Archives: My Interests and Passions

A Cause to fight for: Learning from our Pasts

I’d like to think that at least once in everyone’s life, there comes a time when we know we have to fight for something we believe in. The reasons for coming to this fork in the path can be many, ranging from the absurd to the obvious; nonetheless it is extremely to the person who has built his or her foundation on it.

I had been part of various not-for-profit organisations since high school and had been blessed to work with major organisations such as Red Cross Society (http://www.indianredcross.org/) and Greenpeace India (http://www.greenpeace.org/india/en/) in major as well as minor roles. These were causes that were just as important as the next ones but in retrospect, they were not close to my heart so I may not have gone all-in while working to resolve these cases.

The “fork” in the road came for me about 5 years ago and this artefact would be the first time I have officially made this information available to the public.

While driving back after performing in a concert back in India, me and my band got into a car accident where we rammed into a guard-rail and then performed a couple of 360-flips after coming to a sudden halt upside down. We all survived but had to go through arduous amounts of physical and mental rehabilitation before we could be able to walk again. It was a bit harder on me because after my rehab I was not able to play music anymore (still can’t). This made me focus on victims of accidents and how they are currently being rehabilitated and the success rate of a completely rehabilitated patient and what are the key factors responsible for a patient to recover from such an event in his/her life.

 

Source: http://savelifefoundation.org  

I have been in contact with various organisations over the years and try to volunteer as much as I can but, recently I have been approached by a colleague back in India to try to be part of a pro-active team which is part of the SaveLife Foundation. In a nutshell, SaveLife is a not-for-profit organisation which tries to empower bystanders and try to setup a community driven emergency response unit to help road accident victims.

Key facts about accidents in India (Source: http://savelifefoundation.org ):

  • India has the highest number of road accidents deaths in the world – over 1,35,000 in 2012 alone. On an average, 15 people die and 60 are seriously injured every hour in road accidents in India.
  • 80% of road accident victims in India do not receive any emergency medical care within the critical first hour after an accident. (Study by the Indian Journal of Surgery -2006)
  • According to the Law Commission of India, 50% fatalities can be averted if victims get even basic care on time. That’s 70,000 lives!

I have accepted pro-bono work from him and have started working on creating a segmentation analysis I have learned from here at Sauder School of Business which would help me understand my “target market” i.e. the scared by-standers and the core factors that make them feel that they shouldn’t help a road accident victim. After isolating the factors, I will try to find alternative solutions to remove their fear and help them, and in turn us, to strive towards a more cohesive community.

This is merely the first step towards achieving our goal, as my work progresses I will try to update this space with my success and failures for others to see and learn from.

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My Story-From humble beginnings

I have always looked up to great people since I was a little kid. Ever since then, I want to be one of those guys who walk into the room and everyone takes notice.

I have worked hard to get what I wanted and I have proved that time and time again by being part of amazing athletic teams as well as acquiring top scores during my academic years.

Being from a middle-class family, it started out as a pipe dream for me but after gradually toiling for some years I have finally achieved something that I could be proud of when I had joined the ranks of IT developers and started creating tons of amazing new products that would make our company prosper. But, I want something “more” to define myself, something that propels me towards the future that I envision myself to have.

 

One of the key factor that has motivated me now as well as throughout my early years is “My drive to learn and grow”. The constant need to be challenged and the drive to step out of my comfort zone and try something different comes naturally to me and it has helped me achieve various things which I can only describe as accomplishments of my life. But, the need to create an impact all around me where people will take notice of me and acknowledge my work has also been one of my core motivations to seek perfection. The thought that I can build something with my own two hands and give to the world which will be useful to them is the most ideal way that I can put my effort to fruition.

 

My drive to learn and grow is an amalgamation of my colleagues or my teachers or my family, I have been blessed greatly in all these fields. I was always pushed to try something new, something different and not be afraid to take on the consequences if they come up. The need to excel in something that I have no prior understanding although takes a lot of effort and time but is always rewarding as I have seen time and time again over my various achievements.

The constant need to keep getting noticed has never faded from my psyche ever since I started out into the field of IT and has grown even more in the recent years and hopefully, will keep on growing more in the future, this drives me to perform better than I did yesterday and will make me overcome various hurdles in the future as well. As I see it, in this world either you exist as someone who thinks they are capable of achieving something or then there are those who will achieve what they set out to do no matter what. I would like to think of myself as the latter and to achieve that I have decided to whole-heartedly toil for an MBA from Sauder so that I can reach my full potential.

There are so many amazing people out there like Lakshmi Mittal, the billionaire businessman , founder of Mittal Steel and Warren Buffet, the largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, they have built amazing reputations for themselves and given back to the world so much. I would also like to create a mark for myself no matter how small or large , but nonetheless significant so that I would be recognized for my accomplishments.

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