From Humble Beginnings to Cybersecurity Stardom: Parul Khanna's Extraordinary Journey | Ep. 041 - My Thick Accent

Episode Transcript
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Gurasis (00:00):
Hi, this is Gurasis Singh and you're listening to My
Thick Accent Podcast.
There are a lot of stories youhear, and then there are stories

(00:21):
you want to revisit again andagain to get inspired.
These are the stories that needto be celebrated, and today we
have the privilege of sharingone such remarkable journey.
Born in Jalandhar, punjab, ourguest path to success has been
shaped by his determination,resilience and the passion for
making a positive impact in theworld.
Despite facing challenges andacademics, his parents'

(00:43):
unwavering support andencouragement allowed him to
remain honest with himselfregarding his career choices.
It was a life-changing eventduring his teenage years that
set him on a path he could havenever anticipated, where he took
matters into his own hands andembarked on a journey of
self-learning, mastering theintricacies of cybersecurity.
He's a trailblazer who is makingwaves in the world of content

(01:06):
creation, and he is not youraverage content creator.
With a triple threat ofexpertise in cybersecurity,
immigrating to Canada and nowpersonal finance, he stands out
in the league of his own and hasguided countless individuals
towards stability and success inCanada.
His YouTube channel has strucka chord with the South Asian
community, especiallyinternational students from
India.
He understands the importanceof catering to diverse

(01:28):
linguistic backgrounds andoffers videos in English, hindi,
punjabi and Urdu.
This inclusive approach hasmade him a trusted source of
information and inspiration formillions of people.
What started as a humblechannel with just 10 followers
has blossomed into a powerhouseplatform with over 400,000
followers on social media and astaggering 42 million plus views

(01:49):
.
Allow me as I introduce thephenomenal and Indian-born
cybersecurity executive, careercoach and the visionary behind
the immensely popular YouTubechannel, parul TV.
Please welcome Parul Khanna.

Parul (02:03):
Hey Gurasis.
Hi, everyone!

Gurasis (02:05):
Welcome to the podcast, Parul.
I think you were one of theinitial people I had on my list
when I started working on thepodcast back in 2021 and I
wasn't sure how it's going tohappen, how I'm going to bring
you on the podcast, but veryexcited to have you welcome once
again.

Parul (02:21):
Thank you so much.
I think it's my pleasure.
When I heard about yourinitiative, I personally was
touched because I have beenlistening to podcasts for quite
a while.
I think that there was a gap inCanadian side when you talk
about immigrants and there wasnobody doing this.
The fact because only popularchannels are inviting people who

(02:43):
are from different backgroundsand different professions the
part where the immigrant sectionhits in.
I didn't see many initiatives.
I personally make videos forimmigrants and international
students.
I could resonate what you aretrying to bring out here and
sharing everyone's journey.
I think there's learning foreveryone from everyone's life
story.

(03:03):
Definitely, this is a greatinitiative.
I'm glad, thank you.

Gurasis (03:06):
Awesome, thank you.
Thank you for your kind words.
Tell me, if not a YouTuber andif not a cybersecurity expert,
what would Parul would have been?

Parul (03:24):
YouTube.
These are the things that I didnot choose myself.
They chose me.
My life situations were in away that I had to take this and
I had to explore these.
I never had a second option.
Actually, I could think aboutmyself.
I actually wanted to be veryfrank.
When I was in my teenage, Ireally wanted to be on TV and

(03:46):
really wanted to be famous orsuccessful.
Whenever I see these things, Ireally auditioned quite a lot
for a lot of shows that come onTV.
If it's about singing, I'mgoing there standing in the
lines, I'm going to Chandigarhfrom Jalandhar.
Or if it's, let's say, mtv,youtube Vlogging Hunt and blah

(04:07):
blah, I was trying everythingand anything that was coming on
my way because I wanted to seemyself on TV.
That was something that I wasexploring.
But whatever is happening rightnow, by God's grace that's a
reality.
But yeah, I would be doingsomething on TV for sure.
That's what my main goal was.
But, yeah, there were otherplans.

(04:28):
I actually auditioned for BigBoss 3 also.
No, really Many years ago.
Yeah, there was a call out forpeople from the audience.
So I'll share a news clippingwith you.
You can share it.
Add it on the video.
So they were going to selectsomebody from a local audience
and I got a chance to be in top10.
I made it by JalandharChandigarh, mumbai auditions and

(04:52):
then eventually, I didn't getselected and I was kicked out
again.
But, yeah, I gave my best.
But, yes, we are here nowCybersecurity and YouTube, so I
think I'm enjoying the journey.
So far.

Gurasis (05:03):
What year was that when you auditioned for Big Boss?

Parul (05:06):
Big Boss 3.
Let me see, I think 2009 or 10,I believe Something like that.
Yeah, I have the news.
I have the news clipping.
I'll go back and check Big Boss3.
I don't know what year was that, but yes, that's quite a fun.
I was graduating from my highschool and also similarly in

(05:30):
that zone, 11th or 12th I think.

Gurasis (05:32):
Okay.

Parul (05:32):
Okay.

Gurasis (05:34):
Well, you did talk about coming on TV.
You did not go to that TV, butyou created your own TV, which
was the power of TV.

Parul (05:42):
That's the reason for the name.
That's why I chose the nameOkay, Because I really wanted to
do this.
So my life story is more oflike a roller coaster.
So when we talk about whateverI have been doing, whatever I
have been suffering throughduring my education and
everything, we're going to talkabout it, I believe.
So it's a roller coaster, Right?
So I have been getting,sometimes I'm getting a lot of

(06:03):
fame and sometimes I'mcompletely on the ground and
then again back to Canada.
So the journey is like ups anddowns.
So at one point I was kind ofmissing the part of like why
people don't know me, Like whatam I doing wrong?
And that's how, actually, wecame into this power of TV
journey and I was like let's dotry to solve some problem, let's

(06:24):
try to share things.
And when you know you go onlineand you see some things and you
know that you can do better, Iwas like maybe I can do better,
but no, I don't sound reallygood or maybe I don't look so
handsome to be on screen.
So there were some insecuritiesin the beginning Of course we
overcome that with time.

Gurasis (06:42):
I think Well we'll definitely get into the power of
TV journey, but before that,let's start from the start.
Let me take you back to thetime you spend in India,
specifically Jalandhar, and Ifeel like those initial years of
your life definitely leave somesort of impact to the later
years of your life.
They build those years.
I would say Tell us a littlebit about your childhood and
what were you doing before youmoved.

