'There should be a method to madness'

An author, entrepreneur and a public speaker – Karan Verma is in truly a jack of all. There is nothing that he does not want to try and that's how after he authored his book 'Jack and Master,' which turned out to be a national bestseller, he established his company 'The Big Picture' and turned into a proficient public speaker; inspiring and motivating thousands of students pan India. Now, he is looking forward to his book being adapted into a movie. And that's not it; he is a brand consultant to Crayons advertising too. Well, you get one life, right? In a candid interview with Shreya Das he talks about how he came up with his debut book and his upcoming projects

I have been a jack all my life and did a lot of things. And to be very honest, I had a very rocking life. Growing up in Lucknow, I was a very naughty kid who wanted to do a lot of things. I just pretty much wanted to run in the direction of my dreams and didn't mind falling down. I would just love to lace up my boots again and start running. At the same time, as a 90s kid, you were expected to be not less than an engineer or a doctor. So like a good guy, I chose engineering though I was pretty good in debates. And while I was pursuing engineering, theatre and talks kept fascinating me. I used to dabble in a lot of things. I remember I used to travel to Mumbai and write scripts for MTV. This was the reason many people referred me as a jack. And this kind of stayed with me and grew on me. Siddharth (the master) is my alter ego. I am also fascinated by people who are masters of their craft; a Bill Gates, a Sachin Tendulkar, an AR Rahman. So, if I want to sum up myself, I am a jack who aspires to be master someday. I think that should be the journey of our life; you dabble in a lot of things, you do well and finally you find out your true calling someday. Or you never find your true calling; you are good at everything and

continue staying that way.

I have addressed this issue in the book. It depends upon the turf. For specialized fields somewhere you need a master. For a leadership position, perhaps a jack of all could inspire people more. I have seen jacks become amazing leaders, because there are certain domains where you need to have more qualities than being just a master of one. But then there are fields where you need a master. So, jack and master are two sides of the same coin. Some people just seek the moments in life, they have a bucket list but some people just want to touch the pinnacle of glory.

It is a youth related story with a huge canvas. People say that 'Jack & Master' has a huge canvas and it has but this one is just 10 times huge as far as the canvas is concerned. In my upcoming, I am talking about life as a totality; what life means to different people and it's a classic. At its heart, it's a love story but it has a lot more in store than being just a love story; what more, I would like to keep it under wraps because the book should come later this year or early next year.

I think one of the things that people say is chase dreams. One of the lessons that I have learned is that even if you are chasing your dreams, chase them with your eyes and ears open. At times you'll get too carried away but even risks should be taken with a certain degree of calculation. So, always have some sort of a plan in mind. It's good to be crazy while you are young but there has to be a method to the madness as well.