Rohit: 0:00

Now when I look back, I sort of, you know, look at my journey into three big buckets. First there is a survival mode, then there is an acclimatization mode and then there is probably an adjustment and a growth mode. In the Indian Punjabi culture, chai is a really tea is a really important thing. So the first thing we did was we walked down. We found a convenience store there and the first thing that I saw was there are 20 different types of milk, five different type of tea bags.

Rohit: 0:27

It took us about 30 minutes just to figure out the bag of milk that we wanted and the box of tea leaves that we wanted to use.

Gurasis: 0:49

Moving to a new country isn't just about learning the language or adjusting to a different climate. It's about navigating an entirely new world while striving to preserve the essence of who you are. An entirely new world, while striving to preserve the essence of who you are. As immigrants, we are constantly balancing the tightrope between embracing a new culture and staying true to our roots. It's a journey filled with challenges, from the emotional toll of leaving behind loved ones to the complexities of building a new life from scratch. Topics like embracing your emotions, being vulnerable and asking for help when needed aren't just theoretical discussions. They are lifelines that keep us grounded and help us thrive amidst the upheaval.

Gurasis: 1:36

Today, we are joined by someone who not only understands these challenges, but has used them as stepping stones in his own extraordinary journey. He's a global analytics leader with a rich background in the financial industry, having held leadership positions at Royal Bank of Scotland, american Express, with over 16 years of experience across three continents. But his journey is about more than just numbers and analytics. As a data entrepreneur, he's committed to continuous learning, mentoring and giving back to the community. His YouTube channel, the Data Guy is dedicated to empowering young professionals with the skills they need to succeed. In today's episode, he will share his insights on how to navigate life as an immigrant, the power of vulnerability and how his expertise has enabled him to create a meaningful impact. Please welcome Rohit Dhawan.

Rohit: 2:32

Thank you so much for having me on this discussion today. I think I've had an opportunity to listen to some of the work that you've done and how you sort of you know created this platform and brought it to a point where it is very commendable, and congratulations to you. And I do believe that this summer that you are getting into your next season as well, so again, a lot of excitement around that as well.

Gurasis: 2:57

Absolutely, absolutely. You know. I just want to say that after I spoke with you, you know, in India it'll be the first time I spoke to somebody after landing in India three, four months in 2024. And I've sort of like lost touch in with the podcast recording and everything because you get so busy in your life there, right, and I heard you talking about the podcast and you know how you the kind of like impact you think it is creating. It was so refreshing to just listen to your thoughts and also the kind of kind impact you think it is creating. It was so refreshing to just listen to your thoughts and and also the kind of kind words that you have said. You know I still remember those. So thank you for that and thank you for saying it that today as well, and thank you for being here and being a part of this today and I I totally appreciate it.

Rohit: 3:37

And Gurasis, I think your podcast couldn't have happened on a great time. Like in today's world, you know, there are so much sensitivities around what you hear, how you react to things, right, and I think I think, in the essence of it, one key human spirit that most of us are letting go of is the resilience right, just the name of podcast, MY THICK ACCENT, and when you and I spoke about you told me the story behind it and I was like that has to be an empowering platform where you know you take an experience instead of getting sensitized or, you know, demotivated by it.

Rohit: 4:15

You then change it into this platform, which creates an impact not only in your life but everybody who hears or the stories that you share is pretty commendable

Gurasis: 4:26

I'm very, very glad to hear that, because it's exactly what my mission is creating this platform where people like us, who do have an accent not only indians, I'm talking about anybody who come with an accent to a foreign land this space is for them, where they can feel belonged and they can feel that, okay, they are not alone in their journeys. Okay, rohit, since you mentioned season two, you know so in this season, I'm trying to turn up the fun factor a little bit. So I'm going to start with a little bit fun questions. So my first question is what's your go-to breakfast?

Rohit: 5:04

I'm a big sucker for bread. Omelet, right Eggs and bread is one of my comfort food that I can eat anytime. However, my wife is really pushing me to a more healthier options, so I'm trying to make that reluctant shift now.

Rohit: 5:28

But any day, if there were eggs and bread on the table, I would just gush to it.

Gurasis: 5:30

Okay, okay, what about those?

Gurasis: 5:31

typical parathas and all that.

Rohit: 5:31

Yeah, I, I love them. So the way we've said this, like after we've immigrated to canada, the, the, the, the explicit rule in the household is we do one Indian meal every day and then over the weekends, with my wife and my kids, we just go crazy with Indian foods parathas, aloo puri, chole bhature. I mean any and every weekend that we have an opportunity to do that, you will see the family gorging that out wow, sounds amazing.

Gurasis: 6:00

Huh, um, tell me about any your favorite song or a dialogue, rohit or something that's most significant to you yeah, so I think I I I do listen to a lot of punjabi music nowadays, right?

Rohit: 6:16

one of my favorite uh person to listen to is diljit right, and he's he's he's creating so much fame for our culture, our values values globally, which is so inspiring. I'm trying to make my kids listen to him so that they understand the language, they appreciate the beauty of the songs to it. So I think that's probably my go to music nowadays.

Gurasis: 6:40

Okay, any particular movie that you really like, revisit again and again

Rohit: 6:47

um, I, I've sort of uh, I actually like forest gump a lot, right, uh, it's a very nice, interesting movie, right, and I've there's no number of, there's no limit in how many times I've watched this movie. More recently I was. So we do movie nights every Friday in our household. So I just we couldn't find one, and I asked my kids if you would be interested in watching a classic movie. Initially they were reluctant, but they went through it, and then I keep telling them on what's happening in the movie and how that person is dealing with different situations in life.

Rohit: 7:22

So that's now become an ongoing topic of discussion in the household now

Gurasis: 7:27

if you had to teach this one phrase or a word or anything in your mother tongue, what would it be and what does it mean?

Rohit: 7:34

yeah, so. So this is pretty close to my heart, right, and I think, I think, uh, my journey as an immigrant has just solidified this belief for me, right, so? So this says so. So I sort of speak Hindi and Punjabi, both Right, so it's, it's, it's a mixture of and, if you don't mind if I use that to answer this question Absolutely Right, so it says right, so let me just decode it for you. Like fikir in Punjabi means don't be stressed about it, shukr means just be thankful about it. So just to relate once again, so the hypothesis and the belief behind that is whatever situation you are is just a temporary situation, whether it's a stressful situation, whether it's a happy situation, anxious situation, or you're feeling loss of hope or anything. It's just a transit. So, instead of worrying about it, let go of the worry and thank and have faith in a higher power which will transcend you through all these situations absolutely, I totally love that and I abide by that as well.

Gurasis: 8:52

I think this has been sort of my learning as well, that to start counting your blessings. You know there is so much sometimes we get caught up in that, you know. Uh, this tornado of negativity, you know, just because of, because of the comparisons that we do, or the doom scrolling that we do and we see those lives of people, you know, or in just in general, you know, because there's never enough. So we have to be a bit of content, like you just said, shukar. You know, be grateful, be thankful and start counting your blessings. I'm a sure believer of that, thank you. Thank you for you know. Echoing that, thanks for that. My next question is Rohit. If you could teleport back to a particular place from your home country for a day, or let's just say anywhere in the world, where would you go and what would you do?

