" My memories of Doon are as fresh as they were on my last day of school. I have so many wonderful recollections of school, and continually share stories with other Doscos, friends from Swarthmore College, colleagues at Goldman Sachs, and my wife who tells me she has had enough already."

Where we you born, where did you study before Doon?
I was born and raised in New Delhi and studied at Junior and Tiny Tots with several other Doscos in the making!

Tell us a little bit about your life before Doon
I was obsessed with cricket, my favorite pastime. I was coached during the summers at Nehru stadium and played at every opportunity. For a time there, I really did not care about too much else.

When you were a child what did you think you’d be when you grew up?
From an early age I knew I wanted to be a cricketer and pursued that dream throughout my childhood. Although my life has taken me in other directions, I will always have fond memories of my countless hours on the cricket pitch.

What made you join The Doon School?
It seemed like a good idea at the time! Just kidding. I am a Doon School legacy, since my father, chacha and several cousins are also Doscos. My family members’ fond recollections of Doon inspired me to follow in their footsteps. In addition, many of my friends at Tiny Tots also applied, adding to the allure of Doon.

Did you enjoy studying at Doon?
I really enjoyed my experience at Doon and believe it was the perfect place for me to grow up. Doon provided me with the opportunity to think independently and take responsibility for my own actions. In addition, it allowed me to balance my extra-curricular interests, including cricket, with my studies. Doon fostered an environment in which I was motivated to succeed at all of my endeavors. Perhaps most importantly, I met some incredible people at Doon, many or whom are still among my best friends today.

What do you remember most about school?
My memories of Doon are as fresh as they were on my last day of school. I have so many wonderful recollections of school, and continually share stories with other Doscos, friends from Swarthmore College, colleagues at Goldman Sachs, and my wife who tells me she has had enough already. If I were to launch into my long list of tales here, I might run the risk of boring all of you too.

What about Doon did you like most?
Here, again, the list is too long for the format of this interview. I loved Doon's focus on a well-rounded education and its focus on shaping its students into independent, multi-faceted individuals. Doon gave me the opportunity to excel in multiple fields — academics, sports, and other extra-curricular activities from mountaineering to photography to SUPW. I also appreciate Doon’s attempt (although it can never be completely successful) to mask socio-economic differences between students, by encouraging students to look beyond material matters to the more substantive merits of their classmates.

What parts of Doon did you not enjoy?
While Doon’s focus on a well-rounded education is one of its most positive aspects, it also frustrated me at times. I sometimes found it difficult to focus on one area, while such focus is often necessitated if one wishes to succeed. In my post-Doon School life I have found that specialization is critical to achieving excellence and competing in the real world. I believe that Doscos, distracted by so many fields of study and extra-curricular activities, may find it difficult to give any one pursuit the attention required if they are to stand out from the crowd. As a result, Doscos may find it more difficult than students at other schools to become competitive sportsmen or to pursue colleges such as IIT. These endeavors require intense focus and dedication, which are difficult to achieve under Doon’s philosophy of a comprehensive education.

If you could change one thing about Doon, what would it be?
I think Doon falls short in the area of career management and guidance. I found that most of my classmates made their college decisions based on guidance from parents and peers. An institutional like Doon ought to have a career department which provides exposure to college alternatives both within India and abroad and enables students to gain important, and perhaps neutral insight, into their futures.

Tell us a bit about your higher education. Where did you study?
I completed my BA at Swarthmore College, in the US. (Along with Amherst and Williams Colleges, Swarthmore has always been rated as one of the top three liberal arts colleges in the US). Swarthmore was truly a wonderful experience and, in several ways, Swarthmore is similar to Doon. The college is a small, tight-knit community set in a large, beautiful campus. Both institutions foster strong bonds between students and faculty. Much like Doon, Swarthmore gave me the chance to pursue my diverse interests, and I am not sure another institution would have been so willing to allow me to play baseball, since I was prone to run straight ahead, bat in hand (ala cricket), a major offense in the world of baseball!!

What did you major in? Did you enjoy your program?
I was a double major in Economics and Computer Science, although I must admit that I greatly preferred the former to the latter. I also took classes outside of my majors, and especially enjoyed “Music for Dummies,” Philosophy, Religion (Upanishads) and US Defense Policy. These classes really stretched my mind, and for my Philosophy class, I even wrote a paper on how Descartes and Hume would have answered the question "Is there good reason to believe that the essence of water is H2O?” I also met my wife, Liz, at Swarthmore, making it an even more special place for me.

