From Commandant to Creative: Kulpreet Yadav's Inspiring Journey

[00:00:07] [SPEAKER_02]: Hello and welcome to Chasing Creativity.

[00:00:14] [SPEAKER_02]: This is Kiran Mandral and today I have a very special guest with me, Kulpreet Yadav who

[00:00:19] [SPEAKER_02]: is a dear friend who has been an ex-commandant.

[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Am I saying that right, Commandant?

[00:00:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Commandant is absolutely right.

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Right.

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_02]: He has been an ex-commandant of the Indian Coast Guard and he has commanded three ships.

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_02]: Then he took retirement and he decided to get into the creative field which is a very

[00:00:40] [SPEAKER_02]: unusual choice and I have known him since then, since the time he got his first book

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_02]: out I think that was over 10 years ago, 12 years ago.

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_01]: The first book came out in fact 18 years ago.

[00:00:50] [SPEAKER_01]: 18 years ago.

[00:00:50] [SPEAKER_01]: But there was a gap in between.

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Okay so little after that and it's fascinated me Kulpreet, how the courage that he

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_02]: must have taken to you know jump ship so to speak and to get into the creative space

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_02]: where there is absolutely no certainty of income or certainty of anything.

[00:01:08] [SPEAKER_02]: So what made you decide all of a sudden that okay I am done with this part of my life

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_02]: and I want to go and write books and be a creative person and now an actor

[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_02]: and an entrepreneur and a director and all sorts of various things that you are

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_02]: now.

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Well thank you very much Kiran, first of all pleasure to be here.

[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_01]: It's really so amazing to be meeting and speaking to you in Mumbai.

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_01]: So I've actually taken a natural course because when I joined the Defence Services

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_01]: because my father was in the Defence Services even though of course my grandfather

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_01]: was in the Royal Indian Army and for me to join the Defence Services was a natural

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_01]: choice because I was motivated by seeing all these people around me and also the

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_01]: fact that I hail from Haryana and you know Haryana Punjab most of the people

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_01]: end up joining the forces.

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_02]: The forces, yeah that's right.

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And thereafter when I quit my service after about working for 23 years by the time

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I'd written two books and these books had not done that well but you know

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_01]: somehow I was you know I got attracted towards storytelling.

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_02]: So you were a reader I'm supposing, a very voracious reader.

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_01]: I was yes.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_02]: And you still are of course.

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_02]: But while you were in the services you were writing these books parallelly like

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_02]: you know something on the side was that what was happening and you're taking time

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_02]: out to write these books?

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_01]: No so when I started my journey as an officer at that time I was not writing

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_01]: I was just a reader.

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_01]: But after completing see my book came out when it came out in 2006 that was

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_01]: my first book.

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_01]: So by that time I had done about 15 years of service because I joined in 1991.

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_01]: So I was till that time a reader I was also very junior officer you know

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_01]: usually you go into training and you do junior appointments and you are you know

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_01]: you are under pressure to perform and there are professional subjects that you need to learn.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_01]: So the time also was very less for me to read or do anything else.

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_01]: It is only when I became senior after about 15 years of service and I had leisure

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_01]: of more time and more reading and then this thought came to me and a story occurred

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_01]: to me one day and I thought I must write that story down.

[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_01]: And until that point I was not aware that I'm ever going to be a writer.

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_01]: So this is you know I don't even know how to describe it but this is some upper

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_01]: wallets se kuch aaya something you know and it just happened.

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_02]: The best way.

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_01]: The best way so I wrote 10,000 words of my first book which I was very excited

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_01]: about and I thought it is great and the first reader of course became my wife because

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_01]: that's what wives do.

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_04]: Not this wife.

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_01]: So she was I mean I'm very fortunate to have a wife who read my book.

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_01]: 10,000 words and she said it's good and that kind of gave me an encouragement

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_01]: to finish the book and then few people read the book relatives friends officers

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_01]: and they also encouraged and they said it was good and actually I think when I

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_01]: look back now I think all of them were lying because when I look at that book

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_01]: right now it is very ordinary.

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean lying is probably a wrong word but you know when people love you too much

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_01]: then they're not able to see fault in what you do.

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_01]: So it was their love which was kind of making them see more than the talent

[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_01]: that I had.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_01]: But you know had that not happened I probably would not have gone on this

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_01]: journey and written so many books.

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_01]: So for that I'm grateful.

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_02]: So that was the right encouragement at the right time.

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_02]: It was right.

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_01]: You nailed it better.

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_02]: So you wrote your first two books and what were the first two books about?

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_01]: First two books I really want to talk about them because they were very

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_01]: ordinary books.

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_01]: When I look back now at that time it was very scary.

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_02]: It's OK.

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_02]: All our first books are terrible.

[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_02]: We look at them in cringe and we think that how did this ever get published.

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah thankfully they're out of print and you know people can probably blackmail

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_02]: us now by threatening to release them again.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_02]: But tell us a bit about what the themes were, what it was about and how

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_02]: you researched those initial books because you have no background in creative

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_02]: writing.

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm very curious about how was it instinctive.

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_02]: Did you learn?

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Did you train yourself?

[00:05:07] [SPEAKER_02]: How did you go about writing?

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_01]: I think it was completely instinctive.

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_01]: I had spent a lot of time reading thrillers, crime thrillers, military

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_01]: thrillers, espionage thrillers, romantic thrillers when I was younger.

