Ludhiana, and my first love
Namaste! My name is Ravinder Khurana. Born and brought up in Ludhiana, an Indian industrial town, I was never much into academic subjects. The only thing I was good at in school, and the one thing that kept me going, was science projects. Aeromodelling and electronics gave me immense joy.
While other subjects bored me to death, aeromodelling was a breath of fresh air. It was my first love, which is why I was happiest the first time I flew. I still remember losing sleep for days before the journey, thinking how fascinating it would be. For a 13-year-old, it was a dream come true.
Somewhere along the way I became RK, because Ravinder Khurana took too much effort for my lazy schoolmates. I'm not complaining. :)
Sadar Bazar, Calcutta, Dubai
I was still a teenager when I moved to Delhi. I first tried my hand at wholesale marketing in Sadar Bazar and soon realised it wasn't my cup of tea. My first business trip, to Calcutta at 17, was cut short by family setbacks. Hoping to make it big, I flew to Dubai in 1989-90 and worked there for almost a year, doing a bit of everything in a company that exported iron and steel scrap to India. That didn't last either. Another family setback brought me home, leaving everything half done.
The battery shop and the computer that broke
I never had the business acumen, but I had no other choice. Still clueless about what I actually wanted, I started another business in Daryaganj in 1990, manufacturing and trading batteries on a small scale. I put huge effort into it, because I was tired of things not working out. Sadly, I couldn't endure it either, and I lost interest in the product and the whole process.
Interestingly, I had bought a computer to run the battery business smoothly. When it broke down I was so upset that I joined a one-year diploma course to fix it. That is where the journey began. Multimedia, computer hardware and networking kept me enthralled, and pulled me away from batteries. Helping my battery clients with their computer problems gave me more pleasure, satisfaction and confidence than the business itself.
I wanted to learn more and more, so I took many courses, from electronics to languages. I couldn't learn much in languages, but the electronics and computer courses, and the Microsoft, Novell and Google certifications, gave me great experience.
When work finally felt like love
It was the first time I was actually enjoying my work. The business boomed, and soon I had clients like the Swiss Embassy and BPB Publications, who became more friends than clients. The numbers climbed every month, but there was more going on than I could see.
A huge fire at Daryaganj sealed the place. To keep the business going I went to the US a couple of times and even tried to move there. Then another horrific accident took away my childhood fascination with flying, my first love. It was 9/11, and it almost led me into depression. I wouldn't have pulled through if I hadn't seen the film A Beautiful Mind.
Becoming a digital consultant
During my US visits I started working on MS Exchange servers and websites, mostly static, with a few applications such as database form submissions and report generation. I stopped working on hardware and networking. Many thanks to the hardware and networking engineers, designers and developers who helped me all along.
With all the effort I put in and the experience life gave me, I became a digital consultant, helping small businesses and NGOs with domains, websites, web apps and mobile apps, and the IT infrastructure behind them. As demand for digital marketing grew, I began offering that too.
Even with all the ups and downs, life has been kind to me. I have a loving family with two beautiful daughters, and many kind-hearted people around me who encourage and support me.