‘I only miss school when I am out of it’

Meet Rahul Anand, an alumnus of Apeejay School, Noida, a stalwart engineer who has treaded remarkably on his professional life. Anand proudly puts the onus of his success so far upon his teachers who were his undeniable pillars of support. In a candid interview, Anand revisits his past and talks about a few memorable days at the school.

Tell us about yourself

I grew up in Delhi, and I’m currently working in Bengaluru as an Embedded Engineer for a company called Embitel Technologies. I studied from nursery to class XII in Apeejay School, Noida, and then moved on to college in Manipal Institute of Technology in Udupi, Karnataka. I majored in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and went on to work for an automotive company called KPIT Technologies in Pune. I worked with a few German and American OEMs there. From Pune, I moved to  Bengaluru, working in the automotive domain with a couple of Japanese OEMs. My main branch of work is Embedded Software Development for Automotive ECUs. Other than my professional life I also draw and cook in my free time.

What does a typical day look like?

A typical day starts at around 7 am, I work out for a little bit and relax and chill for some time. I make sure I take some time to cook for myself. I start work around 8 am, and have lunch around 2 pm. In my present job, there aren’t as many meetings, so I have more time to do actual work. My work finishes between 5-6 pm. After that, I usually go out, meet some friends, and have dinner maybe. If I don’t go out, I spend time watching something or sketching.

Tell us about your school life.

School life was pretty eventful. I was a pretty good student grades-wise, even though as far as I remember the teachers weren’t very fond of me because I kept disturbing the class. More than school, though I miss childhood, and being completely carefree. 

Share a few nostalgic memories from Apeejay?

Memories of school are hazy, I just remember spending a lot of time hanging out with friends and having a lot of fun every day. This one time I remember someone broke a window and around 10 of us were grilled for hours by the principal then. At the time it felt very scary but looking back at it, it was pretty funny. On campus I was pretty tame and only got into trouble sometimes, for things I do not remember now.

How were the teachers at Apeejay?

The teachers were incredible. I studied there from nursery to class XII, so I was pretty close to most of my teachers. It was a huge spectrum of extremely lenient to very strict. They were always supportive, though.

What is your dream and goal in life?

I’m not the most ambitious person, I just want enough time and money to be able to support my parents, relax, and travel, and that’s the goal. That’s what I aim to achieve as fast as possible, it’s non-negotiable. Other than that I dream of living a full and happy life, and giving back whenever I can.

Any message for the students of the school.

Marks are important but don’t lose sleep over them. School is for you to discover yourself, understand who you are, and figure out where you want to be in life. Even if you can’t do any of those things, don’t panic, there’s enough time later. Enjoy your school life as much as possible.

Your comments on the brain drain trend.

I would like to stay in the country for as long as possible. I wouldn’t judge someone who wanted to leave for better pay, standards of living, but I feel like India offers everything I need. I love to travel, so I’d like to visit as many places as possible to experience culture, but my roots are here.

How did Apeejay help you hone your skills?

The teachers at Apeejay were very open-minded and would never discourage you from experiencing new things. I learnt a couple of musical instruments there that I’m still quite good at, thanks to the music teachers there. My interest in science and especially electronics developed at a very young age thanks to my teachers as well. Sadly, in this day and age, you rarely see any engineer liking what they do; I feel like that’s a rarity now, but I enjoy what I do. More than academically, I feel like personal growth is more important. Apeejay, its teachers, its culture, and its students helped shape my personality, and helped me discover who I was as a person as well.