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_01]: I started this when I was in school and also I continued that in my

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_01]: college and my officer days.

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_01]: And I already had some kind of instinctive sense of storytelling, which I

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_01]: did not know.

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe subconsciously I was absorbing all this and when the time came I

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_01]: wanted to write the story that came to me was a thriller.

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_01]: So it was very pretty much similar to the genre that I was very

[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_01]: comfortable with.

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_03]: Yes.

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_01]: And I wrote that book.

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_01]: The first one was a thriller.

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_01]: It was an espionage thriller and the second one was action adventure.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_01]: With a little bit of romance weaved in.

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_01]: So that's how these two books were.

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_01]: They did very mediocre business.

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_01]: They were from small presses and I wrote another book, which was not

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_01]: accepted and I wrote one more book.

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Then I got into a stage where I thought probably, you know, I'm just

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_01]: trying to think I can be a writer, but actually I really do not have the

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_01]: talent.

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_01]: So for four or five years I did not write.

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_01]: I was reading short stories.

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_01]: I started a magazine.

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I wrote more short stories, quite a few of them.

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_01]: They were all rejected by everybody that I said for three, four years.

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_01]: And I was more focused on international magazines than I started my own

[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_01]: magazine, which you know, I ran that with a lot of passion for five

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_01]: years.

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_01]: We had an international team of people working with us and I spent a

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_01]: lot of money also.

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_01]: And I, by doing that, I think it gave me a little more understanding,

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, allowed me a little more understanding in storytelling.

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_01]: And then I started writing, I think a little better books.

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_01]: And then obviously I started finding better agents and better publishers

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_01]: and now more readers.

[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's been a journey, which is now I think on the 19th year.

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Nineteenth year and how many books down?

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Fifteen.

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_02]: Fifteen books.

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Fifteen books.

[00:07:10] [SPEAKER_02]: That's a wonderful journey.

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_02]: Fifteen books in 19 years is very commendable.

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you very much.

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_01]: But two, I think three of them are actually self published ebooks.

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_01]: One is a collection of short story, which is not done well at all.

[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_01]: None of these other books have done well.

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_01]: And I also have a motivational book, which is probably is an

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_01]: astronomical failure.

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not able to easily find that book on internet myself.

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, what about other people?

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_02]: That's very motivating.

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_02]: And but you had great successes also.

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, in the last five years.

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Done very well and which have really left a mark.

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_02]: And I know of this because I hear people talking about these books.

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_02]: So tell us about this shift that you made.

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_02]: It's not only a shift in books, it's also a complete shift in genres.

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_02]: You went into completely different space with these books.

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_02]: So what prompted you?

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_02]: You've done espionage, you've done spy thriller, and now this is a new

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_02]: world completely, new world in the sense you have been in the forces and

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_02]: you know about all that.

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you familiar with that territory, so to speak.

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_02]: But this is real stories, real life, real incidents.

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_02]: So what made you go into that?

[00:08:23] [SPEAKER_01]: So the first non-fiction that I did was called Queens of Crime, which I

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_01]: did with Bollywood actor Sushant Singh.

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And that was, of course, a new space because I had not done true crime.

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Of course, for Sushant, he's been doing this for a very long time, but

[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_01]: he was doing it on TV.

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Came into the writing medium, which was also different for him.

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_01]: But I think true crime at the core of any true crime story is a very

[00:08:51] [SPEAKER_01]: strong thriller element, which is always intrinsic to storytelling

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_01]: of a true crime story.

[00:08:59] [SPEAKER_01]: So that part was known to me as a reader and also as a writer in

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_01]: the past, I think that helped me.

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_01]: But more than that, I think the research part was something that

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_01]: I was doing for the first time.

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_01]: So meeting people, understanding the police procedures, going through

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_01]: the court cases, the judgments, understanding how the legal world works

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_01]: and how the police investigation takes place, how they document things.

[00:09:29] [SPEAKER_01]: And all that took a little bit of time and reading.

[00:09:32] [SPEAKER_01]: I bought some books, non-fiction books by Indian writers, international

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_01]: writers, read them.

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_01]: So it took a little longer for me to write Queens of Crime.

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_01]: But once it did well, then it gave me more confidence that now I can do

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_01]: research and write.

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_01]: So I thought, why not do research in a space that I'm more familiar

[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_01]: with, which is military.

[00:09:50] [SPEAKER_01]: So the first story that I wanted to write was Battle of Rizangla.

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Battle of Rizangla was fought in 1962 in Ladakh and it was

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_01]: fought by 13 Kumao, which is a battalion.

[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_01]: And it was 13 Kumao, it's called Kumao battalion, but all these

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_01]: 13 Kumao is 100% South Haryanvi people.

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_01]: And they all belong to my community.

[00:10:13] [SPEAKER_02]: So that's how you knew of, you're familiar with this?

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I was familiar with these people because almost every village in

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_01]: South Haryana has got people who've been martyred in this particular

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_01]: battle and the women sing songs, there are temples and there are

[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_01]: memorials in the villages made by the villages themselves.

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes the family is maintaining it.

[00:10:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes the, you know, the village and the panchayat is

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_01]: investing some money in daily upkeep of these memorials.

[00:10:38] [SPEAKER_01]: And there is a kind of a subculture and a celebration of these warriors

[00:10:42] [SPEAKER_01]: for what they did in all the same Ladakh.

