I am Ankesh – a 20-year-old ambivert on the quest to find the meaning of life.
I am a final year student, pursuing Production Engineering at NIT Trichy. I was born and brought up at Kishnaganj, a district in the far east of Bihar also known as chicken neck. I have always been a decent student and have loved maths.
I stayed at home after class 10, and studied on my own for entrance exams, because I wanted to break the mentality of students needing to go to Kota or a coaching institute to clear JEE. I am a self-learner, and am always seeking opportunities to learn and grow.
When I came to know about Project Potential (PP), I never gave a second thought about the idea of working with the project. There are two reasons I can think of – firstly, I love my hometown and feel responsible for the people from there, and, secondly, I am fascinated by the idea of entrepreneurship and like the idea of creating entrepreneurs from remote villages. Finally, yet importantly, I was inspired by the story of the founder Zubin Sharma about how he created something from scratch that nobody could think of.
I am someone who always asks myself, “What can I give?” Therefore, I had a great opportunity to answer this question if I volunteered at PP, and so I did. I love this organization so much that I never spared a single minute working on my final year project. I love the people so much that I still haven’t met my friends after I came back from college.
After spending one month at PP, I have a bag full of memories, experiences and learning that I will cherish forever. I worked closely with the team, and helped people in their quest to become successful entrepreneurs. I inspired them to have faith in what they were doing, and showed them the direction to success.
I learnt how to create a business plan, and constantly brainstormed over new ideas. During this process, I made lifelong friends who taught me the difference between being poor and not being able to afford something. Most importantly, I stepped out of my comfort zone and gave speeches at public gatherings. Cutting it short, I had a lifetime experience at Project Potential, and I and I refreshed my knowledge of the Hindi language, that my friends thought I was quite poor at.