Rohit: 9:33

I would definitely go back to Chandigarh, which is my hometown, where I was born. I would definitely teleport myself back to my father's house, which is in a town near Chandigarh called Panchkula. Right, that's where I would like to be. From a time period perspective, I think the best time that I've had in that house is my school days. My school used to be just in the lane opposite my house and that was a lot of fun. You could just walk there, bike there. You know you don't necessarily need to have your parents walking you to school. You know all the friends together from the street will walk down and go to school, come back, have fun. So I think that time period is the one that I would like to teleport back to.

Gurasis: 10:16

Speaking of that, let me take you down the memory lane, you know, tell me a little bit about your formative years, initial years, and how was it like just growing up in Chandigarh?

Rohit: 10:27

Absolutely. Thanks for the question. So, as I said, I was born in Chandigarh. Now, just for your listener, chandigarh is a small town about 160 miles from Delhi, which is the capital region of India. The town itself is pretty small but has a lot of influence in terms of its geography and importance in the history of the country. More recently, it happens to be the capital city of two big provinces, punjab and Haryana, and also because of his geographic location, anytime you'd wanted to do something, go to the hills right, go to nearby towns, mountains, or do something interesting there's always something to do in there.

Rohit: 11:11

The other thing that was very popular about Chandigarh is it used to be a very well-planned city, right, in fact, it was once quoted that it was one of the first planned city in the country and it sort of held on to that legacy for a while right.

Rohit: 11:31

It also happened to be the center of bureaucratic machinery for the two provinces of Punjab and Haryana, so there was always a lot of discipline, abidement to the law in that part of the city.

Rohit: 11:45

So that's the environment that I was growing up with right, which I think has really helped me eventually either, when I've sort of stepped out of the house from Chandigarh for my education for the first time, or even if I'm immigrated or when I was doing my business travels from India anywhere. So that sort of really helped me a lot. I think it's one of the most beautiful and the cleanest city right. In fact, so much so the tagline and the marketing promotion for the city was city beautiful, right, which in itself meant that you know so a lot of people would be very cautious of keep it in clean. A lot of people would preserve the natural beauty of the city and, given that it was the hub of two big provinces, it's an absolute delight if you're a foodie like me, Right? So there are so many of these places like what we call small businesses that have such an authentic and amazing food, which I would highly recommend anybody visiting those places.

Gurasis: 12:51

I believe you recently went to India also, right, I think, six, seven months ago. So which was the place that you go to?

Rohit: 12:57

Oh, gurusheesh, you've reminded me of some great thing, right? So about six months ago, the whole of the family went there. It was my first time for my kids to be visiting there, so we did everything that an Indian kid while growing up. I made them travel by autos. They loved it. We took them to the temples, the gurdwaras, all the places they loved it, and we made them eat a lot of local food right.

Rohit: 13:26

One of the things that usually everybody will caution you is, when younger kids are going there, be careful of what you eat where you eat. But I think we sort of were a bit lenient on that front and we went to all the places like Sector 23, where the Golgappas are really nice, right, the chaat is very nice. Guppas are really nice, right, the chaat is very nice, uh. Then then, uh, my family there took me to sector 8, which is now sort of come up as a food hub right, which is a major food hub now. So any sort of a cuisine that you want there is available to you, um and so, so that that that was pretty nice wow, sounds like a super fun trip for sure.

Gurasis: 14:07

Just to revisit all that with your children it's even more special. But I want to take you back to your high school. Tell me a little bit about that time. You know what kind of student you were or how was that whole time in general.

Rohit: 14:19

It was a very nice time right. One of the things that I always miss and in fact, when you asked me to teleport back, the reason why I wanted to go back was we did not have any devices. We had no phones. Landlines was the only thing that was available as a means of communication. I mean email was growing up, but it was only like once a week or once a month sort of a thing for kids to be doing. So what that meant was, when I was in high school, a lot of our time was spent when we were outside with friends, building those social connections, speaking about things. I sort of remember I used to have these four or five key friends. Anytime we would go to each other's house. We wouldn't even realize when. It would be about four hours or five hours. We were just standing and talking and chatting about things. So that's one of my fond memories.

Rohit: 15:20

Meritorious student right, um, in fact, if so, in my school back in the days, there used to be this thing on where they would uh select a few uh students and create a student committee out of it. Uh, the head of the student committee would be somebody called as the head boy right, which basically meant is, like nowadays they do committees, so he's the person who's responsible for managing the whole community and activities in the school. Uh, I was the head boy for my school for three consecutive years, right, which which made my parents a lot proud about it, something to boost about, so so that was always a good thing. Uh, for me, um, those two things are really fun tell me more about the family dynamic.

Gurasis: 16:09

You know, was there any? You know the classic indian parents pressure that you have to follow a certain a career path or anything like that was there a very interesting question.

Rohit: 16:19

so I I still, uh, come from a time where we used to live in joint families, right? So in our house, the way we were growing up is we have had my grandparents, my parents and then my parents, my father's siblings, two of those brothers, so we all were growing up together and each of those people have their own kids, right so my sister was the eldest one and she was one of the most brilliant student in our whole family, right so she was always the the north star for all the other kids in the line. Right so every time a goal would be set it would be like do as she is doing right and score as high as she's scoring, right. So all those typical Asian family stereotypes I've lived through them, so much so, in fact, you know, I know, for a while there used to be a running joke to say that even before a child is born in an Indian family, he it's decided for them to be either a doctor or an engineer.

Rohit: 17:26

So I've sort of lived through that stereotype. For me I mean, if you're interested, for me doctor was the profession that was chosen. My sister ended up becoming a pretty successful doctor and apparently I was supposed to follow her footpaths, but yeah, destiny had something else in mind.

Gurasis: 17:49

Yeah, funny enough, that was a career chosen for me as well at one point, you know. And then I was asked to take my father's business on, but, you know, destiny had some other plans and it brought me to Canada. And here we are today. Okay, so tell me, like you said, you know, doctor was the path chosen for you, but what was your dream career growing up?

Rohit: 18:12

Yeah. So I think I'll be very honest with you, right, I sort of started thinking about my career a little later than if I think of it from now in a retrospect perspective, right. So me, for example, as I told you, growing up in Chandigarh, doing my elementary, middle and high school, I was living through that stereotype that eventually I have to become the doctor in the family, right. And then, when I started with my graduation and that's almost the time when you started applying for these colleges, preparing for their examination, right, and things started getting really rigorous and intensive for me from an academic perspective as well, I knew something within me that I might not, even if I become a doctor, I might not be a good doctor, right. But then I always thought I will not disappoint my parents and just do this for their wish, right. So I sort of, you know, tried giving it a shot, but then, as we said that you know, destiny had something else in store for me. So what usually happens is, when I was growing up, the way the cycle is after your high school, you get into a couple of months where you give your examinations for your medical courses and after that you decide what next needs to happen. So I sort of went through that cycle appeared for pretty much all the colleges in the country. I did receive a few calls right from the dentistry college, which is the dental colleges, right?

Rohit: 19:46

Um, yeah, but I think somehow at that point in time, something interesting happened with my mindset, right. I started having an open conversation with my father and and to my surprise, he was very open to having these conversations. Right, I was like all my life you've told me to follow this path, and now that I'm having this conversation, about what if I were to choose something else? And it took me a couple of days to prep for that conversation, right. But then, when I actually had that conversation, he was very open to hearing my thoughts and he really encouraged me to get into the management field. Right, and I think that's the first point where I started thinking about going for an MBA.