Parul (07:03):
So eventually, let's go back in time now, jalandhar,
punjab I was born in.
I was born in a veryhardworking family.
My mother has been running aschool for children, sacred
Heart School, jalandhar and myfather was into higher trade and
business.
So we were doing really well.
And if we talk about myeducational and academic journey

(07:25):
, it wasn't fun.
Trust me, it wasn't fun becauseI wasn't really smart.
When you talk about grades orgetting good scores in
mathematics or science, it was amess, like I was barely making
from one year to another.
But there's a big thing thatwas supporting me and that was

(07:45):
my family, always supporting meand telling me oh, it's okay,
you're fine, you can do betternext year.
So my academic journey hasn'tbeen fun.
I actually share that witheveryone that I like.
People say, oh, I miss my school, I miss my childhood.
I do, but not all of it, notthe part where I was always, you
know, not getting good scoresand you know there was the

(08:08):
social dilemma of competing andeverything outside of school.
I was happy.
My family is like okay, 35 outof 100, you made it nice, let's
go next.
I only liked two things when Iwas in school.
When we talk about my schooljourney computers and English.
And these are the only twosubjects where I was more proud
of myself, rest of them notreally fun.

(08:30):
I could never take more than 35marks in mathematics, 7th, 8th,
9th, 10th.
So when you know the 10th gradecomes in, everyone starts
kicking in.
Oh I have to go for engineering, I have to go for business, mba
, common.
For me there was not manyoptions because I wasn't good in
any of those core subjects thatwill decide your career.
But I was good in computers.

(08:50):
So I was said okay, let's pushyou in non-medical or try your
luck, because if you want to getinto computers or IT, that's
the only way you can get through.
Otherwise, no, otherwise dosomething on your own.
But again, we don't think thatthat will be that quick.
But the safest path is take forengineering, is go for

(09:11):
non-medical.
I personally failed very badlyin physics, chemistry in my
science and everything pre-bords.
I knew.
But I was like let's take thechallenge.
My family was it's okay,whatever will happen, we are
with you.
If you're not making it through, nobody's at least will provide
you food and everything.
So that's what the basic thingswe can do.
But don't then compare yourselfwith others, because everyone

(09:31):
is doing their own and we thinkyou are smart.

Gurasis (09:33):
You can do it.

Parul (09:33):
I was like okay, we got into non-medical.
We had to actually sign somepapers with my school because
they said eventually, by myhistory, they said this guy's
gonna fail very badly, he's onlygood for arts or nothing.
Don't push him in non-medical.
They were like he wants to go,he wants to become a computer
engineer.
I actually didn't, went forcomputer engineering later, but

(09:56):
that's another part.
Anyway, we went for it.
High school.
You know, when we are in Indiaand plus one, plus two people
start joining these engineeringentrance exams on the day, one
of your class, like like averagepeople like me, are struggling
with the CBSC curriculum and theothers are already preparing
for IIT, eit, eitee, police.

(10:17):
It's a mess for me.
It's like, oh my God, I don'teven have had to go for exams,
but let's just pass on by theCBSC exams.
So I managed to pass my 11thstandard and then when 12th
comes in, the reality kicks inand you are in the final stage.
It's like you know video gameyou are on the final level, the

(10:38):
dragon level, and I knew thatsomething is going to happen.
And eventually, when you go forexams and you come home, you
know things are not going right.
I told my family already theexams are not going really well.
I might get stuck.
And they were like okay, if youget stuck, no problem, you can
go for an exam again.
And eventually, when the resultscame out, I actually failed in

(11:01):
chemistry and I managed to passin mathematics.
I was expecting the opposite,that I might fail in mathematics
and I might, you know, havesomething better in other
subjects.
They were like okay, fine.
I still remember that moment.
You know like you are on thecomputer screen, you put in your
roll number and everyone issitting next to your whole

(11:23):
family is like cheering you up,like yeah, yeah, and then it
says compartment not qualified.
I think that was the biggestturning point of my life Because
I never had like that kind ofextreme failure, with some
pressure and social pressure andthe relatives keeping on, you
know, asking on what happened.
So we're going, your brothersare going, cousins are going

(11:45):
there, they have their picturesin the newspapers.
I was always compared by someof my relatives with my you know
cousins that they are doingreally well.
They have pictures after their10th exam.
You didn't have anything,you'll do better, blah, blah,
blah.
So all those things kicked in.
It's actually.
It sounds like a movie story,but it's actually real, this
happens.

Gurasis (12:05):
Well, I well, I think it's.
It definitely happens withespecially the South Asian
community, that the relativesplay a major role and we do
things because of societalpressure and, just like you, I
also got into non-medical justbecause of societal pressure.
I didn't want to get into itand guess what, I never touched
science after that.
And another thing you mentioned, you know, about parents, and I

(12:27):
think one thing I've seen amongcommon amongst many content
creators is it's either theirparents were never supportive
and they were a rebel, and thenend up the parents end up
supporting them, or there weresituations where parents were
supporting since the beginningand you they were supporting you
.
So before we even thought ofbecoming a content creator, tell
me, parul, that, how muchimportant it is for these

(12:49):
parents to support theirchildren and not put that
pressure on them to get goodgrades or compare them with
other people.

Parul (12:56):
I think it's really, really important, because this
work starts when you like.
For example, if we talk aboutparents supporting children in
11th or 12th grade, I don'tthink that is going to help much
.
It should start on the baselinelevel when somebody is very
young.
I didn't knew until I was beinggroomed into somebody who can
make his decisions and choicessince I was in fifth grade or

(13:19):
sixth grade right.
So this work should start likemany, many years ago, because at
that point I wasn't realizingthat the kind of support I'm
getting.
For example, I was never saidbars on you are going to get 80%
marks will get you a bike or avideo game.
And even if they they weresetting something, they were
like, okay, you got 60, youstill get it, it's fine.
So, like my friends were like,you know, we got 80 and we are

(13:44):
not getting all those games, andyou got 55 and you're still
having fun.
How come?
I was like I don't know, man,my parents are just cool.
I don't know what was in theirmindset, but it actually changed
my life a lot.
I was like, okay, let me dosomething better.
They already had expectations.
I didn't do well as per theirexpectations, even if they had

(14:05):
the real expectations or no, Idon't know.
But you know, next time let'stry to do better, maybe they'll
feel happier.
They are happier already, Iknow.
So I think that kind ofpsychology when kicks in at the
early stages of your life, itshapes your mind into doing
something on your own ratherthan being forced into something
becoming a doctor or lawyer,and specifically the part if

(14:28):
we're talking about.
You know, the phases of 2001 to2010, versus 2011 to 2020, this
10 years, the technologyrevolution is completely
unbelievable.
So those job options are nownot very traditional fields
where people are pushing theirkids to just go into a
government job or become anengineer.
There are so many things tomake money or living these days

(14:51):
with online businesses andeverything, so I think
definitely there should be somepush to the parents to you know,
start the process of groomingand starts the process of giving
freedom to their children inquite early ages so that they
can make decisions on their own.