[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_01]: But also my childhood in school and college and also in the

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_01]: defense services, nobody actually had any clue about Battle of Rizangla.

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_02]: I hadn't heard of it until your book.

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_02]: And you know, that's when I read it.

[00:10:55] [SPEAKER_01]: There's not even a single book on this.

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_02]: I read all mentions, you know, you hear about certain battles

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_02]: and certain incidents that have happened, but this was like

[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_02]: completely new territory.

[00:11:04] [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.

[00:11:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And when I thought that I should, you know, the thought came to me

[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_01]: that, okay, nobody's written this story, but this is a true story.

[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_01]: And Indian army knows that this is one of the best fought battles.

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_01]: And out of 120 Jawaans who were defending along with V.

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Shatant Singh, 110 of them chose to stay there and fight and save

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Ladakh and it got saved and they will cease fire the very next day.

[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_01]: And we still have that region.

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_01]: So I thought, why not write about this story?

[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Because initially I was thinking that this is too big a story for

[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_01]: me to tell, to be honest.

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I knew about the story all along, but I was writing other books

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_01]: and I, when I was writing the other books, I was not knowing that

[00:11:41] [SPEAKER_01]: probably at some level, all these books were in some way preparatory

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_01]: for me to come to this stage where I can write this book.

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_01]: So when I proposed this to my publisher, they were very excited

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_01]: about it and I send them pitch of 5,000 words and I said,

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_01]: this is the book that I'm going to write.

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's very, I am very emotional about the story and this is a

[00:12:00] [SPEAKER_01]: true story and they liked it.

[00:12:01] [SPEAKER_01]: And they said, okay, we will go ahead.

[00:12:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And I wrote that book and though I have worn white uniform, but I'm not

[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_01]: an army officer and I was very skeptical because I was writing about

[00:12:11] [SPEAKER_01]: army maneuvers in 1962 and it is a

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_01]: familiar territory in certain ways, but only uniform wearing

[00:12:17] [SPEAKER_01]: and maybe parade, but otherwise all the weapons and the strategic

[00:12:21] [SPEAKER_01]: maneuvers and the artillery and all this world is not that well known to me.

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_01]: So I did do a lot of research and meet a lot of army officers.

[00:12:28] [SPEAKER_01]: And also I wanted to write an authentic book.

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And Long Story Short, the book came out in 2021 September and very quickly

[00:12:36] [SPEAKER_01]: it became my largest selling book and we've had several print runs.

[00:12:39] [SPEAKER_01]: And then the government of India noticed a national book trust

[00:12:41] [SPEAKER_01]: and a Hindi edition of it.

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_01]: And now there are other language editions people are talking about

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_01]: and film is also going to be made soon.

[00:12:48] [SPEAKER_01]: So that is how Battle of Rizangla happened.

[00:12:51] [SPEAKER_02]: When you're writing about something as important and historical, but

[00:12:58] [SPEAKER_02]: something that has not been spoken about in public consciousness,

[00:13:04] [SPEAKER_02]: there is always a sense of responsibility.

[00:13:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, absolutely.

[00:13:09] [SPEAKER_02]: You can't misrepresent any.

[00:13:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_02]: So how did you go about what were your checks and balances while writing this book?

[00:13:16] [SPEAKER_02]: Because you have to be objective.

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_02]: You have to have your facts in place.

[00:13:19] [SPEAKER_02]: You have to do your storytelling in a certain order.

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_02]: So just take us through a little bit of your process.

[00:13:26] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, brilliant question.

[00:13:29] [SPEAKER_01]: That weight of responsibility was there and I wanted to write a book,

[00:13:34] [SPEAKER_01]: which is authentic.

[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's a final book of this battle because no one else has written all the

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_01]: 1962 books, there are dozens of them I've read.

[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_01]: They are all great books by great writers, but the focus has always been on Arunachal Pradesh,

[00:13:48] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, and that area and Nepal and other parts of 1962.

[00:13:52] [SPEAKER_01]: And the mention of Rizangla is only one page, one and a half page, except one or two

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_01]: books, which has got three or four pages.

[00:13:57] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[00:13:57] [SPEAKER_01]: So there's very little information available.

[00:13:59] [SPEAKER_01]: So for me, it took me almost, I think almost two years, I was only researching.

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_01]: So I started by meeting the survivors.

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_01]: We had four survivors at that time.

[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_01]: They were living in their villages.

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_01]: I went and spent time with them, recorded their first accounts of their own.

[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, they were very young at that time because now they're in late 80s,

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_01]: early 90s.

[00:14:19] [SPEAKER_01]: So some of them are very old.

[00:14:21] [SPEAKER_01]: They're not that coherent.

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_01]: And but memories also, and they've been speaking this story all this while from

[00:14:26] [SPEAKER_01]: 1962, some changes might have taken place, but they are the survivors of the war.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Their views are important.

[00:14:32] [SPEAKER_01]: I spent a lot of time with them and that was a great experience.

[00:14:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Then there is a Ministry of Defense official account, which is pretty detailed.

[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Okay.

[00:14:42] [SPEAKER_01]: So that became a very good, important reference point for me.

[00:14:45] [SPEAKER_01]: And 13 Kumow battalion at that time when I was researching,

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_01]: fortunately for me, was at that time located in New Delhi.

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_01]: I reached out to the commanding officer and I went and met him.

