"I Either Do WHAT I LOVE Or Learn To Love WHAT I DO"

Hailing from a partitionaffected, erudite family, being a rebel since childhood, becoming the Managing Director of Cadence Design Systems in India at the early age of thirty-two and Corporate Vice President at the age of thirty-six, Jaswinder Ahuja, an engineer, and a thought leader, continues his insightful journey. In a conversation with Sudeshna Das, Consulting Editor at EFY, he shares the story of his life

Jaswinder Ahuja was born in 1963 in New Delhi in a highly educated family. During the partition of India in 1947, his parents shifted to India from Pakistan. His grandparents were compelled to take one of the dangerous train journeys of 1947 and witnessed great atrocities. He grew up hearing those stories from his grandparents.

His father completed BSc in physics and began his career as a lecturer at Lahore University. Later, he pursued mechanical engineering from VJTI, Mumbai, and continued his career in engineering. His mother has been a homemaker. Jaswinder mentions his parents as the pillars of strength in his life. His father guided and inspired him while his mother nurtured him with utmost care.

Reminiscing the early years

“I was born in Shakti Nagar of North Delhi and spent my early days there. We moved to the Greater Kailash area of South Delhi in 1973, which has been home now for the last 50 years.” In 1977, Jaswinder’s father got transferred to Chennai and the entire family spent the next five years there. Thus, he finished his schooling in Chennai.

Jaswinder describes his school days in Chennai as a “life-shaping experience” where he learned to overcome challenges, make friends, and be accepted despite language barriers and cultural differences. As a North Indian boy relocated to South India, he narrates, “I come from a Sikh family. I used to wear a turban, and the only person to do so in the entire school. So, I was always ‘visibly’ a minority at the school.”