Apurva Purohit

A movie that inspires you…
I like sports films. It captures the drama of life, especially corporate life – right from team building, culture setting and managing star performers to coaching and delegating. Among these movies, I pick Chak De as a favourite, not the least because I also played hockey for my state!

...and a song?
O Majhi Re from Kinara because it says how we can, even as individuals, provide strength to everyone around us. I love some of the older songs for their lyrics, by Gulzar, Anand Bakshi and Indeevar.

How do you de-stress?
It is either listening to old Hindi songs or reading a high-octane crime thriller, especially if the book dives into the psychology of the criminal. Whenever I can, I also go for long walks in the forest.

Lowest point in your life? How did you deal with it?
It was when I was working in a toxic environment. Then, I was setting up a business vertical, so there wasn’t much I could do except grin and bear it till it was fully operational. While it taught me resilience, I decided to never work in places steeped in intrigue and tangled up in complex organisational structures.

An anecdote or lesson you’d like to share?
When I was studying at Stella Maris College in Chennai, I played in a national hockey tournament. Our team lost the first two matches by a wide margin. As the goalkeeper, I decided that I was to blame and felt defeated. I wasn’t asked to play the next game. But the coach told me that my exclusion had nothing to do with the previous losses. According to her, the team had lost. She said that she didn’t want me on the field because she didn’t want a goalie who had lost the desire to win. My negativity had kept me out. As a coach, her duty was to send a team which was willing to at least try till the final whistle! This happened nearly twenty years ago but I have never forgotten that lesson. One has to keep trying ceaselessly and continuously in whatever one undertakes.