Remembering Nikesh

Goechala trek - 2013

I have known Nikesh from 2009. He had joined Kosmix after finishing his PhD. I had joined about 4 months ago. He took the cubicle next to me. I do not remember who was sitting there before him. We used to work on sister teams, reported to the same manager. 

If I had to name one quality of Nikesh that defined him, it would be affable. Put Nikesh in a room of strangers and after few mins, he would have friends. He would be chatting and laughing. He had an infectious laugh - loud, bold - the kind where once you hear, you would know that it is coming from a place of genuine happiness. 

His extroverted personality with my introvert one bonded over our mutual passion - events. Work was work - engaging, challenging, lot of fun. But work friends only go so far. There has to be something outside work element for folks to be called friends.  At Kosmix, we had a knitting club where one of the work-colleagues use to teach knitting, and every week we would go there to learn to knit, over delicious Dana Street roasting company coffee, and chat about life in general. It was a small group. I joined and Nikesh followed soon. But beyond knitting, Nikesh and I would go to Indian events in Bay area. We will scan Sulekha and the likes and share events with each other. 

Two events I distinctly remember - One of them is this play called Blue Mug, featuring Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Ranveer Shorey et al (one, two) . It is based on the Oliver Sacks' book - The Man who mistook his wife to a hat. It is one of the best events in bay area that we attended. It was well acted, performed, a subject matter which spoke about memory. Living in US, it stuck some chord with us that it is difficult but after 16 years, I still remember this play and if it is ever performed again, I will attend it. The second one a band, I have forgotten the name of the band, but they performed at a small auditorium in Bay area, but they performed songs of Bulle Shah, Kabir, and other Sufi saints. We would find translations on phone while they sang and share screen. Some images do not go away.

If I look at my 2011, 2010 posts on this blog, Nikesh features so many times. He took me to Stanford to watch Serena Williams play live - I think the only live tennis match that I have seen. We did many small hikes in bay area - Black Mountain, Mission Peak, Stanford dish etc. We also did a 24 hr hackathon at TechCrunch Disrupt and we hacked to make Evister - an event discovery platform that would later become  EventsHigh

He invited me to his daughter's birthday. I knew his wife Sujata, his other friends. We used to go to long walks after office, discuss what the company is doing well, not doing well, politics and everything under the sun.  We also would often discuss going back to India - a topic that is common amongst all desis in US.  But, often everyone would talk, few move back. Nikesh and I would sometimes talk about our hypocrisy but we knew that we have to be the exceptional cases.  

In 2012, both Nikesh and I moved back to India.  Just like Kosmix, I came few months before him. The WalmartLabs India era was very interesting for both of us. Looking back, I now know that both of us were trying to re-adapt back to India, in our own ways. Nikesh also had a family, so it was more challenging for him. Office pressure was low comparitively to what it was in US. Office became a gaming era in the afternoon - conference rooms had Catan board games, and others. What became the darling game for everyone was what Nikesh started - Bughouse - a four player chess game in which you play as partners over two boards. The game was viral. Everyone would play this game. When 4 people would play, everyone else would watch and give commentary. It was lively, noisy and a lot of fun!

Nikesh and I also signed up to go to the Goechala trek (the above photo is from the trek). We were part of the running club - RunnersHigh. Did half marathon training together. Went to Auroville to run the half marathon there. 

We were unhappy at work, not getting the right purpose/meaning. The idea to start a company came in one of those conversations. Our love of events, the broken ecosystem, was something that we would talk about a lot. That led to EventsHigh.

Both of left WalmartLabs and started working on EventsHigh a month later. I remember that we spent one evening 4 hrs to choose the name. I would say something that he would veto and vice versa. Ultimately. since both of us were part of Runners High and we loved it, we called it EventsHigh. 

EventsHigh was there from June 2014 to May 2018.  They say that you should do a startup with someone you know deeply. Otherwise, companies do not survive. How true they are. EventsHigh journey is perhaps one of the best years of my life. It may also be one of the most difficult years - but isn't it good that the best and difficult co-exist :) . In the movie Arrival (spoiler ahead), Amay Adams knows that he kid would die yet she has it. The reason is that there is so much joy in the life that is lived. To me EventsHigh is that. - there is so much joy in the experience that the challenges make up for it. The challenges are also simpler because there was Nikesh, and a whole lot of really good people - Parag, Simran, Sonal, his wife Sujata,  to name a few. 

