How I met Nitesh
Meeting Nitesh for the first time at IIM Calcutta was a moment that will forever be etched in my memory. It was a moment that gave me a glimpse into the life of an extraordinary person, someone who I knew I had to get to know better. When I first saw him at the IIM Network Meet, he was presenting his start-up, Apetti. I was hosting the event and was struck by the fact that he was the only established entrepreneur in our batch. I knew then that I had to get to know him better, for my own start-up and my own professional journey.
Later that day, I finally talked to Nitesh. At first, he seemed reserved and engrossed in himself. But as we started talking, he opened up to me in a way that surprised me. He shared his journey, from where he had come, his struggles and how he had transformed during and after IIT Kanpur. He even shared his start-up idea with me. As I listened to him, I was struck by his personality, his achievements, his wit, and his life story. I was completely engrossed in his journey, and I knew that I wanted to help him in any way possible.
As we talked, we shared so much with each other, including our personal experiences, our struggles, and our plans for the future. Nitesh was so comfortable sharing almost every bit of his journey with me, even though we had just met. It was clear to me that he was someone who was genuine, someone who was passionate about his work and his dreams. I knew that I had met someone who would have a profound impact on my life.
In that moment, I felt a deep sense of gratitude for the opportunity to meet someone like Nitesh. It was a moment that showed me the power of human connection, of the bonds that we can form when we open ourselves up to others. It was a moment that inspired me to pursue my dreams with even greater passion and determination. And it was a moment that I will always cherish, for the rest of my life.
Coming together and getting to know him
After the event, we had a program back on our campus. An alumni from IIM-C, who was also a singer, visited us on campus and threw us a beautiful party. This gathering acted as a bonding session for all my batchmates to get to know each other, share connections, and interact well with each other. Nitesh had already been on my mind as a booming entrepreneur. It was as if I felt I would get a lot to interact with him as our journeys were on the same tangents. We both came from nearby cities, did our engineering, quit our jobs at established multinational corporations, and had plans to introduce start-ups. While I had a plan, he was halfway there, living his dream of becoming an entrepreneur. I was definite that intellectual and professional conversations and a good bond with him would be a significant standpoint towards my career and professional journey.
For someone who has achieved so much at so little of age, I imagined and consequently had an inbuilt image of him in my head. However happy, easy-going, satisfied, fulfilled, and relaxed as I thought he would have been with already achieving almost everything which feels like a dream to a lot, he turned out to be the exact opposite. I only saw him being reserved, not sharing a lot with everyone, being engrossed in himself most of the time. And I thought to myself, okay, who is he?
Nitesh was not necessarily talking to everyone around him, he was more into himself, and his thoughts and attitude were not easily readable through his behavior. However, somehow he managed to interact with me. He, like any of my classmates or batchmates, started by introducing himself. He kept talking about what he was, from where he had come, his journey so far, and his consequent transformation during and after IIT Kanpur. He even discussed his start-up idea with me, and I could not help but admire him more and more that night. Because, after all, someone with such low financial, academic, and social resources in hand, built start up purely based on his own capabilities, intelligence, strength, and entrepreneurial mindset.
His personality, achievements, wit, and life story captivated me and my mind so much that I got totally engrossed in his life story and decided to help him out in every way possible. Our conversation went well to the extent that we ended up sharing almost everything with each other, including the tough times we had gone through, personal experiences that we had experienced which make us the people that we are today, and, of course, the plans that we had and carried in our minds for our future to have rewarding prospects.
There were times during the conversation when he started sharing so much about his personal life that I started getting surprised and questioned as to how he was sharing so much with him in the first meeting itself. He talked about his family, the financial and social background he comes from, and his past traumas in life, to list a few things. It still kept striking me as to how he is so comfortable sharing almost every bit of his journey with me. We had just met, like a few hours ago. We barely know each other. I seriously felt that he was being overly expressive. But I listened keenly to everything he said that night. I wanted to get to know him and the struggles that went into bringing him to the position he was standing on. However, as I kept listening to him, I could see the deep trauma and suffering he was going through, through the voice and emotions he carried within himself that night.
