever I lived with purpose, I felt like nothing could break me.
By the time Tony Robbins’ event rolled around, I had composed 958 songs—all driven by the purpose of making people happy. In return, my heart felt warm, and I slept peacefully.
Tony’s Event: It is nothing like you have ever experienced in your life. You login in, and you find 400,000 people from every corner of the world, keenly listening to Tony!
I took notes at every pause and gave it my all. Tony had my full attention from start to finish. Throughout his time on stage, he shared a rich tapestry of references, stories, books, strategies, and mentors that shaped his life. I attended his other programs and I went on a learning spree on each of them:
Here’s a list of all that I read: As a Man Thinketh, The Untethered Soul, The Mastery of Love, A New Earth, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, The Road Less Travelled, The Art of Winning, The Obstacle is the Way, A Mind at Home with Itself, Linchpin, Tribes, Good to Great, Principles, Behind the Cloud, The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, The E-Myth, Extreme Ownership, The Ascent of Money, The Richest Man in Babylon, Singularity is Near, Letters from a Stoic, The Seat of the Soul, The TB12 Method, and Superlife.
Here's a list of Tony Robbins’ programs that I have attended (I recommend each one of them, if you ask me!): Overcoming Addiction, Ultimate Relationship Program, Personal Power, Personal Power II, The Time of Your Life, Creating Lasting Change, Mastering Influence, Money Masters, and Breakthrough – The Complete Collection.
Tony mentioned, “Leaders are readers,” and I made it a part of my routine to read 100 pages every day. I have been doing it for 5 years now, without missing a single day. Had I not made music, I wouldn’t have met the fan, and I wouldn’t be having this experience. I can’t imagine the power of coincidences (talk about the butterfly effect!).
****
I remember people coming to Tony’s seminar from 195 countries. And I couldn’t help but wonder:
“This is truly powerful! It is massive! Life-changing! BUT why are the depressed people I know administered drugs? Why is it that even in a developed nation like the USA, drugs are promoted while one could just walk into a Tony Robbins seminar and walk away a NEW person? What a shame that I would have never learned about this had it not been for my fan!”
I suddenly felt a sense of intense drive brewing inside me. I wanted to change people’s lives the way Tony did. I wanted to be like the guy who impacted 400,000 individuals in seven days! Heck, I wanted to serve millions!
A little voice whispered inside me: “Maybe this is why life threw all those challenges at you. Maybe this is why you discovered music. You’re meant to give people life-changing experiences. Maybe YOU are meant to do this. Maybe this is why you read all those self-help books! Maybe life had a grand plan — a plan to make you experience how quickly lives can turn around, so that you can become a speaker yourself and help millions reach their goals.”
At the same time, the dreaded familiar voice crept up: “Never…think…you…will AMOUNT TO ANYTHING IN YOUR LIFETIME, LIAR!” Another voice followed: “He started Speaking around the time he turned 17. You are 17. You will never be able to catch up to him. Look at him, look at you. His muscles are stronger than your bones. Give up. Just give it up.”
****
My Phone Beeped!
My Fan texted me: “Hey, how was the event?"
I was delighted to hear back from her!
Me: "AMAZING!!! I didn’t expect you to message me — how’s college?"
Her: "Good. Just started. Did you have a breakthrough?"
Me: "I did! I found so many answers!"
Her: "Did you find the answer to the big question?"
Me: "No."
Her: "Don’t worry, hang in there… (I had written her a compilation of our most powerful lessons from our learning spree.) The 43 lessons you gave me are brilliant. I keep pondering over them."
Me: "I’m glad you’re finding them useful. I can give you 430 more if you want!"
Her: "Haha! Don’t just go on collecting lessons — make sure you use them..."
Me: "Of course! Just flexing my writing muscles!"
After our conversation, I went back on YouTube to have a crack at being a speaker. My efforts were lousy. The voice inside my head was going “You can’t… Don’t think about it… Don’t you remember your humiliation?... Do you want more humiliation?... You can’t…”
The next day, I had a YouTube recommendation. It was a speech by a public speaker called Andy Harrington. I had never heard of him before. The YouTube recommendation must have picked this video for me from my sudden interest in professional speaking. I thought: “If I couldn’t be a speaker, at least I could be in the audience and attend more training programs.” I instantly clicked on the video.
Andy Harrington narrated a story in the middle of his speech that touched me to the core.
****
Share Your Gifts
A young boy woke up on Christmas Day. He was happy and he was excited. He was six years old.
Maybe you can remember that, a feeling like that.
He ran downstairs excitedly to open his gifts.
He opened the first one and he was shocked and surprised he said “Hey! This is the same gift they got me last year!”
He opened up the next one and thought, “they must have made a mistake” and opened up the third one “HEY! It’s the same gift!”.
Fourth one (the same gift) “HEY!”
Fifth one (the same gift again) “HEYY!”
Sixth one “HEYYY!!!” He finally had enough.
He ran upstairs as fast as he could.
“MaMa! what happened!? Why did you… do what you did. You just wrapped up last year’s gifts and gave them to me all over again! Why did you do that? Why? Why? Why?”
The Mom: “Because, you haven’t used them yet.”
WOW!
“Use your gifts this year….and you’ll get more next year.”
She concluded with: “Share your gifts this year, and you’ll get double next year.”
Are you going to share your gifts? Before it’s too late?
****
With a newfound junoon (passion), I decided to teach everything I had learned so far. I told myself, “Even if I’m not ready to be a speaker, I’m ready to share my gifts!”
I started to reach out, and share my gifts.
The same day, I read about the values Tony Robbins and Andy Harrington live by. I inscribed them into my heart:
“Give more than you ever ask for in payment.”
“Your real influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.”
“The most valuable gift you can offer someone is your own growth.”
SPELL BOUND! I marvel about these lines all the time.
****
At the age of 18, my profile was accepted by six business schools—I was accepted everywhere I applied. I made my choice and moved on.
I quickly realised that the ambition of most students was either to join the family business or find employment. During the three years I spent there, not a single conversation was about starting a new venture. Forget launching a startup in AI or Machine Learning, or building something revolutionary. Given my lifelong learnings in business, this turned out to be Anticlimactic ASF!
We had just one class on Entrepreneurship, taught by a teacher with no entrepreneurial experience, who “punished” us by sending us to the library where books written by real entrepreneurs were kept! Can you feel my frustration?
Inter-college fests seemed like a circus to me. Case studies written by students, presented by juniors, ragged by seniors—“When you pitch to investors, you get only 2 minutes, so wrap it up”—graded by seniors as well, and awarded by the “elected” council, with no feedback given even to those who genuinely put their heart and soul into it. Then, these wins were shared —only for everyone to graduate and realize that all the drama only led to a job they love to hate.
Not once did a teacher explain what the business world is really made of.
Most teachers were busy chasing promotions and bragging to their rivals: “Look what we pulled!” Nothing wrong with competition, but everything wrong with meaningless competition.
The Teacher’s Ass Lickers were miraculously found with all the opportunities.
I was made President of an association called Conexus. The HoD turned a blind eye to the glaring issues I reported. To save face, she threw a nasty comment: “You will never succeed in life, Kushal. Mark my words.” I hated being anyone’s bitch. I eventually solved all the problems. Later, she said, “Kushal, I’m sorry for what I said six months ago. It’s truly because of you that Conexus thrived. I’m thankful for it.” Meh.
The sad part? The silent student a real idea to explore went unheard (because he was not noisy like the others).
In the grand scheme of things, what did I learn about business? Very little. I attended every class, no matter how painfully boring, and graduated with nothing meaningful added to my mind. All we got was a landscape degree paper with a logo to put on the shelves.
On the OTHER hand, let’s compare this to the true spirit of a B School:
Thriving Entrepreneurial Spirit: Around the world, VCs are hunting for the next big “thing” to invest in. There’s no reason why the next breakthrough business idea can’t come from India — if we genuinely prioritize entrepreneurship, starting with our B-Schools. MIT, Harvard, Insead, etc. encourage students to build, and pitch every single day!
In China, kids are encouraged to build from their teens. In the U.S., business is taught even in schools. Here, even after graduation, you’re left searching your mind for answers: “What exactly is business? How do I actually run one?”
Reality Checks: Business is hard. As Jack Welch, former head of GE, famously said—“It’s dog-eat-dog.” The best B-Schools in the world expose students to the real challenges of running a business. Truly challenging case studies are a part and parcel of studying in a B School in any corner of the world, but not ours. The best B Schools immerse students in the heat of real-world experience and plan these programs thoughtfully.
They ALSO, teach subjects with real-world implications: Positioning, Story Selling (extremely powerful — those who master this could be the next Steve Jobs), Sales (without which, you have no business), Magnetic Marketing, Hiring, Firing, Leadership, Modern Management (not outdated theories), Delegation, War Strategy (extremely fascinating), Psychology, and more… in a way can be implemented in the real world.
There is more to the world than CA, CFA, CPA, and professional certifications. The world needs leaders—specifically those leaders who can solve complex problems. The top B Schools have always and will continue to lay emphasis on leadership. AND, leadership not of elections, but of competence. Can you give me a logically sound implementable solution to the following hottest debates / topics?
Global Warming
Artificial Intelligence
Nanotechnology
Silicone Crisis
Neuromarketing
Nanotechnology
Bio Warfare
Ethics
Human Potential
Don’t get me wrong—I’m not against being an employee. I’m only against presenting employment as the only option to students. AND, if we fail to challenge students’ thinking within our education system, then who is this system really for? Even the world doesn’t want human robots anymore.
****
I only had four hours of classes, so I had a lot of extra time on my hands. I subscribed to Harvard Business Review, Bloomberg Businessweek, The CEO Magazine, and MIT Sloan Management Review.
I was back on the learning bandwagon. I started my own mastermind group, recruiting five individuals from around the world who shared—or even better exceeded my hunger for knowledge. Every weekend, we presented ten powerful lessons we had learned that week. The rules were simple:
The lesson had to be absolutely shocking and challenge the other members’ beliefs.
No scripts whatsoever.
If either rule was broken, the member who broke the rule was not allowed to sit in the next mastermind.
One member dropped off after a few weeks. The rest of us continued to meet for a total of 47 weekends.
The mastermind helped me practice my presentation skills and the hold over my content. I developed my articulation as well. I soon received compliments on how I could condense complex ideas into simple but witty analogies:
The Indian education system is like a black hole. Every year, the top 96 universities earn ₹20,000 crore in fees alone — twice as much as the most publicized “scam” in India (Vijay Mallya). The government has recovered the money in the latter case, but in the former, what has been the result so far? Dispassionate teachers, average education (none of our universities rank in the top 100 in the world), and below-average results for students (the engineering skills of most students in India fetch the same ₹3 lakh/year salary since the early 2000s).
When asked why stop losses? I replied, if you have purchased a stop loss, you would have paid some premium. Let’s say you bought a stock at ₹500, but then it becomes ₹100 rupees, and you bought a stop loss at ₹450. Even if the price drops below ₹450, your price won’t fall less than ₹100. FOLLOWED BY:
What happens when you enter a relationship: Sometimes you’re in pleasure, sometimes you’re in pain. Sometimes you’re enjoying, sometimes you’re crying. Sometimes you’re bitching, sometimes you’re the one being bitched about. Some days, you went that low, that terrible, because you didn’t have protection. Stop losses are those protections that you buy to keep you from falling that low, by paying a little more.
If you’re like most people, you remember just 2% of all that you’ve studied (especially in college). Let’s say you study 7 subjects each semester with an average of 200 pages of handouts for each subject, which totals 1,400 pages (7 subjects × 200 pages). And you do that a total of 6 times (6 semesters), bringing the total number of pages studied to 8,400 pages. Assuming that each page contains 500 words, you’ve stored 4.2 million words in your memory. But, if you’re like most people, you are able to recall only about 84,000 words. To put things into perspective, 4.2 million seconds is roughly 48 days, whereas 84,000 seconds is less than 1 day! That’s like saying you went on vacation to 48 countries (one on each day), but you don’t remember your visit to even one of the 48 countries entirely!
****
Exams rolled around. I killed it (with zero studying). My presentations were considered the best. I always received a round of sincere applause at the end of my presentations. I started to soften up to the idea of becoming a professional speaker. But I had no idea where or how to start. I had heard of Toastmasters, but I HATED the idea of speaking about myself for an applause. I wanted to serve my audience for hours, not talk for 7 minutes about myself. I wanted my audience to reflect.
