Q. How was your primary experience of moving to Sydney?

A. My journey started from a very small village of Bathinda. I belong to a middle-class family and my parents are retired teachers. I ended up in Australia with 20 dollars and a lot of dreams. Experiences like sleeping at railway stations, sharing meals with homeless people have completely changed my vision towards life. Life was full of ups and downs and not easy. This taught me caring and sharing in a sincere sense.

Q. What difficulties do you face while teaching young minds?

A. I have started a program called Building Bridges for the young interns of India and Australia. Nowadays, we have access to social media which influences the youth a lot and they tend to get distracted from their goal. However, it is not hard to train young minds once they decide and start to focus meticulously. The most important thing is to focus on ourselves. Nothing is small or big, we just need to set our goal.

Q. If, not a community leader, what would you have been or what was your goal from the very beginning?

A. I aspired to join the Indian army from the very beginning. In fact, during my engineering at Thapar, I cleared my NDA exam as well. I had almost packed my stuff to leave for the Sainik School but some things just aren’t meant to be with the ongoing circumstances at that time. As a community leader, I not only represent India or South Asia but also the following generation. In books, the role of a community leader feels very virtuous and simple but in literal terms, I have to sit back till midnight after my 10-6 job as people come to me with their issues and I connect them to various government and non-government stakeholders.

Q. When was the last time you visited Thapar and what changes did you notice?

A. It has been almost around ten years since I last visited Thapar and definitely the campus and infrastructure has only improved from our time. Back then, there was no technology or mobile phones which left us a lot of time for other activities, there were street dhabas outside the main gate and what not. So, there was a sense of attachment with others and less competition amongst the students. Today, everyone is focused on themselves and I feel that love and compassion are missing these days.

Q. If given a chance, is there something you would want to change about your university days?

A. I had lacked the sharing and caring attribute during my college life so I feel that I could have helped my juniors a bit more. Also, I feel that I could have used my time more judiciously. I should have paid more attention to the significant stuff, to my teachers and to the people who were with me while I was preparing for my IAS and IPS exams. We were teenagers and did some utterly silly things which I now think were a sheer waste of time. But in the end, I improved as a person and the mistakes that I made help me evolve positively so I don’t have any significant regrets.

Q. Were you more focused on academics or extracurricular activities and how do you suggest to maintain a balance between the two?

A. I was an all-rounder and took part in everything. We had time for studies and fun both. I suggest that one should have a plan for everything. Make sure that you spend the same amount of time on studies and socializing. Academics are very important but you can never grow as a person unless you keep at par with the growing world. Try to prepare an uninterrupted timetable, focusing on giving time to yourself and never rely on tomorrow.

Q. How did you pass your leisure time to stay entertained at college?

A. We had an old swimming pool where we used to go at night. Resources were limited at that time but small things did the deed. Even enjoying shahi paneer or chicken curry was a huge deal. That was entertainment for us.