Would you recommend it to others?
I highly recommend Swarthmore to Doscos, and anyone who is interested in the College should feel to call or email me with any questions.

If you could go back to college again where and what would you study and why?
I would definitely go back to Swarthmore College, but would change my course of study somewhat. While I would still major in Economics, I might replace Computer Science with Maths. I might also to learn to play a musical instrument.

Did you have another career prior to investment banking? What were you doing?
Since graduating from Swarthmore, I have been working at Goldman Sachs.

What inspired you to enter investment banking?
Throughout Swarthmore, I always found Wall Street an intriguing place, and was fascinated by its fast pace, exciting stories and personalities. At Swarthmore, I attended many on-campus recruiting sessions hosted by the top investment banks. These sessions further inspired me to pursue a career in finance.

How long have you been in investment banking?
I have been at Goldman over five years.

What is your job and what do you do on a daily basis?
I began my career at Goldman working in a group that focused on two primary areas: 1) advising clients on mergers and disposition of assets and 2) investing Goldman's capital in distressed consumer (credit cards, auto loans, music loans, etc.) and commercial finance assets in the US and Latin America. After working in this group for about four years I was asked to focus on real estate investing for Goldman, which is what I do now.

I don't really have a typical day since my schedule is constantly changing, depending on what I'm working on. Change keeps my work exciting. Still, most days I spend a fair amount of time on the following activities:
(1) Making phone calls — talking with clients, potential co-investors, real-estate private equity funds and our competitors.
(2) Conducting on-site due diligence at various properties — office buildings, hotels, malls, etc.
(3) Reviewing financial projections and determining property values.
(4) Preparing investment committee memos to obtain internal approvals.

What are the most important skills required to be a good investment banker?
I believe the skills that differentiate the best investment bankers from the rest are as follows:
1) Flexibility — Life at an investment bank tends to be rather chaotic as projects and tasks drop onto one’s desk out of thin air. It is imperative to be flexible enough to accommodate crazy schedules and deadlines as well as to be able to perform greatly varying analyses.
2) Enthusiasm and energy — Though investment banking is not rocket science, the environment can be stressful. It is important to keep up one’s energy level and to remain enthusiastic about the job at hand.
3) Attention to detail - Investment bankers deal with tons of information including a company's projected earnings and confidential details about a pending merger. Small mistakes can have a large impact and unlike in school where one's mistakes generally only impact one’s own performance, in an investment bank one's mistakes may have a negative impact on the entire team, project and client.

Do you think investment banking is a good profession to pursue?
I think investment banking is a great career to pursue. I cannot imagine too many other careers in which one has the opportunity to meet the CEOs and CFOs of the leading companies of the world, gain exposure to best-in-class business practices and make meaningful contributions very early in one's career.

Did Doon help prepare you for a career in investment banking? And what impact/influence did your college education have?
Yes, I think Doon certainly prepared me for a career in investment banking, albeit indirectly. The school environment pushed me to think independently, develop a broad based skill set, and provided me with the opportunity to participate in many groups (either through sports or group projects) which greatly helped me appreciate the team spirit – thinking beyond one’s selfish interests and being accountable to the larger group for one’s actions. Doon’s focus on all round education provides a fantastic platform should one be willing to leverage it.

Swarthmore fostered many of the same values as Doon. It helped me further develop my skills – especially written communications skills given the liberal arts focus on writing papers, reports, etc. Moreover, it provided me the adequate exposure to the world of investment banking and firms such as Goldman, which eventually led to where I am now.

You live and work outside of India. Any particular reason why you chose to leave India?
Leaving home and family is always a very difficult decision. However, one is often forced to make these tough choices keeping several other factors in mind – scope of opportunities, exposure, education, potential for growth, etc. My family was very supportive, extremely helpful and provided me with all the resources I needed as I thought through several of these issues. At the end of the day, Swarthmore seemed like a fantastic opportunity, which seemed difficult to pass.

Thank you for your participation

Posted at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Sitting on the grass, with one of those wooden chairs laid upside down as backrest/pillow, and reading. The simple things that were denied but became so pleasurable when available, from pineapple pastries to plain bread and butter."

