Nilesh, for starters, cannot play a guitar, organ or the trumpet, but he surely enjoys listening to Bryan Adams, Eagles, Enigma and Bob Marley; a little of the new Bollywood scene and a lot of the old Kishore Kumar tracks.
He does fancy the tunes of santoor and flute, especially when he gets into his meditative moods. Yes he is into meditation off and on and is a devout practioner of pranayamas (breathing exercises).
Nilesh is not shy of picking up a paint brush. He did use his magic wand to charm a girl during his college days – Sonali, now his wife. Nilesh was too broke to buy a card for her, hence he trusted his skills on ‘handmade’ cards.
Now he has taken up a pen to pen down ‘Be the Change’ and expecting a publisher to lap it up. “I try to express my creativity in the way I structure my business deals as well; that way there is something in it for everybody who is part of the deal,” added Nilesh Amonker.
He is not much of a believer in God or in spirits but he does believe in angels. “Somebody said we don’t see any angels because we call them friends; how true! On a serious note, I do believe that my guardian angel is always keeping a watch over me and nothing can ever go wrong as long as my angel is by my side”.
“I also believe in soul-mates and I am of the opinion that your relationship with your soulmate transcends space and time. It’s not necessary that you fall in love or marry or even meet your soulmate in every lifetime. Whoever said it, it was straight and simple,” added Nilesh.
On the whole, he is very social and tends to make friends easily. “Once a friend, always a friend. However, you would find the odd one who, for reasons best known to him/her has become a little aloof over a period of time; but that’s fine, nobody is complaining. I would say I like all the people I meet,” said Nilesh.
For him outward appearances do not matter at all. “Likewise, I prefer to wear what I feel comfortable in. I am fairly well to do, reasonably intelligent (have been a topper in academics) and pretty much normal; No, I do not smoke as I gave it up in 2007,” added Nilesh.
Aadventure is one of his favourite getaways. Only recently (last month) he had taken on Evrest base camp trail in Nepal. He has trekked five days, 44 km from Lukla to a height of over 15,000 feet above sea level.
“EBC (Everest Base Camp) sits 3000 feet higher, a mere 16 km from where we have halted for the night – a trek of just two more days. My head was pounding, my heart was thumping as my blood pressure shot up. The nurse at the High Altitude Pharmacy told me that I had AMS – Acute Mountain Sickness. The fact that there is no mobile signal, no electricity, no telephone connectivity and no medical facilities whatsoever in this tiny little village in the remote Khumbu region of the Himalayas does not help my anxiety levels. The only solace is that I was amongst friends. I finally got evacuated,” said Nilesh convinced that the mountains are calling him in May 2017.