One of the lessons that I delivered in my Mastermind was my 7 E’s of Human Experience, a simple diagram I had drawn that captured our entire existence into a Heptagon.
Our conversations often revolved around what the world could become if the answer to all those questions was a resounding “YES!”
I wanted that kind of life for myself — living at the intersection of all four circles. From that day forward, this became my personal map for life.
Am I learning? Am I actively striving to be the best at what I do?
Is it worth my time? Will it still matter to me in the next 10 months, or even 10 years?
Am I serving others? Can people say I’ve directly helped them?
Am I loving it? Does it feel like play?
Of all my school years, 8th standard was the happiest, thanks to Mrs. Surekha. It’s the only year I ever shed tears of joy. After summer vacation, I was devastated to learn she had left the school. Compared to what came after, 8th standard was my Mount Everest of happiness.
****
At the start of 9th standard, I began experiencing chest pains. I struggled to breathe, followed by a growing tightness in the middle of my chest that made moving painful. When the pain worsened, this is how I felt:
“It feels like the walls of my heart have rusted and are scratching against each other. Every breath I take makes it more painful. I can’t even think of moving until the pain subsides. It generally takes about 30 minutes to ease.”
One day, I felt an extremely tight pain in my chest and was gasping for breath. I asked my English teacher, Kavitha, if I could visit the nurse, but she replied, “Why are you interrupting the class?”
Me: “Ma’am, I feel sick.” I said sternly
Kavitha: “I don’t feel that you are sick, go to your bench. So anyways…where were we?”
Me: “Ma’am, I do… I feel I can’t breathe.”
Kavitha: “Stop wasting my time and your classmates’ time.”
I walked back to my bench clenching my chest.
I had no idea what was happening. My skin turned icy cold, sweat soaked my palms, and my left leg went numb. Each minute dragged on like an aeon. Somehow, I managed to sit through the agony until the next teacher arrived.
As soon as Mrs. Premlatha arrived, I went to her.
Me: “Ma’am, I feel sick. Can you please call the nurse?”
Premlatha: “What happened Kushal? What are you feeling?”
Me: “I.. fee..l brea..thless and sic..k…”
Premlatha: “Wait, I’ll call the nurse.”
I went to the nurse’s room while Mrs. Premlatha went to call my parents. The tightness in my chest kept growing —deeper, sharper —until I broke into tears, unable to bear the pain.
My dad finally came to pick me up. As soon as I saw him, I hugged him, tears streaming down my face like Angel Falls.
****
Later that evening, we travelled to a Cardiovascular Hospital. My Dad and I walked through the ICU, I was scared. I had never seen rows of beds filled with sick patients and their loved ones. Some all alone. I never wanted to enter this place again. This place alone could have given an anxiety attack!
After spending an entire day moving from one scan to another, I was exhausted. I just wanted to sleep.
I finally got my turn.
The doctor glanced over everything and said, “Don’t worry about the exams. You’ll be alright.”
Can you believe it?
I was so frustrated! A doctor who didn’t know his damn job! Why can’t anything in this country work well? Why does everything have to be broken, like this doctor’s brain?
I snapped back: “It’s not the exams! I know my body! The year has just started. Besides, exams never bothered me!”
Doctor: “It’s okay. Don’t worry. I’ll talk to your dad.”
I walked away fuming. WHAT AN IDIOT!
****
The next day… I returned to School. I knew things would go bad, and they did. I just didn’t expect it to go THAT BAD!
This is how my experience went for days and days—over four hundred days…
Classmate 1: “Stop over reacting Kushal, even your parents think you are joking. No one takes you seriously. Why don’t you just die?”
Me: “…..”
Classmate 2: “Leave it, he just wants attention. You’ve seen him. He thinks he is too smart, and all he tries to do is play victim so people sympathise with him”
Me: “That’s so not true!”
Classmate 1: “Haha, careful, you might die if you strain yourself.”
Classmate 3: “You’re such a waste of space, FREAK!”
Tears would swell in my eyes, as I’d feel my chest grow tighter, and my breaths shallower.
A few days later, the chest pains grew stronger and worse. My dad took me to another hospital. They tried, we tried multiple diagnoses, but nothing showed up on the doctors’ radar to deduce. I felt like I was wasting everyone’s time in these hospitals
The lines… “Never think you will amount to anything in your lifetime, liar! You parents must be ashamed of you!" kept ringing in my ears, making me sadder and sadder…
Worse, I had to wear a Holter monitor to school. It’s a device that records ECG every few seconds. There are these metallic nodes attached to your chest using sticky pads, and one of them had fallen off. It wasn’t easy to fix it alone. I didn’t ask anyone for help. I didn’t think anyone even wanted to help me, let alone be my friend.
Such occurrences with Teachers were regular:
Kavitha: “Kushal, can you help me with the books?”
Me: “Sure ma’am, just a second, I am just helping Yojith…”
Kavitha: “Oh never mind, you’re disabled, I forgot.”
The class became so silent, you could hear a pin drop.
Me (thinking): Did she just say that?
Just when life had shown me a teacher like Mrs. Surekha, it decided to rob me of my happiness, and peace for the next two years.
At this point, my blood was boiling. I was losing my cool over how I was being treated. The realisation that the world runs on one thing alone — what people think of you — was painfully, excruciatingly dawning on me.
I was battling an intense turmoil of loneliness, depression, physical pain, humiliation, disrespect, and bullying. However, to the outside world, I was seen as an overreacting, attention-seeking parasite. This was made painfully clear when Nihal, one of my classmates, drew a hangman on the board and wrote below it: “Kushal is dead, just like Avicii.”
I just wanted someone to comfort me and tell me that I would be alright. I longed for that—for those two years—until my spirit broke, and I felt that no one really cared enough to show it, I gave up.
To say that this was the darkest time of my life would be an understatement!
Even my mom and dad remained silent. They didn’t know what to say, nor did they want to say anything. I would look into my family’s eyes for answers, and I found none. I had never felt so “alone.”
****
I started to hate authority in all its forms. Everyone who was supposed to be there for me had betrayed me. I didn’t care for:
Respecting anyone for their age anymore.
Respecting anyone for their profession.
Respecting anyone for their speeches.
Respecting anyone for their blood relations.
Respecting anyone because others did so.
I cared about one thing and one thing alone: Was your heart as big as Mrs. Surekha’s? If yes, you had my respect. If not, you had to earn it. The rest of them could go burn in hell!
To express, create, and transmute my inner turmoil, I started writing songs. I found my escape. No one understands—nor will anyone ever realize—just how much music saved my life. I wouldn’t be here today without it. I feel its impact deep in my gut.
All I craved was to go home, pour out my heavy heart, and mix it all into a cocktail of pure ecstasy and bliss—set to a four-on-the-floor beat.
I convinced my Dad to get me a MacBook Pro. Over two years, I produced 450 songs. It’s funny how much you can create when emotions are coursing through your body. Even in this furnace of a time, I learned what it truly means to transmute energy. I started breathwork and grew spiritual. I felt the need for a philosophy—because my world had completely crashed.
Then, just as I was sitting on a chair, I collapsed. I felt myself plop onto the ground. Tears poured from my eyes. A warm feeling flowed through me—something I hadn’t felt in months. I gave in to it.
Bliss. For 2 minutes.
Even with my deep study of neuroscience, I refuse to believe that experience was just a chemical reaction. It felt like I was protected, and that my pain was not going unnoticed.
Throughout my school years, I never put my talents and knowledge to use except in front of my parents. Every time I tried to put my talents to use, my teacher’s words kept coming back to my mind. "I wonder how anyone even selected you, you are an embarrassment to this school… Don't think you are any smart, child. And, what is it with you speaking that village language in this class! Never think you will amount to anything in your lifetime, liar! You parents must be ashamed of you!". It was not confidence. It was that the world thinks I am a liar, an embarrassment, and a waste of space. The more I tried to showcase my talents, the more I would go deeper into my world of books / documentaries / TV / writing.
BUT, Even Darkness eventually gets tired of itself, and calls upon the Light.
****
By age 17, I had my first label release. My music had reached listeners in 92 countries. It was played on Alta Gracia, in Argentina; LifeTalk Music, in Ugandan; Radio Judaïca Bruxelles in Belgium; and I even got a mention in the newspaper. I received 100s of messages from strangers telling me how my music had “uplifted” their spirits during tough times.
While chatting with one of my “fans,” she grew curious about my story (our identities were hidden since I released music under an alias). We spoke regularly for a few months.
Then one evening, feeling a stranger trust between us, we moved to a secure messaging app to keep everything private. Like a dam holding back six years of memories, I finally let my story gush out. One memory after another flooded out. She was completely hooked — we ended up talking from 5pm all the way to 5am.
When I finally stopped talking, she was silent for a moment.
Then she said: “OMG!!! Are you going to keep this story to yourself? Or speak it out?”
Me: “What do you mean?”
Her: “It felt like you were saying out loud everything I’ve ever felt but never had the courage to say. I always felt like the ‘misunderstood genius.’ Like you pulled my own story out of me, cleaned it up, and handed it back with power instead of shame.”
Me: “I didn’t think you’d say that…”
Her: “You had SIX years of mistreatment, you were misunderstood, you had health challenges, and as far as I can tell, you nailed your perspectives. I’ve read close to 700 books in my life, and you’ve given me a fresh outlook on life.”
Me: “What do you suggest I do?”
Her: “Write it out, share your story. Do you know who the most remembered individuals in the world are?”
Me: “Teachers?”
Her: “Exactly! Your story is so profound the world deserves to hear it.”
Me: “But…”
Her: “What is it?”
Me: “My teacher.”
Her: “Overcome it. I am no expert in how you are going to overcome it, but I suggest that you follow Tony Robbins. My world has become better ever since I started listening to him.”
Me: “Yeah, I’ve heard of him, but my dad says, ‘Don’t listen to too much motivation.’”
Her: “Are you kidding me? You’re the opposite of someone who listens to too much motivation. You need to conquer this fear and show the world that you’re unabashed. Challenge the world and the way they think! For that, you need to be in the right state, tell yourself the right story, and then worry about the strategy! From what I can tell, these bastards have been so unfair and toxic toward you that they’ve sucked out your pure energy! Fill your cup, and then give it to others, my friend!”
Me: “Wow! Tell me again—what impact did my music make on you, when you’re already so fired up!?”
Her: “Your music touched me because you’re honest. Not a lot of honest people out there. Tony is the only other one who comes to mind. Everything else is so commercial. There’s nothing wrong with being commercial, but Tony’s done it by being authentic—and I think the world would love to hear your story.”
Me: “Thanks, I can’t begin to describe the state you’ve put me in!”
Her: “I’m grateful.”
Even though we only messaged each other, and didn’t even know each other’s names, she reached in and touched something deep inside me. She gave the almost extinguished candle inside me a gentle blow. Suddenly - there was fire.
There was no reason for a stranger who didn’t even know me, to listen to my life story for 12 straight hours—yet she did. She showed me that strangers do care.
We connected every week, pushing each other to grow and do uncomfortable things. It only made sense to challenge ourselves to read a book a day or watch a documentary every day. If one of us missed a day, the loser had to share a failure or fuck-up from life. By the end of the year, we’d read 497 books combined and shared 235 failures and fuck-ups. Even though our target was 732, we were thrilled to have gained the knowledge and wisdom from 497 books in just one year.
Eventually, she and I parted ways—she was heading off to college. Before she left, she sent me a link to Tony Robbins’ New World New You Challenge in June 2020. After hearing about Tony Robbins from her, I read every book Tony Robbins had ever written. I was starting to get interested in the world of story businesses and solopreneurship, alongside music production. I knew I wanted to do something that served people because the moments when life touched me the most were when someone served me, or I served someone else. I was beginning to realise that whenever I lived with purpose, I felt like nothing could break me.
By the time Tony Robbins’ event rolled around, I had composed 958 songs—all driven by the purpose of making people happy. In return, my heart felt warm, and I slept peacefully.
Tony’s Event: It is nothing like you have ever experienced in your life. You login in, and you find 400,000 people from every corner of the world, keenly listening to Tony!