Gurasis: 20:26

He really encouraged me to get into the management field, right, and I think that's the first point where I started thinking about going for an MBA degree and trying to create a career.

Rohit: 20:37

that I sort of now look back on is the way it is shaped, and if I'm not wrong, you mentioned earlier also, you went to Pune for your MBA, right? So Pune was my first time that I stepped out of my hometown, chandigarh, and that is where I went to do my master's in business administration, which is MBA, which is around this time only when I was discussing with my dad on what should I be doing going down this path of dentistry or going down the management path so it just happened that I applied for this college in Pune, simbaises. I happened to go there, my father came along with me and then he sort of looked at the college, looked at the, spoke to the faculty there. He was pretty impressed and I think that sort of helped me gain a momentum down that path.

Gurasis: 21:21

And for the non-Indians, pune is a city in the western part of India, in the state called Maharashtra, you know. Just to mention for the people here, I want you to tell us about this career path that you chose. Right, you call yourself a data entrepreneur right now, but before that, tell me that. How did you get into this? What was something that influenced you to get into this kind of career?

Rohit: 21:47

when I went into my MBA college, right? I very quickly realized, while MBA degree is good to have, but it is just a matter of qualification for you to apply for a job and make a career out of it, right? So once that happened to me, I was very eager to say on what is next that I want to do, right. However, I was still not definitively confirmed on what is the path that I want to do and what is what I want to choose. So, naturally, what happened? I completed my mba, got my campus placement and, lucky enough for me, I happen to be working in icici bank, which, for your listeners, was the largest indian bank in that point in time. The job that I entered in that was from a business management perspective, right. So what I was doing is I was liaising between my technical counterparts and my business technical parts, but then I was taking some requirements from the business and getting it implemented with help of my technical peers right, which sort of you know? And I have to give kudos to my mentor in that organization. I was having a coaching chat with him and he sort of raised it to me. So, rohit, right now what you're doing is you're acting as a postman, you're taking letters from one place and delivering it to another. Right, you need to ask yourself what is the value that you are bringing to the table? Right, and which sort of you know really sunk in me and I was like I've at least at that in time, I was thinking, doing what I'm doing right now is not how I will bring my skill sets to the table or sharpen or enhance my skill sets and be able to add value towards the business side, become a salesperson, products person, or whether I'd graviate myself to the technical side and try doing these technical things from a data perspective, from a platform perspective, from a coding perspective. Right, I sort of gravitated towards the technical side of the things. Right, I was like these are the guys who make most of the magic happen, so I'm gonna be one of them.

Rohit: 24:07

Um, I was really lucky to have, like, some really amazing friends who taught me on the job my first sql code, which is basically the way you uh in, you interact with the underlying data. You write a bunch of code in english and then it gives you the output. Right, the feeling that you get when that happens with your own hands is amazing, right, and over the next six months I did an on-the-job thing where they taught me a lot of things and I started doing it and I was pretty much mentally preparing myself to make a career in there. What really got me hooked onto this is my second job. From my first job I started my job. I got a job in American Express, which is where I really got exposed to the data, the analytics, the engineering part of it, the inside generation, how to solve a business problem using the data, and I think that sort of cemented my passion to say this is the field that I want to grow in.

Gurasis: 25:10

Oh, wow, I love this. You know the whole experience that you've had and obviously you've also talked about the importance of having mentors and those guides in your life. I feel like those people have sort of the reason you know you always talk so much about it who have led you into such kind of career. We'll talk more about that as well, but tell me a little bit about your time in Pune, and by that I mean that, because it's different from Punjab, it's different from the northern India. Right, tell me about that transition, because India is so huge and coming different country is different. Even within India there's a lot of culture differences, that which exists. Right, tell me about that transition a little bit, absolutely, and that's a great question, right?

Rohit: 25:52

so we spoke about the way Chandigarh was socio-economic and demographically. Pune, in a different part of the country, is worlds apart from it. Right, pune is much more cosmopolitan, right, because Pune is a city which has established itself as the educational hub right Over the number of years. A lot of very reputed colleges have established themselves, which attracts students from all over the country to influx into this. Now, what that lets, the impact that it creates, is now you're living in a very cosmopolitan environment, right, which is very diverse, with different people coming and bringing different aspiration, different mindset, different cultural values, right? So when you? So the first biggest thing that I sort of thought hit me like a truck was I came out of this soft shell into an environment which was very, very open, right, and this is where I started experiencing, uh, and trying to understand different perspective that people bring to the table I assume it would also be the first time you left your house, right?

Rohit: 27:08

It definitely was. It definitely was the first time, and in fact you know it's funny enough. I say that now, speaking to you, like I remember the day when my parents sort of flew in me to Pune and they were sort of about to leave me in a hostel and, very honest with you, I was starting to get those chills. Right, what will happen? Right? So what will happen once my parents goes away? There is just one bathroom for the whole floor. Uh, how is? How am I gonna adjust to it? And now I'll be sharing my room with two other people who I don't even know, never met in my life. I was having all those anxiousness. In fact, what I did was I asked my parents to extend their stay for a couple of days more, just so that I could get a soft landing into this new environment.

Gurasis: 28:05

Tell me what about the food then. Were you able to cook back then yourself? Because obviously, again, it's a different, different, different part of India. Right, the food is very different. You were kind of very habitual of eating that Punjabi not food, right?

Rohit: 28:17

Yeah, so, unfortunately, I'm not a good cook, right. I wouldn't myself eat the food that I cook, so right. So, having said that, however, as you know, food is a very big thing in our culture, right, and the good thing is my father had seen the hostel life for a lot of years, so he was very astute in me packing some essentials, you know, like our cooking ghee right, some spices right, because he knew the type of food that you get in college hostels is very bland, might not taste or even look very different, but if you were to superficially add these ingredients, at least you're able to swallow it and gulp it down. So I think my dad's experience in there and helping me pack those essentials, like ghee, spices, my favorite cookies, the bars, the chocolate bars and everything really came in handy to see me through.

Gurasis: 29:14

So last question, you know just to wrap up your time in Pune, tell me something that you learned during your time there.

Rohit: 29:21

That's something, maybe a lesson, that you have learned that has stayed with you up until today, since you transitioned into coming to Canada also yeah, one of the key lessons that I learned out of my experience from Pune is how one should always be open to hearing someone else's perspective. Right, and usually what happens is when we are in a discussion and when the person you're speaking to usually does not agree to your point of view, it's very, very easy to fall in the trap of derailing that conversation and kicking in your biases and conscious biases in right. One thing that my experience in Pune told me is you should always be open to other people's perspective and, before you react, try to understand the point of view from where they are having this conversation.

Gurasis: 30:14

Absolutely.

Rohit: 30:16

I think that's one thing that's really helped me and really does help me right now, also through the corporate structures.

Gurasis: 30:25

So now I'd like to pivot towards your move to Canada. Tell me about the decision. Why did you decide to move to Canada and how was the process for you?