Gurasis (15:09):
It's very important.

Parul (15:10):
And if the support was not there.
So let's take parole of, youknow, 2010 or 2009,.
When I failed, just imagine ifthey were pushing me.
No, no, no, you failed, you aredone by.
Nothing can help you now.
Just do something, become, youknow, a lawyer or something, or
just take a license to do someinsurance anything they could

(15:31):
have pushed me in any trade thatcould have made money.
So their goal was not that Ishould make money.
Their goal was I should dosomething that I really enjoy
and the fact that I was enjoyingcomputers and they give me that
path to fail.
They might have that idea youknow that this guy's gonna fail
in 2011,.
But they were like let him try.
And later they told me theysaid we wanted you to try so

(15:55):
that you don't come back to usmany years later that you didn't
let me do what I wanted.
We knew that you are only goodin computers because I was the
one you know when you areintroduced technology to in
quite early ages.
You are the one who knowseverything.
Okay, I can fix your computer.
So everyone at this little guyis going to fix my computer or
install new windows or makeconnections.
I used to do those kind ofthings for everyone.

(16:17):
I was famous in my whole family.
I was famous in my whole family, in my whole neighborhood.
So it was already there.
I just had to explore which wayI'll go and I knew that I'm
going to do something withcomputers only because that's
what I'm good with and till dateI'm continuing it.
I didn't live it.

Gurasis (16:38):
Yeah, I mean the way you were saying this clearly
shows that that support thatthey gave you has really made
you what you are today.
I mean it has definitelyfostered that close relationship
with your parents.
At the same time, you were notpressurized to become something
you don't want to become andthey still gave you the
opportunity to try things whichyou might have to get it later
on.
So this is incredible and Ireally hope that if any of the

(17:00):
you all do have listeners fromIndia and if any parents are
listening to this or thechildren are listening to this,
make your parents listen to thisthat this is necessary to
really really help students,kind of try and put them in a
place where they don't feel thatpressurized in this society.
But let's just talk about youknow your first encounter with
hacking, and it was just afteryour 12th grade results.
You mentioned that we're.
Unfortunately, chemistry was achallenge and you had to give an

(17:22):
exam multiple times to clearthe grade and then to add more
fuel to the fire.
Your account, our good account,the famous awkward days got
hacked and some not so family,family friendly pictures were
posted on your account, and thenpolice was also clueless and
then you took the matters inyour own hand and you ended up
finding the culprit.

(17:43):
So my question is who was it?
I'm just kidding, no, not thatmuch.
Tell us, you were just a teenthere.
No, how did you process allthat?

Parul (17:51):
So you know eventually.
So let's, let's go back in time.
Now I have failed.
And eventually you know whenyou are in school and everyone
is, you know, going ahead withtheir life and relationships and
everything, and I had thispicture in my mind like what
everyone is going to think aboutme.
So that part is there.
And then suddenly your onlineaccount is hacked, where you
have been posting and showingoff a lot of things about your

(18:13):
lifestyle and everything,whatever you do right, social
media was quite new at that timeand you're posting and making
quotes and everything.
And suddenly there are somerandom pictures and those
messages being sent to all thegirls of your class.
It's like, man, this is soshameful, like I have failed.
And now this is like Ipersonally believe that some
people might have gone intodepression.
You know, if you take it thatway, that not everyone is super

(18:35):
strong.
So I was like, okay, whateverit is.
So I shared with my parents andthen they were like okay, let's
report it.
You don't know how to do it.
I don't know, nobody knows,let's take help.
And when we went to the localpolice and they were like we
don't know, man, we already havetoo many cases.
Look, look at this file andthey bring somebody else.

(18:56):
Hey, this is our IT guy.
Tell him what.
What's happening with you?
We have many other cases wherepeople are losing lakhs of
rupees online, online scams.
Come on, man, you are nothing,forget about it, just just don't
log in anymore.
So I was like no, that's,that's not happening.
And the fact that I feel thereis a in CBC, you get a chance to

(19:17):
reappear for the exam in amonth.
If you are good with that exam,you are okay.
You can still go for counselingand get into engineering.
I feel that exam too, and Ithink that was the pressure I
was preparing.
My parents put me with theteacher.
I was not able to like thethings were not processing in my
head because I was so messed up.

(19:38):
I failed again, and once youfail that, you have to wait one
year.
Then you become a privatecandidate.
You are no more a schoolstudent, so you have to wait one
year.
One year is a long time.
And then I think what I'll dofor one year.
Like everyone is like, hey, I'mgoing to NIT, I'm going to IIT,
I'm going into you know, thisuniversity, that college, where

(19:58):
are you going?
I'm going nowhere, I am at home.
And then I was like, okay,let's look into this case.
I went to the website.
There was a website called hackforums Now it's not not active
anymore.
So people were sharing theircreator fishing page.
This is the tutorial.
Blah blah started taking itdown because I was in computer.
Like, okay, let's try this.
And I set it up.
I set the trap and I eventuallywas able to investigate on my

(20:23):
own some things and I got somenumbers, ip addresses, and then
I went to the police again.
I was like here you go.
And they were like oh, okay,not everyone has not many people
have static IP address orinternet connection.
We might get some sort of it.
So we tried to investigate itand eventually we were able to
get few names from.

(20:43):
There was a company called HFCLconnect at that time, so
connect broadband.
Yeah, it's an IP internetcompany.
So we, we, we tried to getsomething from them and
eventually we got to know fromwhich location, roughly this was
happening.
But then my family said that Iknow that person.
Yeah, I think so I won't talkabout it much, but I was told by

(21:06):
my family, like you should notlet them go, man, it's a.
It's a.
It's not something that ischanging your life.
It's not.
It's almost almost been eightmonths now, so forget about it.
But then the police guys saidthat how about you help us with
all these cases that we have?
The problem in India is thatwhen you are talking with

(21:29):
somebody in government and allthere, you know there there are
a lot of things you have toconsider before you work with
everyone and anyone.
But again, my family supportedme.
Again.