I took notes at every pause and gave it my all. Tony had my full attention from start to finish. Throughout his time on stage, he shared a rich tapestry of references, stories, books, strategies, and mentors that shaped his life. I attended his other programs and I went on a learning spree on each of them:
Here’s a list of all that I read: As a Man Thinketh, The Untethered Soul, The Mastery of Love, A New Earth, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, The Road Less Travelled, The Art of Winning, The Obstacle is the Way, A Mind at Home with Itself, Linchpin, Tribes, Good to Great, Principles, Behind the Cloud, The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, The E-Myth, Extreme Ownership, The Ascent of Money, The Richest Man in Babylon, Singularity is Near, Letters from a Stoic, The Seat of the Soul, The TB12 Method, and Superlife.
Here's a list of Tony Robbins’ programs that I have attended (I recommend each one of them, if you ask me!): Overcoming Addiction, Ultimate Relationship Program, Personal Power, Personal Power II, The Time of Your Life, Creating Lasting Change, Mastering Influence, Money Masters, and Breakthrough – The Complete Collection.
Tony mentioned, “Leaders are readers,” and I made it a part of my routine to read 100 pages every day. I have been doing it for 5 years now, without missing a single day. Had I not made music, I wouldn’t have met the fan, and I wouldn’t be having this experience. I can’t imagine the power of coincidences (talk about the butterfly effect!).
****
I remember people coming to Tony’s seminar from 195 countries. And I couldn’t help but wonder:
“This is truly powerful! It is massive! Life-changing! BUT why are the depressed people I know administered drugs? Why is it that even in a developed nation like the USA, drugs are promoted while one could just walk into a Tony Robbins seminar and walk away a NEW person? What a shame that I would have never learned about this had it not been for my fan!”
I suddenly felt a sense of intense drive brewing inside me. I wanted to change people’s lives the way Tony did. I wanted to be like the guy who impacted 400,000 individuals in seven days! Heck, I wanted to serve millions!
A little voice whispered inside me: “Maybe this is why life threw all those challenges at you. Maybe this is why you discovered music. You’re meant to give people life-changing experiences. Maybe YOU are meant to do this. Maybe this is why you read all those self-help books! Maybe life had a grand plan — a plan to make you experience how quickly lives can turn around, so that you can become a speaker yourself and help millions reach their goals.”
At the same time, the dreaded familiar voice crept up: “Never…think…you…will AMOUNT TO ANYTHING IN YOUR LIFETIME, LIAR!” Another voice followed: “He started Speaking around the time he turned 17. You are 17. You will never be able to catch up to him. Look at him, look at you. His muscles are stronger than your bones. Give up. Just give it up.”
****
My Phone Beeped!
My Fan texted me: “Hey, how was the event?"
I was delighted to hear back from her!
Me: "AMAZING!!! I didn’t expect you to message me — how’s college?"
Her: "Good. Just started. Did you have a breakthrough?"
Me: "I did! I found so many answers!"
Her: "Did you find the answer to the big question?"
Me: "No."
Her: "Don’t worry, hang in there… (I had written her a compilation of our most powerful lessons from our learning spree.) The 43 lessons you gave me are brilliant. I keep pondering over them."
Me: "I’m glad you’re finding them useful. I can give you 430 more if you want!"
Her: "Haha! Don’t just go on collecting lessons — make sure you use them..."
Me: "Of course! Just flexing my writing muscles!"
After our conversation, I went back on YouTube to have a crack at being a speaker. My efforts were lousy. The voice inside my head was going “You can’t… Don’t think about it… Don’t you remember your humiliation?... Do you want more humiliation?... You can’t…”
The next day, I had a YouTube recommendation. It was a speech by a public speaker called Andy Harrington. I had never heard of him before. The YouTube recommendation must have picked this video for me from my sudden interest in professional speaking. I thought: “If I couldn’t be a speaker, at least I could be in the audience and attend more training programs.” I instantly clicked on the video.
Andy Harrington narrated a story in the middle of his speech that touched me to the core.
****
Share Your Gifts
A young boy woke up on Christmas Day. He was happy and he was excited. He was six years old.
Maybe you can remember that, a feeling like that.
He ran downstairs excitedly to open his gifts.
He opened the first one and he was shocked and surprised he said “Hey! This is the same gift they got me last year!”
He opened up the next one and thought, “they must have made a mistake” and opened up the third one “HEY! It’s the same gift!”.
Fourth one (the same gift) “HEY!”
Fifth one (the same gift again) “HEYY!”
Sixth one “HEYYY!!!” He finally had enough.
He ran upstairs as fast as he could.
“MaMa! what happened!? Why did you… do what you did. You just wrapped up last year’s gifts and gave them to me all over again! Why did you do that? Why? Why? Why?”
The Mom: “Because, you haven’t used them yet.”
WOW!
“Use your gifts this year….and you’ll get more next year.”
She concluded with: “Share your gifts this year, and you’ll get double next year.”
Are you going to share your gifts? Before it’s too late?
****
With a newfound junoon (passion), I decided to teach everything I had learned so far. I told myself, “Even if I’m not ready to be a speaker, I’m ready to share my gifts!”
I started to reach out, and share my gifts.
The same day, I read about the values Tony Robbins and Andy Harrington live by. I inscribed them into my heart:
“Give more than you ever ask for in payment.”
“Your real influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.”
“The most valuable gift you can offer someone is your own growth.”
SPELL BOUND! I marvel about these lines all the time.
****
At the age of 18, my profile was accepted by six business schools—I was accepted everywhere I applied. I made my choice and moved on.
I quickly realised that the ambition of most students was either to join the family business or find employment. During the three years I spent there, not a single conversation was about starting a new venture. Forget launching a startup in AI or Machine Learning, or building something revolutionary. Given my lifelong learnings in business, this turned out to be Anticlimactic ASF!
We had just one class on Entrepreneurship, taught by a teacher with no entrepreneurial experience, who “punished” us by sending us to the library where books written by real entrepreneurs were kept! Can you feel my frustration?
Inter-college fests seemed like a circus to me. Case studies written by students, presented by juniors, ragged by seniors—“When you pitch to investors, you get only 2 minutes, so wrap it up”—graded by seniors as well, and awarded by the “elected” council, with no feedback given even to those who genuinely put their heart and soul into it. Then, these wins were shared —only for everyone to graduate and realize that all the drama only led to a job they love to hate.
Not once did a teacher explain what the business world is really made of.
Most teachers were busy chasing promotions and bragging to their rivals: “Look what we pulled!” Nothing wrong with competition, but everything wrong with meaningless competition.
The Teacher’s Ass Lickers were miraculously found with all the opportunities.
I was made President of an association called Conexus. The HoD turned a blind eye to the glaring issues I reported. To save face, she threw a nasty comment: “You will never succeed in life, Kushal. Mark my words.” I hated being anyone’s bitch. I eventually solved all the problems. Later, she said, “Kushal, I’m sorry for what I said six months ago. It’s truly because of you that Conexus thrived. I’m thankful for it.” Meh.
The sad part? The silent student a real idea to explore went unheard (because he was not noisy like the others).
In the grand scheme of things, what did I learn about business? Very little. I attended every class, no matter how painfully boring, and graduated with nothing meaningful added to my mind. All we got was a landscape degree paper with a logo to put on the shelves.
On the OTHER hand, let’s compare this to the true spirit of a B School:
Thriving Entrepreneurial Spirit: Around the world, VCs are hunting for the next big “thing” to invest in. There’s no reason why the next breakthrough business idea can’t come from India — if we genuinely prioritize entrepreneurship, starting with our B-Schools. MIT, Harvard, Insead, etc. encourage students to build, and pitch every single day!
In China, kids are encouraged to build from their teens. In the U.S., business is taught even in schools. Here, even after graduation, you’re left searching your mind for answers: “What exactly is business? How do I actually run one?”
Reality Checks: Business is hard. As Jack Welch, former head of GE, famously said—“It’s dog-eat-dog.” The best B-Schools in the world expose students to the real challenges of running a business. Truly challenging case studies are a part and parcel of studying in a B School in any corner of the world, but not ours. The best B Schools immerse students in the heat of real-world experience and plan these programs thoughtfully.
They ALSO, teach subjects with real-world implications: Positioning, Story Selling (extremely powerful — those who master this could be the next Steve Jobs), Sales (without which, you have no business), Magnetic Marketing, Hiring, Firing, Leadership, Modern Management (not outdated theories), Delegation, War Strategy (extremely fascinating), Psychology, and more… in a way can be implemented in the real world.
There is more to the world than CA, CFA, CPA, and professional certifications. The world needs leaders—specifically those leaders who can solve complex problems. The top B Schools have always and will continue to lay emphasis on leadership. AND, leadership not of elections, but of competence. Can you give me a logically sound implementable solution to the following hottest debates / topics?
Global Warming
Artificial Intelligence
Nanotechnology
Silicone Crisis
Neuromarketing
Nanotechnology
Bio Warfare
Ethics
Human Potential
Don’t get me wrong—I’m not against being an employee. I’m only against presenting employment as the only option to students. AND, if we fail to challenge students’ thinking within our education system, then who is this system really for? Even the world doesn’t want human robots anymore.
****
I only had four hours of classes, so I had a lot of extra time on my hands. I subscribed to Harvard Business Review, Bloomberg Businessweek, The CEO Magazine, and MIT Sloan Management Review.
I was back on the learning bandwagon. I started my own mastermind group, recruiting five individuals from around the world who shared—or even better exceeded my hunger for knowledge. Every weekend, we presented ten powerful lessons we had learned that week. The rules were simple:
The lesson had to be absolutely shocking and challenge the other members’ beliefs.
No scripts whatsoever.
If either rule was broken, the member who broke the rule was not allowed to sit in the next mastermind.
One member dropped off after a few weeks. The rest of us continued to meet for a total of 47 weekends.
The mastermind helped me practice my presentation skills and the hold over my content. I developed my articulation as well. I soon received compliments on how I could condense complex ideas into simple but witty analogies:
The Indian education system is like a black hole. Every year, the top 96 universities earn ₹20,000 crore in fees alone — twice as much as the most publicized “scam” in India (Vijay Mallya). The government has recovered the money in the latter case, but in the former, what has been the result so far? Dispassionate teachers, average education (none of our universities rank in the top 100 in the world), and below-average results for students (the engineering skills of most students in India fetch the same ₹3 lakh/year salary since the early 2000s).
When asked why stop losses? I replied, if you have purchased a stop loss, you would have paid some premium. Let’s say you bought a stock at ₹500, but then it becomes ₹100 rupees, and you bought a stop loss at ₹450. Even if the price drops below ₹450, your price won’t fall less than ₹100. FOLLOWED BY:
What happens when you enter a relationship: Sometimes you’re in pleasure, sometimes you’re in pain. Sometimes you’re enjoying, sometimes you’re crying. Sometimes you’re bitching, sometimes you’re the one being bitched about. Some days, you went that low, that terrible, because you didn’t have protection. Stop losses are those protections that you buy to keep you from falling that low, by paying a little more.
If you’re like most people, you remember just 2% of all that you’ve studied (especially in college). Let’s say you study 7 subjects each semester with an average of 200 pages of handouts for each subject, which totals 1,400 pages (7 subjects × 200 pages). And you do that a total of 6 times (6 semesters), bringing the total number of pages studied to 8,400 pages. Assuming that each page contains 500 words, you’ve stored 4.2 million words in your memory. But, if you’re like most people, you are able to recall only about 84,000 words. To put things into perspective, 4.2 million seconds is roughly 48 days, whereas 84,000 seconds is less than 1 day! That’s like saying you went on vacation to 48 countries (one on each day), but you don’t remember your visit to even one of the 48 countries entirely!
****
Exams rolled around. I killed it (with zero studying). My presentations were considered the best. I always received a round of sincere applause at the end of my presentations. I started to soften up to the idea of becoming a professional speaker. But I had no idea where or how to start. I had heard of Toastmasters, but I HATED the idea of speaking about myself for an applause. I wanted to serve my audience for hours, not talk for 7 minutes about myself. I wanted my audience to reflect.
One of the lessons that I delivered in my Mastermind was my 7 E’s of Human Experience, a simple diagram I had drawn that captured our entire existence into a Heptagon.
