#WeAreArity Wednesday: Pankaj Verma

How would you describe your job to a five-year-old?

“I teach mobile phones how to call for help when you are hurt, and you can’t make the call yourself.”

What piece of advice would you share with your younger self?

Never let your hobbies or passions take a back seat.

How do you set up good boundaries between working from home and your life outside of work?

Sticking to a dedicated office space. And managing both personal and work commitments by smartly planning around the flexibility that remote work brings to the table.

What fictional family would you most like to join?

Marvel. I’ve been a fan since the movies first came out, and I’ve watched them maybe 50 times already!

Do you have a favorite Marvel character?

Iron Man, Thor, Captain America… and I would love for Superman to join them if it was possible.

What was your best class in school?

Sports. I used to play cricket a lot.

What is something interesting we would not know about you just by looking?

I was the lead guitarist of my college rock band – 16 years ago! We had around six people in the band, and the interesting part is my wife used to be part of the same band as the singer.

Everybody from that group is spread out now, but we try to get together every few years, and it’s just amazing.

What is the best dessert?

Ice cream sandwich. I bluntly say ice cream sandwich every time, and people laugh like, “Are you four years old?” Well, my four-year-old and I both enjoy this snack. And I stick to it – I would pick it up over anything else on the table!

Who is the most famous person you have ever met?

Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan, a famous Pakistani singer. I met him personally following a concert.

It was back in my days in Bangalore, India. I got a random call from my friend, and he had tickets for the first row. And it wasn’t like seeing your favorite artist on a big stage in a big, crowded concert venue, it was seeing him performing two feet from us at a very low-level stage in a mall.

Then after the concert, we happened to go to the hotel he was staying at, and he stepped out of his room on request. He spent 15 minutes with us which was amazing. I didn’t expect that, and he won us over personally – he asked my wife if she sang, and he heard her sing for three minutes.

What do you do with the extra time working from home (WFH) that you wouldn’t get to do working in person?

Picking up and dropping off my kid at school. Also, having morning tea and afternoon coffee with my beautiful wife, and eating amazing homecooked meals and snacks.