Gurasis (21:40):
They were like okay, you can do something.

Parul (21:43):
You can try.
You don't have to do anything,don't take any money, just do it
to learn.
And I was able to help themwith one of the cases and then I
got to know that there is afull fledged field for this and
eventually, online, there arecourses and there is a strategic

(22:03):
or process.
You know, there's a way to dothese things and it's like CID
or all those TV shows you watch.
There's a step by stepinvestigation and forensics.
And I started taking thosecourses on the side.
Again, those were paid by myfamily and I wanted to order the
books.
So my elder brother, princeKhanna he was earning at that

(22:24):
time 7000 to 8000 rupees a monthOkay, my family said you want
to explore, it's okay, but ifyou're asking for 10,000 rupees
just in a month, we just wait.
Man, just do whatever you'redoing on the computer.
My brother gave his whole onemonth salary to me to order
those books from Amazoncom.

(22:45):
In Amazonin there were no books, so you have to order fromcom.
It's in dollars.
The book is like 50-40 dollars.
Like I need 4 or 6 books, man.
My brother said, okay, let'sget you the books, but I don't
have a credit card.
So then he asked his boss touse his credit card to help me
in buying those books andeventually he will pay him when

(23:07):
his salary arrives.
So he got me those books andthen I get to know the full
steps so that I can act morelike a subject matter expert
when I'm talking to the policeor somebody.
And we started using those tipsand tricks and all those you
know, all those vectors added upin and eventually I got to know
the whole process and I wasdoing more work now by just
doing these freelance cases.

(23:28):
And then one of the cases thatcame in was there were around 67
lakhs transferred from one ofJalandhar's industrialist
account to some random accountsand police was not able to help.
So then they contacted me bysome references and then
eventually I went to them and Itook care of it by asking them

(23:50):
questions, looking at theircomputers, investigating.
I found there was something ontheir machines and they were
tracking from China andbasically they had access to
their PNV accounts, punjabNational Bank accounts and there
was no two factorauthentication at that time.
You have net making password,boom, you are in.
So what the attackers weredoing were they were taking 1
lakh rupees every few days fromtheir account and the account

(24:10):
was quite big.
It was like crores of rupeesgoing in and out every week.
So they didn't notice it formonths.
They noticed it when they weredoing the audits for the
taxation and all.
Where did that?
Like 1 crore of rupees missing.
So I helped with them, I workedwith them eventually and that
made to the news and that cameinto all the front news in the

(24:33):
Punjabi English everywhere that19 year old is helping the
police and small businesses.
That was again a breaking point, because when you go to a
national news, everyone knowsyou and everyone knows you.
If everyone knows you, many ofthem will have the same problem.
And then I started getting morecalls or more referrals from

(24:57):
police.
Hey, we got a call from inthose times they have someone
your reader who wants to do this, who wants to do that.
And then it started piling up somuch on my plate that I was
like, oh my God, I cannot handleit.
Then my parents came back inagain.
They were like you cannotcontinue this.
Like you know the way you arehandling, we wanted you to

(25:18):
explore and just do somethingfor no profit.
Now people are offering memoney 50,000 rupees, 60,000
rupees.
They just want me to listen tothem.
Maybe they have some hope.
Because the system is not inplace.
And I started taking money fromsome people to eventually
10,000, 20,000, 30,000 rupees.
But again my family said youcannot do this on.
You know, unofficially registera company.

(25:39):
And that's where we came withthe third eye ethical hackers.
So I branded this name thirdeye.
Basically it's like third eyethat is going to help you and
see you know, show it.

Gurasis (25:51):
You can't see yeah.

Parul (25:52):
Yeah, I think we can't see and we came up with this In
my family.
There is already a business.
One of my cousins have thirdeye intelligence bureau.
It's more of like privatedetectives, so the name was
inspired by their business toset.
We can do third eye ethicalhackers and I'll create a team
of hackers which team I don'tknow yet, but I'll create

(26:13):
something because I might needpeople to help me and we
registered this company and theneventually, once you have a
company registered, you have acompany account so you can go
official and charge Right.
We started making money andit's been like few months since
I failed my chemistry exams andI am already seeing 20, 30,

(26:34):
40,000 rupees in my pocket.
Imagine, late in your old in2010 and every month you are
getting 20,000, 10,000, 30,000,40,000.
So then I was like, oh my God,I don't have to study anymore.

Gurasis (26:47):
Yeah.

Parul (26:48):
Then I start like I was going to revolt with my family.
I was like I'm not going forthe next chemistry exam, I'm
going to do this for my life.
This is my life.
That's what you think, right,like you're like okay, you see,
many of my friends didn't evenstarted their BTEC yet.
Yeah, why do I need a BTEC?
I'm a star.
I was too proud of myself.
But then I was reminded no, youare not.

(27:09):
You are, but you need academics, they said.
Sometimes you will see somestages of your life where you
have to be on the table and onlypeople with academic
qualification will go on thattable.
You won't get access to those.
You know cases, or maybe wedon't know what you're going to
do.
Please, bro, just go for exam,just pass, just like you have

(27:32):
been doing since years.
You are good at it.
You have to pass.
Yeah, just take a degree, right, just take a high school
diploma on your name.
I was like, okay, we'll do it.
And then I really prepared forthe exam.
But, trust me, when the examcame in front of my eyes, I
still didn't get any clue.
I was blank, I didn't giveanswers, I just made random

(27:55):
guesses again and I was likeokay, maybe it's this.
Then I started.
I actually got the exam,similar to my first exam which I
failed.
The final one, I got the examsimilar to my first exam.
Again I pointed like I went forthe exam, the results came out
and I passed just exactly on thepassing grade, 33, not 30.

(28:15):
Maybe they just gave me 33 outof you know out of it, like they
were like, okay, let's, let's,let's, let's let him go.
Maybe I was at 30 or 31.
I don't know, but when I camehome and I counted, I was at 26.
I was like, oh, I'm done again,and if you fail that one, you
have to go for all the subjectsagain.