Where we you born, where did you study before Doon?
I was born in Jorhat, Assam, as my father was in the tea gardens but we moved to Calcutta shortly after I was born. In fact, the story goes that I kept them waiting for a few weeks as I took my time to come into this world.

Tell us a little bit about your life before Doon.
I was a pretty average kid I think, enjoying the usual stuff from cricket to reading to listening to music. I went to school at St. Xavier’s in Calcutta, which was known then – and probably still is now – as pretty strict in true Jesuit tradition. I wasn’t really one to rock the boat as it were.

When you were a child what did you think you’d be when you grew up?
A pop singer. I knew I didn’t have a chance when shortly after joining Doon, a bunch of friends and I tried out for the English choir. I think I was the only one not picked, probably because I kept singing the note “la,” in the same monotone despite the teacher’s best efforts. To date, I can’t hold a tune but it doesn’t stop me from bellowing.

What made you join The Doon School?
It was a combination of factors. I was pretty asthmatic as a kid, and my parents thought the air in Dehradun would be a heck of a lot better than the smog of Calcutta. I think the night after night of homework and weekly tests at St. Xavier’s made Doon seem a little idyllic. My father wasn’t a Dosco but had known many in his career and respected the well-rounded education. My late grandfather lived in Dehra Dun and had gone to school in Chandbagh in the early 1920s when it was part of the Forest Research Institute (he regaled me with stories of playing hockey with Mrs. Foot). For all the prestige of Doon, my parents were fantastic and left the decision entirely up to me, and I think at the age of 11 or 12, you have the advantage of not overthinking everything, so I did it almost as a lark.

Did you enjoy studying at Doon?
Doon changed my life. I went there as a pretty meek 12-year-old, and a combination of the teachers I had, plus the opportunities that were made available to someone like me who wasn’t particularly athletic (debating, acting, writing for the Doon School Weekly), made me into the journalist I am today. Specifically on the academics, the great shift coming to Doon was that studies didn’t permeate one’s every waking hour nor was it ever seen as just being confined to books. That said, I despised some of the rigidity imposed not so much by Doon but by the Indian testing system as one moved to Class 10 and above. I loved literature but for our English classes, we would read the same four books over and over again because those were the books from which we would be tested. So in the course of two years we all read and re-read “The Lord of the Flies” or “Winslow Boy” or “Merchant of Venice” countless times, but I wonder how deeply we analyzed them and whether we would have been better served reading more books or at least being encouraged to come up with creative interpretations.

What do you remember most about school?
I remember the oddest things, but I guess a couple of highlights stand out. In 1985, Sumer Singh, who was then both my housemaster and adviser to the Doon School Weekly, organized for the editorial board of the Weekly to go to Delhi and interview/meet a bunch of famous journalists, such as Arun Shourie, George (is that his first name?) Verghese, and Suman Dubey (who now works for Dow Jones and whose son also worked at the Weekly). The highlight was interviewing Rajiv Gandhi. That was the Golden Jubilee, and for that we peformed “Merchant of Venice” on Founders Day in the Main Field. Arjun Mahey, who was teaching at Doon at the time, directed it, and we all had a blast. There was just one problem: because it was outdoors and there were no acoustics, no one could hear us.

What about Doon did you like most?
Sitting on the grass, with one of those wooden chairs laid upside down as backrest/pillow, and reading. The simple things that were denied but became so pleasurable when available, from pineapple pastries to plain bread and butter. Eating Maggi noodles raw or condensed milk from the can. I think mostly it was the interaction with some of the masters, and how they cared for your future. So it was Sumer Singh and his wife Mira, and how they always kept their home open to us. Amarnath Dar was probably the most persistent in seeing that even though I wasn’t cut out to be an athlete, I could succeed by debating, acting and writing. I still remember him dragooning me to run the Literary Society. In that role, I remember Amitav Ghosh (now one of my favorite authors) reading from his book, “Circle of Reason.”

I also thought the idea of Old Boys who weren’t too far off from being at school coming back to teach being a terrific idea. I remember taking English classes with Adu Vakil and Kanti Bajpai.

