sketching
art has always held great value in our family, and i started sketching at the age of 7, which was a big part of my life growing up — something i inherited from both my mom and dad, who are skilled at sketching and painting. in 6th and 7th grade, i took the elementary and intermediate drawing exams, earning a 'b' grade in both. i've sketched countless human figures, supercars, and many other things, along with painting multiple landscapes — all of which i’d love to show you if you ever visit home. i don't get much time to sketch these days, but my younger brother is planning to pursue a career in art and is currently preparing for entrance exams to design institutes in india.
photography and videography
my interest in photography and videography comes from a mix of influences — my passion for cinema, my creative genes, and childhood dreams. when i was 12, after watching life of pi, i wanted to become a wildlife photographer. at 16, after immersing myself in christopher nolan films, i dreamed of becoming a film director. even though i don’t pursue photography or videography full-time, i continue capturing new york city through my iphone 16 pro and sharing it on my instagram page and youtube channel. my younger brother, as mentioned earlier, is learning professional dslr photography and videography. at some point, i’ll level up my photography and videography game with a professional dslr and start making short films too.
math and science
even though i’ve talked about my passion for art, the truth is, i’m a science kid at heart. this, again, comes from my mother, a pharmacist by qualification, and my father, a mechanical engineer. i loved studying science and math, and my interest in these subjects peaked during high school. i would spend hours immersed in them, even teaching chapters at my mom’s coaching classes to younger students. calculus, organic chemistry, modern physics, thermodynamics, and coordinate geometry were some of my favorite topics to study. scientists have always been my inspirations, with stephen hawking being the one whose work and words continue to inspire me today. at one point, probably when i was 18, i wanted to be a physicist so badly. even now, i sometimes feel like leaving everything behind just to go study physics. my goal is to earn enough freedom in life (through money) to spend a random wednesday morning in my 30s studying modern physics, purely for the love of it.
sports
if you ask me the one thing i could change or add to my teen years and childhood, it would be sticking to one sport, and excelling in it. i started skating in third grade and continued for three years until my friends influenced me to play cricket, football, and badminton. while i enjoyed them, i never truly excelled because i kept switching instead of going all in on one. after my cricket and football phase, i picked up swimming, but that, too, came to a halt when i started focusing on sketching and academic exams from seventh grade onwards. in 11th and 12th grade, i learned and loved playing table tennis with my friend pranay after long and intense study sessions, but i never pursued it professionally either. now at nyu, i occasionally go swimming at the nyu pool — picking it up again after years, and i’m not even exaggerating. i've been hitting the gym consistently over the last month. also, i’m always down for a game of table tennis.
conclusion
from wanting to become a wildlife photographer, to a film director, to a physicist, to wishing i had excelled at one sport, to aspiring to be an artist, and now building a career at the intersection of tech and business — though all of these may seem distinct, the common thread is that i’ve always been driven by my innate curiosity and energy to pursue whatever i set my mind to, a mindset i carry with me even today.