India, Aug. 23 -- His life, he said, has been changed by Gurugram. What began as a move to build a peaceful, sustainable life in the city has turned into a journey of civic battles, community building, and lessons in resilience. "I grew up in Deoghar, Jharkhand, in a joint family where education was never prioritised as the family business was always there and waiting for me. But my grandfather, who believed in the power of free will, quietly charted a different course. That decision itself altered the trajectory of my life," said Pravin Kaushal, a resident of Sobha City, Sector 108. "Sainik school Tilaiya gave me discipline, identity, and confidence while IIT Kharagpur reshaped me completely. The five years there were like a cycle-I went in structured and came out fluid, exposed to discomfort, diversity, and the depth of real friendships." He said he began his career with the Delhi government, where he learned the pace and complexity of public systems. It was during train rides between Kharagpur and Bihar, while listening to passengers speak of broken promises, anger, hope, and survival, that he found his deeper calling. "Years later, I moved to Gurugram, purchased an apartment in Sector 108 with the hope of building a peaceful, high-class, and sustainable life. The city's glass towers and startup energy felt promising. I even contested my society's election -- believing, perhaps too idealistically, that civic leadership could be clean and collaborative. I was wrong as what followed was a bruising lesson of groupism, pettiness, and personal attacks. Yet, amid the noise, I found a handful of good people and the clarity to keep going," he said. Seeking meaning outside, he began organising founder-VC meetups, also worked with startups on solutions to air pollution, and supported grassroots campaigns for sanitation, tree plantations, and infrastructure. "At Antino, I've been driving AI-led civic tech initiatives. One of them, RaastaFix.com, now helps thousands of Gurugram citizens anonymously report civic issues. Each entry is geo-tagged, time-stamped, and is automatically shared with the MCG, GMDA, NHAI, PWD, RWAs, and local representatives-creating accountability and faster action," he added. But the journey has been as much about navigating human behaviour as technology-idealists who inspire, sceptics who resist, and quiet contributors who give without seeking recognition. Gurugram, he said, has forced him to confront uncomfortable truths. "Real change is slow, collective action demands patience, and even the smallest wins-a clean stretch of road, a fixed drain, a sapling that survives-can feel monumental." "The city, to me, is a city of contradictions. It has ambition but little cohesion, diversity but not always unity. Its residents excel professionally, but hesitate to collaborate locally. The biggest obstacle here isn't governance-it's trust. It's the reluctance to care beyond one's own gate." "And yet, I choose to stay. Because even in its roughness, Gurugram offers room to grow. Being an outsider gave me perspective and building community gave me purpose," he said. "Gurugram is not home because it welcomed me-it is home because I chose to stay and help shape it."...