The Story of: What If Your Dream Had Nothing to Do With Your Family's Legacy?

About This Episode

Govind was supposed to be a lawyer. Not just any lawyer — the fourth generation of a family of lawyers. His great-grandfather, his grandfather, his father, his uncle, his cousins. The path was paved before he could walk.

He chose mechanical engineering instead.

Then he left India for Germany to secretly chase an F1 dream. Then the 2008 financial crisis dismantled the job market mid-graduation. Then he washed dishes in Switzerland to survive. Then he walked 5 kilometres uphill through a snowstorm alone, wet and cold — and kept walking.

What We Talk About

• Breaking a 4-generation family legacy and why it mattered
• The real reason he went to Germany — the motorsport dream he told no one
• Graduating in 2008: the worst possible year to enter the job market
• Washing dishes in a Swiss restaurant kitchen to survive
• The snow walk: 5KM, uphill, alone, in a blizzard — and the thought that kept him going
• How close he got to the F1 dream — and the moment he let it slip
• Why he came back to India in 2016, and what he found

Timestamps

• 0:00 — Teaser / Cold Open
• 1:28 — Introduction
• 2:26 — Meet Govind
• 4:15 — Breaking the lawyer family legacy
• 12:56 — College years — NCC, fitness
• 15:56 — The Germany decision
• 20:51 — The real reason for Germany — motorsport dream
• 24:24 — Landing in Germany — culture shock
• 28:44 — Graduating in 2008 — worst time ever
• 31:56 — Washing dishes in Switzerland
• 33:14 — The snow walk
• 35:16 — Landing a job in Switzerland
• 38:32 — The motorsport dream — how close, and letting it slip
• 43:57 — Going back to Germany
• 46:53 — Coming home to India
• 52:00 — Culture shock of returning
• 53:13 — One piece of advice