Rohit: 30:35

Before I came to Canada, I was working in the Indian corporate for about 10 years right. During these 10 years, I had the opportunity to work with large multinational organizations. You've named a few like American Express, royal Bank of Scotland and Accenture. What these companies gave me as an experience was ability to travel to different parts of the world and try to you know, experience the cultures and the working ethics and the lifestyles of these worlds right, but what was happening was these trips were very transitory in nature a week here, a week there right. So every time I would go into a destination right, I would try to absorb a few things into that lifestyle and try to contrast it with how my current lifestyle in India was right.

Rohit: 31:27

And when you do this over a period of time right, you try to start creating an Excel sheet to say what are the pros and cons of being in one place versus the other right. And then, eventually, what started happening was at that point in time. Was, at that point in time I started looking at some opportunities that existed, both from a personal and a professional front, to enhance my mindset and perspective. Right. That's when I came across the Canadian Permanent Residency Program right, so I started researching about this program and, and the more I learned about it, the more I realized that I can actually use the 10 years of experience that I have by working for a skilled immigrant category right.

Rohit: 32:16

And that's when I started having the discussions with my wife and my parents and hats off to all of them. They were really, really supportive of me, right. In fact, at times I would have my relatives come over and when they would know of my plans they would be a little skeptical to say you're doing so well in your corporate world here, your wife's well settled, you've got pretty much all the facilities here. Why do you want to disrupt everything and relocate to a different country?

Gurasis: 32:44

Right? I think that would be my question also and my listeners question also why?

Rohit: 32:48

Yeah.

Rohit: 32:48

So I think, um the belief that I stick to always, that my move was not for professional reasons, my move was a lot from my personal reasons, going back to what I was saying, that when you travel you start doing some contrast to the ways of life, seeing things about what could be better or good if I were to take this decision and move into a new country, especially into a Canadian environment.

Rohit: 33:22

Right, if you look at the education system, if you look at some of the things from a healthcare perspective, if you look at the quality of the air, which is a big thing for all of us North Indian back home. Right, if you look at a lot of other things which brings in the social facility, the work-life balance this economy has to open. So once I kept stacking one benefit over the other, it was pretty clear in my mind that you know less of a professional and more of a personal reasons. This is the right drive and move for me to move into that direction. Having said that, having said that, it was still not easy for me to quantify this, to explain it to the wider audience, right, which I think is a challenge that I deal with right now and I think the way I sort of make my mind comprehend that is that you actually have to experience this to be able to explain it to someone, and not all things can be quantified tangibly when you said that I had difficulty explaining to wider audience even right now.

Gurasis: 34:30

What do you mean by that? Like at this? Moment you do. Is it like because of your conversations with people or the people you mentor? Yeah, what do you mean? That's a great this? Yeah, you do. Is it like because of your conversations with people or the the people you mentor, yeah, what?

Rohit: 34:37

do you mean? That's a great question. In fact, that is on two levels. The first thing is the first level is you mentioned at the beginning that I went back home earlier this year. One of the question that my wider family happen is asked me is did I make the right decision?

Gurasis: 34:53

Okay.

Rohit: 34:54

Right, and I'll be very honest with you, right, I think I do find myself pretty good with my words, but I actually had a loss of words and it was not because I did not believe in my decision or the lifestyle that my family has right now. It's just that, as I said, there are some things that are not tangible enough, which can't be quantified and related back to the audience, right?

Gurasis: 35:21

I think, just to add to that, that also sometimes people are not in that mental state really perceive the way you want them things to be perceived. They have the very one directional thought process which is very hard to divert to a different one.

Rohit: 35:39

Absolutely right. You're absolutely right, right. So that was one of the questions that I have to be honest with you, I sort of bit struggled, right. While in my mindset it's really clear to me the value of the decision I made, it's hard to articulate it it to the wider audience. The second thing, which I also, you know, I sort of and we'll speak about it a bit more later on is when I am speaking to a lot of newcomers right, especially the ones that are having aspirations back home in India and trying to come here. Right, I think I've now started creating a delicate balance in what I speak.

Rohit: 36:19

Previously, what used to happen is Guru sees, I was very candid with people, right, I would actually give them all the facts of the way it is right. The feedback that I started getting was that while you are there, you're discouraging people here to be coming that side of the world right, which I thought that you know is not my intent, right? All I'm trying to do is give you the right information and the facts so that somebody can make an informed decision while they uproot themselves from their home country and try to make a life in a new environment their home country and try to make a life in a new environment. So I think between those two things I sort of try to do a.

Gurasis: 37:05

I am on a path to have a better answer to those questions. Okay, so how long? Coming back to your initial question how long did it take you to get?

Rohit: 37:18

your permanent residency and then find the landing in canada. Yeah, I think the whole process was about about 12 months and and this is this is back in 2018, I think. If I clearly remember the way there is, in 2015 they actually opened the express entry program and then 2018 we were able to make the mark. And about in 12 months period is when we had but then fast forward two years COVID happened, a lot of backlog get created and then sort of you know, the timelines are where they are right now.

Gurasis: 37:47

Okay, tell me about your first day, your initial impressions and emotions.

Rohit: 37:51

I know, I still remember I landed. I made my landing on July the 10th on 2018. We took a direct flight which was about a 15 hours flight. We were a bit exhausted by the journey. So it was me, my wife and two very young kids and about 20 bags of luggage with us. Good old days, when the airline still allowed you two baggages right.

Gurasis: 38:19

Oh, yes, exactly.

Rohit: 38:21

So one good thing that happened for me was when we landed in, we were sort of able to organize for a very, very interim accommodation for us, so, which was a help. So we were able to get a taxi, put us into that, the apartment that we've had, and then, from there on, we actually gave ourselves a few days just to, you know, get through the cycle of a different day, schedule time, food habits, and then that's where, after that, the rigor starts.

Gurasis: 38:58

You know, since you are a numbers person and I love talking tonologically, tell me what happened after that. You know how was the assimilating into this new culture was like, or how was your initial thoughts about the weather like, because you came into the transition period when the fall was just around the corner. Tell me about that, the whole journey. What happened after that?

Rohit: 39:15

Yeah, that's a great question. So now when I look back, I sort of, you know, look at my journey into three big buckets and the way I sort of bucket them is first there is a survival mode, right, then there is an acclimatization mode and then there is probably an adjustment and a growth mode. That happens to you.

Gurasis: 39:35

Oh wow, I love this partition.

Rohit: 39:37

So let's speak about the survival mode, because that's what the first few days are all about. Right Now, at a very high level, right from my own experience, and even when I speak to a lot of newcomers, this is what I hear the survival mode is about your three basic things that you need in life right, housing, clothing and shelter right and nowadays you need a SIM card, also right and an internet connection. So I'll add those two as well. So I think it was really interesting, right, Even when you look at these smaller nuances. I remember that when we checked into our apartment, it was pretty late in the night by the time we reached into the apartment, so we ate the food that we had packed from back home.

Rohit: 40:27

Next morning we wake up and you know, in the Indian Punjabi culture, tea is a really important thing. We did not have anything to make tea. We did not have utensils. We did not have anything to make tea. We did not have utensils, we did not have anything to make the tea. So the first thing we did was we walked down and we found a convenience store there and we walked into it and the first thing that I saw was there are 20 different types of milk right. Five different type of tea bags and all of the tea bags, and just to create the nuance of it back home, we use the tea leaves by themselves. Here we get tea bags right. So it took us about 30 minutes just to figure out the bag of milk that we wanted and the box of tea leaves that we wanted to use, right?