(28:37):
Yeah, you cannot just havecompartment exams every day.
Right, you get two chances,otherwise you go to school again
.
I was like I don't want to be afailure in my class.
Man, imagine you go to theclass and everyone's like, oh,
this guy failed.
Right, that's the life I don'twant.
And I was like I'm alreadymaking money Even if I don't
pass.
Who cares?
But I actually passed and thenI was like, okay, I'm done with

(28:59):
my plus two, I don't want tostudy further.
And basically, you know, whenyou are a private candidate, you
don't have a good list ofcolleges for engineering, like
they prefer people who just camefresh out of class and they
will only give counseling andseats to them.
I was getting colleges in UttarPradesh, jharkhand, some some
tier four, tier five, and I waslike no, I don't want to do

(29:23):
engineering and I thinkengineering is difficult for me.
I talked to my friends, somostly most of my friends didn't
even talk to me after I failed,because in India families push
their children to be only withsuccessful kids and not with
people who have failed and theywere all just trying me yeah
yeah, yeah, don't go with him,man.
He, he has nothing in his lifeleft.
You go ahead.
Your life is starting.

(29:44):
My life didn't start right.
My life was in another way.
It's another platform.
I don't know which direction itis.
So I still was in connectionwith few of my friends and I
talked to them.
They were like Parul, we don'tthink you will be able to do
this.
Because they were with me inclass.
They knew me already.
So I'm going to go to ParulMathematics again.
Trust us, not worth it.
And I kind of trusted them andI kind of knew myself too I am

(30:08):
not gonna succeed if I go forengineering and I told my family
I don't wanna study.
It's done.
But now another turning pointkicks in because I'm doing all
these cases.
I got an invitation from one ofthe college in Jalandhar.
It's called HMB college.
It's a girls college.
They were like come here andpresent and talk about the cases

(30:30):
you have solved, because I wasin news.
So they wanted somebody to comeand talk and give a speech.

Gurasis (30:36):
Yeah, Before you talk about the colleges, tell me like
, since you were getting thismedia coverage, people were
reaching out to you to solvecases how about relatives
reacting, then Tell me aboutthat.

Parul (30:47):
Actually, I didn't even bother to check on them when I
was working on all these areas.
But the reaction was that youare pushing your kid into
something that is dangerous,that is criminal and it's not
gonna work really well.
Because when you talk aboutethical hacking or hacking or

(31:07):
something like this what youenvision right In Indian middle
class society a dark room withsomebody, matrix on screen and
you are kind of stealing thingsor doing some crazy shit stuff
so they were like he's too youngfor all this and the fact that
when I was working on thesecases, I used to meet with a lot

(31:28):
of police officials there arecars with red lights, you know,
revolving around always and I'mgoing to they were like this
thing is not gonna work andeventually you are working on
cases that involve criminals.
This thing is not going to endup really well because they are
gonna come back at one point.
There's a lot of speculationand a lot of future projections

(31:51):
coming in, but my family theywere like it's okay, let him do.

Gurasis (31:56):
Well, I'm loving your family.
Just hearing about it, I'mloving your family.

Parul (32:01):
They were like it's okay, he'll manage, will manage.
And the fact just imagine mymom is a principal of a school
200, 300 kids.
And their son is not really goodin academics.
So there were that push alsocoming in like he's not going
for education and you arerunning like what example you
are setting.
They were like it's okay, wehave an elder brother, he's

(32:23):
doing MBA, good for him, He'lldo whatever he wants.
Because I have a gap of 11 to12 years with my siblings, my
brother and my sister, so I cameinto this world quite late, so
I was the favorite child of thefamily.
Eventually again now we are ina stage where I'm working on all

(32:43):
these cases and everything.
Family is not caring aboutwhatever anyone has to say, but
they were just saying be safe.
Don't take any decisions ordon't say yes to everything that
comes on your way.
So my brother and my fatherused to go with me to the
clients and whenever there is atalk about are you gonna do this

(33:04):
, can you help us?
I was not the guy who will sayyes, they used to hit my foot,
don't open your mouth.
Yeah, they were like.
The judgment part goes to them.
I am more of like a facilitator.

Gurasis (33:16):
I'll just take them and they are the one who guided you
to start.
The third, I think, are hackers.
But that's how it was born,because money wasn't bought, and
then also and of course, theincreasing cyber attacks and the
lack of sufficient awarenesswas there.
And then, to enhance theknowledge of the students and
society, you started givingseminars in colleges, like you

(33:37):
were talking, and you were doingseminars all around the country
.

Parul (33:41):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and there's again a natural
selection to this part too.
So when you are doing cases andeverything, somebody invites
you.
You're like, okay, let's go andtalk about it.
So when I started giving it, itcame into news.
You know, colleges usually putthis guy came to talk about
expert lectures.
So then other colleges invitingme and from their news, another

(34:01):
one is inviting me.
So it's free so far, but at onepoint people are asking me
questions hey, I wanna get intothis.
Are there any trainingsavailable?
And I knew that whatever I readwas more theoretical online and
everything that came on myscreen or whatever I was selling
was self taught.
So like, let's create a programand teach and you can create

(34:27):
revenue out of it and it's asafe business, as per my family
also.
I'm not doing cases, I'mteaching.
My family is in teachingbusiness.
This all connects really welland we are teaching kids, right?
Yeah, what can be more betterthan this?
So we started like two daysworkshop on cybersecurity and
there what I do is I just sharewhatever I did to solve that

(34:50):
case or this case or what toolsI learned.
I wasn't really good inprogramming, but I was more on
the practical side ofunderstanding it.
So I just shared that.
Okay, you don't have to bereally smart or become a great
programmer to get intocybersecurity.
This is what I did and I waslike let me share.
If somebody is even doingbetter than me, who cares?
I'm going to do what I'm goingto do, right, everyone has their

(35:12):
own own or their own expertise.
Then people started pushing meagain.
Oh, you are sharing everything.
You are going to be on groundin no time.
Everyone will be taking over.
I was like who cares man?

Gurasis (35:24):
Yeah.

Parul (35:26):
I'm not keeping it to myself, because sometimes I met
people who knew more than mewhen they were given some
instructions and I was learningfrom them.
So basically, I am just givingthem examples.
And they were like how aboutyou have done this case like
this?
Okay, well, that is smart, I'lldo this.
So this was working in my favorand we started doing series of

(35:47):
workshops and then eventually Ihad somebody from Lodiana that
came up with the proposal.
This guy and he mentioned to melike I'm going to bring all
these contracts to you, you justhave to go and present and I'm
going to manage everything foryou.
So that was part two, becausethat was a challenge for me to
talk to each university, set uptime, set up a fee and

(36:11):
everything.
So that guy said I'm going todo everything for you.
Just have to take the flight,take the train, go to the place,
give you a workshop, you'redone.
We worked out on thatarrangement that gave me a lot
of space to study more, learnmore, design a better curriculum
and also get more business.
Then we went and India, lucknow, kerala, new Delhi, aansar

(36:33):
University, goodgaon College ofEngineering, kerala, montewari,
hyderabad.

