Musings: 114 days of quarantine

On the 14th of March, I was on a plane ride back from Boston to India so I could be with my family during this pandemic we call COVID-19. On the 7th of July: I started my 2nd and final co-op at Goldman Sachs.

Lots happened during this period. For the first time in my life, I spent so many days consecutively with my father (he travels for work all the time), new skills were picked up, new opportunities ceased, there was time for reflection and for all the things we don’t seem to ever have time for.

This is what happened in 114 days of quarantine in between 14th March and 7th July!

1. BOOKS:

I love to read and had taken up a self-proclaimed challenge to read 24 books this year. The pandemic gave me a chance to catch up on my reading list and these are the 10 books that I read.

Screenshots from my IG stories where I share my reading list + recommend some of my favorite books

My top 3 out of the 10 would be:

1. Atomic Habits by James Clear

2. Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Iger

3. Zero to One by Peter Theil

2. MOVIES/TV SHOWS:

Every once in a while, I enjoy watching good movies and great TV shows.

The following were some of my favorites during this period:

1. Guru
2. Becoming on Michelle Obama
3. 7 pounds
4. Concussion
5. Imitation Game
6. The Last Dance
7. Spelling the Dream

If there is one show I recommend watching this year, it has got to be this docuseries on the championship-winning Chicago Bulls team lead by Michael Jordan. The insights into the motivation, focus, and unbeatable work ethic of MJ and his teammates will definitely leave you in awe

My younger brother Krishnav and I also did a Lord of the Rings movie marathon weekend which was a lot of fun!

3. BEING CONSTRUCTIVE/GOOD THINGS:

I like being busy and try my best to be constructive. I am always up to something and my mind never stops thinking.

From speaking on a podcast, running a 50 person organization, starting a global community to build better habits, starting a Family Business Council, starting a new venture, winning some awards, speaking on various platforms, these are some of the constructive things I was up to:

4. PODCASTING:

I had the honor of speaking on a podcast series called Permission to Speak hosted by Jacob Guay. You can find more details + the full episode here

5. NUIMPACT: NORTHEASTERN’S STUDENT LEAD IMPACT INVESTING FUND:

Our community with NUImpact the student fund I had the honor of leading this past year kept super busy, connected, and resilient through the pandemic. Below are some of the highlights:

• Launching of a new logo (picture below)

Inspired by the triple bottom line approach. The inspiration and process behind the logo creation can be found here

• Weekly team meetings ( with 50+ people calling in from 3 continents and various time zones). I was calling in from 4:00 to 7:00 am and it was totally worth it.
• Hosting various events and workshops
• Conducting a virtual awards night for our graduating seniors
• Holding our 2nd ever Investment Committee Meeting

Screenshots from an IC meeting where 4 amazing companies were pitched. Proud of our team for the resilience and commitment shown to our mission

• Conducting 35+ interviews all virtually for the next leadership team
• The D’Amore McKim School of Business wrote an article on how we were able to connect our community virtually (link below)

D'Amore-McKim student clubs stay connected featuring NUImpact

• Completing our Fund’s inaugural investment in a company called EatWell
• Launching our 1st ever Impact Report

NUImpact Impact Report 2019–2020

6. ISOULATION: A COMMUNITY TO HELP FORM BETTER HABITS:

I had formed a Slack Community for people around the world to exchange their goals during the pandemic and form better habits together. The community didn’t end up being as active as I had planned but it was a great learning experience

7. KP (KISHOREPURIA) BUSINESS COUNCIL:

I belong to a huge joint family of entrepreneurs with 50+ people in the family. During the pandemic with businesses being affected, my family decided to form a family business council to have weekly meetings to discuss what different members were doing to innovate and meet the challenge of running a successful business during COVID-19.

One of the takeaways from this meeting was a spirit manufacturing plant being converted to a sanitizer manufacturing plant which was the need of the hour.

8. SOME GOOD NEWS:

I am always thinking of “What’s Next?” And forget to celebrate the small victories in the present. This time around I was able to change that as I won the following awards/honors and was able to celebrate the same with my family close to me:

• Induction into the Huntington 100

Northeastern inducts the 2020 class of the Huntington 100

• Dean’s List (GPA: 4.0): It had been one of the most challenging semesters of my life due to some personal reasons (and COVID-19) so doing well academically was a huge win
• Nominated amongst the Top 3 Student Leaders of the Year by the Center of Student Involvement: didn’t win but I will be back. Failure is part of the learning curve
• Inducted into the National Honor’s Society for Finance

9. SPEAKING ON VARIOUS PLATFORMS:

Had the opportunity to speak with the amazing Vidit Dugar and Devanshi Kanoi Chitlangia. Full session’s recording can be found here

My first time taking part in a Fishbowl Session with two amazing panelists. Full session’s recording can be found here

• Moderated a session on startups and what investors are looking for with Mr. Sanjay Kumar Jain. The practical advice shared was brilliant (Full session’s recording can be found below).

