Winning Stroke: Interview With Atul Khekade, Entrepreneur
If not in the current profession, you would be?
If not in the current profession, I would be a full time author. Writing brings to me inner peace. It's like meditation. When I write, I feel the inner chaos within goes out in an orderly, organised manner. Even in my current profession, I have to write a lot. Its just that I write more business centric material than something as a pure art.
One tune you always hum?
“I get knocked down, but I get up again. You’re never gonna keep me down” It is a song called Tubthumping by Chumbawamba.
One book to read when you want to motivate yourself?
I read bhagwat gita. The more I read it, the more I learn that in the grand scheme of things, we play a very little role. Yet playing that role with full devotion and focus is so important for fulfilling the purpose (dharma) for yourself and the universe.
One dialogue of a movie that motivates you or you like the most?
Its from the movie Rocky Balboa. “Its not about how hard you hit but how hard you get hit and still keep moving forward. Thats how winning is done.”
The place you have never been to and always want to go?
The two poles, North and South. Because it would feel like you are on a different planet altogether.
An animal that signifies you & why?
A caterpillar who turns into a butterfly by weaving a cocoon around it. Because sometimes I spend days sleeping if I feel I want to do something but I can't. Then once I get tired being too lazy, I break all the shackles of the old me and just pursue what I want to do.
A Movie Character you most resemble or resonate with?
Hulk from Marvels movies . I am usually a law abiding, fearful normal person who follows all the rules. But I turn into an aggressive beast if I feel people are not following the rules or ethics thereby breaking the basic foundation of a civilised society.
If your life was to be turned into a movie, who would you like to play your part?
Akshay Kumar. But he’d have put on some weight.
Luck or Hard Work, what do you think weighs more in defining a successful person?
I think the harder you work, the luckier you get. There is a quote in book Shantaram which reads “Luck is what happens to you when the fate gets tired of waiting”
One best decision you ever made?
To quit my day paying job which totally restricted my creativity.
A strategy that you always use to take your decisions in Personal or Professional life?
90% research or details and 10% gut. When I started decision making, it was 90% gut and 10% research. The more you know, the better decisions you can make. But there are exceptions. No matter how much you try to know, you will always know very little.
Whose advice do you seek when in a dilemma?
My Wife. Also, I meditate.
What has been your biggest achievement?One thing that you want to change in yourself?
My biggest achievement is when I have lived a balanced life I had the right discipline to get up early, do the exercise, have a productive working day and then end the day with sports or entertainment with friends/family. I do not believe the achievements are outside of you but within.
A line said by your closed one that you never forget?
One of my closest uncles who was in ICU told me just before he passed away. “If I get my life back, I would just live each day with full happiness and enjoyment without any negative thought because I’d know one day it would end.” This left a mark on me. Everyday I ask myself if this is what I want to really do. This also inspired me to write my book “Me Ki Gai”