Gurasis (36:38):
SRM.

Parul (36:39):
University, everywhere places you cannot even imagine
that somebody is actuallystudying cybersecurity.
So they were bringing all thosecontracts because they were
good at their job and I was goodat mine and the reachability
expanded and increased and withthat, news coverage increased,
awareness increased and peoplewere getting more attacks.

(36:59):
People were going more online.
So BTEC and Amtech studentsdidn't actually had any module
of cybersecurity in theircurriculum.
They were software engineers,computer engineers, but there
was no course for cyber.
So this was our USP that you dothis and you can become a
dedicated cybersecurity engineer.

Gurasis (37:17):
Yeah.

Parul (37:17):
You did really well, trust me, it was fun.

Gurasis (37:20):
How many?
Do you have a number in yourmind that how many workshops you
did?

Parul (37:25):
I think we free and paid.
If we put together, we arecrossing 100 for sure.

Gurasis (37:32):
Oh, wow, that's crazy.

Parul (37:34):
But I did free more initially because I was really
not that great in publicpresentation and at some points
I felt that if I'm going to abigger school let's say I did
Delhi or some bigger universitywhere big cities and people
already are well versed inEnglish and communication and
presentation.
I was getting stuck.
I wasn't able to make or formcomplete sentences because my

(37:56):
training was not really thatwell of public presentation.
So what I did is I picked upcolleges and universities in
villages of Punjab, or PunjabTechnical University or some
schools with high schoolstudents just to practice my
English, like OK, I'll give youa free lecture One hour.
I'm coming, you want to have me?
They're like OK, no problem,classroom lecture.
So I go to Gurdaspur, I go toHashiarpur, so I started picking

(38:20):
up venues at that, places wherenobody is going to judge me on
my English but more on thecontent I'm sharing, and I get
to learn and practice my Englishand then so that when I'm
presenting in terms of acorporate or businesses, I have
practiced my language.

Gurasis (38:35):
But you also see that you were just 18 or 19.
That's also one consideredpretty young at that age.
But also the best thing is, youare very true yourself.
You knew that.
Ok, I'm good in this and I'mnot good in that, but I also
want to talk about three majorevents before we get into your
Canadian journey, and one ofthem was you helped a famous
Indian cricketer to recover hisFacebook account.

(38:57):
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Now let's get back to theepisode.

(40:02):
You helped a famous Indiancricketer to recover his
Facebook account.
Tell us about that experience.

Parul (40:09):
That was fun too, so I am watching this movie, Rowdy,
Rathore, in PVR cinemas.

Gurasis (40:16):
Okay.

Parul (40:17):
And I get a call.
They're like hello, I amHarbhajan Singh's assistant and
we have to solve a case.
The account is hacked.
I was like, okay, I actuallywasn't into cricket and
everything.
I was more on computer.
So I wasn't into any physicalsport.
Let me tell you, I was verysoft with AC on and video games.

(40:37):
I was like, okay, call me later.
I'm in a movie.
And then again I get a call, pa, of him, we have a case, you
have to get it done.
I was like I'm in a movie, letme talk to you tomorrow.
Then my brother calls me Boy,why you are not answering your
phone?
There's a call from this guy,he's a cricketer, and everything

(40:57):
.
I was like, okay, come out ofthe movie hall, there are people
waiting for you to pick you upfrom the movie hall.
So I think, okay, and thenthere was.
You must have seen the news.
So I worked with some groupsand they shared with me.

(41:17):
Like you know, we have beenworking on this case and we were
not able to find anything oreverything.
We are not able to recover theaccount.
So then I was like, okay, sothat's what exactly I was going
to do.
So I needed some help and Ijoined hands with somebody in
New Delhi.
There was a guy I met online onforums.
His name was Hemanshu.

(41:38):
I was like Hemanshu.
This is the case, and if webreak you know anything on this
case, we are going to be starsand it's a lot of money and a
lot of him.
And imagine, you know, whenyou're young.
You're very fascinated andexcited of being the ideal,
because this is something wehave to do, and we worked on

(42:00):
this account together and wewere able to recover it within a
day.
It was more of like playingwith the you know the data and
the questions, his previouspasswords and try to get into
the account anyway, recover.
There were different tricks youcould use, but we got the
access and the moment we got theaccess again.

(42:20):
Now you have national coverage.
Okay, when you are solvingsomething for international
cricketer, you are on all thewebsites and all the news
portals.
Now, when you do this, theother cricketers get to know
your name too and the BCCI getto know your name too.
Right, and the referrals aregoing to be great.

(42:41):
So we solved it and it wastaken really positively by media
and everything and everythingwent well and we started getting
more calls, more cases and thenBCCI people.
From there, anything ishappening.
We are getting a message to seeif we can do it or not.
So, yeah, that's how it wentwell.

(43:02):
But yeah, good part, I get tosee the accounts of these famous
people.

Gurasis (43:08):
Did it boost your ego in any way after this?

Parul (43:11):
Not really.
I was just surprised that theworld becomes so small when you
are working on something thatyou are good at and it's unique.
And that's something that gaveme more kick to practice this
more, because I was like whyanyone is not doing this?
Like you know, you ask yourselflike I'm not that smart, but

(43:36):
why not everyone is trying thisout right.
And then there is a course Iwanted to take again more.
So the good thing about this isthat at one point, you know, I
was always balancing myknowledge versus my workload and
seeing if I'm still out of itor not.
Because in this kind ofbusiness, if you don't know
what's next, if Windows 7 isyour expertise and Windows 10 is

(43:59):
there or you know, you cannotprogress.
So you really have to learn.
So I kept on my training and Ikept on creating my team,
training them.
This is how we were running.
And at one point now let's goback to the education part I
have to start my bachelor's.
My family is like takeadmission in bachelor's, man,

(44:20):
anyone will offer your admissionin bachelor's.
Now, now you are on news.
So APJ College of Jolander,they offered me a bachelor's of
computer science, computerapplications, and they were
already happy with the fact thatI am going there and choosing
them and they offered me anexemption on not attending all

(44:41):
the classes and everything.
I can just go there, go for myexams.
The only condition is I must betalking about the college on
news that I am studying thereand it helps them.
It's a win-win for both.
So let's do this.
I was like, okay, so I joinedthe BCA course and on the side
I'm doing my bachelor's.
Thanks to my family for thissuggestion, otherwise I wouldn't

(45:04):
be in Canada, right?
Because you cannot come toCanada without a bachelor's
directly into master's.
That's another story we'lldiscuss, but again it helped.
I wasn't really fond ofstudying because I was teaching
PhD and master's studentcybersecurity and I was like I
don't want to go to bachelor's,I'm not learning anything, I
know all that already, but youneed to have it on paper.
That's how I managed to get mybachelor's also.