Rohit: 41:21

So something as small as making one cup of tea, which is your first go-to thing in the morning, now becomes a struggle in your survival mode, right? So and this is just an example there are more things to it, right? You, you like, culturally speaking, I don't eat beef, so I have to be cautious. Wherever I do, I check the ingredients of the food to label on what's there, what's not there. The second thing which I think in the survival mode comes in is you know your clothing. You know your clothing. I sort of was lucky enough to come in at a time where some of the clothings that I brought from back home were really helpful, but very soon we were transitioning into a time which would be adverse climate effect, and I remember 2018 got the hardest snow in the last five years, right?

Gurasis: 42:15

Oh, my God, I remember remember I came in 2018 as well, everybody was like we have never seen this and I'm like isn't this in canada common? They were like no, we haven't seen this in so many years.

Rohit: 42:27

I remember that yes, and, and we had no idea on what sort of jackets to go in, so we just went into different stores, tried understanding from them on what sort of. We heard the concept of temperature rating. We heard the concept of layering up in winters right. And then obviously you know, when you come into this adverse environment, you over layer, then you under layer and then you find the right spot. So I think those are the things that you tend to be in your survival mode, where you're trying to just understand how to get through the basic necessities of the life, right.

Rohit: 43:05

The other cultural shock that we got was when we looked at the prices of the telephone and Internet, right, oh, yes. And when you come in, obviously you don't have a job, you are eating out of your savings that you've brought in, so you prioritize everybody. So the way we started was between the two phones that my wife and I had, one of us had the internet as well as the phone connection. One of them was staying at home, so we only took the phone connection and not the internet connection for them. So just trying to save up on that initial fund of money that you've brought in from yeah, I used to joke about it.

Gurasis: 43:42

The amount of money I pay for my phone bill here is the money in which my whole joint family can survive their phone bills, and everything can be done, can be taken care of within that bill.

Rohit: 43:52

True, true, this is the whole about the survival mode, right. And then what happens is, over the next days to weeks, you start getting a grip of these things, and I think what's happening now is you find a lot of people from your culture, a lot of very helpful people even if not in your culture, that help you, guide through these things and help you make sense of these changes. And I think that's when you shift really quickly into the acclimatization zone. Right Now. This is when the realities of moving into a new country are starting to hit you right. If you're coming in as a person, if you're coming as an international student, you need to figure out your bus routes, your housing, where you will be staying, your class schedules. Most of us will also need to be having a part-time job to get our expenses done right. If you're coming as a professional immigrant, you have to figure out a livable space, because you're coming in with your family. Then you have to figure out a job that will help you sustain for not just one, but the number of people in your family. So this is where you now need to start acclimatizing to the realities of the new world, right, and I think this is where a lot of anxieties starts to kick in, depending upon different experiences and depending upon what different people go through into these things.

Rohit: 45:22

And then, once you've sort of found yourself with a job that you think is good enough for you and you found a house, then you sort of start thinking about now I have checked on the basic boxes of my relocation. How do I start thinking about, now I have checked on the basic boxes of my relocation? How do I start thinking about living the dream now, right, which is all the reasons why I had immigrated to this country. Right, leaving behind, as you said, your loved ones. Your family ties your roots. Once you are in acclimatization, comfortably there, you start thinking about making the most of what this country has to offer for you. You start thinking about can you do better in the job, make a switch to get a higher paying job? And then you start thinking upon if you can afford the mortgage. What side of house do I need to buy for now? What type of car would my family be more comfortable in? Right, and then all those things that come as goodness of this country is what you start to look at it.

Gurasis: 46:23

I think that's that's how I'll reflect back my journey into these three buckets you know, I think I love that the way you have articulated you know your journey and I think this just is sort of the pathway that every immigrant sort of follows right coming, finding those necessities and then obviously realizing, okay, I am here, and then seeing that where they want to take their lives.

Gurasis: 46:46

You know, I really like that. But tell me, since you come with your family, with your, with your children as well and you said they were pretty young, right, tell me about them, like, how, what? How was that like for them to come to this new country and just trying to just just just be in this new world but at the same time, leaving their own loved ones there? Like you said, you were in a joint family. I'm sure there would be other kids in the family as well. You know, leaving all of that and just coming here where people don't look like them, people don't talk, maybe not in the same language as well, tell me how was it like for your kids yeah, um, so my kids were pretty young when we uh got them over, right?

Rohit: 47:27

however, I think if, if, if I were to say that I read their emotions, it was probably a mixed bag, right? They were really excited at times because they would now get to go to these parks which has these amazing infrastructure, are really nice kinds of swings and facilities they have to offer which they can enjoy, but I think the moment they would go there, they would start feeling a bit left out because obviously English was never their first language.

Gurasis: 47:58

Absolutely.

Rohit: 47:59

Other kids are trying to get in touch with them and there is this communication barrier with them.

Rohit: 48:05

So that sort of you know at times would cause a bit of a bump in their excitement, right, a bump in their excitement, right. The good thing is, what we found out was that for the immigrants that come in, there are province-wide programs that get run to support kids like ours, right? So there are these programs called Early On, which basically what you can do is, if you're an immigrant coming into the country with your kids, these programs help you bridge the gap, your cultural gap, your language barrier gaps, and then what happens is, before your child goes into the formal schooling, these institutes can actually help you get over those barriers. Depending upon how much education you've had before, they can help you sort of bridge that gap into what is expected out of it. So that was, I think, really helpful for us to get the kids into those programs and by the time they were ready for their school, they had a lot of I would say, if not more, but slightly more confidence to be prepared to face that environment.

Gurasis: 49:18

So how did you discover these programs or where the listeners can find them?

Rohit: 49:22

Yeah, I think the first thing that you do is when you come in depending upon how you're coming in irrespective of how you're coming in as a single person, a young couple or a person with a family right, the first thing that we need to do is get in touch with our immigrant support programs in your community, right, these are usually run out of your libraries, these are usually run out of your community center, and the best way is, if you approach your town, they will have a list of all these programs.

Rohit: 49:55

And the good thing about these programs is they range from a wide perspective, right, so there are programs which will help you overcome your language barriers. There are programs that will help you get in touch with recruitment agencies to get you a job. There are programs if you're looking to get some schooling done before you hit the corporate market. It will guide you through those programs, and these are just the few that I'm calling out. The best part of this is all of this is funded by the government and you don't have to pay anything. So I would highly encourage anybody any of your listeners who's coming into a new country to find these programs in your community and try to make the most of these programs, because these are created for our benefit.

Gurasis: 50:43

Another question I have, then we'll transition into another topic. Tell me, since you have, like we were talking about your family dynamic, you know, asked to get into a certain culture, the life was sort of planned and but see, seeing that all that lived, that you know. Now you are a father yourself. So how would you say, is your bringing style different from your parents? A comparison that you can give me?

Rohit: 51:09

I. I truly hope that I could be as good as they were, right. So that's the starting point for me. But, having said that, I think every generation is different from the previous one, right? So I'm just going to call out the few nuances that I think is slightly different from how I sort of think is the right way to bring up the kids, right? The one thing that I try to do is I try to have a lot of conversation-based discussions with my kids, right? So, for example, right, one of the rule in our household is, before we take a decision, all four people in the household will discuss that point on a dinner table and try to come up with our point of views, right?

