Peace of mind.

Our first interviewee this week is the kind of person you’d categorize as cool as soon as you see him. He’s the type who can talk about anything and everything. You’ll find him engaged in a variety of activities, from tinkering with circuitry to shredding on his guitar. Smart, eccentric, and charismatic — this is his interview.

“First question: what is your most treasured memory?“

“(pause) so, I had gone surfing, like, on a camp with a bunch of friends, 20 of us, and we spent the entire night [of] the trip from Bangalore to Pondicherry staying up and talking about ourselves. It was fun. It was really fun.”

“That’s so wholesome! Aww.” || “The next one: what do you value the most in a friendship?“

“Aahhmm… their presence, in a sense. How-how someone makes you feel around you, it’s-it’s like the deciding factor. It’s like whether they’re there for you, or not, and how you feel around them, is a deciding factor in a friendship. So yeah, their vibe, in a sense.”

“Yeah, exactly. Next question: tell me one thing you’re ambitious about, and one thing you’re proud of.“

“One thing I’m ambitious about? Umm… I’m ambitious about, like, doing new shit, making new stuff. That’s why I’m here.” || “And what I’m proud of is being able to grind when everything seems ungrindable. Like, yeah, I’m proud of my ability to grind.”

“Yeah, you should be proud of that. Okay, well, next one: for what in your life do you feel the most grateful for?“

“Probably my parents, because, like, I know everything they’ve provided me and given to me is perfect. Perfect in the sense that, within their abilities and within what I could have incorporated from them and how I should have done that, I think it’s all gone right.”

“Last question, if you had to give advice to a stranger, what would it be?“

“(pause) Never doubt yourself.” || “Like, if you ever doubt yourself of knowing what’s right or wrong, you’ll inadvertently not be true to yourself. So, like, if you think you’re doing something wrong, you’re doing something wrong. If you think you’re doing something right, you are doing something right. This pit of doubt is bottomless. Once you do fall into it, there’s never getting back out of it.” || “So, my only advice to other people would be just never doubt yourself. What you think you’re doing right is always right.”

“So, like, trust your gut?”

“Almost, yeah. Trust your gut.”

“That’s the last question.”

“Thank you!”

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The second interview takes us to the familiar environment of the workspace yet again. We’ve managed to rope in a shy interviewee who is very precise about her thoughts. Careful, yet very caring, her thinking has an inherent humanness to it. She is extremely approachable, yet she is known for her death stares if you make stupid mistakes. Extremely smart, critical and rational, although, jokes often don’t land on her. She barely has any presence on the internet, yet here’s her interview trying to decode what she’s like, for the internet to read.

Okay, so the first question is, what is your most treasured memory? You can think. If you want to skip over, you can skip.”

“What context? Can you narrow it down a bit?”

“If you have several, you can just say so.” || “Several people answered that they enjoyed school trips.”

“Hmm… What is the exact question? ‘Most treasured’? (pause)”

“You don’t have to take it so seriously. It’s not a real analysis exam.” || “You can just say that there are several, or there is not one that you think of as very important. ‘Most treasured’ in the sense: something that you think of that makes you happy.”

“I once woke up early. It was nice in the morning.”

“Damn. One thing you’re very ambitious about?“

“Zero. I have no ambition.”

“Fair enough. If you were told that you were to die in 24 hours, how would you spend that time?“

“Bro, I’d clear every single one of my tabs.”

(laughter)

“What’s a piece of advice you’d give to a stranger?“

“I’m not experienced enough to give advice.”

“Experienced in what? Life?”

“Life.” || “Well, one tip would be to sleep enough.”

“Amazing advice.” || “That’s all.”

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There are a few people that you meet that just leave an impact on you. You think of them and you never have anything bad to say. The type of people who make everyone feel welcome, and loved. The kind where you just know that they will achieve great things in life because they have every right to. The ones that chase their dreams while not losing touch of who they are. Dependable, refreshing and lovable, this is our interview with one such person.

“We will start with this question. Okay, what’s one piece of advice you would give a stranger?“

“Be happy whatever you do.”

“Okay, if- wait, I will start from the beginning. What is your most treasured memory?“

“No idea.”

“(audibly smiling) What do you value the most in a friendship?“

“Loyalty, and being trustworthy.”

“Ok, what would you–”

“Wait, wait–how do you want the answers to be? Descriptive? Short?”

“Descriptive.”

“Ah, okay. That makes sense.”

“Okay, what would constitute a perfect day for you?” 

“Perfect day? Hm. Okay. Uhh… a day full of learning, exercise, spending time with friends.”

“So, every day for you” 

(laughter)

“Not really! But yeah. Yeah, that’s how I’d like it to be.”

“Okay. Next question, would you like to be famous? If yes, in what way?“

“No, I would not like to be famous.”

“Why?”

“Why? Okay. Okay, I mean, s-see, I would, I don’t- I don’t want the… th-the consequences that come of stardom. N-not like I wouldn’t like to contribute. I’d like to contribute and do something good, but I… yeah, not-not–okay, I don’t want to do things because of the limelight if that makes sense.”

“Okay, tell me something you’re proud of. Within yourself.”

“Uhhh… I- wait, does it have to be, like, academic or just like–”

“It can be anything.”

“Okay, I’m proud of how I’ve managed to be adaptable, I think? I’m very, I mean, as far as I think I am, I think I am quite adaptable. ‘I wait for change’ kind of things. So, like, coming to IIIT, being able to adapt–not just acads but you know, make friends, kind of things.

“I’m proud of you for that. Next, what is one thing you’re ambitious about?“

“Ambitious about. Okay. My career goals. (laughs) I have a lot of things. So I have very, very ambitious goals. Yeah, I mean, nothing very structured, but yes, big plans.

“Big plans. Do you want to describe the big plans? No? Okay. If you could wake up tomorrow and gain one quality or ability, what would it be?“

“One quality… one quality I don’t have. Being able to manage… manage multiple relations at a time, because I feel I’m–see, I know I make friends with a lot of people, but I kind of struggle with keeping in touch with a lot of people at a time. With old friends there’s like only you know a few people I keep in touch with, you know. Okay, I mean, as you grow old, you can’t stay in touch with them. But I don’t keep as much touch with as many people as I should. You know there’s like 3 friends from school, there’s like 3 friends. That’s all. Although I had a really good set of friends. Close friends, I’d consider them, but there’s only three I speak to regularly. So that.”

“Okay, what’s one thing in life you feel the most grateful for?“

“I’d say, my friends and family, yeah, they’ve been super supportive and helpful.”

“If you could have tea with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?“

“(pause) Can I come back to this later?”

“Sure, there’s only a few questions left. If you were told that you were to die in 24 hours, how would you spend the time?“

“Damn (chuckles) I’d probably just go off to a very far away place.”

“Alone?”

“Yes. No, I wouldn’t be the kind of guy to spend time with friends, that kind of thing. I’d probably just run away. Yeah, explore the world. I mean, yeah, I probably just drop a message to, like, get out. Yeah. I mean, I’d probably, yeah, because there’s a lot of things I haven’t done. I’d go behind those. I have good friends. I’ve spent a lot of time with them.

“That’s good. Okay, fine. Coming back to the question. If you could have tea with anyone…”

“(extremely long pause) Okay, this is a weird one–first name that came to my mind–Enzo Ferrari. I’d like to hear his story. Inspiring story. Yeah, I didn’t get any other name.”

“At least it was not Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler was the most popular.”

“Good idea. Good idea. (chuckles)”

“Yeah, that’s it. I don’t have any more questions.”