Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai — Live, with Sharad Sharma

​Some evenings you attend. This one you help make.

​For years, Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai has told the stories of people who show us what a fully lived life looks like. On 24 August, for the first time, the newsletter steps off the page and into a room — and there was only ever one person it could be for.

​Sharad Sharma. Co-founder of iSPIRT. One of the minds behind India Stack and UPI. Angel and guru to a generation of founders. The man who walked away from the corner office at Yahoo to work for free, on a creed of no greed, no glory, give everything away — and who has spent two decades returning the phone calls of people who were nobody yet, and introducing each of us as if we mattered more than we knew. If you have ever heard him explain a market shift through cricket's Athletic Gavaskar project, or India Stack through a vegetable seller named Rajni, you already know: he doesn't explain ideas, he transplants them.

​Nine months ago, Sharad survived a severe stroke. Through the hardest weeks he signed his notes to this community "your down but not out warrior." He has written, plainly, that it was our love that pulled him through. About his survival he says only: "Mai bachh gaya. There's a reason perhaps."

​On 24 August, we gather to be that reason.

​We won't tell you the program. It isn't a felicitation, it isn't a conference, and nobody — we promise — will give a speech. Think of it as a live issue of the newsletter: stories, voices, a few surprises, one song, and a man doing what he does best, one more time. It exists for one night, for the people in the room, and it will not be streamed. You have to be there.

​Two things to bring

​Your story — send it now. When you register, tell us your best Sharad story. The 8 am meeting that changed your company. The call he returned when you had nothing to offer him. The tough love that turned out, years later, to be love. Specific, true, and yours — that is all we ask. The evening will be built from what you send: some stories told live, some woven in quietly, and every single one bound into a keepsake that goes home with Sharad at the end of the night.

​One object — bring it on the day. Something small that holds a Sharad story: a business card he scribbled on, a volunteer badge, a napkin diagram, a printout of a 2 am email. You'll see why when you arrive.

​House notes

​We begin at 6:00 sharp — Sharad has run on-time meetings for forty years, and we are not about to disappoint him now. Phones stay in pockets during the program; there will be a photographer, so you can afford to be present.

​Seats are capped at 60, and this room will fill. Register now, and come tell him yourself:

​Jeena isi ka naam hai.