‘You’re Tamilian, right?’ Nikhil Kamath shocked as Aravind Srinivas reveals he is the first engineer of his family

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas has shared that he is the first engineer in his extended family, a revelation that has shocked Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath.

The AI major CEO was speaking to Kamath during the latest episode of the Zerodha boss’ ‘WTF Is’ podcast, which was released on Monday.

During the conversation, Nikhil Kamath asked Aravind Srinivas about his family.

“My mom works in the government, central government, and my dad was an accountant. He was a financial accountant. So I am actually the first engineer in the extended family,” Srinivas replied.

His reply shocked Nikhil Kamath, who asked about his Tamil descent.

“Really? You’re a Tamilian, right?”

As a general notion across India, people living in the southern states are perceived to be more drawn towards professional courses like engineering.

Answering Kamath’s doubts, Aravind Srinivas explained that his family had an accounting background.

“Yeah, but our family had more of the accounting background. So engineering was still a new thing at the time for us,” he said.

Aravind Srinivas on support from mother and wife

During the chat, the Perplexity CEO also elaborated on the role of his parents, especially mother, and wife in his life.

“I did all the work to study and do the exams well, but they took care of the other stuff for me. So it’s not a individual thing,” he said.

“Same thing (happens) now. I’m doing the work, running the company, but my wife takes care of so many things for me at home. And it’s not just about the support at home or something. It’s more the moral support,” Srinivas added.

Talking further, Srinibas said that one needs a person that they can lean on to when things are not going in the right direction.

“You have a very few people to lean on to. There are so many times when you’re not necessarily feeling the best about your chances. And there are a lot of things that you cannot share with your own fellow colleagues because as founder or CEO, you always have to appear like I have it all figured out,” he said.

“So there is somebody you need to go and talk to for help or just simply someone to push you,” Srinivas added.

Aravind Srinivas on staying grounded

Similarly during other times, when something positive happens, one needs to be humbled by someone, the Perplexity CEO opined.

“Sometimes when things are going well like you might feel like you are on the top of the world and someone has to bring you back to earth and say, ‘Hey calm down. You have nothing figured out yet’. My wife does that for me,” he said.

Recalling his days at IIT Madras, Srinivas told Nikhil Kamath that his mother used to help him stay focussed.

“Back when I was studying for IIT, it’s like my mom was always keeping me in check and making sure that I was focussed. And it’s important,” he said.

“You have too many people doing that for you at the same time. Like the more people do that, the more it gets chaotic. And so it’s good to have one or two people doing this all the time,” the CEO told Kamath.

Watch the full episode of the WTF Is podcast here: