Things Deepak failed at: Being good at maths. Journaling everyday. Sleeping on time. Emails on Sundays. Avoiding procrastination. Convincing his relatives that he has a real job. Liking cheese. Deciding a favourite color. The expectations of many relationships. Travelling light. Being a TED fellow. Selection for the sports day in grade 9th. Growing a full beard.
Things he is still trying: Learning an instrument. Driving. Developing a taste for coffee. Getting over a jet lag. Driving in traffic. Improving his handwriting. Handwritten letters. Cracking funny jokes. To love and be loved. Exercising regularly. Taking time off without guilt. Avoiding rice at dinner. Being a jack of all trades. Breathing voluntarily. Making space for unexpected love. To not be harsh on himself.
If you are still around, scroll down to read all that he is good at:
As an educator
Since the age of 17, Deepak’s heuristic methodology of designing life lessons into innovation modules has not only shaped his organisation Project FUEL but also benefited thousands of people across the globe. The FUEL methodology rests on the principles of documenting credible human learnings emerging out of personal or social experiences, that are not fictional but authentic. Subsequently, this collected learning is designed into an interactive programme for training and teaching purposes using creative arts tools.
As a writer
Books
Deepak’s first book is a collection of Hindi poetry titled ‘Itna Toh Main Samajh Gaya Hoon.’ His second book ‘50 Toughest Questions of Life’, published both in English and Hindi, is a collection of thought-provoking questions, stories and notes from his journey of teaching human wisdom for a decade. His writing style is sensitive, simple and soulful and has earned him the prestigious Young Writer Award at the Jaipur Literature festival in 2020.
Unposted Postcards
Deepak pens downs personalised postcards for people on Instagram, in collaboration with his long time friend and photographer, Vibhor Yadav. Widely popular and deeply meaningful it is a small effort to help people express themselves better and to experience kindness of strangers.
Request a postcard or read one (It’s free)
Blogs
His favourite words in life are ‘seeker’, ‘artist’, ‘boundless’, ‘energy’, ‘potential’ and ‘creativity’. And these are also words that make him, him. When not procrastinating or tied up, Deepak writes exclusive long feature articles and short format blogs. Read his blogs
As a lyricist
Ramola is also a celebrated lyricist in Hindi cinema, and his songs have been voiced by Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar and Rekha Bhardwaj, among others. He has penned songs for films like 'Manjhi, The Mountain Man’, ‘Time Out’, ‘Wazir’ and ‘Aur Devdas’. He was featured in the fifth season of the hit show "The Dewarists".
As a speaker
Armed with the wisdom of thousands of people and a sense of humour, Deepak has delivered talks all the way from a tribal village in Tanzania to the United Nations Headquarters in New York. He is a featured TED Speaker and has addressed audiences at UNESCO, Facebook, Google, SAP, E & Y, Mahindra Group, Kelloggs, FICCI, SingularityU amongst others.
As a performing poet
Deepak’s poetry comes alive on paper as well on stage. He believes that those looking for peace found poetry; those looking for poetry found peace. His technique finds its ground in stories of people. He performs readings from his books across the world and collaborates with diverse artists to give it a new dimension and depth.
As an artist
From creating the world's first set of villages with painted life lessons and murals to leading global art campaigns that fight gender and religious stereotypes, the artist in Deepak is always at work. He founded the Wise Wall Project, in 2017 to strengthen and showcase the wisdom of rural communities and marginalised villages using art and outreach programmes. In collaboration with artists, volunteers and villagers they lead ways to raise support for the challenges these communities face. Apart from this, you will find Deepak doodling on the backpages of his notebook, margins of his journal and his studio walls in Dehradun.
