India needs many more hopelessly hopeful

Stories of Role Models

I survived my cancer in a 3.5 year battle. It made me into a hopelessly hopeful person. That is my story.

The only child of my parents, I grew up in a small town called Suri near Santiniketan in Birbhum, West Bengal.

Vacations meant time with grandparents in the village. During Puja, we would dress up in new clothes, gobble all the sweets and play in the family Temple. 

Studies came easily to me. Dr. Rajendranath Mukhopadhyay - my high school teacher - influenced and urged me to pursue science and maths. So I did.

He had so much humility, knowledge and wisdom. He has stayed my role model.

I made it to IIEST, Shibpur. 

In the hostel, I loved playing TT. I would get up at 4:30 AM to play, because that is when the tables would be vacant. Hostel meant TT to me, but not studies.

I was your typical back-bencher but with one difference. Because I detested cheating in exams, I learnt to listen attentively in class. I could pass, by just doing that.

In the class, I also realised, electrical engineering was not my favourite. I looked around and picked some programming skills instead.

Infosys came to our campus for placements on day 0. I got selected.

After working from Mysore for a while, I went to the US on an H1B visa. Alas! I missed India. I missed my parents and felt responsible for them (only child). 

I found myself a job in Calcutta with PwC and came back. From there, I moved to Lexmark. 

After 5 Years of work experience, I went to IIT Kharagpur to do my Masters. I enjoyed my studies and realised that I would like to study further.  

Both me and my wife, Dr. Dipanwita Sinha Mukherjee, wanted to continue staying in India, so we came to IISc to do our PhDs. 

I joined the inter-disciplinary research division under the guidance of Prof. Ramachandran. A PhD is so much gurumukhi vidya. I learnt, by listening to him, not only about science but also about life. 

I went for a study trip to Japan and when I came back in December 2015, I found I had cancer.

My PhD work involved dealing with probabilities day in and day out. A 60% chance of survival stops sounding like a probability to be understood, when you are personally involved. 

I went through many cycles of chemotherapy (14), had painful biopsy surgeries (4), was on the bed for extended periods. 

Twice, I fought out-of-syllabus bacterial and fungal infections that were lethal in their own right. They came visiting, because chemo had taken my immunity away.

Chemo would put me down. I would get up, because I had work to do. 

I began to work from the bed itself. 

I wrote most of my research papers not knowing if I would be around to see them completed. 

After a while, you stop thriving on hope. You learn to live from day to day. Some days, you even live, because you have no choice. 

It is an empty place.

That emptiness is a place where you come face to face with yourself. Not the mind, but the eternal being, who lives a layer below the mind. 

It helps if you pray. I prayed to Thakur (Sri Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa) and Ma (Sri Sri Sarada Devi).

You accept. You keep doing what you have to do.

Once you accept, then all is good.

That is what my cancer made me into. 

Someone who is grateful for all that there is - in this very moment. 

Someone who wants to serve, rather than seek - with no big plans.

Someone who knows he is fragile and yet is not. 

The papers I had written, got accepted into reputed journals.

My wife and parents heaved a sigh of relief as I turned the corner.

Today, 4 years later, I continue to be cancer-free. 

At the completion phase of my PhD, while working in the Intel Habana AI Labs, I applied and got selected by Entrepeneur First. I found my co-founder Arvind (who has been an amazing friend and brother to me) there.

If you are looking for a co-founder - Check them out.

We were one of the 6 teams to get funded by them. Thus, NeuroPixel.AI Labs was born. Soon other investors followed suit.

I took the path of founding a tech enterprise because I want to apply my insights to real situations. At heart, I am a researcher first :)

I also teach today and do whatever else that I can - to return back my abundant blessings. I do so with gratitude.

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Being Indian today is about embracing technology, entrepreneurship and a global mindset and doing this in combination with - a connection to roots, gratitude for life and desire to excel. 

I think Amrit embodies all these. What can we learn from him today? - Brij.