[00:14:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And I said, this is what I'm writing and I would like to have your war diary.

[00:15:02] [SPEAKER_01]: War diary is a restricted document which is written by pen in any battle by the battalion.

[00:15:07] [SPEAKER_02]: Okay.

[00:15:08] [SPEAKER_01]: So he said, I don't know where it is, but if we have, because you know,

[00:15:11] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure whether we've read it out or not read it out.

[00:15:13] [SPEAKER_01]: If it is there, we'll make a committee and try to look for it,

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_01]: searching if it is there, we'll call you.

[00:15:18] [SPEAKER_01]: So after a week, he called me up and he said, sir, he's due to be in service

[00:15:22] [SPEAKER_01]: because of the length of service and in services people are very respectful and

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_01]: very nice. And he said, sir, we've been able to find the war book.

[00:15:29] [SPEAKER_01]: So we had a leather bound, you know, fraying at the edges, almost,

[00:15:34] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, moth eaten, weather beaten kind of a look, leather diary,

[00:15:38] [SPEAKER_01]: but the base pages were nicely preserved inside.

[00:15:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Lucky.

[00:15:41] [SPEAKER_01]: So I was able to read all that.

[00:15:42] [SPEAKER_01]: I was able to get mapped though the ministry of defense account was also there,

[00:15:45] [SPEAKER_01]: but here's another, you know, corrobatory,

[00:15:48] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you know that, that collaboration I was able to do along with this.

[00:15:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Then there were of course, a lot of books in which, as I said, one page, two page.

[00:15:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Then there are a lot of interviews, a lot of, you know,

[00:16:03] [SPEAKER_01]: journals, military journals, the USI military journal, IDSA.

[00:16:06] [SPEAKER_01]: These journals have got some people have written about 1962 war survivors,

[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_01]: other people from other battalions who were at that time fighting

[00:16:16] [SPEAKER_01]: in 1962 war and they had some information.

[00:16:19] [SPEAKER_01]: And last but not the least, one of the best accounts that I found was by

[00:16:24] [SPEAKER_01]: by Captain Amrindar Singh, the ex chief minister of Punjab.

[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_01]: He's a great military historian.

[00:16:29] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm a huge fan.

[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_01]: And he has a book called Lest We Forget.

[00:16:32] [SPEAKER_01]: OK, so Lest We Forget is, you know, it's I think it's out of circulation now,

[00:16:37] [SPEAKER_01]: but I was able to get my lay my hands on that book.

[00:16:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And in that book, there's a chapter which is about 30 pages.

[00:16:43] [SPEAKER_01]: And that's one battle of Rizangla.

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_01]: And there are other lesser known battles in that book and

[00:16:49] [SPEAKER_01]: immense amount of research that he's done,

[00:16:52] [SPEAKER_01]: probably 20 or 25 years after the war.

[00:16:54] [SPEAKER_01]: So all the information is fresh.

[00:16:56] [SPEAKER_01]: They compare to what it is now and certain other references.

[00:17:00] [SPEAKER_01]: So after getting the reference from all these places,

[00:17:04] [SPEAKER_01]: what I was able to, wherever I thought this information may not be accurate,

[00:17:08] [SPEAKER_01]: I was able to check it from another reference point.

[00:17:11] [SPEAKER_01]: And once I had all the material with me, then I started writing it down.

[00:17:17] [SPEAKER_02]: What made you think, of course, this is a very pivotal war, so to speak.

[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_02]: And we do not yet, I think, know the importance of it

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_02]: and what it has given our country.

[00:17:29] [SPEAKER_02]: But was there anything personal apart from the fact that,

[00:17:31] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, you knew the survivors and you knew the families?

[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Yes. Any personal motivation for you to take up the story?

[00:17:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, there were two

[00:17:42] [SPEAKER_01]: soldiers who were martyred in this battle who were distantly related to me.

[00:17:46] [SPEAKER_02]: OK, OK.

[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_01]: So I thought here is the story of these warriors who chose to lay down their lives

[00:17:53] [SPEAKER_01]: and outside their village, nobody knows the story.

[00:17:56] [SPEAKER_01]: OK. And if I can become that medium

[00:17:59] [SPEAKER_01]: to let all other Indians know about this valor of these Indians.

[00:18:04] [SPEAKER_01]: So I will be doing a great service to their memory of their sacrifice.

[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_01]: So that was another factor for me. Lovely.

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_02]: And with the Battle of Rizangla, you took a complete shift into nonfiction, I think.

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_02]: You haven't written fiction since, have you?

[00:18:20] [SPEAKER_01]: No, I have. So my book, which came out next year and last year,

[00:18:26] [SPEAKER_01]: 2023, was with Mr. Vijendra Prasad.

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_02]: OK, that's fiction. Yeah, that's historical fiction.

[00:18:30] [SPEAKER_02]: Historical fiction. A new genre completely again.

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_01]: A completely new genre.

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_01]: But I'm someone who's been, as I said,

[00:18:37] [SPEAKER_01]: military is something that I'm interested in.

[00:18:40] [SPEAKER_01]: And this particular book is about a battle,

[00:18:43] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, though this battle took place in the 17th, 16th century.

[00:18:47] [SPEAKER_01]: And I found the story very fascinating,

[00:18:49] [SPEAKER_01]: which has been originally written by Mr.

