He never bought a train ticket. And by mistake, even if he did, he didn’t take that journey.
That was Kunal Kant sen, my first team member when I started Pluggdin.
With teary eyes, I am shocked and sad to share that Kunal kant sen is no more. He died on Oct 20th (bike accident).
He was a colleague, a younger brother to me. Anybody who has ever attended NextBigWhat’s conferences would have met him – he was always there. Irrespective of whether he was officially part of the team or not, he would turn up a day before and help us operationally. He never needed any invite for anything we ever did – will just turn up and own his tasks.
After UnPluggd conf, we’d go to a pub for a party and if Kunal isn’t around, it’d seem like just another party. With him around, it was all a big bakar party!
He had nothing to lose and that made him a free bird, a free soul – so sometimes, even if the police caught him for drunken driving, we’d pray for the cop and not for Kunal, because we knew he has made one more friend.
He was very low on ego (ZERO actually), extremely high on hustle, passion, and genuinely helpful towards others – I often helped him with his business ideas and after so many years of experimentations, he nailed down a few areas he wanted to focus on. And we as a team, supported him fully.
Always brimming with ideas.
A dreamer. A true hustler! I mean, who goes into the Apple store with a bottle of smartphone cleaning solution (Vapol) and officially cracks a deal with Apple India within 3 months!
There are many such stories of him and anybody who knew him would always remember him for his hustling and down-to-earth attitude.
I will miss him badly.
He’d often turn up at the office totally unannounced, with some brand new ideas and then I’d take him to the nearest bar (Nandas) for a teardown session. It was fun and amazing to interact with him – there was a certain depth of life struggles in him which was often hidden in the layers of bakar which he was often known for.
He was a family, a friend to many of us.
It’s sad that when he had just figured out what he wants to do (he was setting up the manufacturing operations for one of the new products he was working on) and was working sincerely towards it, God had another plan for him.
RIP my friend. My younger brother. I will miss you very badly.
Kunal: wherever you are, I wish you peace and happiness. I am sure there is a big bakar party going on there!
Please do pray for the departed soul.