Rohit: 51:53

I like that the way we go about this is and this could be as simple as what is the next thing you want to do this summer vacation? Do you want to go to Canada Wonderland or do you want to go to a movie place? Right, let's assume this is the discussion topic, right? So what we will do is, while we are having our dinner, all of us get our chance to speak and like to share their preference into what is the activity they would want to do. Right, by the end of that, what will happen is A you've made your kids have a conversation with you, they're able to articulate their thought process for you and they've eventually, over a period of time, they will start to feel they can come up to you and share anything with you, because you will receive, in a conversation way, rather than a directive, with them. So I think that's one of the things that we definitely try to build in it.

Rohit: 52:49

The second thing that we do is we sort of try to make our kids independent as much as we can. Right? So, to give you an example, right? So when I was growing up, remember how I told you about the cultural shock I had when I moved from Chandigarh to Pune. Right, that was my learning when I moved in and that is a very big transition. So what we try to do is we try, with our kids, to make them as independent, functioning as they can right. Very small examples I'm going to give you. When I walk my kids to their bus stop in the morning, I have them carry their own bags with them. I see a lot of people carrying kids' bag and bringing to the station. I respect their decision, but I think it's really important for kids to be able to do their things themselves, right. That's number one.

Rohit: 53:43

The second thing that we do to make them independent is if we are going out to eat right we will really encourage the kids to speak to the server and try to understand their options and order it themselves. Right, a very, very small thing, but the way this will help them do is it will help them a. When you look at a menu, there are so many option in them. Now you are making a kid to choose one, which is your decision making skills, right. The second thing that you are asking them to do is now use your decision and speak it to the server and try to see if they can get you what your decision was. That's where the skill of negotiation comes and plays in. They will be like I want. So the server would be like do you want a milk, or do you want a juice, or do you want a pop? Then they will be like, okay, what sort of a pop is available to them? And then you sort of start having negotiations and discussions.

Gurasis: 54:44

Also breaking the social barrier. I would say yeah very well said.

Rohit: 54:49

So I think, with those two things I think are really important A shifting more from a conversation-based decisioning to a directive-based decision and secondly, trying to make them independent by doing these smaller things, which will then stack up as Lego blocks in longer run.

Gurasis: 55:08

Wow, I can't stress enough. I really, really love that, you know. I want to just highlight, like, my takeaway from it. You know, something you just said which I loved is making those children feel involved into a decision, right, and also making that comfortable space for them. At any point in their life they are absolutely okay to come to you and have a conversation with you, right. And second you said is obviously making them feel independent. And also the third one that you said, having trying to break that social barrier and allowing them to make the decisions themselves. So I really love that.

Gurasis: 55:40

I'm sure that our listeners will love these as well. So thank you for sharing these, johit, love them. Now I want to get into a topic which is actually an ongoing discussion on the show and it's also something that you mentioned to me in our very first conversation, something about you know, accepting your emotions is is something that you have learned throughout your journey as an immigrant, which is not that common in our asian communities. Right to be, it's not that commonly talked about, and I wanted to give us like your perspective on this as well.

Rohit: 56:19

Yeah, thanks, guraseesh, and I do believe that's a really, really important point for us to be discussing Now. Just to give some context to your listeners. Right, we come from a part of the world where, just by the way we are brought up and by the culture surrounding us, the social milieu surrounding us, emotions are usually not the first thing, the way you are taught and when I say emotions, it's not just knowing that, whether you're happy or sad, there is more to it. First of all, acknowledging that you are reacting your emotions to a certain situation number one. The second thing is being very comfortable about your emotions, right, and I think this is where a lot of us usually struggle. Right, when I say being really comfortable, it's not just I am happy and I want to show off my happiness to the world, right? There's also other emotions, like when you feel nervous, when you feel sad, when you feel anxious, when you feel lonely. The problem is that we don't feel very comfortable in sharing these part of the emotions. Right, we really feel the positive emotions, which are excitement, happiness, motivation. We have no problem in showing these expressions, but by the time it comes to the other side, which is the other side perspective of emotions we are not very comfortable in sharing Right Now.

Rohit: 57:51

Just to deviate a bit, there is a very nice movie called Inside Out, right? I don't know if you've seen that. You've seen that movie, right, kids, and I love that movie. If your listeners not seen that movie. The movie is about a young child who's growing up and as she grows up there are different emotions that come in play. Right, and that movie actually is a beautiful concept about, first, how the emotions can at times take control of you and then, by the time you get to the second part of the movie it's all about there will be different emotions, but how is you, an individual, accept these emotions and try to know you can control these emotions and you can speak about them and be comfortable about them.

Rohit: 58:37

So, knowing the limitations we grow up with, right, and when you make into a transition into a country which apparently is pretty open, right, you will see a lot of people pretty openly sharing a lot of things they like, right, it becomes a very big difference.

Rohit: 58:54

Right, it's easier said than done that you, I'm available, you speak to me, but I think when you've spent about 15 to 20 years of your life trying to, you know, suppress a certain thing. It's not very easy to open yourself up in the first few weeks, months and even the first few years when you relocate to a different country, right? So at that point in time, what starts to happen is, while you are in an ecosystem where it's okay to share, but just because it's not your natural instinct to share, a lot of these emotions starts to bottle up in you, right, and, depending upon which spectrum of the emotions you are on, your reactions, your aspirations and your way of life starts to get impacted with it you know, I think you have put it in a very nicely nice words, you have put this all, but I'm sure you have had your own journey with it.

Gurasis: 59:53

Right and and this is also something like you said that it takes couple of years to really understand that what is exactly happening right, and I think in my case it has helped my sanity the moment I start accepting these emotions and it also made me more empathetic towards the other person who might have maybe cancelled the plan because they are not feeling well, or maybe they have chose not to do a certain thing because they are not feeling in a certain way. I think I've started acknowledging their emotions a little bit more and it has made me feel more at peace. You know, rather than reacting or getting again like, like, agitated about it, like why have they done a certain way? Why have it's like you stop doing those blame games anymore, you're like okay, it's fine, things happen. They're human. We all are human as well.

Rohit: 1:00:41

And Gurish. If I can add just one more thing, you raised two very important points, right? The third thing, if I can add to you, is talking about your emotions, right? Yeah, one thing that really helped me in my journey is so, for example, and just to put again some context around it, when I came to Canada, it took me about three to four months to find my jobs.

Rohit: 1:01:04

I was really quicking, running out of my savings, did not have a job, I still had to maintain a certain type of lifestyle because I had young kids and a wife with me to support, and it was creating a lot of anxiousness and anxiety in me. I think the best thing that happened to me at that point in time was being able to very openly and candidly speak about everything and anything that I was feeling about with my wife. I think I chose her because I knew she would not judge me and I thought, as we've married, she's stuck with me for the better or the worse of it. But, having said that, I really found that if you find somebody who you have a trust in and you think they will not judge you, by having that conversation, just speaking of what you're feeling, really, really hits.

Gurasis: 1:02:01

yeah, rohit, I want to also talk about something which is you also mentioned in our conversation, that it's okay to reach out for that help because we, as, as you know, south asians, are grown up in a society where we are very hesitant to reach out whenever we are not feeling our best, right Because we've like we can manage. You know, we have that underlying ego in us, but you have to break out of it and reach out for that help when you need it, because this is really going to benefit you, and it took me, honestly, a long time to realize that it was. It took a full pandemic to make me realize that, but I want to tell you your thoughts on those as well.