[00:18:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Vijendra Prasad and I happened to meet him and he proposed

[00:18:54] [SPEAKER_01]: that we should write a book together on the story,

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_01]: a book together, the story that he had written.

[00:18:59] [SPEAKER_01]: And I liked it. And I chose to

[00:19:03] [SPEAKER_01]: be with him and become his disciple because he's such a huge,

[00:19:06] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, person and very kind enough to become my mentor.

[00:19:10] [SPEAKER_01]: And that's how this historical fiction book called Brahma Putra,

[00:19:13] [SPEAKER_01]: which is about the Ahoms versus Mughals.

[00:19:16] [SPEAKER_01]: So the context is true.

[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_01]: The characters are true as for any historical fiction.

[00:19:21] [SPEAKER_01]: But we have changed the dynamics, the family dynamics

[00:19:25] [SPEAKER_01]: and the forces dynamics to create a story which is more interesting.

[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_02]: So you've done historical fiction now, you've done real military stories.

[00:19:36] [SPEAKER_02]: You've done true crime.

[00:19:38] [SPEAKER_02]: You've done espionage, thriller. What's next?

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm doing another military

[00:19:46] [SPEAKER_01]: nonfiction, which is going to be coming out in August this year.

[00:19:49] [SPEAKER_01]: It's called The Battle of Hajipir.

[00:19:52] [SPEAKER_01]: So if Battle of Rizangla was an unknown or less unknown battle from 62 war,

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Battle of Hajipir was a lesser known battle from 1965 war

[00:20:00] [SPEAKER_01]: between India and Pakistan and Kashmir.

[00:20:04] [SPEAKER_01]: So that's a very inspiring

[00:20:07] [SPEAKER_01]: battle about which a lot of people do not know.

[00:20:11] [SPEAKER_01]: And someone had proposed, given this idea that I should write this book

[00:20:14] [SPEAKER_01]: and I did more research on it and I found it very interesting.

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_01]: So it has taken me almost two years and the book will be coming out

[00:20:22] [SPEAKER_01]: in August on Hajipir Day. Oh, wonderful.

[00:20:25] [SPEAKER_01]: And what I'm researching right now is about the 1857 Gadar.

[00:20:31] [SPEAKER_01]: So at the time of Sathavanka Gadar, the first war of independence.

[00:20:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Wonderful. So that's going even further back in history.

[00:20:38] [SPEAKER_02]: No, you've done the Brahmaputra, which is further than that.

[00:20:41] [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, so yeah.

[00:20:43] [SPEAKER_02]: So when you're writing historical, I mean, of course,

[00:20:46] [SPEAKER_02]: the Brahmaputra is historical fiction, as you say.

[00:20:49] [SPEAKER_02]: And now the Gadar, which you will probably be doing,

[00:20:52] [SPEAKER_02]: will be not fiction, but it'll be a historical book.

[00:20:55] [SPEAKER_00]: It'll be historical non-fiction.

[00:20:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. When you're doing fiction,

[00:20:58] [SPEAKER_02]: historical fiction with wars and with revolts and all this.

[00:21:03] [SPEAKER_02]: And when you're doing your

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_02]: the non-fiction,

[00:21:08] [SPEAKER_02]: does the storytelling change for you?

[00:21:11] [SPEAKER_02]: How does it impact the storytelling?

[00:21:13] [SPEAKER_02]: Because these are very different kinds of genres.

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, they're in the same space,

[00:21:18] [SPEAKER_02]: but one you have to fictionalize a certain way

[00:21:21] [SPEAKER_02]: while remaining true to the era.

[00:21:24] [SPEAKER_02]: And the others, you cannot take liberties at all.

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_01]: So great question.

[00:21:29] [SPEAKER_01]: So the short answer is that when you write

[00:21:33] [SPEAKER_01]: historical fiction, the research part is relatively easy

[00:21:37] [SPEAKER_01]: because you need to fictionalize a lot of things.

[00:21:41] [SPEAKER_01]: You just need to understand the culture,

[00:21:43] [SPEAKER_01]: the clothes people wear, the festivals they celebrate

[00:21:46] [SPEAKER_01]: and their family dynamics and hierarchical structure, etc.

[00:21:49] [SPEAKER_01]: What kind of bombs, what kind of armaments, basic maneuvers.

[00:21:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And you can go wrong. It's not a problem.

[00:21:54] [SPEAKER_01]: So the research part is lesser.

[00:21:57] [SPEAKER_01]: But to make the story very

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_01]: absorbing, very compelling,

[00:22:04] [SPEAKER_01]: you need to write well, which means you need to take a lot of time to write.

[00:22:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Whereas in the case of a historical nonfiction,

[00:22:13] [SPEAKER_01]: you need to spend a major amount of time on research

[00:22:16] [SPEAKER_01]: because research itself will be so detailed

[00:22:19] [SPEAKER_01]: because you can't go wrong.

[00:22:21] [SPEAKER_01]: That will automatically become into a story.

[00:22:23] [SPEAKER_01]: So your writing becomes much easier, easier and shorter.

[00:22:28] [SPEAKER_01]: And people will read historical nonfiction

[00:22:30] [SPEAKER_01]: because they want to learn, not want to get entertained.

[00:22:35] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, so it's more informative in nature.

[00:22:38] [SPEAKER_01]: It's not entertaining, but a historical fiction has to be

[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_01]: entertaining and gripping.

[00:22:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Because people already know that this is false.

