Life is an unpredictable journey

In 2011, I met this struggling entrepreneur who had come to us for fundraising. At that time, I was working with a large private equity fund. Since we made only large investments (at least Rs 200 Cr), his startup was too small for us. Moreover, his company was not...

Overcoming challenges with perseverance

I have rarely felt as hopeless or defeated as I did on Jan 14, 2000. In front of me were a million people caught in a massive traffic jam, which I was unable to prevent. At that time I was the Police Chief in Sabarimala, one of India’s largest pilgrimages. Every year,...

The biggest lottery

I won only one lottery in my life — and it changed everything. My father grew up in an impoverished village in UP, surviving on subsistence farming. Yet, despite attending a local village school, he managed to land a job in the armed forces. That stroke of luck...

The Ripple effect of small changes

One day, during my stint as the Trivandrum City Police Commissioner, a communist party leader walked up to me and said with a smile — “Looks like you are getting ready for war!” That day, the Communist Party was conducting a protest march to the Chief Minister’s...