Sometime back, I got a chance to meet the founder of Skylark, a company that makes drones’ software.
I thought I would see how they work and all. And get some ideas and feel a bit upbeat meeting people doing cool work, in my otherwise boring life. And when we started talking, a lot of it was OHD.
We spoke at length about school, college, startups, tech, drones in India, and then there was a point, when we started talking about my work..
And strangely he knew about Indihood. And he also knew about our founder. He knew about him more than me. Much more than me.
He was telling me things like – I can imagine! How Lalitesh would be super selective in building his team! How he was a genius and part of so many places, one name I remember was iSpirit.
I remember my encounters with Lalitesh. I have never been able to write about him because there is a wide gap between us, between what he thinks and says and what my tiny mind can comprehend on the spot. So, a lot of what he says goes way over my head! I just try to note the keywords to google them later and then forget about it.
He felt like Sheldon to Penny!
I have learnt the trick is to record the MOMs now. And maybe someday, I will reach the Leonard level. (It's good to be optimistic)
Some cool things I do pick up are –
The way he recounts his experiences with Google Maps and getting policies made, dealings with NSA, with Dr Devi Shetty just off hand, it’s cool. Imagine, experiences like those could be just another regular day for someone.
And then there is a second version of this man I do understand –
It was when he said - I can never feel the pain that our users feel!
And someone told me - He has decided to have just one meal a day till he makes that one meal available for everyone! This was unbelievable!
This level of sensitivity for someone of his level of genius. A lot of people are sensitive, but it takes someone with a great calibre and greater substance to act upon it, to convert their emotions to something on ground, to make a difference.
And then there is a third version, which is my favourite one–
It was in our offsite, when he and Sanjay, joined us in all our silly stupid games. In fact, they were the ones who showed up first and showed us how they are played.
For instance– In truth and dare... They had negative hesitation in telling their stories, doing all the ridiculous dares.. And actually offering us their room for all this! We played till two that night!
And and and– He is an amazing singer! So, I guess this is where the singing talent at Indihood started! You will never know that till you hear him sing live..
He calls himself shy, but Sir, Please don’t hesitate to ask me to accompany you the next time you have a meeting with NSA :p
And as my stranger Skylark friend said – I can only imagine what kind of people Lalitesh would bring together! The one thing I want to thank you the most about is – for starting Indihood and bringing us all into each other’s lives.
So, this piece was about the person who started it all -- our founder and boss.. Lalitesh Katragadda :)
--twwg
--Vidhi
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