Nikesh took the role of CEO and focussed on investor relations, product and sales. I took the role of CTO and focussed on tech, support and growth (content/SEO). We complemented . Yet, we fought. We had sometimes significant different opinions of what the company should be, what the product should do. Both of us were learning and growing.  Both of us were equally head strong :) 

Everyone who joined EventsHigh came because of their passion of events. Our socials were also events - we would go for Onam lunch events, concerts together. 31st Dec, New years eve was the biggest day/night of the year, we would be in office till 9 or 10 pm and then go home.We would take angry customer calls next day, understand which events had fights, which were poorly organized etc. We would chase sales targets in dec, see site traffic grow. A small team of folks having so so much fun. We would celebrate hard work by travel - once we went to Yercaud, a road trip. 

EventsHigh offices moved. We started at my ND Sunspurge apartment in HSR. Then, we took the apartment next to Nikesh's home in Akme. Here, at one time, his mother would comment by looking at us two that how much we fight. I won a coffee machine in some random contest and we installed it here. We then moved to Domlur, a small 2 room place. We got our own logo, sign-board. Then, we too a bigger space in HSR.  We would get threats from people that the events impact their sensibilities. Nikesh engaged with legal on this. 

One of the days in EventsHigh, we were having a serious argument, massive disagreement. We were locked in a conf room but it had glass door. Folks could see us. Voices were raised. By the time it was 430 pm. we were exhausted, likely by repeating the same thing. This was in HSR. We then said, lets go and have chaat. We went to Shubh, had gol gappe and packed chaats for everyone else in the office. A gesture to just calm both of us, take a break. Chaat was another shared joy between the two of us. There used to be this Pani puri wala outside Akme and we would often go to him in evenings. A lot of our food explorations were around chaats. On this day, after chaat, we went to home, calmed down, slept over each other ideas, and then figured out a way to work with each other. 

Nikesh and I attended various demo-days etc and presented EventsHigh. He was a better speaker than me - much more confident. Nikesh met many many investors before he got Axilor as an investor. He managed the investor relations well. We were learning the business side of our venture slowly. Eventually, after four years of EventsHigh, we were acquired by Treebo. 

The Treebo era was short. We were in non-EventsHigh roles. I went to platform and he went to data sciences. Treebo ran into its own set of challenges. After 8 months there, both of us left Treebo, on the same day. 

Post Treebo, our paths differed. I went and joined Rubrik and he joined Flipkart. Interestingly, he had offer from Rubrik but he did not accept. I had offer from FK and I said No. It is also interesting that Nikesh went back to the IC route post EH and then I went to the managerial path - both of us were playing different roles here than what were playing at EH. 

Nikesh was in HSR for few months and then shifted to Whitefield. Covid came in between and our distances started to grow more. He was busy at FK and I was busy at Rubrik. Different companies, localities widened our distance. One of the other reason for a little bit distance post EH time was that the end result was a disagree-and-commit from both of us. That came after about 6 months of massive disagreements. Some space was needed but I think Covid made it wider. 

I remember meeting at his place for dinner once. He was just promoted at Flipkart and I was asking how he was feeling. He told me that post EH, he felt that he had to prove once again the talent he had. With his rapid growth at FK, he said that he doesn't need to do that anymore. There is an acknowledgement of his talent now. When I heard him, I was stunned - this has been exactly the same feeling within me. Somehow, the EH experience, even though it had so much learning and rewarding, it was not well understood. Both of us had to start once again and both of us proved in our respective organizations. 

In his last year at Flipkart, before he resigned, I met him couple of times for coffee. I saw some changes. He was questioning his busy-ness, he told that he felt less meaning at work. He wanted to go deeper into spirituality. I attributed this to some mid-life existential thing. But I agreed that both of us work way more than what is required. We were creatures of habit.  

Nikesh passed away on Feb 19, 2026. 

When we used to meet investors for EH, or many strangers, would ask us - are you brothers? We would laugh and say no. But I can see that why folks would think like that. We were alike in so many ways. 

The last I met Nikesh was at Kabir workhop at Udaipur. Kabir, his teaching, was one of the other things that united us. He called me a day before the event, told me that he had an extra reservation, someone had cancelled. Told me to join him the next day. We looked at flight tickets and a plan was possible. He convinced me. I met him there and we had an amazing event. It is so fitting that our last meeting will happen at event. 

It is difficult to explain the void that gets created when such a thing happens. If I just stop and think the void is visible. I can sense an emptiness in me.  I know over time, life would take over and we all will move on. But I do not think that this emptiness will ever go away. I miss you Nikesh, so much. You were a good friend to me. I am lucky to have met you, known you, founded a company with you and attended so many good events and travels together. May you keep smiling and bring joy to wherever you are !