The long road from Assam to Bain.
Two decades of curiosity, sport, music, hosted events, late-night decisions, and a quiet conviction that I want to build something of my own.
A curious kid growing up in the Northeast
Drew, painted, made things constantly. Northeast India is a quiet collision of languages, ethnicities, and cultures — I picked up bits of every one of them.
People still mistake me for being from Bombay, Delhi, or the Northeast. It isn't a mixed identity — it's the ability to adapt to anyone, and it has quietly defined how I work ever since.
Six years of district medals — then the courts closed
Dad introduced me to tennis in Class 2 and I fell hard for it. Won district medals across age categories, got featured in local newspapers. By Class 7 the local courts went into a year-long renovation that turned into something far longer — Assam moves slowly. I stepped away. It hurt, but it cleared room for what came next.
Five kids, one band, and the first taste of the hustle
The same year tennis ended, my mother's professor offered to teach me guitar. Within months I was in a five-piece band playing schools, college fests, and eventually opening for a headlining local act. The rest of the band played — I was the one calling venue managers and fest organisers. They kept telling me I was unusually well-spoken for my age.
Looking back, this was where business development quietly started for me — long before I had the word for it.
The band scattered, music became social currency
After Class 12, the band went separate ways — engineering, MBBS, the arts. I landed at MIT Manipal and discovered that performing at campus events made me known. Within a semester, I knew almost everyone.
Hosting parties, then building a business around it
The music scene led me to promoters and hotel managers. Soon I was hosting events myself. I pulled in three or four friends and we formalised it — securing licenses, negotiating venue terms, running profit shares. For the first time I was earning real money on my own.
We used to call ourselves the mafia of the college — half a joke, half not. We knew how to make things happen.
The institutional version of the same skill
Led corporate relations at MIT Manipal's E-Cell and sponsorships for Tech Tatva, one of India's largest student tech fests. Worked across a 1,600-plus client database, negotiating with multinationals and signing MoUs. With college funds and a year of experience, we brought Salim Sulaiman, Zaeden, and KRSNA to campus.
Chose strategy over events — and landed Bain
I seriously considered going full-time into events, but I was running on instinct and wanted to learn how real businesses operate. Consulting mapped to what I was already doing, just at a professional scale. At placements I wasn't the obvious pick against stronger CVs — what worked was structured thinking and years of practice reading the person across the table.
From intern to full-time analyst at Bain
Joined the Consumer Products Centre of Excellence. Within months I was working across top-tier engagements — global snacks, European coffee, US dairy, emerging-market dairy, World Economic Forum, a paediatric hospital system, a national water utility.
A long way from tennis tournaments in Assam. Same underlying instincts though — read the room, structure the problem, find the angle no one else has tried.
Happy with the work — but not finished
The people I admire in Forbes 30 Under 30 didn't get there by waiting. They built. They're not different from me — they just had the conviction to start. AI has flattened the gap between idea and execution. So I'm using these years to learn at speed from the best operators I'll ever work with. Then I'll build.
The thread through all of it: curiosity, communication, and the urge to make something happen.
If you're building something — or thinking about it — I'd love to chat.
Get in touch →