I asked my audience to sincerely answer the questions below. I gave them just two minutes:
Esteem: Do you feel certain in your own skin? Do you relatively know what to expect in the next one hour, next day, next week? Do you feel a strong sense of self-esteem? Do you feel confident and trust yourself? Do you feel safe?
Exploration: Do you take on adventures? Are you an explorer? Do you like surprises?
Eminence: Do you feel significant? Do you feel that you matter in some way, shape, or form? Do you feel a sense of eminence in your daily life?
Empathy: Do you feel loved? Do you share your gifts?
If the answer is unsatisfactory for even one of them, chances are, you are struggling in that area of life.
To unlock the next three types of experiences, you must have a larger purpose in life. Live out the following experiences, and you will need no drugs, alcohol, cigarettes—nothing! Life will feel like ECSTASY! These are known as the experiences of the “Spirit”.
I then asked my audience to sincerely answer the below questions. I gave them five minutes:
Expression: Are you expressing yourself? Are you authentic? Do you walk your talk? Do you create? How much of a creator v/s consumer are you? (Most people are hardcore consumers, and never create)
Evolution: Are you growing every day? Do you face your fears and overcome them? How much have you grown in the last 1 month, 1 year, 1 decade? Will the 9 year old you be proud of who he/she has become today?
Empowerment: Do you empower others? Will others speak of you long after you are gone? Do you contribute beyond your immediate circle? Do you impact thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions or even billions of lives? Do you enjoy uplifting others? Are you living out your purpose?
I added that very few individuals meet the above three needs.
****
Are you one of them?
I wanted to live from these three needs—the experiences of the spirit. I set my true north as impacting millions. I didn’t know how I was going to fulfill it, but I knew that if I actively indulged in my own growth, I could then share my experiences with the world. I was reminded of what my fan had said: “Do you know who the most remembered individuals in the world are? — TEACHERS!”
The teachers in my life came from the most unusual places or situations:
My Fan, a complete stranger who showed me that strangers do care!
The Economist magazine, which took me around the world and taught me far more than the entire education system, vacations, and conversations combined.
The 250 documentaries I watched that rocket-fuelled my imagination.
Exploring the worldview of someone with radically different perspectives.
The intellectual stimulation from all the books I have read.
The technology often taken for granted — YouTube, Google, Kindle — their contribution to my perspectives right in the palm of my hand!
The technology I use every day to write, create, publish, and add to the eternal pool of human contributions!
The teachers you wouldn’t normally consider as teachers: musicians, actors, biographies, family discussions, social media, failure and success stories — any form of expression.
We are taught lessons every second. Some are delivered directly, while some are taken through the meaning we associate to things.
My life came full circle when I remembered Steve Jobs saying: “We constantly take from the pool of contribution. Adding back to this pool of human contribution is the most exhilarating feeling!”
****
Life and Death: one of my biggest fuck-ups!
I had long forgotten about the chest pains. Though the pain occasionally returned, I was certain it would pass — and they did. BUT one day, it just didn’t go away. In pain, I limped downstairs and lay down next to my parents. They were deeply worried. It was 3 a.m. I was worried too.
The next day, I went to Dr. Usha Vikrant, a cardiologist. Within five minutes, he identified what was happening in my body. He pinned it down to a genetic mutation called Marfan Syndrome.
I finally exhaled in relief! I finally knew the cause. I was right about my body.
However, a harsh reality began to dawn on me. The syndrome was chronic, and there was no “escaping” it. It could catch up to me at any time, and I eerily remembered what my classmates in school used to say: “Kushal, will you die, please?”
My mind raced: Was it all coming to an end? Was my life going to be nothing more than a candle that shed a brief light? God, if you are there, why me?
I read everything I could about this syndrome. But instead of feeling reassured, I only grew more worried and started having panic attacks for the first time. Coupled with the chest pains, I felt paralyzed, locked inside my own body. I hated that I knew I had to find an empowering meaning, but I wasn’t doing anything. I was sleepwalking through days, weeks, months, and years…
How much time do you while away every day, using “Things are not in my control” as an excuse?
I had no answers. I forced myself to focus. I decided to “distract” myself. I became a “workaholic”. My friends would joke that I was suffering from success. In reality, I was running away from reality.
My mental health: Down the DRAIN!
My work: Clinging to the edge of a cliff, Ready to drop into the abyss below!
My excuses: Stacked as large as the Pyramids!
My relationships: Rotting
My complaining: ALL THE TIME!
To the outside world, I was still seen as a success. I remained a success to them. To myself? I was living in HELL!
What a Joke! I completely wasted a year of my life to this mania.
I came to the daunting realisation that I wasn’t learning anything new. I had stopped growing intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. The thrill and the challenge of Life had suddenly vanished from my existence. On most mornings, I found it difficult to even get out of the bed. I slept in the tub, hoping to delay each second to the metro. It was disgusting living with ZERO energy.
My friend suggested that I join to Therapy. I did. I changed, barely. It felt like I was living life from one venting session to the next.
I blamed everyone and everything in my life. My Parents, My Girlfriend, My College, My Professors, My Friends, My Fate, My Karma, My Laptop, My Shoes… I even faked accidents and sickness in order to escape deadlines. Excuses flew through my tongue so convincingly that no one saw through them. I forgot what it meant to be driven, and passionate.
I was living two lives. One of Success, Talent, and Charm. Another of Shallow, Pain, and Self-Deception.
I kicked myself in the gut “Mrs. Surekha wouldn’t even bat an eye towards you! You failed her! YOU ARE A FAILURE!”
I locked away my “happy” moments, and I spent hours recalling the sad ones. My life became a hollow shell of existence. I was so convinced that the world was “BAD”, that all I saw was negativity around me. Even if someone genuinely lent a hand to help, I would talk them out of it. I robbed everyone who cared for me, of the opportunity to help me. I grew paranoid.
It is one thing to hurt one person. It is another thing entirely to hurt everyone who cared for me, stuck their neck out for me, and loved me unconditionally.
Eventually, my partner had enough and she left me. I felt chucked out. I felt angry. I felt betrayed. Looking back, I wonder how she even stuck with me for so long. Who was I to blame, but myself?
For the first time in my life, I was stranded in a Daunting Valley of my own doing. I didn’t know how to climb out of it. The walls of the valley just kept growing, and I was sinking deeper and deeper.
“IT IS IN YOUR MOMENTS OF DECISIONS THAT YOUR DESTINY IS SHAPED!”
With great persistence, my friend Chandan convinced me to travel to Bombay (IIT-B was hosting Asia’s Largest Entrepreneurship Summit). While we were there for just two days, he kept my mind away from all the overthinking. Since our summer break was right around the corner, I applied to every company that had set up shop at IIT-B. Most were tech roles — I didn’t care, I just applied.
The next day, I gave my interviews and, a week later, received offer letters from every company. I decided to join GalaxEye since their office was in Bangalore. I finally felt like I had direction.
****
I had taken a fascination with IIMs for various reasons, but instantly lost it when I heard one shocking statistic: “From Columbia University alone, 87 individuals have won Nobel Prizes, compared to India—a whole nation of 1.3 billion people—whose citizens have received only 5 Nobel Prizes.” The difference shook me to my core. I jumped ship to the GMAT.
After attending multiple demo sessions from every GMAT training company, I settled on Top-One-Percent by Sandeep Gupta. My benchmark became the Ivy Leagues.
“WHAT IS A “MUST” FOR YOU AND WHAT IS A “SHOULD” FOR YOU IS THE DIFFERENCE IN YOUR LIFE. EVERYBODY GETS THEIR MUSTS!”
That day, for the first time, I could fully relate to this quote. A rapid alchemical process began in my life, the exact moment I set my benchmark. I felt the intense drive and ambition to get to the IVY League of B-Schools. Instantly, my entire life’s standards upgraded.
What my new STANDARD set off was the great purge of garbage from my system.
I had attended at least 40 training programs from around the world, but no teacher, no trainer, no guru, no public figure, no movie, no book, no speech, no visualization, no regret made me feel as uncomfortable with a lousy attitude as this man did — Sandeep Gupta. When he spoke, I stared deep into my soul.
In his classes, he’d ask us such a bold question: “Why do you even see two roads? The most successful people in the world see just one road. They say, ‘I’ll bloody burn all my bridges, I’m taking the Island!’” I was experiencing a true contrarian, a true rebel at heart. I soaked up every second of his wisdom. His words were so precise, razor sharp, that on multiple occasions I could not get his words out of my mind until I changed for the better.
Has any teacher ever made you reflect so deeply that you instantly threw away all your limitations, excuses, regrets, and bullshit? And has any teacher ever instilled in you the unshakable belief that you could be the CEO of BlackRock?
The Garbage, Trauma, Limitations, Regrets, Stuck in the Past, Breakups, Excuses, Blame, Drama, Digital Addictions, Delusions, Grief, Shame, Insecurity, Guilt, Trust Issues, Self-Doubt, Attachment Wounds, Victim Mentality, Fear of Being Seen, Procrastination, Perfectionism, Inner Critic, Inauthenticity, People-Pleasing, Gossiping, Bitching, Complaining, Over-Explaining, Jealousy, Emotional Entanglement, Emotional Blackmail, Envy, Avoidance… were all being burnt away in the furnace of unavoidable reflection.
As the “Toxicity” was being burnt to ashes, a void was being formed inside me. I quickly had to replace it with a strong and empowering attitude coupled with the right habits.
I read Sandeep Gupta’s story again, and an idea struck me. He had a superb vocabulary with 40 exhilarating words. I borrowed them and incanted them every day!
Energized
Superb
Gorgeous
Raring
Smashing
Unstoppable
Turbocharged
Ecstatic
Impassioned
Fabulous
Ballistic
Tremendous
Awesome
Excellent
Dynamite
Magical
Vibrant
Exuberant
Killer
Incredible
Phenomenal
Jazzed
Stoked
Laser-like
Enthralled
Enraptured
Compelled
Driven
Spectacular
Extraordinary
Monumental
Invincible
Soaring
Explosive
Brilliant
Booming
Insanely great
Over the moon
Doesn’t get any better
Cosmically charged
My natural state began to exponentially improve like a chain reaction. But there was a growing paranoia that this was all temporary, that it could all come crashing down at any moment, that I simply couldn’t stay feeling this good permanently! After having experienced the lowest point in my life, I felt it could all happen again, and my mind defaulted into scanning for danger.
I continued the routine of incantations, and kept putting myself into a great state all the time. BUT, in less than 3 months, I grew tired. I was thinking all the time, and I felt that even a single slip-up could drag me back to rock bottom.
Something HAD to change, fast. This time, with no distractions, escapism, and NO IGNORING my own health! I read fast, furiously, and voraciously every piece of material I could get my hands on, to understand why I was feeling the way I was feeling. I went back to my journal and I was suddenly left with many burning questions:
I couldn’t get over why I behaved the way I did.
Why do we act so out of proportion?
Why do we do things that make no sense?
Why can we not control our behavior?
Why do we not change our life, even when it is begging us to do so?
Why do we repeat the same mistakes?
Why can we not behave rationally?
I read almost everything about human behavior but almost all of it seemed like a cure rather than prevention—a BIG let down! Just one material made some sense. It was the only material that talked about the role of the human brain / evolution / nature in human behavior. As I surfed / read more on Brain Science, Evolutionary Neurobiology, Cognitive Sciences—the works, everything started to make complete sense. Then, Sandeep Gupta, who was puzzled by the same question as I was, showed me the concept of the Quadra-Brain Model. I found it so powerful and intriguing that it left me completely ‘fulfilled’ with all the answers. I finally got all my answers (and my peace of mind with them). And I was fired up to share my learnings with the world.
I had found the permanent answer. With this paradigm shift, every book I had ever read and every documentary I had ever watched instantly became twice as powerful!
****
At the same time, in parallel, starting June 2023, my work at GalaxEye had just begun. I was assigned to the hottest project at that time, and given full autonomy over my horizontal. I had to decide whether we moved forward into Ecuador with GalaxEye Blue or not.
Each day, I outdid my contribution from the previous day by a factor of 10!
Pranit: “Kushal, tell me, why do you have to go to college? Join us — we’ll give you a full-time role, ANYTIME!”
Me: “My dad will kill me, Pranit. I appreciate the offer. I really love what I’m doing here.”
Pranit: “Can see!”
