To have a notion of perfect happiness is living in unhappiness: Joji George, Co-founder of GoNuts

Joji George is the Co-founder of GoNuts, a startup that provides pipeline between celebrities and their fans through authentic and personalised experiences.

Sunday February 21, 2021 , 4 min Read

Joji George is the Co-founder of GoNuts , an influencer marketing and celebrity shoutout platform. The Mumbai-based startup provides pipeline between celebrities and their fans through authentic and personalised experiences.

An alumnus of The Wharton School and The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Joji been in the media and entertainment sector for more than two decades. He has earlier served as the Vice President and General Manager of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in India and Manager Director of UBM India, before taking the entrepreneurial plunge.

Recently, YS Weekender caught up with Joji to ask him questions from the Proust Questionnaire.

The Proust Questionnaire is 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.

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Here are Joji's answers:

YS Weekender (YSW): What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Joji Geogra (JG): To have a notion of perfect happiness is living in unhappiness. It is like waiting for the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. In yearning for that pot, you miss the beauty of the rainbow. I believe perfect happiness is living in the ‘now’.

YSW: What is your greatest fear?

JG: Fear of being fearful about what you have no control over your life.

YSW: What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

JG: The trait I am working on is my impatience to accept the status quo and to get things done immediately.

YSW: What is the trait you most deplore in others?

JG: Lack of larger vision and purpose.

YSW: Which living person do you most admire?

JG: My mother and my wife. Two strong women who live life on their terms and everyday exhibit a life of purpose.

YSW: What is your greatest extravagance?

JG: Travel, sneakers and good wine.

YSW: What is your current state of mind?

JG: Grateful and blessed.

YSW: What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

JG: Altruism.

YSW: On what occasion do you lie?

JG: If it helps uplift a person and not crush their spirit.

YSW: What do you most dislike about your appearance?

JG: Nothing. I am who I am.

YSW: Which living person do you most despise?

JG: There are a whole bunch in the political sector. Naming them would take some time.

YSW: What is the quality you most like in a man?

JG: Loyalty and curiosity.

YSW: What is the quality you most like in a woman?

JG: Strength and integrity.

YSW: Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

JG: ‘Do you understand ?' and 'super'.

YSW: What or who is the greatest love of your life?

JG: My family.

YSW: Which talent would you most like to have?

JG: Film-making.

YSW: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

JG: Patience.

YSW: What do you consider your greatest achievement?

JG: It’s still to come.

YSW: If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

JG: We always see the glamourise life of people and not their burdens. I would love to come back as me minus some of those burdens and with some learnings of the past.

YSW: Where would you most like to live?

JG: Santorini or Prague.

YSW: What is your most treasured possession?

JG: My paintings and antiques.

YSW: What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

JG: When you only see the negative side of everything.

YSW: What is your favourite occupation?

JG: My favourite occupation would have been to be a Musician.

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YSW: What is your most marked characteristic?

JG: Passion and energy.

YSW: What do you most value in your friends?

JG: Loyalty and the ability to laugh at oneself.

YSW: Who are your favourite writers?

JG: Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Albert Camus.

YSW: Who is your hero of fiction?

JG: Count of Monte Cristo.

YSW: Which historical figure do you most identify with?

JG: Nelson Mandela.

YSW: Who are your heroes in real life?

JG: I guess it would be gifted people like Kishore Kumar (for being such an incredible singer without formal training), Steve Jobs (for beating the odds) and my father (for raising us to listen to our inner voice).