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About This Book
Born on the luckiest date on the calendar. Lived anything but a lucky life — and loved every chaotic, glorious minute of it.
I was born on 11th November 1975 in Amritsar — a date the world considers magical. What followed was a story even the universe couldn't have scripted: a joint family bursting with cousins and chaos, a love story everyone said was doomed, a taxi shift in Melbourne that turned into an empire, a crypto win that became a catastrophe, and a comeback that's still unfolding.
This is not a self-help book written from the comfort of success. It is a raw, funny, heartbreaking and ultimately triumphant account of my journey from the lanes of Amritsar to the boardrooms of Australia.
01
Amritsar, 11 · 11 · 1975
Born on the Luckiest Day. Raised in Beautiful Chaos.
November 11th. The date carries magic in every culture. I entered this world on a day that seemed to whisper: this one is going somewhere. What greeted me was a mid-size home in Amritsar packed with three uncles, their families, cousins running in every direction — and a love so big it barely fit under one roof.
- Growing up in a joint family of 20+ where privacy was a myth and love was everywhere
- The noise, the festivals, the shared meals — and the lessons buried inside all of it
- What it means to belong to something bigger than yourself from day one
- Why 11/11 boys are either very lucky, very stubborn — or both
You can't choose where you're born. But it chooses you right back.
02
Schooldays
Average Student. Extraordinary People Person.
I was never top of the class — and that turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. While the toppers buried their heads in books, I was out building the most valuable skill in the world: the ability to connect with anyone, anywhere, instantly.
- Why being average academically forced me to be exceptional socially
- The friends, the adventures, and the early lessons in loyalty
- How street smarts and social intelligence became my true education
Life doesn't grade you on a report card. It grades you on how you treat people.
03
The Crossroads
I Gave Up Cricket for My Father. I Never Regretted It.
Cricket was in my bones. But my father had a different vision: civil engineering. I put down the bat, picked up the textbooks, and chose love over passion. What I gained was something no scoreboard could measure.
- The hardest thing a son can do — honour a parent's dream over his own
- What the engineering path taught me about structure and discipline
- The conversation with my father I will never forget
Sometimes the path your father chooses leads exactly where you were meant to go.
04
The Love Story
Middle Class Boy. Rich Girl. A Love Story Nobody Wanted — Except Us.
I was a middle class boy from Amritsar. She was Poonam — gorgeous, from a wealthy family, completely out of my league by every social rule India had ever written. Everyone had an opinion. None of that mattered.
- How we met — the moment I knew Poonam was the one
- The class divide, the family drama, the tears, the fights
- How we got married despite every objection and obstacle
- 28 years later — looking back, smiling, knowing it was always right
When everyone says it won't work, and it works — that is the greatest victory of all.
05
A Bollywood Decision
We Watched a Movie and Moved Countries. No Regrets.
Most people spend months researching migration. Poonam and I spent two hours watching Salaam Namaste. Five years into our marriage, with courage in our hearts and bags in our hands, we made the move. What waited was harder, stranger, and more beautiful than anything on screen.
- The Salaam Namaste effect — how a film planted the seed of a life-changing decision
- Culture shock, homesickness, and the smell of Amritsar I never escaped
- Why Poonam's courage through it all was the real story
A Bollywood film changed our lives. Stranger decisions have been made. Most turned out worse.
06
Hustle Years
The Taxi Was My MBA
No degree. No network. No shortcuts. Behind the wheel of a Melbourne taxi at 3am, I learned more about human nature, resilience, and business than any classroom ever taught. Every passenger was a lesson. Every shift was a masterclass.
- The unspoken dignity of hard work when the world isn't watching
- The strangest, most profound conversations had in a cab at midnight
- The moment I decided: this is not where the story ends
Every passenger taught me something a boardroom never could.
07
The Climb
How I Learned to Sell — And Why It Changed Everything
From taxi driver to top sales professional. I discovered I had something rare — the ability to walk into a room, understand what people needed before they said a word, and build trust from the first sentence. Sales wasn't a job. It was my superpower, finally named.
- The sales techniques that actually work (and the ones that insult everyone)
- Why listening is worth ten times more than talking in any negotiation
- The record-breaking year that proved I belonged at the top
Selling is just storytelling with a purpose — and I had a lot of stories.
08
The Big Win
The Year the Screen Turned Numbers Into Gold
Then came crypto. And with it, the kind of money that makes you wonder if you're dreaming. I rode the wave brilliantly — watching my portfolio climb to heights that seemed impossible. It felt like arrival. It felt like forever.
- How I got into crypto — the early bets that paid off spectacularly
- What $3 million feels like when you've driven taxis at 3am
- The warning signs I saw — and chose to ignore
Winning is easy. Knowing when to stop — that's the real game.
09
The Crash
How Not to Lose $3 Million
The chapter nobody writes because it's too painful. The brutal, honest, unfiltered account of watching three million dollars disappear — the mistakes, the denial, the 3am staring at a phone screen, and the morning I decided: this will not be the end of my story.
- The exact decisions that turned my fortune into nothing
- The emotional trap of greed, FOMO, and the illusion of control
- What nobody tells you about losing big — the shame and the silence
- Five rules I live by now that could save your financial life
Losing everything is only the end if you decide it is.
10
Rising Again
The Comeback Is Always Louder Than the Setback
WeVolt Australia. Sydney The Rooftop. Both built after the crash. Both proof that the most creative version of me showed up after I lost everything. When you have nothing left to protect, you finally have the freedom to build anything.
- How I conceived WeVolt and built it from scratch
- The Sydney Rooftop story — hospitality, risk, and creating experiences
- Why the best version of yourself often arrives after the worst moment of your life
Rock bottom has excellent Wi-Fi. That's where the best ideas are born.
11
The Future Is Now
Building Tomorrow: ShivAI, Wearables & the Art of Never Stopping
18 months of research. One astrology app launching in June 2026. Then SynQ — wearables and protein bars. Then Sh2o. At 50, I'm moving faster than most 30-year-olds. What happens when you've lost everything and decide you have nothing left to fear?
- ShivAI Labs — where ancient wisdom meets artificial intelligence
- SynQ: wearables + protein bars and the vision behind it
- Why 50 is the best age to bet on yourself
The best chapter of your life is always the next one.
12
The Body Chapter
132 kg on a Plane to LA — The Seatbelt That Saved My Life
Somewhere over the Pacific, on a flight from Auckland to Los Angeles, I quietly asked for a seatbelt extension. The belt didn't fit. In that single, silent, humbling moment — 30,000 feet in the air — something shifted. Not the belt. Me.
- How stress and survival mode quietly turned my 75kg into 132kg
- The Auckland–LA flight: the seatbelt moment that broke everything open for me
- My 13-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter — the reason I changed
- Working with elite coaches including a celebrity trainer from Mumbai
I didn't get unhealthy overnight. And I won't get healthy overnight. But I've started.
13
The Wisdom
50 Truths I Wish I'd Known at 25
No fluff. No clichés. Fifty raw, honest, hard-earned truths about money, love, risk, identity, failure, family, and what it means to live a life that is entirely, unapologetically, ferociously your own.
- On money: the only financial advice that survived my real-world testing
- On love: what 28 years with Poonam taught me about partnership
- On failure: why it is the only honest teacher
- On 50: why the second half is the real game
Wisdom is just pain with good storytelling. Here's all of mine.