I was just an undergraduate student at a business school that ranked nowhere internationally. Pranit was a postgraduate of the IIT Madras. In fact, everyone in the office was either from an IIM, IIT, or NUS (National University of Singapore). I was the youngest in the room. I couldn’t believe where I had landed.
On my drive home, it hit me like a bullet “I am living up to my potential! How did I ever get here? How did all this happen.”
It anchored into my mind that the right person, can either turn your life around, or kick you deeper into the ditch. I cut off everyone who was the latter.
I thought deeply about it & mapped it out. We are all the averages of the 5 people around us: Friends, Family, Partner(s), Relatives, etc…
The person that you become, you invariably pay it forward. You are simply a polished outcome of the sum of your influences. If these influences are in line with your goals, you will be in harmony. If your influences are out of line with your goals and your true purpose, then you are bound to feel dissonance.
I asked my audience to sincerely answer the questions below. I gave them just two minutes:
Esteem: Do you feel certain in your own skin? Do you relatively know what to expect in the next one hour, next day, next week? Do you feel a strong sense of self-esteem? Do you feel confident and trust yourself? Do you feel safe?
Exploration: Do you take on adventures? Are you an explorer? Do you like surprises?
Eminence: Do you feel significant? Do you feel that you matter in some way, shape, or form? Do you feel a sense of eminence in your daily life?
Empathy: Do you feel loved? Do you share your gifts?
If the answer is unsatisfactory for even one of them, chances are, you are struggling in that area of life.
To unlock the next three types of experiences, you must have a larger purpose in life. Live out the following experiences, and you will need no drugs, alcohol, cigarettes—nothing! Life will feel like ECSTASY! These are known as the experiences of the “Spirit”.
I then asked my audience to sincerely answer the below questions. I gave them five minutes:
Expression: Are you expressing yourself? Are you authentic? Do you walk your talk? Do you create? How much of a creator v/s consumer are you? (Most people are hardcore consumers, and never create)
Evolution: Are you growing every day? Do you face your fears and overcome them? How much have you grown in the last 1 month, 1 year, 1 decade? Will the 9 year old you be proud of who he/she has become today?
Empowerment: Do you empower others? Will others speak of you long after you are gone? Do you contribute beyond your immediate circle? Do you impact thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions or even billions of lives? Do you enjoy uplifting others? Are you living out your purpose?
I added that very few individuals meet the above three needs.
****
Are you one of them?
I wanted to live from these three needs—the experiences of the spirit. I set my true north as impacting millions. I didn’t know how I was going to fulfill it, but I knew that if I actively indulged in my own growth, I could then share my experiences with the world. I was reminded of what my fan had said: “Do you know who the most remembered individuals in the world are? — TEACHERS!”
The teachers in my life came from the most unusual places or situations:
My Fan, a complete stranger who showed me that strangers do care!
The Economist magazine, which took me around the world and taught me far more than the entire education system, vacations, and conversations combined.
The 250 documentaries I watched that rocket-fuelled my imagination.
Exploring the worldview of someone with radically different perspectives.
The intellectual stimulation from all the books I have read.
The technology often taken for granted — YouTube, Google, Kindle — their contribution to my perspectives right in the palm of my hand!
The technology I use every day to write, create, publish, and add to the eternal pool of human contributions!
The teachers you wouldn’t normally consider as teachers: musicians, actors, biographies, family discussions, social media, failure and success stories — any form of expression.
We are taught lessons every second. Some are delivered directly, while some are taken through the meaning we associate to things.
My life came full circle when I remembered Steve Jobs saying: “We constantly take from the pool of contribution. Adding back to this pool of human contribution is the most exhilarating feeling!”
****
Life and Death: one of my biggest fuck-ups!
I had long forgotten about the chest pains. Though the pain occasionally returned, I was certain it would pass — and they did. BUT one day, it just didn’t go away. In pain, I limped downstairs and lay down next to my parents. They were deeply worried. It was 3 a.m. I was worried too.
The next day, I went to Dr. Usha Vikrant, a cardiologist. Within five minutes, he identified what was happening in my body. He pinned it down to a genetic mutation called Marfan Syndrome.
I finally exhaled in relief! I finally knew the cause. I was right about my body.
However, a harsh reality began to dawn on me. The syndrome was chronic, and there was no “escaping” it. It could catch up to me at any time, and I eerily remembered what my classmates in school used to say: “Kushal, will you die, please?”
My mind raced: Was it all coming to an end? Was my life going to be nothing more than a candle that shed a brief light? God, if you are there, why me?
I read everything I could about this syndrome. But instead of feeling reassured, I only grew more worried and started having panic attacks for the first time. Coupled with the chest pains, I felt paralyzed, locked inside my own body. I hated that I knew I had to find an empowering meaning, but I wasn’t doing anything. I was sleepwalking through days, weeks, months, and years…
How much time do you while away every day, using “Things are not in my control” as an excuse?
I had no answers. I forced myself to focus. I decided to “distract” myself. I became a “workaholic”. My friends would joke that I was suffering from success. In reality, I was running away from reality.
My mental health: Down the DRAIN!
My work: Clinging to the edge of a cliff, Ready to drop into the abyss below!
My excuses: Stacked as large as the Pyramids!
My relationships: Rotting
My complaining: ALL THE TIME!
To the outside world, I was still seen as a success. I remained a success to them. To myself? I was living in HELL!
What a Joke! I completely wasted a year of my life to this mania.
I came to the daunting realisation that I wasn’t learning anything new. I had stopped growing intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. The thrill and the challenge of Life had suddenly vanished from my existence. On most mornings, I found it difficult to even get out of the bed. I slept in the tub, hoping to delay each second to the metro. It was disgusting living with ZERO energy.
My friend suggested that I join to Therapy. I did. I changed, barely. It felt like I was living life from one venting session to the next.
I blamed everyone and everything in my life. My Parents, My Girlfriend, My College, My Professors, My Friends, My Fate, My Karma, My Laptop, My Shoes… I even faked accidents and sickness in order to escape deadlines. Excuses flew through my tongue so convincingly that no one saw through them. I forgot what it meant to be driven, and passionate.
I was living two lives. One of Success, Talent, and Charm. Another of Shallow, Pain, and Self-Deception.
I kicked myself in the gut “Mrs. Surekha wouldn’t even bat an eye towards you! You failed her! YOU ARE A FAILURE!”
I locked away my “happy” moments, and I spent hours recalling the sad ones. My life became a hollow shell of existence. I was so convinced that the world was “BAD”, that all I saw was negativity around me. Even if someone genuinely lent a hand to help, I would talk them out of it. I robbed everyone who cared for me, of the opportunity to help me. I grew paranoid.
It is one thing to hurt one person. It is another thing entirely to hurt everyone who cared for me, stuck their neck out for me, and loved me unconditionally.
Eventually, my partner had enough and she left me. I felt chucked out. I felt angry. I felt betrayed. Looking back, I wonder how she even stuck with me for so long. Who was I to blame, but myself?
For the first time in my life, I was stranded in a Daunting Valley of my own doing. I didn’t know how to climb out of it. The walls of the valley just kept growing, and I was sinking deeper and deeper.
“IT IS IN YOUR MOMENTS OF DECISIONS THAT YOUR DESTINY IS SHAPED!”
With great persistence, my friend Chandan convinced me to travel to Bombay (IIT-B was hosting Asia’s Largest Entrepreneurship Summit). While we were there for just two days, he kept my mind away from all the overthinking. Since our summer break was right around the corner, I applied to every company that had set up shop at IIT-B. Most were tech roles — I didn’t care, I just applied.
The next day, I gave my interviews and, a week later, received offer letters from every company. I decided to join GalaxEye since their office was in Bangalore. I finally felt like I had direction.
****
I had taken a fascination with IIMs for various reasons, but instantly lost it when I heard one shocking statistic: “From Columbia University alone, 87 individuals have won Nobel Prizes, compared to India—a whole nation of 1.3 billion people—whose citizens have received only 5 Nobel Prizes.” The difference shook me to my core. I jumped ship to the GMAT.
After attending multiple demo sessions from every GMAT training company, I settled on Top-One-Percent by Sandeep Gupta. My benchmark became the Ivy Leagues.
“WHAT IS A “MUST” FOR YOU AND WHAT IS A “SHOULD” FOR YOU IS THE DIFFERENCE IN YOUR LIFE. EVERYBODY GETS THEIR MUSTS!”
That day, for the first time, I could fully relate to this quote. A rapid alchemical process began in my life, the exact moment I set my benchmark. I felt the intense drive and ambition to get to the IVY League of B-Schools. Instantly, my entire life’s standards upgraded.
What my new STANDARD set off was the great purge of garbage from my system.
I had attended at least 40 training programs from around the world, but no teacher, no trainer, no guru, no public figure, no movie, no book, no speech, no visualization, no regret made me feel as uncomfortable with a lousy attitude as this man did — Sandeep Gupta. When he spoke, I stared deep into my soul.
In his classes, he’d ask us such a bold question: “Why do you even see two roads? The most successful people in the world see just one road. They say, ‘I’ll bloody burn all my bridges, I’m taking the Island!’” I was experiencing a true contrarian, a true rebel at heart. I soaked up every second of his wisdom. His words were so precise, razor sharp, that on multiple occasions I could not get his words out of my mind until I changed for the better.
Has any teacher ever made you reflect so deeply that you instantly threw away all your limitations, excuses, regrets, and bullshit? And has any teacher ever instilled in you the unshakable belief that you could be the CEO of BlackRock?
The Garbage, Trauma, Limitations, Regrets, Stuck in the Past, Breakups, Excuses, Blame, Drama, Digital Addictions, Delusions, Grief, Shame, Insecurity, Guilt, Trust Issues, Self-Doubt, Attachment Wounds, Victim Mentality, Fear of Being Seen, Procrastination, Perfectionism, Inner Critic, Inauthenticity, People-Pleasing, Gossiping, Bitching, Complaining, Over-Explaining, Jealousy, Emotional Entanglement, Emotional Blackmail, Envy, Avoidance… were all being burnt away in the furnace of unavoidable reflection.
As the “Toxicity” was being burnt to ashes, a void was being formed inside me. I quickly had to replace it with a strong and empowering attitude coupled with the right habits.
I read Sandeep Gupta’s story again, and an idea struck me. He had a superb vocabulary with 40 exhilarating words. I borrowed them and incanted them every day!
Energized
Superb
Gorgeous
Raring
Smashing
Unstoppable
Turbocharged
Ecstatic
Impassioned
Fabulous
Ballistic
Tremendous
Awesome
Excellent
Dynamite
Magical
Vibrant
Exuberant
Killer
Incredible
Phenomenal
Jazzed
Stoked
Laser-like
Enthralled
Enraptured
Compelled
Driven
Spectacular
Extraordinary
Monumental
Invincible
Soaring
Explosive
Brilliant
Booming
Insanely great
Over the moon
Doesn’t get any better
Cosmically charged
My natural state began to exponentially improve like a chain reaction. But there was a growing paranoia that this was all temporary, that it could all come crashing down at any moment, that I simply couldn’t stay feeling this good permanently! After having experienced the lowest point in my life, I felt it could all happen again, and my mind defaulted into scanning for danger.
I continued the routine of incantations, and kept putting myself into a great state all the time. BUT, in less than 3 months, I grew tired. I was thinking all the time, and I felt that even a single slip-up could drag me back to rock bottom.
Something HAD to change, fast. This time, with no distractions, escapism, and NO IGNORING my own health! I read fast, furiously, and voraciously every piece of material I could get my hands on, to understand why I was feeling the way I was feeling. I went back to my journal and I was suddenly left with many burning questions:
I couldn’t get over why I behaved the way I did.
Why do we act so out of proportion?
Why do we do things that make no sense?
Why can we not control our behavior?
Why do we not change our life, even when it is begging us to do so?
Why do we repeat the same mistakes?
Why can we not behave rationally?
I read almost everything about human behavior but almost all of it seemed like a cure rather than prevention—a BIG let down! Just one material made some sense. It was the only material that talked about the role of the human brain / evolution / nature in human behavior. As I surfed / read more on Brain Science, Evolutionary Neurobiology, Cognitive Sciences—the works, everything started to make complete sense. Then, Sandeep Gupta, who was puzzled by the same question as I was, showed me the concept of the Quadra-Brain Model. I found it so powerful and intriguing that it left me completely ‘fulfilled’ with all the answers. I finally got all my answers (and my peace of mind with them). And I was fired up to share my learnings with the world.
