Who am I?

You might not even know me when you clicked on this link or you might know me yet are curious to know me more. In all cases, you have a penny for my thoughts, and curiosity about our society, and these are amazing traits to build heaven on earth ??

I am a million different people — from one day to the other, a marathon runner sometimes , an extreme biker on the other , a professional swimmer sometimes , a musician on the other , a sincere stoic reader sometimes , or a meditative dancer on the other, a product manager by profession, and an amateur writer right now.

You must be asking me what remains constant in me as my mind evolves every day? You want to know about my heart and my soul which is free and floating in gratitude for every single moment left on earth, so I am going to pour it all out for you and share why it’s that way. ??

Let’s get started.

Think about a boy — a shy kid born and brought up in a small village in India — Rampur. His dad told him that the simple secret to a good quality of life in this world and also the way out of poverty is “Education”. This kid was a backbencher, neither tall nor strong and neither studious. Getting hazed around by other students was normal, pressure from family on performing in school was high and the chances of success in life were low. He was too young to understand the power of education, all he knew was that his dad’s dream is to get kids educated in a top college like “IIT”.

He wanted to fulfill his dad’s dream, not his own. In fact, his own dream was to be free in this world. The kid studied hard, was patient and persistent over 3 years, and made it to the IIT as one of the last students to get selected. He called his dad who was away on a work trip “Dad, I made it, I cracked IIT!!!”. Dad and the kid cried on phone, tears of joy, celebrated this moment and for the 1st time kid felt proud of himself and finally free.

As the kid now a big boy, finally free, entered college — IIT Kharagpur, 2000 miles away from home, he knew he could be anyone he wants to be. The main entrance of the college building said “Excellence in action is Yoga”. The English of the boy was poor, so all he understood from this sentence is that “Action” is “Truth”. The boy during his 1st week of the orientation program saw the college student president and got so impressed that he said to himself, “this is what I want to be”. And as he said to himself, the whole universe came together to make it happen for him.

For those who witnessed, over 3 years, the boy learned how to speak in English — by shamelessly speaking with broken English, how to form healthy relationships with other humans, and lead by action to become the college student president with one of the highest margins by votes (2117 votes). This was a victory of dreams and dreamers. The boy believes that he did very well in taking the university to great heights and bringing the power truly in hands of all students during his year of power in the institute.

What happened during that year — is truly magic, in fact, hasn’t been witnessed in the universe anywhere else. The boy was standing in front of his dorm room when one of the richest men in Babylon — Vinod Gupta — an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, the person who donated millions of dollars to IIT Kharagpur came on a visit. The boy had a handshake — the conversation is as follows:

Atal (Excited and Grinning) — Sir, I am Atal, Nice to meet you!

Vinod Gupta — So you are the newly elected Vice President, I have a gift for you. Take this iPhone

Atal (Shocked, Silent, Excited, and Grinning) — Thank you, sir, thank you for everything that you do for IIT Kharagpur!

The rest is history, the boy came to America for internships, to pursue a master’s, traveled in private jets, lived in Hawaii, and experienced everything that humans desire, because of the richest man from Babylon that adopted him. The boy is forever grateful to the universe for this, so every moment of this time left on earth is well spent thinking about how he can give back to the world.

Does this tell you enough about this boy’s heart and soul? You know bits and pieces for now.

For the rest, you need to go to the middle of the ocean between Alcatraz Island and San Francisco, where he swam last year after teaching himself to swim and celebrated true freedom in the ice-cold water along with the sharks with tears in his eyes and saltwater in his mouth. This is what life means to him, challenging himself, growing in this paradise called earth, and experimenting with the truth!

All he wants from the universe is to keep showing him the direction and navigate “power“ as he touches the hearts of all humans and animals alike through his persistent hard work while feeding his soul and continuing to build heaven on earth! ??

Did you ask yourself enough times in solitude “who am I” just like he did? It can take a while but trust him, you will get there, it will all come from within!

Have a beautiful day in paradise! ?????????

Thanks for reading Atal Loves You! Now that you have read this far, you probably know him more than ~99.99% of other humans. How about you send him a message and say hi!!!

Published initially: https://atal.substack.com/p/who-am-i

Personal website and all content sources are here: https://linktr.ee/atalovesyou

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