Bharat was my first Role-Model

"I first met Bharat in January, 1997 at my NLDS in Hyderabad. He was the Local Committee President at DU then (i think) and was the Mentor for our team of new recruits from all across India. They first thing that struck me about him was his Smile...that broke all barriers. I have the fondest of memories of my NLDS and one of the reasons I stayed back in AIESEC was because of Bharat. The innumberable talks I had with him about AIESEC and he cleared my doubts by sharing his wonderful experiences and inspiring me to "Seize The Day".

During our NLDS, we were asked to do crazy things with our coordinators and one of the things was to carry Bharat and throw him into the pool at the resort. Being the BIG GUY that he was; it took us quite an effort but we managed to throw him in the pool and his smiled remained..He was truly an amazing human being!

It was indeed a proud moment for me when he became National Committee President and I joined the Bangalore Executive Board. We met at many conferences then and he remained the same guy always - smiling, down-to-earth, ever approachable and sharing a word with me everytime we got a chance.

Bharat was my first Role-Model and I hope and wish I can emulate his personality in someways in my own life. I seem to have lost a mentor and role-model today but his memories live on."

Vishal Talreja, AIESEC Alumni