I had found the permanent answer. With this paradigm shift, every book I had ever read and every documentary I had ever watched instantly became twice as powerful!
****
At the same time, in parallel, starting June 2023, my work at GalaxEye had just begun. I was assigned to the hottest project at that time, and given full autonomy over my horizontal. I had to decide whether we moved forward into Ecuador with GalaxEye Blue or not.
Each day, I outdid my contribution from the previous day by a factor of 10!
Pranit: “Kushal, tell me, why do you have to go to college? Join us — we’ll give you a full-time role, ANYTIME!”
Me: “My dad will kill me, Pranit. I appreciate the offer. I really love what I’m doing here.”
Pranit: “Can see!”
I was just an undergraduate student at a business school that ranked nowhere internationally. Pranit was a postgraduate of the IIT Madras. In fact, everyone in the office was either from an IIM, IIT, or NUS (National University of Singapore). I was the youngest in the room. I couldn’t believe where I had landed.
On my drive home, it hit me like a bullet “I am living up to my potential! How did I ever get here? How did all this happen.”
It anchored into my mind that the right person, can either turn your life around, or kick you deeper into the ditch. I cut off everyone who was the latter.
I thought deeply about it & mapped it out. We are all the averages of the 5 people around us: Friends, Family, Partner(s), Relatives, etc…
The person that you become, you invariably pay it forward. You are simply a polished outcome of the sum of your influences. If these influences are in line with your goals, you will be in harmony. If your influences are out of line with your goals and your true purpose, then you are bound to feel dissonance.
I asked my audience to sincerely answer the questions below. I gave them just two minutes:
Esteem: Do you feel certain in your own skin? Do you relatively know what to expect in the next one hour, next day, next week? Do you feel a strong sense of self-esteem? Do you feel confident and trust yourself? Do you feel safe?
Exploration: Do you take on adventures? Are you an explorer? Do you like surprises?
Eminence: Do you feel significant? Do you feel that you matter in some way, shape, or form? Do you feel a sense of eminence in your daily life?
Empathy: Do you feel loved? Do you share your gifts?
If the answer is unsatisfactory for even one of them, chances are, you are struggling in that area of life.
To unlock the next three types of experiences, you must have a larger purpose in life. Live out the following experiences, and you will need no drugs, alcohol, cigarettes—nothing! Life will feel like ECSTASY! These are known as the experiences of the “Spirit”.
I then asked my audience to sincerely answer the below questions. I gave them five minutes:
Expression: Are you expressing yourself? Are you authentic? Do you walk your talk? Do you create? How much of a creator v/s consumer are you? (Most people are hardcore consumers, and never create)
Evolution: Are you growing every day? Do you face your fears and overcome them? How much have you grown in the last 1 month, 1 year, 1 decade? Will the 9 year old you be proud of who he/she has become today?
Empowerment: Do you empower others? Will others speak of you long after you are gone? Do you contribute beyond your immediate circle? Do you impact thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions or even billions of lives? Do you enjoy uplifting others? Are you living out your purpose?
I added that very few individuals meet the above three needs.
****
Are you one of them?
I wanted to live from these three needs—the experiences of the spirit. I set my true north as impacting millions. I didn’t know how I was going to fulfill it, but I knew that if I actively indulged in my own growth, I could then share my experiences with the world. I was reminded of what my fan had said: “Do you know who the most remembered individuals in the world are? — TEACHERS!”
The teachers in my life came from the most unusual places or situations:
My Fan, a complete stranger who showed me that strangers do care!
The Economist magazine, which took me around the world and taught me far more than the entire education system, vacations, and conversations combined.
The 250 documentaries I watched that rocket-fuelled my imagination.
Exploring the worldview of someone with radically different perspectives.
The intellectual stimulation from all the books I have read.
The technology often taken for granted — YouTube, Google, Kindle — their contribution to my perspectives right in the palm of my hand!
The technology I use every day to write, create, publish, and add to the eternal pool of human contributions!
The teachers you wouldn’t normally consider as teachers: musicians, actors, biographies, family discussions, social media, failure and success stories — any form of expression.
We are taught lessons every second. Some are delivered directly, while some are taken through the meaning we associate to things.
My life came full circle when I remembered Steve Jobs saying: “We constantly take from the pool of contribution. Adding back to this pool of human contribution is the most exhilarating feeling!”
****
Life and Death: one of my biggest fuck-ups!
I had long forgotten about the chest pains. Though the pain occasionally returned, I was certain it would pass — and they did. BUT one day, it just didn’t go away. In pain, I limped downstairs and lay down next to my parents. They were deeply worried. It was 3 a.m. I was worried too.
The next day, I went to Dr. Usha Vikrant, a cardiologist. Within five minutes, he identified what was happening in my body. He pinned it down to a genetic mutation called Marfan Syndrome.
I finally exhaled in relief! I finally knew the cause. I was right about my body.
However, a harsh reality began to dawn on me. The syndrome was chronic, and there was no “escaping” it. It could catch up to me at any time, and I eerily remembered what my classmates in school used to say: “Kushal, will you die, please?”
My mind raced: Was it all coming to an end? Was my life going to be nothing more than a candle that shed a brief light? God, if you are there, why me?
I read everything I could about this syndrome. But instead of feeling reassured, I only grew more worried and started having panic attacks for the first time. Coupled with the chest pains, I felt paralyzed, locked inside my own body. I hated that I knew I had to find an empowering meaning, but I wasn’t doing anything. I was sleepwalking through days, weeks, months, and years…
How much time do you while away every day, using “Things are not in my control” as an excuse?
I had no answers. I forced myself to focus. I decided to “distract” myself. I became a “workaholic”. My friends would joke that I was suffering from success. In reality, I was running away from reality.
My mental health: Down the DRAIN!
My work: Clinging to the edge of a cliff, Ready to drop into the abyss below!
My excuses: Stacked as large as the Pyramids!
My relationships: Rotting
My complaining: ALL THE TIME!
To the outside world, I was still seen as a success. I remained a success to them. To myself? I was living in HELL!
What a Joke! I completely wasted a year of my life to this mania.
I came to the daunting realisation that I wasn’t learning anything new. I had stopped growing intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. The thrill and the challenge of Life had suddenly vanished from my existence. On most mornings, I found it difficult to even get out of the bed. I slept in the tub, hoping to delay each second to the metro. It was disgusting living with ZERO energy.
My friend suggested that I join to Therapy. I did. I changed, barely. It felt like I was living life from one venting session to the next.
I blamed everyone and everything in my life. My Parents, My Girlfriend, My College, My Professors, My Friends, My Fate, My Karma, My Laptop, My Shoes… I even faked accidents and sickness in order to escape deadlines. Excuses flew through my tongue so convincingly that no one saw through them. I forgot what it meant to be driven, and passionate.
I was living two lives. One of Success, Talent, and Charm. Another of Shallow, Pain, and Self-Deception.
I kicked myself in the gut “Mrs. Surekha wouldn’t even bat an eye towards you! You failed her! YOU ARE A FAILURE!”
I locked away my “happy” moments, and I spent hours recalling the sad ones. My life became a hollow shell of existence. I was so convinced that the world was “BAD”, that all I saw was negativity around me. Even if someone genuinely lent a hand to help, I would talk them out of it. I robbed everyone who cared for me, of the opportunity to help me. I grew paranoid.
It is one thing to hurt one person. It is another thing entirely to hurt everyone who cared for me, stuck their neck out for me, and loved me unconditionally.
Eventually, my partner had enough and she left me. I felt chucked out. I felt angry. I felt betrayed. Looking back, I wonder how she even stuck with me for so long. Who was I to blame, but myself?
For the first time in my life, I was stranded in a Daunting Valley of my own doing. I didn’t know how to climb out of it. The walls of the valley just kept growing, and I was sinking deeper and deeper.
“IT IS IN YOUR MOMENTS OF DECISIONS THAT YOUR DESTINY IS SHAPED!”
With great persistence, my friend Chandan convinced me to travel to Bombay (IIT-B was hosting Asia’s Largest Entrepreneurship Summit). While we were there for just two days, he kept my mind away from all the overthinking. Since our summer break was right around the corner, I applied to every company that had set up shop at IIT-B. Most were tech roles — I didn’t care, I just applied.
The next day, I gave my interviews and, a week later, received offer letters from every company. I decided to join GalaxEye since their office was in Bangalore. I finally felt like I had direction.
****
I had taken a fascination with IIMs for various reasons, but instantly lost it when I heard one shocking statistic: “From Columbia University alone, 87 individuals have won Nobel Prizes, compared to India—a whole nation of 1.3 billion people—whose citizens have received only 5 Nobel Prizes.” The difference shook me to my core. I jumped ship to the GMAT.
After attending multiple demo sessions from every GMAT training company, I settled on Top-One-Percent by Sandeep Gupta. My benchmark became the Ivy Leagues.
“WHAT IS A “MUST” FOR YOU AND WHAT IS A “SHOULD” FOR YOU IS THE DIFFERENCE IN YOUR LIFE. EVERYBODY GETS THEIR MUSTS!”
That day, for the first time, I could fully relate to this quote. A rapid alchemical process began in my life, the exact moment I set my benchmark. I felt the intense drive and ambition to get to the IVY League of B-Schools. Instantly, my entire life’s standards upgraded.
What my new STANDARD set off was the great purge of garbage from my system.
I had attended at least 40 training programs from around the world, but no teacher, no trainer, no guru, no public figure, no movie, no book, no speech, no visualization, no regret made me feel as uncomfortable with a lousy attitude as this man did — Sandeep Gupta. When he spoke, I stared deep into my soul.
In his classes, he’d ask us such a bold question: “Why do you even see two roads? The most successful people in the world see just one road. They say, ‘I’ll bloody burn all my bridges, I’m taking the Island!’” I was experiencing a true contrarian, a true rebel at heart. I soaked up every second of his wisdom. His words were so precise, razor sharp, that on multiple occasions I could not get his words out of my mind until I changed for the better.
Has any teacher ever made you reflect so deeply that you instantly threw away all your limitations, excuses, regrets, and bullshit? And has any teacher ever instilled in you the unshakable belief that you could be the CEO of BlackRock?
The Garbage, Trauma, Limitations, Regrets, Stuck in the Past, Breakups, Excuses, Blame, Drama, Digital Addictions, Delusions, Grief, Shame, Insecurity, Guilt, Trust Issues, Self-Doubt, Attachment Wounds, Victim Mentality, Fear of Being Seen, Procrastination, Perfectionism, Inner Critic, Inauthenticity, People-Pleasing, Gossiping, Bitching, Complaining, Over-Explaining, Jealousy, Emotional Entanglement, Emotional Blackmail, Envy, Avoidance… were all being burnt away in the furnace of unavoidable reflection.
As the “Toxicity” was being burnt to ashes, a void was being formed inside me. I quickly had to replace it with a strong and empowering attitude coupled with the right habits.
I read Sandeep Gupta’s story again, and an idea struck me. He had a superb vocabulary with 40 exhilarating words. I borrowed them and incanted them every day!
Energized
Superb
Gorgeous
Raring
Smashing
Unstoppable
Turbocharged
Ecstatic
Impassioned
Fabulous
Ballistic
Tremendous
Awesome
Excellent
Dynamite
Magical
Vibrant
Exuberant
Killer
Incredible
Phenomenal
Jazzed
Stoked
Laser-like
Enthralled
Enraptured
Compelled
Driven
Spectacular
Extraordinary
Monumental
Invincible
Soaring
Explosive
Brilliant
Booming
Insanely great
Over the moon
Doesn’t get any better
Cosmically charged
My natural state began to exponentially improve like a chain reaction. But there was a growing paranoia that this was all temporary, that it could all come crashing down at any moment, that I simply couldn’t stay feeling this good permanently! After having experienced the lowest point in my life, I felt it could all happen again, and my mind defaulted into scanning for danger.
I continued the routine of incantations, and kept putting myself into a great state all the time. BUT, in less than 3 months, I grew tired. I was thinking all the time, and I felt that even a single slip-up could drag me back to rock bottom.