Gurasis (45:28):
Okay, one thing you said.
I love that.
You know that the world becomesso small when you are good at
your job, and that is really alearning from the story.
So I was part of also.
I end up like I stumbled uponone of your interview from 2013,
when you just landed in Canada.
That was like nine years ago orso and you talked about these

(45:49):
two incidents and you weresharing your experiences of
these two incidents, and one ofthem was the National Security
Information Fair, when you wereinvited for the Ministry of
Defence at Indian Air Force andyou were felicitated with the
Medal of Civilian Honor, and Ithink that's a huge achievement.
I want you to share yourexperience with that, and you
were also saying in an interviewthat there were more than 300

(46:11):
people, including officers, whogave you a standing ovation.
Tell me about that experienceand that moment.

Parul (46:17):
That's, yeah, that's a golden moment of my life.
I don't know, like I didn'texpect it, that that that's
going to happen.
So.
So when I was doing all thisand there is no Air Force
station in Aadampur and somebodyreached out to us for a
presentation, and at that time Iwas in my bachelor's and I was

(46:38):
doing all this business, everyday I'm on news.
Now I am a fixed columnist inmany newspapers.
Where I'm giving my comment,Something happens.
They're like okay.
Parul what do you think?
So the pictures are there andpeople are reading about it.
Right now, everyone is readingand Air Force people are also
reading about it, and there wasthis cybersecurity awareness.
You know that there wereattacks from China and

(46:59):
everywhere and the things werepicking up on the cyber side.
So awareness is a must.
So all the cadets and all thenew officers who just came in
and they are doing their youknow journey and their training
they must be aware aboutcybersecurity.
So their leadership actuallyplanned this event called
information warfare 2013, Ithink something like that, and

(47:22):
they invited me as a speaker totalk about national security and
the threats that we are facingin future.
Again, this is more of like atopic that you can research on
or, you know, envision.
That's what's going to happen,and they wanted me to talk about
it.
That itself was an honor.
So I only knew this part, thatI'm going to go there and talk,

(47:46):
and my family was like dude,just go there, talk, don't say
anything extra, don't sayanything less.
Be yourself.
So I didn't expect it that theyare going to have the full hall,
you know, of people, and thereare people from all backgrounds,
from Air Force, you knowcommand and all those levels and

(48:07):
ranks.
So I went there, I prepared adeck national security and
battle of minds that's what Icalled it, because it's actually
a battle of minds and Ipresented on my experience and
like what happened in the pastand what was going to happen in
the future, as per me, and whyeveryone should know about cyber
security.
So, and when I went to the hall, dude, everyone is wearing

(48:29):
their uniforms, it's all full.
I am usually presenting tostudents, right, this is a
setting I have never imagined, Ihave never prepared for and
something that is giving me more, you know, like goosebumps.
So I presented and even aftermy presentation, they were like
thank you so much for coming in.
Now we would like to.
We have decided to award youwith the medal.

(48:52):
It's like that.
You know that silver plate,it's actually silver, it's made
of silver and it's in thejewelry box.

Gurasis (49:01):
Wow.

Parul (49:02):
Oh my God.
So when they so, I thinkthere's a process to when they
do that they give it to you.
Everyone stands up and oh man, Icannot explain it in words.
What was that?
And I usually I am the guy whoalways asks people to take a lot

(49:22):
of pictures.
This time I didn't ask somebodyfor a picture, but somebody was
already taking pictures for meand they came to me later and I
showed that to my family andthey were like wow, what is this
?
And even I was like wow.
And when that event was doneand I was on my way back home, I
was like what am I doing?
Like what is happening, man?

(49:43):
Like I didn't plan for all thisright, and now the kind of
respect I am getting.
I was like am I even worthy ofthis respect?
Like like I was like you know,right, these people are officers
.
And like I was like like whatam I doing, man?
What kind of business I cameinto.
And that's what I shared withmy family too, on the emotional

(50:03):
level, like I don't know whatI'm doing.
And they were like we know whatyou're doing and we're proud of
you and that's what matters.

Gurasis (50:09):
As one should be.

Parul (50:11):
Again, family kicks in, right.
I was like, okay, my mom stillhas that.
You know everything I came.
So even they have preserved theflowers and everything that I
got till date.
When I went to India recentlyand it was there in my room,
they just kept it like this andthey clean it and I like it's
here, it's for you and that'swhat you have.

(50:32):
And I got a clock also that hasAir Force logo, and my mom
still has that clock in her roomin Jalandhar that has that Air
Force logo.
It's not something you can buyright.
It's more of like you earned it.
So definitely that part was thebest experience of my life.
And after that I came to Canadathe consecutive year so I

(50:55):
didn't continue to partner withthe you know these organizations
more, but it was fun part.
I gave you the full breakdownof this.
And when you go there, when thecar crosses, when you get into
the Air Force zone, so whereveryou know somebody comes to
receive you on the door.
So from wherever the car ispassing through, everyone will

(51:17):
salute.
It's like I think it's aprocess.
So whenever the general's caris going, everyone stands.
I was like what's happening,man?

Gurasis (51:25):
That's crazy, this is unbelievable.

Parul (51:27):
This is 12th fail, right?
Just imagine, come on man, if Iwouldn't have failed, I
wouldn't have been experiencingthis that level of fame and that
level of fun and that level ofexperiences is something, oh man
.
I don't want to explain youfurther.
I can talk about it whole day.

Gurasis (51:46):
Well, all in all, I think my crux is that you are
the testament.
That these marks, thesefailures, doesn't, doesn't
matter.
All these failures, basically,is the redirection.
Literally, these failures areredirection and they put you in
places you never even thoughtand life has its own mysterious
ways of unfolding.

