Born to government school teachers in Bhiwani, Deekshant Sahrawat’s life was very regimented. When he moved from a Hindi medium to English medium Sports School in Rai, Haryana, he failed in two subjects initially. This only made him more determined. He recalls, “I made full use of the independence at Rai. Sports were an integral part of my life, and I learnt the importance of winning and losing, taking responsibility and working in teams. I also developed my public speaking skills.” A state-level cricket player, he also directed a play.
But he was expelled for leading a strike against the school for better facilities when he was the school captain in class XII. He was forced to complete his schooling from Bhiwani. This setback allowed him to refocus on his priorities and he took a year off to prepare for the IITJEE, a choice he wouldn’t have made while at Rai. After graduating from IIT-Delhi in civil engineering, Sahrawat joined BHEL.
His father always wanted to be a lyricist, a dream Sahrawat thought he could fulfill. He got in touch with Dr Palash Sen, lead vocalist of Euphoria and said, “I am from IIT and I can write.” Sen was impressed by his writing skills, and their first collaboration was incidentally on the night before the CAT exam. Sahrawat did an all-nighter writing the lyrics for ‘Mantra’ and reached the exam venue 10 minutes late. He chose to go to IIM-Calcutta because it was closer to home, and the friendly attendance rule allowed him to spend time on writing. Their album, ‘Gully’ was recorded while he was doing his summer internship with a daily in New Delhi.
He preferred to start his own venture, instead of sitting for placements. “Many of us are educated, but are still not confident about our abilities. We succumb to herd mentality while making career choices. Our career choices get further constrained because of parental and societal pressure. This is a sheer waste of our education,” he explains about the motivation for his venture, Roots Education.
Roots offers interactive test preparation for the CAT, XAT, SNAP and other exams with their MBAGuru product. Visit www.mbaguru.in for details on courses offered or enroll for a self-awareness and personality enhancement programme at www.mybestself.in.
— rohit@learnbizsimulations.com
The writer is an entrepreneur in the e-learning domain
