While in college, most of us pursue a lot of things that we are passionate about. After we graduate, many of those interests decline due to paucity of time. But there are some quirky ones among us, who decide to take the roads less travelled, and chase those very passions. With her blog series, Aditi Olemann, explores her love for writing and brings us life stories of some of our alumni who went on to explore their passion in life, after engineering. Aditi Olemann received her BTech in Electronics and Communications Engineering in 2013 from IIT Guwahati and is currently working as Partner, Corporate Strategy and Innovation in the Swiss Multinational company, Roche. Through this blog series, she hopes to get inspired and inspire many of us to chase our unfulfilled dreams. She also hopes to convince young students still in college, that you can be whatever you want to be.
The roller coaster at the water kingdom
The story of Tarun Jain. IIT Guwahati graduating class of 2014
Chapter 0: Introduction
My first story is that of Tarun Jain. The first time I met him was at a drama club audition. A goofy young boy with intelligent eyes. If you saw him in a group, he would mostly be blending in. But as I got to know more about him, he was an ocean of a personality.
I have met a lot of dog lovers, cat lovers and even bird lovers. But for the first time in my life, I had come across someone who loved all kinds of animals from turtles to mice. He even had a pet mosquito once who he loved dearly and who loved him back.
Chapter 1: Auckland matie
Tarun had joined IIT Guwahati to study Mechanical Engineering; but in the 4 years there, he also dabbled in theater, cinematography, and design. Through all the interests he pursued, Tarun always kept his focus on studies and grades intact (this sentence has been sponsored by the IIT Guwahati Academic Affairs. Ok just kidding). The universe rewarded him by giving him an exciting opportunity to visit New Zealand for a summer internship in University of Auckland in his 3rd year.
One morning in Auckland, Tarun and some of his new found friends visited the marine zoo. While at the zoo, they came to know about a session where they could ‘Swim with the sharks’. Tarun had been swimming since he was a kid so he didn’t mind getting wet (in the water). The opportunity to befriend some sharks and extend his friendly territory to the aquatic life seemed like one he couldn’t miss. After a short training session, Tarun took the plunge — literally and figuratively-into unchartered territories.
That hour swimming with the sharks was followed by more lessons in scuba diving and by the end of the internship, Tarun had bagged himself a PhD opportunity in University of Auckland and a passion for the sea he never knew existed in him.
Chapter 2: A PrettyHugeDeal
Back in India for his final year, Tarun lived the king sized life of a 4th yearite with a foreign PhD offer and a job offer from Flipkart. Tarun was high (in spirits) and life seemed set for the coming future. The days moved fast, but the visa got stuck so Tarun joined Flipkart until Auckland would come calling. Finally, when he did get his visa, Tarun was off to his dream vacation studies in New Zealand. The next 6 months were filled with a lot more explorations of the sea (and of course studying). Tarun joined the college diving club and did many many dives from night-time diving to deep sea diving. He and his diving mates would rent a boat and go off in the middle of the night. The calmness of the night and the quiet of the deep blue ocean touched his soul. In a period of 6 months, he went for more than 50 dives. By now he knew, come what may, he would be diving for the rest of his life.
Chapter 3: Swades calling
While Tarun’s sea escapades continued, back home in India something interesting was brewing. Some of his classmates from IIT, were busy building Cubical — an IoT home automation startup that was poised to redefine smart homes in India. While in college when this startup was nothing but a couple of people working out of a lab, Tarun had been part of their team helping them out. Now, when this had grown much bigger and exciting, and all his friends were joining this, Tarun yearned to be part of that excitement. Before he knew it, he was on a plane back to India to join the team in Delhi. He had left behind his PhD and his diving to be part of something big! “This better be worth it!” he chuckled to himself.
Chapter 4: Shake it like jelly
There was ‘IIT’, there was ‘IoT’, and there was ‘startup’. All the magic spices for success were part of this mission. The company kept soaring and Tarun loved the thrill of being part of it. Deep down, however, he started missing his earlier life. He missed watching the brilliant blue sky kiss the calm blue sea in the horizon as he watched. He missed swimming with his sea friends. ‘Could there be a way I could be closer to the sea?’ the feeling nagged him. ‘Could I bring the beauty of the sea closer to humanity?’ he contemplated at the big picture (dramatic pause).
