Nikhil: Author and Food & Travel Writer

There has never been a better time to live. Provided you have the means to find and hustle after what you want.

The digital economy is as dynamic as it gets. Spurred forward by the commercialization of communication and transportation technology hardware that blend seamlessly with software being deployed across the internet, a new class of individuals have emerged. They have the wherewithal to follow their dreams, passions and interests. With endless reams of online text, audio and video available for free, the opportunity to learn and develop new interests keeps this class of people in good stead.

There is ample space for creative and technical pursuits on the web and these pursuits lead to interesting offline assignments. Take the case of Nikhil who juggles his personal creative side and his professional pursuits, yet finds the time to focus on educating the Indian youth on the issues of climate change with a focus on sustainable living. It is an exciting time to live. Over the course of the next few years, Nikhil may pursue new hobbies or interests, or decide to learn a new technical skill, we do not know.

All we know is that, with individuals like him, passion matters first. Can there be a better way to live?

Tell us about yourself, what do you like most about your field of work?

I am an Author and Food & Travel Writer from Delhi. I have been writing about food and travel since 2011. In 2018, I published my debut novel ‘It Was You…Always’  a love story of a Chef and a Chartered Accountant which is roughly inspired from incidents from my real life. Apart from this I am a Marketing and Brand Strategy Consultant with various startups and I teach topics like Blogging, Content Writing and Novel Writing to beginners. A major focus of what I do now is to promote Sustainability and Sustainable Development amongst the Indian youth so that we can tackle the Climate Emergency we are facing these days.

Your previous jobs/ventures? What were you doing before choosing this field?

I started blogging about food at the age of 15 after my cousin Abhijeet Kini suggested that I should give it a shot. So back then with my studies I would blog about food and that continued throughout my graduation. This was a time when I also started exploring other styles of writing and started writing ‘It Was You…Always’. Side-by-side I also experimented with some stand-up comedy with my friend Mahadevan Iyer and worked with Authenticook as their Community Manager for Delhi NCR.

 

How did you land up doing what you do now?

In 2016, I came across Young India Challenge organised by Human Circle which revolved around the theme of #DoWhatYouLove and engaging the youth with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, This is where I discovered my love for marketing and branding and joined Human Circle as their Brand Chef in 2017 for a short stint. After that I started doing freelance work for various websites and brands. Over the past one year I have been able to combine my work with encouraging the youth to follow sustainable practices in their lives to tackle the current climate crisis. Now this year I rejoined Human Circle as their Brand Architect and we successfully organised the 10th edition of Young India Challenge and launched the “I’m a Sustainability Warrior” Campaign where we are creating youth leaders to influence big corporates to shift to sustainable practices.

If not the current profession, what would you have been?

I would probably be a front office or housekeeping manager at a hotel or a management executive at a QSR.

What motivates you to keep going?

As a storyteller, there are infinite stories out there waiting to be told. Every person I meet is a story in itself and the urge to tell these stories is what keeps me motivated. And with the work I do as a brand strategy consultant, you never know who or which brand you might get to work with and that’s really exciting. At Human Circle, I get to work with a community of passionate youth influencers which keeps me motivated to do what I do and do what I love.

Tell us how a day in your life looks like? Your schedule for a day right from the time you get up till you hit the bed at night.

If it’s a Tuesday or Saturday, the day starts pretty early. I’m a huge WWE fan and like to catch the weekly shows live early in the morning. Most of my work for the day is finished in those 2-3 hours in the morning. Apart from that on other days, I wake up a little late. I work from my home-office and most of my meetings are done on calls or video conferences which helps me save my carbon footprint in travel and saves time. Even though I’m a food writer, these days I prefer to have my meals at home. In the evenings, I step out for a walk and sometimes help my mom in grocery shopping. Then depending on my online teaching sessions, I prepare for the topic I’m supposed to teach during the session. During dinner I catch up on some TV or netflix and then before calling it a day I prefer to listen to some music, which also helps me prepare for the next day.

 

Any regrets till now? If yes, will you like to share it with our readers?

I usually tell people I don’t have regrets, but let’s just admit the fact that everyone has regrets. Mine is that I have not been able to stay in touch with many of my school friends who at a point of time were very close to me. Over the years we’ve all drifted so far apart that the only information I get about them is through their Facebook or LinkedIn posts.

 

If you were given a choice of meeting any person you want, who will be that person?

I would really like to meet Barack Obama. The reason I want to meet him is because I have a story to share with him. It’s about the day I role played as him. Apart from that I really admire his work and his spirit to help people. There is so much to learn from him.

P.S – I hope he reads this 😛

 

What is the biggest misconception that you think people have about you?

I’m not great at starting conversations, kind of an introvert you can say. As a result when I’m at parties or gatherings, I’d be that guy standing in a corner observing people. So people often end up thinking I’m arrogant or something. I LOVE to talk to people, start a conversation with me and you’ll know how talkative I am.

 

Any message that you want to send to your readers?

There is a lot of hate in this world, let’s spread some love. We’re in a state of climate emergency, it’s us who needs to be saved and not the environment. This planet will be here even after we’re long gone. If we want to save ourselves, we need to act NOW.

 

 

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