[00:22:47] [SPEAKER_01]: So you've got to make it very interesting.

[00:22:49] [SPEAKER_02]: So you have to make that reading a compelling reading.

[00:22:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Very compelling. A page turner, so to speak.

[00:22:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Kulpreet, now from writing, you have also gone into acting.

[00:23:00] [SPEAKER_02]: Yes. What pushed you towards this space?

[00:23:04] [SPEAKER_01]: So just like writing, I was I never planned for it.

[00:23:08] [SPEAKER_01]: I was not even aware that I want to be a writer

[00:23:12] [SPEAKER_01]: till the point came when I wrote my first book.

[00:23:14] [SPEAKER_01]: So similarly, the same thing happened with acting.

[00:23:17] [SPEAKER_01]: I never considered myself as an actor.

[00:23:18] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't consider myself as an actor even today.

[00:23:21] [SPEAKER_01]: It is just by the confidence given by others.

[00:23:24] [SPEAKER_01]: How it started was

[00:23:25] [SPEAKER_01]: I always wanted my books to become to get adapted

[00:23:29] [SPEAKER_01]: into a short film or a feature film or a web series.

[00:23:33] [SPEAKER_01]: And for several years, this was happening in the sense

[00:23:36] [SPEAKER_01]: that production companies were buying the rights.

[00:23:37] [SPEAKER_01]: It's happened with you several times.

[00:23:39] [SPEAKER_01]: They'll give you some small amount of advance

[00:23:41] [SPEAKER_01]: and you'll be very happy about it.

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_01]: And now a big production company has your book

[00:23:44] [SPEAKER_01]: and it's probably going to be converted into a web series stroke film.

[00:23:48] [SPEAKER_01]: And that happened with me a few times.

[00:23:50] [SPEAKER_01]: But then actually they did not convert.

[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_01]: So the rights lapsed and I sold it to other people and all that happened.

[00:23:57] [SPEAKER_01]: So I was very frustrated with this experience

[00:23:59] [SPEAKER_01]: because you're so near, you know, of seeing your book

[00:24:02] [SPEAKER_01]: getting adapted into audiovisual story, but it was not happening.

[00:24:07] [SPEAKER_01]: So I was just having a word with another retired officer,

[00:24:10] [SPEAKER_01]: officer friend of mine who lives in Mumbai,

[00:24:11] [SPEAKER_01]: and he's got all the connections involved.

[00:24:13] [SPEAKER_01]: And I said, yeah, I don't know how people are not making a film

[00:24:18] [SPEAKER_01]: and I'm getting more and more frustrated.

[00:24:19] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm in Delhi and what can I do?

[00:24:21] [SPEAKER_01]: And he's junior to me and he's very good friend.

[00:24:24] [SPEAKER_01]: And he said, sir, let's do this. We will make.

[00:24:26] [SPEAKER_01]: How sweet.

[00:24:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And I said, but how will you how will we make a film on us?

[00:24:30] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, on a book, because

[00:24:32] [SPEAKER_01]: we don't know how to make it one.

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_01]: And more importantly, we don't have the kind of money

[00:24:35] [SPEAKER_01]: there is a way to make a film.

[00:24:36] [SPEAKER_01]: And he said, no, let's make a short film,

[00:24:38] [SPEAKER_01]: not only a book, but on the short stories that you've done.

[00:24:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And let's make a 10 minute, 15 minute short film and see where it goes.

[00:24:44] [SPEAKER_01]: And we chose to do to go on that path and we invested our own money

[00:24:48] [SPEAKER_01]: and we went to Lonavala and we started shooting.

[00:24:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And when we were planning for all this, we hired people,

[00:24:53] [SPEAKER_01]: we made a team and we did not know how we do this.

[00:24:58] [SPEAKER_01]: So everything was costly,

[00:24:59] [SPEAKER_01]: hiring people, equipment, you know, etc.

[00:25:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And we wanted we started cutting down money wherever we could.

[00:25:07] [SPEAKER_01]: So one of the first things was actors.

[00:25:09] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, he gave me this idea.

[00:25:12] [SPEAKER_01]: He said, actor, acting to me and you filming.

[00:25:15] [SPEAKER_01]: So this was a conversation that we were having.

[00:25:17] [SPEAKER_01]: And I was completely shocked.

[00:25:19] [SPEAKER_01]: And he said, yeah, I said, let's do it like this.

[00:25:21] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, let's make a picture, let's act.

[00:25:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Are you kidding? It's not possible.

[00:25:25] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not an actor. I don't know how to act.

[00:25:27] [SPEAKER_01]: So he said, then he said, who told you you're not an actor?

[00:25:30] [SPEAKER_01]: I know you for the last 25 years.

[00:25:32] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm from the partly from the film industry and I vouch for it.

[00:25:36] [SPEAKER_01]: You'll be able to do a good job.

[00:25:38] [SPEAKER_01]: So that's how I ended up acting in the film, which I made with my own money.

[00:25:42] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think I did a very bad job at it.

[00:25:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Halfway through like we're having this conversation,

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_01]: half way through, everybody's looking at me and I told them, stop,

[00:25:50] [SPEAKER_01]: let's pack up and go because I don't think I'm doing a good job.

[00:25:52] [SPEAKER_01]: And they were all shocked.

[00:25:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And I was the eldest among all these people, oldest.

[00:25:57] [SPEAKER_01]: So they looked at me and they said, sir, why are you saying this?