Rohit: 1:02:40

Yeah, so before I answer that question you know I sort of when I do my corporate talks there is one thing that I really harp on right the key to success is that you need to differentiate when you can collaborate versus when you can compete.

Gurasis: 1:02:55

Right, you need to differentiate when you can collaborate versus when you can compete Right Now.

Rohit: 1:02:58

In your example, we are competing with ourself, Right? So let's break it down to the topic that we are on. So what we've said is A identifying the emotions that you are going through is really important. Accepting your emotions is really important. Speaking about your emotions is really important. Accepting your emotions is really important. Speaking about your emotions is really important. And the next thing that you're touching on is on the same line is if you're feeling out of ideas, out of help, there is no harm in asking for help, right? Usually what happens is, again, either by corporate conditioning or by social prefer preferences we are made. Our mindset thinks that if we show our vulnerabilities and speak about them and ask for help, it definitely puts us on a lower platform, Right, Exactly, yeah, Now let me break that barrier with a very scientific approach, right? Every phenomenon that happens on Earth moves from a higher transit to a lower transit. Hot air moves from a higher ground to a lower ground.

Gurasis: 1:04:12

Yeah.

Rohit: 1:04:12

Right. Even if you look at our education system, the teachers who are supposed to know more than us to a lower ground. Right, even if you look at our education system, the teachers who are supposed to know more than us transmit that knowledge from a higher ground of learning to students who are just conditioning to learn that up. Now, using these inferences in life, we should be really open to say irrespective of where we are at certain point in time, there might be somebody who's either gone through that experience or there is somebody who might have had some learnings priorly shared with them. So instead of me myself personally going into the grind, if I can get these right gurus, do you remember that show? Kaun Banega Crorepati? One of the helpline in there was call a friend, phone a friend. Think of the wording of it. There is a helpline called phone a friend. These words are really important in the context of what we are saying. Helpline is something that will bail you out of the current situation and it's that. Phone a friend. Phone is literally we are speaking is just a way to reach out, whether you reach out by phone, text, email, however you like, but call, use your helpline to reach out to somebody and if they give you the right answer answer, you will win the jackpot in life absolutely.

Gurasis: 1:05:34

Yeah, wow, I love the way you summed it up. You know so cool. Uh, definitely, I feel like these are the things. Again, it doesn't happen overnight. You kind of like switch your personality and you become something else. It takes time, it takes work, it takes trial and error as well, and also I feel like it's also hard, being in this new world, to find that right person to reach out, and I think in that case, that's where people like you come in, or other people who are all over internet within our indian community, who are extremely helpful and who are absolutely ready to help lend that helping hand to people as well. And I think I'll encourage my listeners that if any of you guys want to have that conversation or just need a guide or somebody, I'll encourage you to reach out to Rohit and I think Rohit, I'll put your links in the show notes as well if anybody would like to reach out to you.

Rohit: 1:06:25

Thank you so much and, gurish, I think if between you and me, I think you and I do almost the same type of work in helping our community Right, as you said, it's not just us.

Rohit: 1:06:38

There are a lot more people who are trying to create that outreach. I think the way I look at my, the way I've started shaping my purpose in life, is, even if I can make an impact or a difference in somebody else's life, I want to be out there right, which is exactly what you and I are doing with our platforms that we have. So, going back, I think the point here is when new people come into this system, right, irrespective of which country culture they're coming in from, right, irrespective of which country culture they're coming in from, right, as long as there is a support system that exists which can A help them accept them the way they are, not judge them, appreciate for the skills they bring into the system, and be always available. And at times, you know, when I speak to the people, most of my calls I'm just hearing, right. Probably the second call is when I start speaking. The first call is I'm just hearing what their experiences are.

Gurasis: 1:07:50

So if there is a community that folks like you and I can create and we can impact some lives. I think it's definitely worth doing Absolutely, and you know you mentioned about I remember you mentioned that you having that itch in the past three, four years to give it back to the society, and I think that's also what led you to obviously start mentorship and at the same time, you also have a YouTube channel. So tell our listeners about a YouTube channel as well and what they can really learn from those videos that you're sharing.

Rohit: 1:08:12

When I came into this new environment and remember the three modes that I spoke of when I was almost at the tip end of my acclimatization mode, one of the restlessness that I started feeling, guru sees, was I was thinking that there is so much that I want to do, right, in terms of helping people, both in the corporate world and in the personal world, but just the fact that I'm in a new country where I don't know anybody who needs my help, how can I sort of create a platform where, whatever I have by means of my knowledge and experience over the last 16 or 17 years, I start sharing some practical tips and tools with a wider audience? Right? So that's what I started doing was I started researching about some of the challenges that newcomers to the country, specifically our friends in the international students community, were facing, right? So some of the things that I was hearing was there was a barrier in terms of the language. There was a barrier in terms of getting job ready, which is how to get your CV ready, how to be ready for interview when you are speaking for somebody in a Canadian corporate world.

Rohit: 1:09:26

Right, highly specialized to these things, highly specialized to these things and just realizing some of the elements you mentioned to it earlier on, like the why do you need coach, mentor and sponsors in your life? Right, some of the thing is, when you come into this country, you practically don't know anybody, but you have to create a life out of it. This is where the importance of networking comes into this right. So the way I started channelizing my internal restlessness or energy was I looked into my community and the type of challenges they were facing and then tried mapping whatever I had gone through, either in the last 16 years of corporate life or the last six years of immigrant life coming into the new countries, and started creating some small packages which would start addressing some of these problems that I was hearing from the community that I wanted to address. Now, once these packages were ready or, in a way, the next biggest challenge for me was how do I transmit it to the right audience? Right, yeah.

Rohit: 1:10:33

I am not an editor. I am not a very creative person, I you know. So it was really hard for me to start creating videos. I had to learn editing skill sets. I had to learn how to use some softwares to make the banners, because the idea is it needs the content needs to be created in a way that will reckon with your audience. Just because it's a problem point, people will not consume your content, even if it's a solution, unless and until it looks and sounds in a way that they want to hear right. That is why I got into this YouTube journey and I started creating these packages, which are theme-based, where I'm trying to answer one or the other things that I hear pretty often as problems or challenges people are facing, and then try to answer them and give some real-life, practical tips and tools there.

Gurasis: 1:11:31

And I know I watched a few of your videos and I love that how you bring out those live examples. I'm watching the video about the coach, mentor and sponsor. I was discussing with somebody as well that this question came up that does that sponsor or that mentor has to be from the same industry as you work in, and I wasn sure about that. How to answer that? I want you to answer that for me, please yeah, and that's a great question.

Rohit: 1:11:55

I usually get a lot of that right. I will give you my example and put some context to it, right? So the three people that you've mentioned is poor coach, mentor and a sponsor. Very, very simply put, a coach will help you tactically right and helps in terms of if you have a goal. The coach will help you tactically right and helps in terms of if you have a goal. The coach will help you tactically execute on those goals.

Rohit: 1:12:16

The mentor will give you a bigger picture, right? These are the people who you will speak to to get a strategic perspective. Ideally, it is good to have a mentor in the same line as yours, if not the same line, a line which is very closely linked to it, and the reason for that is, if you like, for someone like me who's decided that I want to make my career in analytics, in the banking and financial industry sector. I would have a person who's who is pretty tenured in the analytics and banking and financial industry sector to be my mentor, so that they can guide me through my journey in that way.

