From marathons to meditation, Baishampayan Ghose wants to do it all

Baishampayan Ghose's life story has played out like the Bollywood movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. With the same carpe diem attitude that the characters in the movie cloak themselves in, this Agartala boy lives life like there is no tomorrow. His list of adventures is prone to make anyone green with envy: he dropped out of college and dived literally into exciting times while bungee jumping in New Zealand. From spending weeks in the Amazon forest to meditating at minus 21 degree Celsius, the 36-year-old has done it all.  

An intellectual dropout

After completing his schooling in Agartala, Baishampayan had moved to Kolhapur in 2001 to do his engineering. Despite growing up in a family of doctors, Baishampayan had always looked up to his engineer uncle. "He had a lot of equipment, and I used to take things apart and put them back together," he recalls. He was pretty clear in his mind that he wanted to be an engineer.

"I fell in love with the idea of engineering and building things," he says. But things didn’t turn out as expected for Baishampayan, who was sorely disappointed by the way engineering was taught.

"Students were only worried about their exams and marks there," he says.

Rather than continue doing something that added no value to his life, Baishampayam decided to drop out of college after two years.

"That was a massive downtime in my life. Even my parents did not have the confidence to support me then," he says.

Baishampayan stayed back in the college campus and created a curriculum for himself. A few years later, he went back to college to complete his graduation.

And he did not let the minor setback hold him back. Books by scientists Alan Kay and Paul Graham inspired him to study Computer Science. And he went on to do great things from there.

An early beginner

Baishampayan founded his first startup when he was just 25 years old. He then went on to design and create the air ticket fare and reservation system for Cleartrip.

He also co-founded sports-based social network oCricket.com., and Helpshift, an artificial intelligence-powered customer support platform for mobile and web applications.

"I have spent more than 10 years in the startup industry, and have seen a lot of ups and downs during my journey," he says. While initially raising even a small amount seemed like a dream, he went on to start a company in Silicon Valley, and eventually raised money from top VCs.

He is now coaching startup founders and helping them build scalable businesses. "I always believed in contributing to the Indian startup ecosystem," he adds.

Baishampayan is now based out of Pune and calls himself an 'Independent Thinker.' And a quick Twitter search will tell you that he is followed by even Barack Obama!

Another shift

Leaving Helpshift a year ago, Baishampayan set off on a new path.

He dedicated the first six months to travelling and learning and spent almost three weeks at the Amazon forest. "I learnt a lot of ancient Amazonian practices, and ancient spiritual and healing practices there," he adds.

He then spent the last six months training to become an endurance athlete, and this goal has taken centre stage for him at the moment. "I want to run the Boston Marathon before I turn 40," he says.

He had always wanted to do something with sports but also knew he could not pursue something professionally at this point. With the aim of doing something within his reach, he chose to run marathons.

"Training and running are very similar to the startup industry. A lot of strategies that go into running and training for marathons are applicable to startups as well,” Baishampayan adds.

While Saturdays are spent exercising and spending time with his athlete-wife, Baishampayan's Sundays are involved in long runs. Last week he managed to complete a 21-kilometre run.

Keep calm and meditate

A follower of the Dalai Lamai, Baishampayan has also been practising meditation since 2013. "It has helped me immensely and has given me a lot of clarity in life. It has also helped me a lot in my startup journey, in terms of knowing when to do the right thing, and not being too stressed out," says the calm and collective Baishampayan.

For the love of books

Still a technologist at heart, Baishampayan spends a lot of time reading and programming technology.

Mostly indulging in non-fiction reading, Baishampayan's favourite authors include sci-fi writer Robert A. Heinlein. 

"I just finished reading How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan," he says, excited.

He always goes back to books like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, Hackers & Painters by Paul Graham, and What the Dormouse Said by John Markoff.

Happiness is…

Baishampayan's idea of perfect happiness is "to be content with whatever you have at the moment"...as he is not materialistic.

He loves to cook and experiment with Indian spices.

“The complexity and the unique flavours of the masalas allow me to experiment," he says. His favourite dishes include shukto (a Bengali preparation made with different vegetables) and kosha mangsho (a spicy Bengali mutton dish).

Baishampayan is a huge fan of Shpongle, and attends electronic music concerts whenever he can. Not surprisingly, he is aspiring to be a DJ soon too!

"I also have land in Dehradun and have plans to go there and do something, but that will happen in the future," says Baishampayan before signing off.

Clearly, this man is made for a life of adventure.