Something HAD to change, fast. This time, with no distractions, escapism, and NO IGNORING my own health! I read fast, furiously, and voraciously every piece of material I could get my hands on, to understand why I was feeling the way I was feeling. I went back to my journal and I was suddenly left with many burning questions:
I couldn’t get over why I behaved the way I did.
Why do we act so out of proportion?
Why do we do things that make no sense?
Why can we not control our behavior?
Why do we not change our life, even when it is begging us to do so?
Why do we repeat the same mistakes?
Why can we not behave rationally?
I read almost everything about human behavior but almost all of it seemed like a cure rather than prevention—a BIG let down! Just one material made some sense. It was the only material that talked about the role of the human brain / evolution / nature in human behavior. As I surfed / read more on Brain Science, Evolutionary Neurobiology, Cognitive Sciences—the works, everything started to make complete sense. Then, Sandeep Gupta, who was puzzled by the same question as I was, showed me the concept of the Quadra-Brain Model. I found it so powerful and intriguing that it left me completely ‘fulfilled’ with all the answers. I finally got all my answers (and my peace of mind with them). And I was fired up to share my learnings with the world.
I had found the permanent answer. With this paradigm shift, every book I had ever read and every documentary I had ever watched instantly became twice as powerful!
****
At the same time, in parallel, starting June 2023, my work at GalaxEye had just begun. I was assigned to the hottest project at that time, and given full autonomy over my horizontal. I had to decide whether we moved forward into Ecuador with GalaxEye Blue or not.
Each day, I outdid my contribution from the previous day by a factor of 10!
Pranit: “Kushal, tell me, why do you have to go to college? Join us — we’ll give you a full-time role, ANYTIME!”
Me: “My dad will kill me, Pranit. I appreciate the offer. I really love what I’m doing here.”
Pranit: “Can see!”
I was just an undergraduate student at a business school that ranked nowhere internationally. Pranit was a postgraduate of the IIT Madras. In fact, everyone in the office was either from an IIM, IIT, or NUS (National University of Singapore). I was the youngest in the room. I couldn’t believe where I had landed.
On my drive home, it hit me like a bullet “I am living up to my potential! How did I ever get here? How did all this happen.”
It anchored into my mind that the right person, can either turn your life around, or kick you deeper into the ditch. I cut off everyone who was the latter.
I thought deeply about it & mapped it out. We are all the averages of the 5 people around us: Friends, Family, Partner(s), Relatives, etc…
The person that you become, you invariably pay it forward. You are simply a polished outcome of the sum of your influences. If these influences are in line with your goals, you will be in harmony. If your influences are out of line with your goals and your true purpose, then you are bound to feel dissonance.
Always remember, you will continue to influence others in the same fashion as you are influenced. In other words, being mindful of your circle is not only good for you, but also good for the world.
****
Back to Sandeep Gupta, he also shattered my life philosophy of “learn from everyone” into a million pieces!
He’d say, “If you had just one hour to master a skill, would you learn it from your family, friends, strangers, OR learn it from the #1 in the world?” The answer was glaringly obvious!
How many hours do we waste by learning from above-average, average, or below-average sources?
Newspapers | NEWS | Radio | 5-Minute Summaries | Top 10 Lists | Quora | Reddit | Over-Dramatised Documentaries | Pop-Psychology | Cliché Self-Help Books | Instagram Reels | TikTok | AI-Generated Blogs | Get Rich Quick | Templates | Horoscope | Vague Quotes | Pop-Spirituality | Motivational WhatsApp Forwards | Influencers | Gurus
I DUMPED them all into the bin.
From this moment on, my ONLY sources of Information were:
The Economist | Harvard Business Review | Factual Books | Masterminds | 1-on-1 Elevating Conversations with Experts | Learning Programs Only by the Top 100 International Trainers | Carefully Picked Mentors | Carefully Picked Blogs & Podcasts (The Diary of a CEO)
If it was from any other source, I ignored it point blank. You will not believe the results.
ZERO Anxiety. Zilch. Nada. I forgot what “Anxiety” meant.
Can you imagine just how much more you could do if you broke apart all the chains holding you back?
I stopped reacting and started living life in pro-action.
If your plan is purely a reaction to something (a new movie, breaking news, headlines), then you're living life in reaction to your surroundings. Instead, live life in pro-action. Plan your entire day the night before. Come what may, follow it.
I started to think “Business” & “Entrepreneurship” in everything.
With all the consumer mindset behind me and a constant input of business knowledge, I was forced to think Business and Entrepreneurship. When you think Entrepreneurship, you inherently solve problems and think in systems. When you think Business, you're forced to think Scale.
Connecting the Dots reached new heights.
Can you connect Math, Art & Human Relationships?
My perspectives deepened, and when I spoke, people stopped to listen. Oftentimes, conversations that were supposed to go on for 15 minutes went on for 2 hours.
Thanks to my investment in upgrading my mind, I became a favourite among successful individuals from around the world. I’d share my unique perspectives and insights, and in return, I got to pick their brains (45 of them!). You’ll be surprised by the discoveries I made—and just how SIMPLE they really are:
Keep things simple.
Be observant. Be keen. Keep your curiosity high at all times.
Trust your subconscious way more.
The best way to get anything is to help someone else get something important to them.
Read, because leaders are readers.
Your Character -> Your Attitude -> Your Behaviour -> Your Results. Improve your character, improve your life.
The best gift you can give to your loved ones is your own growth (x2).
Measure your knowledge by what you do, not what you know.
100% accountability at all times. If you succeed, it’s on you. If you fail, it’s still on you.
Be gritty. Love what you do.
Zig when everyone else zags.
Find mentors, give them your full commitment, follow them to the T.
When you do something right, you are bound to polarize people.
I compiled all my learnings and wrote a book for myself that became my personal manifesto. I later titled it “5 Decades in 5 Days” — because in just 5 days (the time I took to interview 45 individuals), I learned 50 years’ worth of lessons!
But, decoding the method behind Sandeep Gupta’s speaking puzzled me. I tried to copy him many times, only to have an above-average impact on my audience. I HAD to learn exactly how he did it. Every year, he’d organise a program on any of the national holidays and select the most ambitious. I wanted in. Plus, his company, Top-One-Percent, was turning 15 years by June 2024. I visualised myself learning directly from him for six straight months.
All the visualisation, luckily, came true. On June 2nd, 2024, the day finally rolled around — 12 hours of sheer learning experience with him. Within 7 days, I quit my job at GalaxEye to teach and impact people.
My dad went: “For 30 years, I have stuck to the same company, and in 7 days you have quit your job. What do I even say?”
When I decided to master this skill, I invested all my savings and every penny I earned from my coaching clients towards 60 programs, watched 1000+ hours of videos, and attended 17 LIVE seminars/webinars from tens and tens of international experts such as:
Tony Robbins
Bredon Burchard
Ramit Sethi
Bo Eason
Chet Holmes
Mike Koenigs
Jay Abraham
Andy Miller
Mark Thompson
Scott Hallman
T. Harv Eker
Dan Kennedy
Russell Brunson
Bob Proctor
Stephen Covey
Zig Ziglar
Devon Brown
Paul Scheele
Rob Lennon
Todd Brown
Brett Williams
Neil McCoy Ward
Erik Partaker
Vinh Giang
David Snyder
Justin Welsh
Chris Orzechowski, and more…
I spent close to 12–18 hours each day watching (or listening to or reading) each of the programs’ materials (online videos, DVDs (yes!), specialised books, and copyrighted workbooks), making notes, practising, writing my own material, recording myself, reviewing my tapes, and finessing my skills. The passion reached such a level that I didn’t care when I brushed my teeth, when I slept, when I ate, or when I took a bath! All my life, I was warned about such obsession; I pitied those who never experienced such love and passion towards their goals. I spent months completely off-radar. I was in pure unbridled ecstasy.
These coaches literally compressed decades of learning into mere days of training. On my own, I wouldn’t have learnt any of these things in my entire lifetime. For example, in just 10 minutes flat, an NLP coach in California corrected what I had been doing wrongly for one full year.
With all these learnings, getting speaking assignments and business consultations—both in India and abroad—were not at all difficult. My perspectives were so rebellious that I often ended up knocking down deep rooted beliefs and triggering massive shifts in people’s lives.
Using all these tools, techniques, and strategies, I found success beyond my wildest dreams in my own life. When I was 21, I was consulting 25–50 year old corporate moguls and business owners. I had broken all the norms of success. Now I had total conviction that whatever I had learnt would in reality work for others too. I was ready to help other people.
In no time, I impacted 1,000+ individuals Live directly through my speaking, consulting and writing alone.
Helping others has been an unparalleled fulfilling experience my whole life (though not without enduring some of the darkest chapters of my life).
****
My entire life could be summarised into two halves: one without an iota of influence, and one with influence that brought me experiences which triggered bigger and better experiences.
When I was 9, I read a quote that said there are always two categories of people: the Top 1% and the remaining 99%. In other words, one winner, and 99 participants.
I felt strongly… “What separates the two? Just the power to change something—either in their own life or someone else’s life. Clearly, the top 1% operate from a very different mindset than the rest of the world. They not only have influence over what happens in the world, but they also have massive influence over themselves, which is why they are where they are. Indisputably, there are those who are easily influenced by cheap dopamine hits, social media, movies, marketing, positioning, narratives, opinions… and then, there are THOSE who influence the world.”
My mission presented itself crystal cleary. I want to be the golden archway bridge to the place of undeniable influence over oneself and the world.
****
But despite the dark chapters, I must say that my purpose—to serve others, transform lives, and help people make tough decisions—has only become clearer every single day.
This is a snowball effect. I became a professional speaker, teacher, trainer, and mentor because of some great people I came in contact with (Sandeep Gupta and The Stranger Fan). Now, I am helping others transform their lives.
Every day, I spend a minimum of eight hours reading books, attending courses, programs, and webinars, meeting interesting people, and having elevating conversations. LEARNING has only just begun. I am and will forever remain a Student.
With Passion,
Kushal
Always remember, you will continue to influence others in the same fashion as you are influenced. In other words, being mindful of your circle is not only good for you, but also good for the world.
****
Back to Sandeep Gupta, he also shattered my life philosophy of “learn from everyone” into a million pieces!
He’d say, “If you had just one hour to master a skill, would you learn it from your family, friends, strangers, OR learn it from the #1 in the world?” The answer was glaringly obvious!
How many hours do we waste by learning from above-average, average, or below-average sources?
Newspapers | NEWS | Radio | 5-Minute Summaries | Top 10 Lists | Quora | Reddit | Over-Dramatised Documentaries | Pop-Psychology | Cliché Self-Help Books | Instagram Reels | TikTok | AI-Generated Blogs | Get Rich Quick | Templates | Horoscope | Vague Quotes | Pop-Spirituality | Motivational WhatsApp Forwards | Influencers | Gurus
I DUMPED them all into the bin.
From this moment on, my ONLY sources of Information were:
The Economist | Harvard Business Review | Factual Books | Masterminds | 1-on-1 Elevating Conversations with Experts | Learning Programs Only by the Top 100 International Trainers | Carefully Picked Mentors | Carefully Picked Blogs & Podcasts (The Diary of a CEO)
If it was from any other source, I ignored it point blank. You will not believe the results.
ZERO Anxiety. Zilch. Nada. I forgot what “Anxiety” meant.
Can you imagine just how much more you could do if you broke apart all the chains holding you back?
I stopped reacting and started living life in pro-action.
If your plan is purely a reaction to something (a new movie, breaking news, headlines), then you're living life in reaction to your surroundings. Instead, live life in pro-action. Plan your entire day the night before. Come what may, follow it.
I started to think “Business” & “Entrepreneurship” in everything.
With all the consumer mindset behind me and a constant input of business knowledge, I was forced to think Business and Entrepreneurship. When you think Entrepreneurship, you inherently solve problems and think in systems. When you think Business, you're forced to think Scale.
Connecting the Dots reached new heights.
Can you connect Math, Art & Human Relationships?
My perspectives deepened, and when I spoke, people stopped to listen. Oftentimes, conversations that were supposed to go on for 15 minutes went on for 2 hours.
Thanks to my investment in upgrading my mind, I became a favourite among successful individuals from around the world. I’d share my unique perspectives and insights, and in return, I got to pick their brains (45 of them!). You’ll be surprised by the discoveries I made—and just how SIMPLE they really are:
Keep things simple.
