The Indian Mate’s chronicles of a journey of self-discovery.
Henry Ford once famously said, “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the aeroplane takes off against the wind and not with it.” Such are the ways of adversity, though. It is the quotes of legends and philosophers that tell us how to tide through them. But the tiding starts only when we are caught in the sea storm ourselves.
Divesh Sareen – tech enthusiast, entrepreneur, and now author – appreciates this as well as anyone else can, for he has faced many a storm to emerge stronger. Born to a middle-class family in India, his childhood was fraught with hardships that accompany a family in the throes of money problems. For a child who must pick between expensive gifts and fast food and a comfortable education, making choices is a skill acquired early on. This skill has held him in good stead as he has traversed a long journey from the by-lanes of Ludhiana to Melbourne, negotiating the numerous bends along this adventurous road.
Whilst a rapidly developing India was taking to the advent of the dot com boom and McDonald’s and multiplexes like a fish takes to water, a teenaged Sareen was the responsible oldest sibling in his household calculating his next move that could give his loved ones a more fulfilling life. He did what any good middle-class Indian student would; excelled academically, pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Punjab, and then got a foot through the door that opened into Australia’s lucrative pastures. This was not, however, an instant migration to La La Land, for there are no free lunches in the world. A slow rise to prosperity came at the high cost of homesickness, second-guessing his own decisions, and a constant sense of brooding and despair of being away from family. Braving these emotions he soldiered on, using his IT proficiency to help Australian businesses grow and get more bang for their buck using technology. One fine day, he reached out to 7News TV anchor Gemma Acton with the offer of sprucing up her professional website. The forging of an atypical friendship was an added bonus to, well, an improved website that Acton made good use of.
Help is not on offer only for websites, though. Sareen has learnt that his growth as a person and as a professional is tightly coupled with his desire to assist others. This could often be helped with technology; at other times, he uses the written word to share his wisdom and experiences with aspiring and recent migrants who must feel the same blues as he once did. The goodwill and gratitude he has earned from his actions are reflected in the massive attendance he garnered at the launch of his book The Indian Mate.
“The book was once a blog,” he tells us. “A blog that wanted to chronicle the events of my life and inspire readers to believe that an underdog can accomplish a dream even if the odds are stacked against him.” When he started pouring his heart into it, he realised there was a lot more to tell the world than he had initially imagined. Transposing his recounts into a book was the next logical route to take. Two hundred thousand words and half a decade later, here we are – attending the launch of his book on the ground he had always dreamed of visiting if only he could fork out enough money to buy a ticket to it: the hallowed Melbourne Cricket Ground.
On the twin occasions of Australia Day and the Indian Republic Day 2023, true to the theme of an Indian rediscovering himself in Australia, The Indian Mate was released in the august presence of Gemma Acton, sporting legend Glenn McGrath, among several other dignitaries from the Australian government and the Indian High Commission. Lauding Sareen’s book and the sentiment of the dark horse that it speaks to, McGrath spoke about the power of self-belief which, not unlike Sareen’s case, helped him take the road less travelled to reach heights less scaled.
By Nishant Kaushik