I organized and moderated 3 insightful talks with the well-renowned author and spiritual teacher Guruji Sri. G. Narayana which was attended by family and friends from around India. The recording from the 1st talk can be found here (password: 0A.=9+jM)

Did a LinkedIn workshop for a group of 50 young students which was loads of fun

Had the honor of being invited to present NUImpact’s 1st investment at the Monthly call of the SIILK initiative under the Intentional Endowments Network. The slides used can be found below

• Devanshi Kanoi Chitlangi and I mentored 50 students as part of the 1st ever MY Startup Challenge. In a matter of weeks ventures from the competition have become a reality and attracting 100’s of customers (Full session’s recording can be found below).

• I also started working as a brand strategist/consultant with a couple of startups and organizations during the pandemic

I was invited to speak to a group of 60+ admitted students to Northeastern with some amazing student leaders. This was one of my favorite events as I could picture myself sitting in the audience a couple of years ago as an excited admitted student to Northeastern

10. STARTING MY OWN ED-TECH VENTURE:

I am always thinking of new ideas. With the pandemic happening, I was uncertain of whether my co-op would be canceled/postponed and I started thinking of a backup plan and decided to pursue a venture with Idea: Northeastern’s Venture Accelerator. I will leave updates on the venture for another blog post!

11. FOCUSING ON HEALTH:

Health is something I have always given priority to. This pandemic was no different. It taught me to look at health more holistically. I tried to focus on the mental/spiritual self, become more conscious of my food choices, and practice different movements/exercises with more awareness about my body. The following are some things I incorporated into my lifestyle:

• Maintaining a workout journal
• Started a gratitude journal
• My mother Shruti, introduced me to the community and practice of Nichiren Buddhism which I am grateful for

• I started training with my old strength and condition coach: Jeh Williamson. We are working on flexibility, strength and trying to learn some calisthenics movements as I write this post

The practice of Yoga became a more regular occurrence. In photo holding the Bakasana or the crow pose. More practice is required to hold such poses for longer periods of time.

• I also started a KP Health Motivation Group to motivate elder members of my family to stay fit
• I tried and failed to build a daily mediation practice. But it is still something I want to incorporate into my life sometime in the future

12. FAMILY

I live with my parents, younger brother, and grandfather at home. During the lockdown, my cousin Shourya also spent about 75 days with us. My family is very bonded and this lockdown was spent cooking together, celebrating important occasions with small gestures, lots and lots of board games, some deep conversations and quality time spent with one another.

This is our list of favorite board games during the pandemic. Acquire, a game that Shourya taught us, became a daily ritual. I did not win as much as I would have liked, but it was fun none the less

Mother’s Day and Father’s Day was celebrated with some cooking from the boys who apparently couldn’t cook

13. LASTLY SOME OTHER FUN/MISCELLANEOUS THINGS:

• E-library: Krishnav and I decided to put our entire library on an Excel sheet to keep track of the books we own and share our library with our friends and family members (link below).

On the 18th of April, Krishnav shaved my head and I went completely bald. At the end of the day, it is just hair: it would grow back

For the first time in my life, I decided to grow a proper beard. After about 2.5 months I am clean shaven today

We decided to sort out all our family albums which was a drive down memory lane. This is a project that is still in the works and I need to finish soon

After 4 long years, I got to spend my birthday with the people and the place I call home. Though amidst a pandemic, it was nice to have family around and I was grateful for all the messages from friends and family members

On 28th June, I found out that my best friend Chaitanya Jalan had just got hitched to the girl of his dreams

My friends and family members spoiled me with amazing homemade food and desserts as we decided not to order food from outside for safety reasons

Last Words:

So much has happened during this pandemic and so much more is yet to happen after this period. If there is one feeling it has left me with, it is the feeling of being grateful.

Grateful to have a heart that is beating, a body that is capable of work, a mind that is willing to learn, food on the table, clothes on the back, a comfortable bed to sleep in at night and most of all family/friends to make tough times better.

Like all things both good and bad in life, this time too shall pass and we will be better off for it. Till then, let’s keep working hard and make the most of what we have: TODAY.

Picture shot on my I-phone on the 14th of March on the journey back from Boston to India. This picture serves me as a reminder that no matter what happens — life is beautiful and it is up to us to find it!