Gurasis: 1:12:57

Exactly.

Rohit: 1:12:58

The sponsor, on the other hand, is usually a pretty senior executive person. These are the people who are decision makers and these will help you move forward. A short-term view of a sponsor is it could be a person in your same line of business, but the way I sort of encourage people is to think more strategic about your career. Right, the job that I am doing today might not be the job I do five years or 10 years from now, and hence the way you should build your mentor and sponsorship program is try to have a few mentors and sponsors spread across different things so that if, at some point in time, for any reason, you have to stop doing what you are doing, you will still know about the wider and the bigger picture which is spread across.

Gurasis: 1:13:47

That can help you take a decision effectively I think I'll encourage my listeners to check out Rohit's channel. I'll put the link to that as well in the show notes Before we get into the final segments. Is there anything that I have missed and I haven't mentioned so far that you would like to speak about?

Rohit: 1:14:07

I think this was a great conversation, guraseesh, and, as I said at the beginning, I really appreciate you creating and using this platform to help our community and everybody who's your listener learn from experiences from your guests, right? You yourself bring in a lot of great nuggets of wisdom in these conversations, right? So I think I try, I try. Yeah, and I think that's what it's all about, right? You're making such a good attempt in helping and giving back to the community, so kudos to you in doing that.

Gurasis: 1:14:47

Thank you. Thank you for all your kind words. So this next segment, Rohit, it's called Know your Host, where I ask my guests to ask me any question they might have.

Rohit: 1:14:57

So the question is what is one of the most interesting conversations you've had on your podcast? You don't have to say mine, that's okay on your podcast, you don't have to say mine.

Gurasis: 1:15:13

That's okay. Oh my gosh, this is a tough question, because this whole podcast in general is something I find extremely interesting the ability to sit with these professionals who are literal professionals in their industries, having that one-to-one conversation, being able to ask the questions which they might not normally be asked before or they have never answered before. Having whatever the question I have in my mind, I can just put it out. There is no filter, there is nobody asking me to do not ask this, nothing is there. This itself, this whole opportunity itself, is very interesting. So it's very hard for me to choose this one person or one conversation. I would say. So far, people have heard season one, so I would say my whole season one was extremely interesting, all the conversations were extremely interesting. That's, that's how I think I would answer that oh, that's a great, great answer I like so now we're doing the final segment of the podcast.

Gurasis: 1:16:17

I call it beneath the accent. I'm going to ask a couple of questions. You can answer them in one word or a sentence, or how several you feel like. The idea is just know a little bit more about you. So the first question is what advice would you give to your younger self, and at what age?

Rohit: 1:16:34

yeah. So I will say try as many different things as you can before deciding on what your profession will look like or what your option will look like. I will like to give this advice to myself at around between 15 to 18 years okay, and what would you like to say to your 60-year-old self? I hope by the time I get there I've made at least difference in somebody's life to be more meaningful.

Gurasis: 1:17:01

Tell me about a moment when you experienced a significant cultural difference that surprised you.

Rohit: 1:17:08

Has to be. When I went to Pune from Chandigarh, I actually felt the bout of freedom for the first time in life, right. And when I said freedom, it means freedom to make your own financial decisions, freedom to make your own clothing decisions, fooding decision, where you stay, how out you stay out of the hostel. So a lot of freedom and which I think really helped me shape my future do you have any funny stories related to your misunderstanding around the accent or english?

Rohit: 1:17:42

yeah, you, you know what. It's funny that you ask that? Because when we, when we are growing up in india, right for us the word accent usually means people with a Western accent, right. So when I was growing up, accent for me meant anybody speaking in a pretty accent from a North American side of the world. That was accent for me.

Gurasis: 1:18:06

Yeah.

Rohit: 1:18:07

When I got my first job and I was just sitting with a few friend of mine for a lunch and somebody said, Rohit, I really like your accent. And I was like, do I have an accent?

Gurasis: 1:18:26

So that was my first awakening of yes, I do have an accent. Okay, we all have that accent, absolutely. What's your favorite cultural festival or celebration in canada and how do you celebrate it?

Rohit: 1:18:38

ah, I have to default it to christmas, right? Uh, because I do like the festivities around it, right? And that's also usually the time when my wife and I give ourselves the guilt pass to skip on our healthy eating routine to eat into anything and everything that we want. So I would say that's pretty interesting.

Gurasis: 1:18:59

What's something that you ate for the first time in Canada.

Rohit: 1:19:03

From a Canadian perspective, I was very tempted to try what we call poutine Right. Yeah, so that's the first.

Gurasis: 1:19:15

And did you like it.

Rohit: 1:19:21

I've had better version of fries. I would say so yeah.

Gurasis: 1:19:25

Okay, if you had to describe yourself as any creature, what would it be and why?

Rohit: 1:19:30

It's a weird one. I would say, uh, a lion okay and why at times I just like to just watch around and act like the king, knowing all doing all sort of things right.

Gurasis: 1:19:43

So that's that's my, that's my way to spoil myself okay, if you could have one superpower, what would it be?

Rohit: 1:19:52

my superpower would be if I can just teleport myself to any place. I'm a big fan of exploring different destinations. I absolutely do not like traveling, but I still love going to a lot of different places, so teleporting to the places I like would be nice.

Gurasis: 1:20:10

If you could create this one law that everybody has to follow, what would it be?

Rohit: 1:20:14

Probably one thing that really annoys me don't shout in public places so like when you're in transit. That should be a law when you're in transit, like when you're transit, people like speaking on phones really, really loudly. That annoys me.

Gurasis: 1:20:31

Yeah, I experienced that just a few days ago. So yeah, I can understand. So describe Canada in one word or a sentence.

Rohit: 1:20:40

Canada right now is home, away from home. I think I'm very, very lucky I chose this decision and this country sort of accepted me. I get to enjoy this country. In a way, I also like it because at times I think the type of outreach that I am trying to do in terms of reaching out to my community, helping people, I am not sure if I would be doing the same thing if I was back home. So I'm really glad to Canada for helping me ignite that spirit.

Gurasis: 1:21:11

If, rohit, you could leave me with one piece of advice, what would it be?

Rohit: 1:21:15

Keep doing what you're doing. I think you have such an amazing message in this podcast on how to overcome barriers and make something so much meaningful that impacts people. This is amazing and so inspiring. So just keep doing what you're doing.

Gurasis: 1:21:36

Thank you, thank you for that and, finally, how would you describe your experience of being on this podcast?

Rohit: 1:21:43

I just love it. I think the element that I love the most is the free flow conversation, right, and, as you said, we went pretty unfiltered. Uh, I think I I felt really, really at peace, sharing what I felt from my heart, and I did not have to think twice to either wordsmith what I was seeing. Whatever you heard was right from the heart, through my feelings. So thanks for giving that environment.

Gurasis: 1:22:11

Yeah, no, no, thank you. Thank you for saying that. I appreciate that. I'm very, very glad to hear that and very glad to have you. Thank you so much, Rohit, for being on the podcast and adding value to my listeners. Thanks a lot.

Rohit: 1:22:25

Thank you for having me. I'm truly humbled for the opportunity.