Experiences

“Pure logical thinking cannot yield us any knowledge of the empirical world; all knowledge of reality starts from experience and ends in it.” - Albert Einstein in Ideas And Opinions (p. 271)

As the quote above probably gives away, I highly value experiences of all kinds and especially new ones. This page documents some of the unique, memorable, or first-time experiences which’ve helped me grow. To distinguish between non-technical and technical experiences, this page mostly contains non-technical experiences. For major technical experiences, please check out my projects

Leadership Programme in Hangzhou, China 🇨🇳 [2019]

In the summer of 2019, I took part in a leadership programme at the Chu-Kochen Honours College, Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. The programme focused on the topic of future leadership, with the aim of tackling the critical questions of how leaders of tomorrow should prepare for an increasingly internationalised world. You can read more about my experience here and in this video

SEA At Cross Roads: an exploration in Chiang Mai, Thailand 🇹🇭 [2019]

In June 2019, I took part in an interdisplinary two-week programme at Chiang Mai University to solve the problem of haze and debt-trap in Northern Thailand. This experienced also involved living in a Thai Village for 3 days to have a first-hand experience of the problem. This article narrates part of my experience.

Organizing a Hackathon for Beginners in Singapore 🇸🇬 [2018-19]

In my freshman year, I led a team of students to organise a hackathon that is accessible to beginners. It was the first organised by the University Scholars Programme at NUS. You can know more about the Hackathon here.

Organizing TEDxNUS in Singapore 🇸🇬 [2018-19]

I co-led a team of 30+ students in organising TEDxNUS 2019. My favourite talk from the event is Is experiential learning scalable? by Prof Henz. You can watch it here. More on this experience soon…

National Voters’ Festival in New Delhi, India 🇮🇳 [2016]

India is the world’s largest democracy and the Election Commission of India is responsible for overseeing the elections and promoting voter awareness. The National Voters’ Festival is an annual event held in the capital by ECI to promote voter awareness. I was part of the official team that represented my home state of Gujarat. Our team enacted two plays and performed a dance to promote voter awareness and encourage voter participation. A video of our performance is available here

Contributing to a National Book in Ahmedabad, India 🇮🇳 [2015]

In 2015, the Election Commission of India started compiling heroic voting stories from across India to promote voter awareness. I co-led a team of 5 students under Ms Lissa Chazot to edit and compile the stories in a partnership with the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Gujarat. I also wrote two stories for the Gujarat chapter of the book, narrating how many electoral officers went beyond their line of duty to serve the people.

The book was presented to the then President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee. The book was published by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India in 2016.

The book is available for sale on Amazon.