A few days later, Tarun was spotted running out from his shower yelling ‘Eureka’ right upto his friend Yugal’s place. That fine day ‘The Jelly Kings’ was born. Since Tarun had been meaning to do something for a while and Jelly Kings was the perfect way to start a company in the marine space.
Indians were getting more and more interested in ornamental fishes and the jelly fish was one of the most beautiful pets you could have. Jelly fish however needed specialised nutrition and storage and Tarun and Yugal decided they could provide the same. ‘The Jelly Kings’ got an encouraging response from the investor community and soon enough the duo was part of an accelerator in Delhi.
However, before they even had their surfboards out, they were hit by two crushing waves one after another (in increasing order of magnitude):
1. demonetisation in the highly cash based supply market for fishes
2. new government law making ornamental jelly fish illegal
It was quite a set back for the two of them. The Jelly Kings had lost most of their potential kingdom to higher force — the government. Tarun was by now out of Cubical. He wasn’t sure where he was going next.
Chapter 5: The secrets of the sea
Through the ups and downs, Tarun’s interest in the sea and aquatic life, however, refused to die. He had by now met umpteen researchers and experts from the National Institute of Oceanography and the Bombay Society of Natural History to discuss ways in which he could contribute to marine research and conservation. The senior scientists and government officials were getting quite curious about this bright young guy from IIT who strongly believed in making Indians more marine conscious. ‘Why do you feel so?’ they would ask him curiously. ‘We have such a large coastline and yet our current generation hardly knows anything about the oceanic creatures. Unless you love something, you wouldn’t care about protecting it,’ he would tell them with conviction. “What can be done?” they would ask him. Hence, Tarun started ‘Edumarine’ along with his trusted old pal, Yugal. Edumarine was set up to work towards the education, research and conservation of marine animals. From here, folks, the story goes west.
Chapter 6: Go Goa Gone
A few weeks later, one sunny morning, Goa woke up to find Tarun landing up on its shores. “Oh hello there! Here to holiday?’” Goa asked him merrily. “Nope, here to live!” Tarun waved back. Tarun had decided he would finally come home to Goa. The projects he was picking up with the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) and his yearning for diving, Goa seemed a natural place to be. Yugal would be helping him from Delhi. What could go wrong? “Nothing, absolutely nothing”
He was going to work in every man’s dream office — a shack with the sand on your feet and the sea breeze on your face. He was living the LA movie star beach dream.
Except there wasn’t much money. Like all things governmental, things were moving at a pace too slow. He knew he was making an impact — they had even created educative kits for children that was provided to 1200 kids in a government conference. The money in his bank, was however draining out fast with not much coming in. He finished courses in diving so he could train people and earn some money. But diving as a profession wasn’t very stable. The peak seasons would be great but the off seasons — not so much. A particular month when he had to ask his dad for money, Tarun realised he needed to think seriously about his finances. He had been blessed with understanding parents who let him explore the roads not taken. However, having to ask money from his father jolted him hard. Tarun then sat on a flight to Bangalore hoping to find a way to earn and save enough to last for a while so he could come back home to Goa.
Chapter 7: The lore of Bangalore
Bangalore, as we all know it, is a city of young hopes and dreams (and bad cabbies but that is unrelated to the story). Here, Tarun met with some of his seniors from IIT Guwahati. These were people like him who wanted to chase their passions but needed an income to sustain themselves as and fund their passions. One among them was Nishit Sharma, a classmate and friend of mine who was pursuing his love for travel vlogging. That is another fine story that I reserve for a different time. From Nishit and a few other IIT seniors, Tarun came to know about freelance consulting. Much of the work could be done remotely. Tarun could basically work from wherever he wanted and whenever he wanted, as long as he was delivering what was needed. This would let him earn enough so he could dive, work for his interests in marine biology AND live in God’s own party haven — Goa. Soon enough, Tarun landed some interesting projects and moved back to Goa — to start his life all over again, this time with money. He now juggles multiple interesting projects in marketing, while supporting the initiatives in marine conservation through the venture ‘Edumarine’, and diving when the day is damn fine.
Chapter 8: Epilogue
Every body loves a happily ever after. How does this story end? Tarun is yet to figure it out. He tells me he is still as clueless of what he will end up with in life. But he is crystal clear about the few things that he wants: diving, freedom to choose when he works, a life where he can drive off to nobody-land when he feels like.
Writer-Aditi Olemann