[00:25:59] [SPEAKER_01]: You do a good job.

[00:26:01] [SPEAKER_01]: And just to, you know, just because you were saying this

[00:26:04] [SPEAKER_01]: and I wanted I couldn't have been, you know, unkind or,

[00:26:08] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, whatever, not bad to them.

[00:26:10] [SPEAKER_01]: So I thought, let me at least complete this film and see where it goes.

[00:26:14] [SPEAKER_01]: And I ended up shooting that film.

[00:26:17] [SPEAKER_01]: And later on, I told my partner, this could delete them.

[00:26:19] [SPEAKER_01]: So he said, give me some, give me some time.

[00:26:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Let me see what I can do.

[00:26:24] [SPEAKER_01]: And he went to an editor and was edited.

[00:26:26] [SPEAKER_01]: When he sent the snippet of what we had shot, it wasn't very bad.

[00:26:32] [SPEAKER_01]: So then it was converted to a full film and it was released by a platform.

[00:26:36] [SPEAKER_01]: And several people saw it.

[00:26:37] [SPEAKER_01]: And all people send messages to me, particularly the ones who are not known

[00:26:40] [SPEAKER_01]: to me that you do have a screen presence and you should be able to

[00:26:44] [SPEAKER_01]: take this as an alternate career.

[00:26:46] [SPEAKER_01]: And that is how I ended up sending my short videos of introduction

[00:26:50] [SPEAKER_01]: and photographs to some of these leading casting companies in Mumbai.

[00:26:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And I said, OK, people are making fun of me.

[00:26:55] [SPEAKER_01]: What are they doing? Let's see.

[00:26:56] [SPEAKER_01]: And these people started sending, you know, how they do,

[00:26:58] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, casting companies, they send you a script

[00:27:00] [SPEAKER_01]: and for whatever requirement they might have.

[00:27:02] [SPEAKER_01]: And you have to make audition at home.

[00:27:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And I ended up making auditions at the success rate very high.

[00:27:07] [SPEAKER_01]: They gave me more confidence that probably I am able to do,

[00:27:10] [SPEAKER_01]: because sometimes we don't know what we're capable of ourselves.

[00:27:13] [SPEAKER_01]: So one thing led to the other.

[00:27:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Now, the last two years to cut the long story short,

[00:27:17] [SPEAKER_01]: I think I've done about 20 acting assignments the last two years.

[00:27:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Films, web series, short films.

[00:27:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I've also been cast in a primary role in a Malayalam film.

[00:27:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Wonderful.

[00:27:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And a beautiful Malayalam film, a great story.

[00:27:30] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm very proud to be associated with them.

[00:27:32] [SPEAKER_01]: I've done almost 15 to 18 days of shoot

[00:27:36] [SPEAKER_01]: for that film, which will be releasing next year.

[00:27:38] [SPEAKER_02]: And that's not a language you're familiar with.

[00:27:41] [SPEAKER_02]: So how did you manage?

[00:27:41] [SPEAKER_01]: So I was asked to memorize the lines, which I, you know,

[00:27:47] [SPEAKER_01]: spent many hours to memorize all through the night.

[00:27:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And I came to the set only to realize that I've forgotten everything.

[00:27:55] [SPEAKER_02]: So did they have to paste like placards in front of you?

[00:28:00] [SPEAKER_01]: But I think after some time and after they gave me

[00:28:03] [SPEAKER_01]: and some decent amount of encouragement from them

[00:28:06] [SPEAKER_01]: and a few cups of coffee, I was able to recall.

[00:28:08] [SPEAKER_01]: And they also were kind enough to explain to me the meaning of those words,

[00:28:14] [SPEAKER_01]: because I'm supposed to make those expressions and gestures and body movements, etc.

[00:28:19] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think I've done a OK's job in speaking the language.

[00:28:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Of course, my voice will not be there because Malayalam language

[00:28:27] [SPEAKER_01]: also has got certain way of seeing it.

[00:28:29] [SPEAKER_01]: So I will never get the accent right unless I live there for probably 50 years.

[00:28:34] [SPEAKER_01]: So someone else is doing the dubbing, but I think my lip movement should be

[00:28:37] [SPEAKER_01]: synchronized.

[00:28:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Worked very hard for it.

[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, wonderful. And when does this release?

[00:28:41] [SPEAKER_01]: This will be releasing in next year, mid of next year.

[00:28:44] [SPEAKER_01]: This is called Kathanar.

[00:28:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Kathanar.

[00:28:47] [SPEAKER_01]: It's a local Christian legend from 7th century.

[00:28:51] [SPEAKER_02]: You've done acting now, you've written your books,

[00:28:54] [SPEAKER_02]: you've shifted course completely.

[00:28:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Is there something else that you want to try that you haven't tried yet?

[00:28:59] [SPEAKER_01]: I want to try a lot of things.

[00:29:01] [SPEAKER_01]: I am also co-founder of two startups and they're doing very well.

[00:29:05] [SPEAKER_01]: One is a legal tech company called World Law Alliance.

[00:29:07] [SPEAKER_01]: It's supported in Greater Kailash, Delhi.

[00:29:10] [SPEAKER_01]: We have a team of 15 people.

[00:29:12] [SPEAKER_01]: We were in London last month for about three days.

[00:29:14] [SPEAKER_01]: We had an international conference.

