Karan Seth

If someone would be seen standing outside a classroom in my high school in the good ol' days, it was almost a 99% probability that that would be me. Always full of life and without a worry in the world, I could sometimes be quite a handful (or should I say, ‘a pain in the backside’) for the teacher. But despite all the naughty tricks and all the playing truant, I kept pace with my academics and therefore was very popular with students and (surprisingly) teachers. As I reminisce now, my extroverted social life has had its ups and downs, but that’s what defines me – a very popular man and a major ‘networker’.

But I am also a very passionate man and talking of my passion in life, the one that come foremost to my mind is soccer. I stumbled upon it by chance and it has now become a lifelong passion. It was the last game of the 2005-06 season and Manchester United were playing, a game that didn’t really impact their march to the Champions Trophy. I was surfing the TV channels when I suddenly stumbled upon this game and having a small interest in the game of soccer due to David Beckham’s overpowering global presence made me give surfing a pause. A sense of uneasiness overcame me after the referee blew the final whistle - Manchester United had lost and it didn’t feel right! It’s been 8 years (and still counting), yet this bond I share with the team and the game continues to grow and is more than I could have ever imagined. It’s one of the very few things in life that you’re sure about, those things that are meant to be forever.

So much for my passion! But in life I can say I am very goal oriented and pressure makes me work doubly hard to achieve. Right from the beginning, it’s the right side of my brain that was more active and hence my favourite subjects are Maths and Economics. My dream is to be in a career involving application of analytics and quantitative methods with links to the world of finance. Will I be a research analyst, a trader, an investment banker, a development banker, perhaps and entrepreneur – only time will tell !

I am one who respects family and relationships, the traditional (and for some, outdated) value systems and a believer in honesty and integrity. Over the past few years, I have become more mature but the child in me stays the same. Life with all of it's experiences has made me the person I am today but my basic values and belief systems, my zest for life and my outgoing self remain the same.