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'Don't count the days, make the days count': Akhand Swaroop Pandit, Founder and CEO, Catalyst Group
The Proust Questionnaire is a questionnaire about one’s personality. It has its origins in a parlour game popularised by Marcel Proust, the French essayist, who believed that, in answering these questions, an individual reveals his or her true nature.
Akhand Swaroop Pandit is the founder and CEO of Catalyst Group, an online learning platform that helps students access quality education and the training necessary for cracking intensive competitive examinations.
Through the platform, he endeavours to make high-quality education accessible to every student in the country. He established the Catalyst Group as the only platform currently specialising in the engineering field. He is the recipient of the Star Achiever of India award 2019 and the Education Icon of 2019. Here are his responses to our Proust questionnaire…
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Spending time with my family.
What is your greatest fear?
Being away from my daughter for long.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
I always want everything to be perfect.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Dishonesty.
Which living person do you most admire?
Jack Ma.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Automobiles.
What is your current state of mind?
Peaceful.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Being patient.
On what occasion do you lie?
When it does not harm anybody.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
Nothing.
Which living person do you most despise?
People who don’t value time.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
Decisiveness.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Confidence.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
‘Basically’.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My wife.
Which talent would you most like to have?
I want to have the talent to secretly read everyone’s mind.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Be a little less concerned about achieving perfection.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
The Catalyst Group.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
A bird.
Where would you most like to live?
My hometown.
What is your most treasured possession?
Photographs of my childhood.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
When a situation goes out of control.
What is your favourite occupation?
Teaching.
What is your most marked characteristic?
Empathy.
What do you most value in your friends?
Transparency.
Who are your favourite writers?
Norman Vincent Peale.
Who is your hero of fiction?
The genie in the Aladdin story.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Swami Vivekananda.
Who are your heroes in real life?
My mother.
What is your favourite name?
Sidhvi (my daughter’s name).
What is it that you most dislike?
Bad behaviour.
What is your greatest regret?
Not being able to give enough time to my friends.
How would you like to die?
When I find that all my family members are well settled.
What is your favourite journey?
The road trip from Pune to Lavasa.
What is your motto?
Don't count the days, make the days count.
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