In my last couple of years, the Weekly took over my life, and I loved the freedom of going to the printer at the drop of a hat and watch them use the old press, picking each letter by hand. I remember this one gentleman in particular who set the type. He looked like Farooq Abdullah, couldn’t read English real well but could tell you each letter by touching them.

What parts of Doon did you not enjoy?
Being so exhausted by Saturday night when the movie would go on that I’d try to sleep on the metal chairs in the auditorium or on the floor.

If you could change one thing about Doon, what would it be?
I’ll leave that to better armchair generals than me. I guess I always thought making it co-ed wasn’t a bad idea as a lot of boys got out of school somewhat socially inept and chauvanistic.

Who are your role models? Are any of them Doscos?
My father and grandfather for being constantly curious, always stretching the mind, body and sprit.

Would you send your children to Doon?
Our children are still at the age (girl 21/2 and boy 4 months) where sending them next door to spend the night would be unthinkable so a boarding school in another country isn’t something that we’ve thought about that much. The short answer is: unlikely.

Tell us a bit about your higher education. Where did you study?
I went to Muskingum College in Ohio for my bachelor’s degree in English and Economics. Muskingum awarded one Dosco a year a full-tuition scholarship, and my very good friend, Ranjit Lakhanpal (455-KB) got it. But Ranjit was really smart and set his sight for better-known schools, so when he decided to go elsewhere, I quickly raised my hand. It was late in the summer so I lucked out from the lack of candidates. I then went to the University of Missouri-Columbia, known for its journalism school, for my master’s degree.

What did you major in? Did you enjoy your program?
Muskingum was wonderful even though it was in the middle of nowhere. The liberal arts education and the close interaction with dedicated faculty made it quite similar to Doon. Despite being a small college, Indians had been going there a while and the fact that there were some Doscos there made it seem not so foreign. I also met my future wife there, and it was also where I discovered the passion of journalism.

Would you recommend it to others?
Yes

If you could go back to college again where and what would you study and why?
I’m not one to look back so I don’t think I would change a thing.

Did you have another career prior to journalism? What were you doing?
No

What inspired you to enter journalism and that too on Wall Street?
Well, I guess I don’t think of myself as working on Wall Street. One of the best parts of working at The Wall Street Journal is we write about such a diverse array of topics – from finance to education to race – for a sophisticated audience. I think we once had an ad campaign that said something to the effect of how some of our best journalists had never set foot on Wall Street.

I was inspired to enter journalism in college. A lot of friends who were Doscos saw themselves as going into finance or working for a bank and frankly that never interested me. I was always interested in the rush of a hot new story – knowing something before others – the art of storytelling, and giving some voice to other people’s stories. In college, I almost by accident got involved in being editor of the college paper (it’s a long story and one that involves another Dosco) in my sophomore year. While I was there, we did some pretty hard-hitting stories on one of the fraternities that resulted in it being shut down but also resulted in not-so-veiled threats against the paper. I was lucky to have a strong mentor who pushed me to pursue journalism.

How long have you been a journalist?
My entire adult life

What is your job and what do you do on a daily basis?
After several years as a reporter, I became an editor/bureau chief in 2001 overseeing the Journal’s media and marketing coverage. I have a group of reporters who work for me, and I spend a lot of my day, directing coverage, editing stories and talking to them. That means helping them shape, conceptualize and write stories for all sections of the paper. Every now and then I still try to ferret out a story on my own.

What are the most important skills required to be a good journalist?
Asking questions, getting people to open up and conceptualizing stories to make a larger point.

Do you think journalism is a good profession to pursue?
I sometimes say that I’m surprised I get paid to do what I do. It’s a wonderful business and the real thrill is meeting new people and encountering original ideas.

Could Doon have taught you something more or something different that would have helped you in your profession today?
I guess it would go back to what I said originally about having a broader base of knowledge and that comes from reading. I find they are huge gaps in my knowledge of history and literature.

You live and work outside of India. Any particular reason why you chose to leave India?
I was part of the wave of students coming to the U.S. for college because they were good schools here that offered scholarships. Let’s face it, I didn’t have the amazing scores that were going to get into St. Stephens or one of the other highly competitive schools whose admissions are driven by final exams.

Do you see yourself returning to settle at any point?
It’s harder the older you get.

Do you have any questions for us or suggestions or thoughts about Doon
Online?
Keep tracking down Doscos and telling their stories.

Posted at 11:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)