[00:29:15] [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to Singapore in February.

[00:29:17] [SPEAKER_01]: So I've got a great team there.

[00:29:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I've got two more directors who allow me to do what I want

[00:29:23] [SPEAKER_01]: and go there only once in a week or once in 10 days.

[00:29:26] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm also co-founder of a company called Disha Kiran,

[00:29:29] [SPEAKER_01]: which is an education technology company that's at quartered in Gurgaon.

[00:29:32] [SPEAKER_01]: And that is doing very well right now.

[00:29:35] [SPEAKER_01]: We've been there for three, four years, but we're just about to grow.

[00:29:39] [SPEAKER_01]: We've got some nice contracts and I'll be talking about it on LinkedIn.

[00:29:42] [SPEAKER_01]: I also want to start certain brands and do some business

[00:29:45] [SPEAKER_01]: because it's a great opportunity.

[00:29:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Internet is there and we can do this.

[00:29:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Artificial learning, machine learning, artificial intelligence,

[00:29:52] [SPEAKER_01]: so many things, you know, blockchain.

[00:29:55] [SPEAKER_01]: It's a time for great opportunities to do a lot of stuff.

[00:29:58] [SPEAKER_01]: And I feel very jealous that I'm 56 now.

[00:30:01] [SPEAKER_01]: I should have been 36 probably.

[00:30:02] [SPEAKER_01]: I could have done a lot more.

[00:30:03] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, 56 is like the new 40 now.

[00:30:08] [SPEAKER_02]: We're all living till we're 100 anyway.

[00:30:12] [SPEAKER_02]: That's what I'm saying.

[00:30:13] [SPEAKER_01]: So I want to do a lot of things and I feel that all this is possible,

[00:30:17] [SPEAKER_01]: but of course time is limited and you've got to take a rest.

[00:30:21] [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm not very ambitious in doing what I'm doing.

[00:30:24] [SPEAKER_01]: What I'm trying to do is I'm trying to do the things that I'm doing

[00:30:27] [SPEAKER_01]: to the best of my ability with as much honesty as possible.

[00:30:33] [SPEAKER_01]: And not really that much bothered about the results because I'm secure

[00:30:36] [SPEAKER_01]: in every which way, financially and socially,

[00:30:40] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, family wise and all my responsibilities are over.

[00:30:43] [SPEAKER_01]: So I don't have to really worry about the end result,

[00:30:46] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, start a business, whether I'll be able to make money,

[00:30:49] [SPEAKER_01]: make too much money or not.

[00:30:50] [SPEAKER_01]: That's not my priority.

[00:30:51] [SPEAKER_01]: I want to do something because I want to prove to myself

[00:30:54] [SPEAKER_01]: that it can be done and it can be done well.

[00:30:56] [SPEAKER_01]: And of course, whatever follows from there.

[00:30:59] [SPEAKER_02]: Lovely. Yeah.

[00:31:00] [SPEAKER_01]: But I may not do any other business, by the way.

[00:31:02] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just saying, but I want to do, but there is no time.

[00:31:06] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm also, by the way, an extremely lazy person.

[00:31:08] [SPEAKER_01]: I would like to get up and say, I hate early morning flights.

[00:31:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I hate early morning meetings or late evening.

[00:31:14] [SPEAKER_02]: How are you ever in the forces, Kuljit?

[00:31:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I did this for 23 years, you know, getting up at four o'clock, five o'clock.

[00:31:20] [SPEAKER_02]: Exactly.

[00:31:22] [SPEAKER_01]: I, whichever calls me or even when I would travel myself,

[00:31:24] [SPEAKER_01]: I never take a flight which is before 10 a.m. or 930.

[00:31:28] [SPEAKER_01]: It was only yesterday when I was traveling,

[00:31:30] [SPEAKER_01]: I probably took a flight which is at 9 a.m.

[00:31:32] [SPEAKER_01]: But otherwise never at below before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m.

[00:31:37] [SPEAKER_01]: So always between the slots so that I can get up,

[00:31:39] [SPEAKER_01]: I am going to the airport and go.

[00:31:41] [SPEAKER_01]: So I want to lead a very easy, relaxed life.

[00:31:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Do what I do with honesty.

[00:31:47] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think any work honestly done will definitely find

[00:31:51] [SPEAKER_01]: buyers and success.

[00:31:54] [SPEAKER_02]: Looking forward to see what you do, Kulpreet, with your new ventures.

[00:31:57] [SPEAKER_02]: And I think your story is so inspiring

[00:31:59] [SPEAKER_02]: because not only have you shifted

[00:32:02] [SPEAKER_02]: paths completely, but you're enjoying yourself, which is most important.

[00:32:06] [SPEAKER_02]: You're doing stuff that interests you, that enjoys yourself.

[00:32:08] [SPEAKER_02]: And it's so inspirational.

[00:32:10] [SPEAKER_04]: Thank you.

[00:32:11] [SPEAKER_02]: I hope everybody who's watching this knows that, you know,

[00:32:13] [SPEAKER_02]: there's a second innings always and you can always change paths anytime.

[00:32:17] [SPEAKER_02]: Just as Kulpreet said, do it honestly with enjoyment and have fun while doing it.

[00:32:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much for coming for this.

[00:32:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Most welcome.

[00:32:24] [SPEAKER_01]: I had such a great time and all the best to you also for your forthcoming weeks.

[00:32:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much.