Be observant. Be keen. Keep your curiosity high at all times.
Trust your subconscious way more.
The best way to get anything is to help someone else get something important to them.
Read, because leaders are readers.
Your Character -> Your Attitude -> Your Behaviour -> Your Results. Improve your character, improve your life.
The best gift you can give to your loved ones is your own growth (x2).
Measure your knowledge by what you do, not what you know.
100% accountability at all times. If you succeed, it’s on you. If you fail, it’s still on you.
Be gritty. Love what you do.
Zig when everyone else zags.
Find mentors, give them your full commitment, follow them to the T.
When you do something right, you are bound to polarize people.
I compiled all my learnings and wrote a book for myself that became my personal manifesto. I later titled it “5 Decades in 5 Days” — because in just 5 days (the time I took to interview 45 individuals), I learned 50 years’ worth of lessons!
But, decoding the method behind Sandeep Gupta’s speaking puzzled me. I tried to copy him many times, only to have an above-average impact on my audience. I HAD to learn exactly how he did it. Every year, he’d organise a program on any of the national holidays and select the most ambitious. I wanted in. Plus, his company, Top-One-Percent, was turning 15 years by June 2024. I visualised myself learning directly from him for six straight months.
All the visualisation, luckily, came true. On June 2nd, 2024, the day finally rolled around — 12 hours of sheer learning experience with him. Within 7 days, I quit my job at GalaxEye to teach and impact people.
My dad went: “For 30 years, I have stuck to the same company, and in 7 days you have quit your job. What do I even say?”
When I decided to master this skill, I invested all my savings and every penny I earned from my coaching clients towards 60 programs, watched 1000+ hours of videos, and attended 17 LIVE seminars/webinars from tens and tens of international experts such as:
Tony Robbins
Bredon Burchard
Ramit Sethi
Bo Eason
Chet Holmes
Mike Koenigs
Jay Abraham
Andy Miller
Mark Thompson
Scott Hallman
T. Harv Eker
Dan Kennedy
Russell Brunson
Bob Proctor
Stephen Covey
Zig Ziglar
Devon Brown
Paul Scheele
Rob Lennon
Todd Brown
Brett Williams
Neil McCoy Ward
Erik Partaker
Vinh Giang
David Snyder
Justin Welsh
Chris Orzechowski, and more…
I spent close to 12–18 hours each day watching (or listening to or reading) each of the programs’ materials (online videos, DVDs (yes!), specialised books, and copyrighted workbooks), making notes, practising, writing my own material, recording myself, reviewing my tapes, and finessing my skills. The passion reached such a level that I didn’t care when I brushed my teeth, when I slept, when I ate, or when I took a bath! All my life, I was warned about such obsession; I pitied those who never experienced such love and passion towards their goals. I spent months completely off-radar. I was in pure unbridled ecstasy.
These coaches literally compressed decades of learning into mere days of training. On my own, I wouldn’t have learnt any of these things in my entire lifetime. For example, in just 10 minutes flat, an NLP coach in California corrected what I had been doing wrongly for one full year.
With all these learnings, getting speaking assignments and business consultations—both in India and abroad—were not at all difficult. My perspectives were so rebellious that I often ended up knocking down deep rooted beliefs and triggering massive shifts in people’s lives.
Using all these tools, techniques, and strategies, I found success beyond my wildest dreams in my own life. When I was 21, I was consulting 25–50 year old corporate moguls and business owners. I had broken all the norms of success. Now I had total conviction that whatever I had learnt would in reality work for others too. I was ready to help other people.
In no time, I impacted 1,000+ individuals Live directly through my speaking, consulting and writing alone.
Helping others has been an unparalleled fulfilling experience my whole life (though not without enduring some of the darkest chapters of my life).
****
My entire life could be summarised into two halves: one without an iota of influence, and one with influence that brought me experiences which triggered bigger and better experiences.
When I was 9, I read a quote that said there are always two categories of people: the Top 1% and the remaining 99%. In other words, one winner, and 99 participants.
I felt strongly… “What separates the two? Just the power to change something—either in their own life or someone else’s life. Clearly, the top 1% operate from a very different mindset than the rest of the world. They not only have influence over what happens in the world, but they also have massive influence over themselves, which is why they are where they are. Indisputably, there are those who are easily influenced by cheap dopamine hits, social media, movies, marketing, positioning, narratives, opinions… and then, there are THOSE who influence the world.”
My mission presented itself crystal cleary. I want to be the golden archway bridge to the place of undeniable influence over oneself and the world.
****
But despite the dark chapters, I must say that my purpose—to serve others, transform lives, and help people make tough decisions—has only become clearer every single day.
This is a snowball effect. I became a professional speaker, teacher, trainer, and mentor because of some great people I came in contact with (Sandeep Gupta and The Stranger Fan). Now, I am helping others transform their lives.
Every day, I spend a minimum of eight hours reading books, attending courses, programs, and webinars, meeting interesting people, and having elevating conversations. LEARNING has only just begun. I am and will forever remain a Student.
With Passion,
Kushal
Always remember, you will continue to influence others in the same fashion as you are influenced. In other words, being mindful of your circle is not only good for you, but also good for the world.
****
Back to Sandeep Gupta, he also shattered my life philosophy of “learn from everyone” into a million pieces!
He’d say, “If you had just one hour to master a skill, would you learn it from your family, friends, strangers, OR learn it from the #1 in the world?” The answer was glaringly obvious!
How many hours do we waste by learning from above-average, average, or below-average sources?
Newspapers | NEWS | Radio | 5-Minute Summaries | Top 10 Lists | Quora | Reddit | Over-Dramatised Documentaries | Pop-Psychology | Cliché Self-Help Books | Instagram Reels | TikTok | AI-Generated Blogs | Get Rich Quick | Templates | Horoscope | Vague Quotes | Pop-Spirituality | Motivational WhatsApp Forwards | Influencers | Gurus
I DUMPED them all into the bin.
From this moment on, my ONLY sources of Information were:
The Economist | Harvard Business Review | Factual Books | Masterminds | 1-on-1 Elevating Conversations with Experts | Learning Programs Only by the Top 100 International Trainers | Carefully Picked Mentors | Carefully Picked Blogs & Podcasts (The Diary of a CEO)
If it was from any other source, I ignored it point blank. You will not believe the results.
ZERO Anxiety. Zilch. Nada. I forgot what “Anxiety” meant.
Can you imagine just how much more you could do if you broke apart all the chains holding you back?
I stopped reacting and started living life in pro-action.
If your plan is purely a reaction to something (a new movie, breaking news, headlines), then you're living life in reaction to your surroundings. Instead, live life in pro-action. Plan your entire day the night before. Come what may, follow it.
I started to think “Business” & “Entrepreneurship” in everything.
With all the consumer mindset behind me and a constant input of business knowledge, I was forced to think Business and Entrepreneurship. When you think Entrepreneurship, you inherently solve problems and think in systems. When you think Business, you're forced to think Scale.
Connecting the Dots reached new heights.
Can you connect Math, Art & Human Relationships?
My perspectives deepened, and when I spoke, people stopped to listen. Oftentimes, conversations that were supposed to go on for 15 minutes went on for 2 hours.
Thanks to my investment in upgrading my mind, I became a favourite among successful individuals from around the world. I’d share my unique perspectives and insights, and in return, I got to pick their brains (45 of them!). You’ll be surprised by the discoveries I made—and just how SIMPLE they really are:
Keep things simple.
Be observant. Be keen. Keep your curiosity high at all times.
Trust your subconscious way more.
The best way to get anything is to help someone else get something important to them.
Read, because leaders are readers.
Your Character -> Your Attitude -> Your Behaviour -> Your Results. Improve your character, improve your life.
The best gift you can give to your loved ones is your own growth (x2).
Measure your knowledge by what you do, not what you know.
100% accountability at all times. If you succeed, it’s on you. If you fail, it’s still on you.
Be gritty. Love what you do.
Zig when everyone else zags.
Find mentors, give them your full commitment, follow them to the T.
When you do something right, you are bound to polarize people.
I compiled all my learnings and wrote a book for myself that became my personal manifesto. I later titled it “5 Decades in 5 Days” — because in just 5 days (the time I took to interview 45 individuals), I learned 50 years’ worth of lessons!
But, decoding the method behind Sandeep Gupta’s speaking puzzled me. I tried to copy him many times, only to have an above-average impact on my audience. I HAD to learn exactly how he did it. Every year, he’d organise a program on any of the national holidays and select the most ambitious. I wanted in. Plus, his company, Top-One-Percent, was turning 15 years by June 2024. I visualised myself learning directly from him for six straight months.
All the visualisation, luckily, came true. On June 2nd, 2024, the day finally rolled around — 12 hours of sheer learning experience with him. Within 7 days, I quit my job at GalaxEye to teach and impact people.
My dad went: “For 30 years, I have stuck to the same company, and in 7 days you have quit your job. What do I even say?”
When I decided to master this skill, I invested all my savings and every penny I earned from my coaching clients towards 60 programs, watched 1000+ hours of videos, and attended 17 LIVE seminars/webinars from tens and tens of international experts such as:
Tony Robbins
Bredon Burchard
Ramit Sethi
Bo Eason
Chet Holmes
Mike Koenigs
Jay Abraham
Andy Miller
Mark Thompson
Scott Hallman
T. Harv Eker
Dan Kennedy
Russell Brunson
Bob Proctor
Stephen Covey
Zig Ziglar
Devon Brown
Paul Scheele
Rob Lennon
Todd Brown
Brett Williams
Neil McCoy Ward
Erik Partaker
Vinh Giang
David Snyder
Justin Welsh
Chris Orzechowski, and more…
I spent close to 12–18 hours each day watching (or listening to or reading) each of the programs’ materials (online videos, DVDs (yes!), specialised books, and copyrighted workbooks), making notes, practising, writing my own material, recording myself, reviewing my tapes, and finessing my skills. The passion reached such a level that I didn’t care when I brushed my teeth, when I slept, when I ate, or when I took a bath! All my life, I was warned about such obsession; I pitied those who never experienced such love and passion towards their goals. I spent months completely off-radar. I was in pure unbridled ecstasy.
These coaches literally compressed decades of learning into mere days of training. On my own, I wouldn’t have learnt any of these things in my entire lifetime. For example, in just 10 minutes flat, an NLP coach in California corrected what I had been doing wrongly for one full year.
With all these learnings, getting speaking assignments and business consultations—both in India and abroad—were not at all difficult. My perspectives were so rebellious that I often ended up knocking down deep rooted beliefs and triggering massive shifts in people’s lives.
Using all these tools, techniques, and strategies, I found success beyond my wildest dreams in my own life. When I was 21, I was consulting 25–50 year old corporate moguls and business owners. I had broken all the norms of success. Now I had total conviction that whatever I had learnt would in reality work for others too. I was ready to help other people.
In no time, I impacted 1,000+ individuals Live directly through my speaking, consulting and writing alone.
Helping others has been an unparalleled fulfilling experience my whole life (though not without enduring some of the darkest chapters of my life).
****
My entire life could be summarised into two halves: one without an iota of influence, and one with influence that brought me experiences which triggered bigger and better experiences.
When I was 9, I read a quote that said there are always two categories of people: the Top 1% and the remaining 99%. In other words, one winner, and 99 participants.
I felt strongly… “What separates the two? Just the power to change something—either in their own life or someone else’s life. Clearly, the top 1% operate from a very different mindset than the rest of the world. They not only have influence over what happens in the world, but they also have massive influence over themselves, which is why they are where they are. Indisputably, there are those who are easily influenced by cheap dopamine hits, social media, movies, marketing, positioning, narratives, opinions… and then, there are THOSE who influence the world.”
My mission presented itself crystal cleary. I want to be the golden archway bridge to the place of undeniable influence over oneself and the world.
****
But despite the dark chapters, I must say that my purpose—to serve others, transform lives, and help people make tough decisions—has only become clearer every single day.
This is a snowball effect. I became a professional speaker, teacher, trainer, and mentor because of some great people I came in contact with (Sandeep Gupta and The Stranger Fan). Now, I am helping others transform their lives.
Every day, I spend a minimum of eight hours reading books, attending courses, programs, and webinars, meeting interesting people, and having elevating conversations. LEARNING has only just begun. I am and will forever remain a Student.
With Passion,
Kushal