I can beat just about anyone at Boggle: Rajat Dhariwal

Rajat Dhariwal Founder MadRat Games Pvt LtdIn the year 2009 Rajat Dhariwal found himself cornered by a relative The event was a cousinrsquos wedding in Jodhpur but the fact that it was a joyous occasion must have in all probability momentarily escaped Dhariwal when he found himself being cajoled and emotionally blackmailed by the wellmeaning relative The relative on the other hand had his reasons for doing so mdash he wanted to talk Dhariwal an IIT graduate out of his decision to teach in a school and eventually venture into the world of business ldquoNow my family members are more comfortable with the ideardquo laughs the 31yearold founder of MadRat GamesRajat Dhariwal at the MadRat Games office in BangaloreIt is no wonder that Dhariwalrsquos decision threw the family off guard initially Born to doctors in Gwalior his education and academic life would have been given sole and paramount importance if it wasnrsquot for his freespirited mother Speaking over the phone from Bangalore Dhariwal fondly describes his mother as lsquoadventurousrsquo and someone who ldquowouldnrsquot know how to ride a bike but would still take a Bullet and drive into a bushrdquoldquoDuring summer camps my mother made sure that we took up activities such as horse riding and swimming She left her practice for seven years when my siblings and I spent time in Kota for engineering coaching classesrdquo remembers Dhariwal adding that she is still the person he turns to for advice When he finally made it to the hallowed campus of IIT Bombay Dhariwal had two aims in mind mdash do well academically and get over his awkwardness with girls and make some good friends The latter needed some tweaking when he realised that his computer science batch had just one girl Madhumita Halder mdash his future wife and business partner ldquoIIT is more about the analytical and logical mind which is good But both Madhumita and I have a creative bent of mind and we connected at that levelrdquo he says adding that he was pleased by the development ldquoI was more shy than all the other guysrdquo he chucklesFor Dhariwal the transition began when the duo left IIT to teach at Rishi Valley Education Centre in Andhra Pradesh where they taught students in the most unconventional way mdash without textbooks ldquoYou can communicate anything to children through gamesrdquo he says He offered afterschool classes on board games from around the world ldquoWe also taught them Science by making and breaking toys Students made their own toys out of materials like a rubber band or paper Once we gave them the same kind of paper to make helicopters After flying for a while these toys landed on the floor at the same time We then asked the students to modify the toy to win a race Some of them made it with a different kind of paper some cut off the wings and so on and hence learned the physics behind the exercise on their ownrdquo he elaboratesRajat Dhariwal founder of MadRat Games loves biking and playing board games when he is not in the boardroom chalking up strategies PicsSaggere RadhakrishnaThe next turning point came in 2009 when the couple and Dhariwalrsquos younger brother Manuj won the first place at an event hosted by IIT Kharagpur for their handmade prototype of the Hindi wordbuilding board game AksharitAs a biking enthusiast Dhariwalrsquos first impulse while on vacation is to hire a bike or car to explore the place There is very little that intimidates him in life and the only time he remembers being starstruck was when NRI entrepreneur Kanwal Rekhi decided to attend a formal meeting as a lastminute addition ldquoThe first few minutes of the meeting were very awkward as we were just staring at himrdquo laughs DhariwalSo what is life like for an adult whose only job literally is to play Itrsquos fun he admits At MadRat Games Halder and Dhariwal come up with ideas and designs for board games and manufacture them out of their two production units in Bangalore At the office employees can be found hunched over board games to test them and meetings are known to end with an idea for a new board gameToday MadRatrsquos board games such as The Great Pyramid Jungle Safari and the first Hindi board game Aksharit to name a few can be found in retail outlets including Shoppers Stop Central and Hamleys More recently the company was in the news for selling one lakh games between January to September 2013 The company managed to sell another one lakh between October 2013 and April 2014 and they manufacture roughly 25000 box units of games per monthDhariwal has his own favourite board and card games though He is currently addicted to Canasta Mikado and Blockbuster MadRatrsquos Bollywoodthemed game So which board game can he beat anyone at ldquoMost of themrdquo he laughs ldquoBut specially at Bogglerdquo