Parul (52:07):
See, this is the process Exactly.
I completely agree with you.
At that time maybe I wasn'tagreeing with everything that's
happening, right, but now Irealize that it's the process
that's important.
It's not like if you are goingto get all the greens on all
stages of your life, thenthere's no fun.
This is the process.
So you were realized that fiveyears later, in the grand scheme

(52:29):
of things, this is going towork out much, much better for
you.
Now, if I was at that pointcomparing myself with all the
students who were in my class,many of them might be in a job
right now, after theirgraduation, just living their
life happily.
But who could have imagined,right, that I would walk out

(52:49):
like this and just, you know, doall these things and get to
travel and have fun and goabroad and everything.

Gurasis (52:58):
I think I always say that nothing happens to you, it
happens for you.
You just have to find the goodin every adversity that come
your way, but in your case,varul, your list of echo lights
didn't stop there.
You were also invited to themobile and wireless solution
forum 2023, al Qaeda, lampur,malaysia.
And tell us about that, and itwas also the first time you were

(53:21):
sharing.
I saw a video that you weretraveling in business class.
You had that experience.
You said I saw that in movies,but finally I'm there.
And in that interview you werealso telling me that you were
telling into the interviewerthat the moment your name was
announced, you got on the stageand all the spotlights were on
you and they followed you toyour podium.
Tell me about that experience.

Parul (53:42):
That's fun too.
Again, amazing.
So 2013, by the way, 2023 isnow, so we are going back in
time.
So when I was doing all theseseminars and everything, I got
an invitation from a conferencein New Delhi.
It's called Nullcon, it's veryfamous even now, and I was just

(54:04):
there to attend.
That's it.
And then I got to know thatthese conferences invite people
from US or Canada or UK to givea 10 to 15 minute speech.
And I was asking my friends whowere attending the conference
did they invite somebody to talkfor 15 minutes?

(54:24):
All the way from New York, likethis FBI guy is there just to
present for 10 minutes, and he'sdone.
He's like, hey guys, he'scheering up.
It's like, wow, this is amazing, is this even real?
Does that happen so often?
If you are good at your craft,people?
were like for sure, if you aredoing these things,

(54:45):
international companies inviteyou.
That's what we're talking about.
It's 2012.
When I'm attending this, 2013January, I wake up.
I am sleeping next to mybrother and I get this email you
are invited to a conference inKuala Lumpur World Trade Center
to talk about wireless securityor mobile security.

(55:05):
This is in reference to somenews articles that were
published.
So, again, all that news came in.
So they found me.
It was too good to be true forme.
I showed it to my brother.
I was like wake up, look atthis, is this fake scam?
Like you do this every day?
Of course it's scam.
Like then, I did my research.

(55:26):
I checked the domain, check theownership of domain, the event
management company, linkedin,everything.
It's like these things are real.
These guys are real man.
They already had these eventsin 2011, 2010.
This thing is real.
Let's reply.
So I replied and they came upwith all the details the speaker
package.
You will get these many dollars, you will be traveling business

(55:49):
class, we will host you in ahotel, your meals are paid, you
will be presenting for 20minutes.
Your slot will be at 1 to 4 pm,if you are available, reply.
I was like oh, if, if you don'thave visa, we will get you the
visa, we will pay for the visa,everything is there.
So I went with the process andflow and everything was done.

(56:11):
And here you go, business class.
I remember seeing a movie,gajini, where you know the
Gautam Singh Hania, I don't knowSanjay Singh Hania comes out of
the plane and I was alwaysthinking man, this is life.
And now, when I'm in the samekind of setting business class.
I've been always travelingeconomy in my whole life.
I don't know what businessclass means.

(56:32):
And you have the bigger chair,you have food served in glass
utensils and glasses and wineglasses.
That was the moment of my life.
Again, I was like, let's takesome pictures and go to this
conference.
The moment you get out of theairport there's a guy with your
name.
So I take pictures of him.
I take pictures of everythingso that I can keep watching it

(56:55):
and enjoying it.
I still have those pictures.
Sometimes they show up in myGoogle photos memories.
So this guy is standing therewith my name, he picks me up,
there's a nice car BMW 7 seriesStaking to the hotel and then
there is somebody to greet mealready and they give me like a
speaker package kit that givesme all the schedule.
They give me the card andeverything.

(57:15):
It's fun.
I go to the stage and now theview has changed because this is
an international event.
They have people from allacross the world and when they
are inviting speakers usuallyit's like hello guys, good
morning.
Today my name is Parul, buthere it's like somebody saying
his name is Parul.
And right on and there's a nameon the two screens that's like
IFA awards for me.

(57:36):
Oh my God, what is this?

Gurasis (57:39):
Living the dream.

Parul (57:42):
Crazy man and everyone has that sheet in their hands.
That has, you know the sheet.
I got this program schedulewith my photo and everyone has
my picture and I know everyonehas my picture.
That's the same kit I had.

Gurasis (57:54):
Unbelievable.

Parul (57:56):
And.
But at that point I waschallenged with some questions I
don't know answer to becausethe level of the challenge has
increased.
Now to another level, you knowlike a bank is asking me how do
you protect data of 50,000employees, 100,000 clients?

Gurasis (58:14):
I don't know.

Parul (58:14):
I was like, okay, I just, you know, answered them.
But inside my you know head Iwas like, dude, this is going
somewhere that's going to end upbadly.
I have to level up, but I don'thave training, I don't know how
to learn.
So from that conference,somebody said are you available?
Next month we have a conference, we'll do everything they have
done, we'll match everything.

(58:35):
You want to come?
You have the visa.
This time I have the visa.
I was like okay, I'll come.
So next month I'm going againin business class.
Then from that event, somebodyelse comes in hey, this was
great, we want to have you at anevent, company event in Kuala
Lumpur.
It's a new conference,enterprise architecture.

(58:56):
Can you talk about cyber crimeand cases?
I was like, oh, this is myphoto, let's do it.
So this way, I did like four orfive visits to Malaysia.
It was like everyday thing nowfor me.
Two months ago it was a dreamto go abroad and even save for
it.
This is all free.
That's the fun part for me.

(59:17):
All free and all fun.
But again, I knew that thechallenges are increasing now
and I have to study.
And then the next phase comesin, which is moving to Canada,
part.

Gurasis (59:32):
This is so inspiring.
I don't know if you reallyunderstand the depth of it, how
inspiring this is.
Seeing your journey fromliterally let's just use the
word failing from those classesand coming to this ground, where
you are standing in this roomwith professionals and you are
presenting in front of them andjust on the basis of your

(59:54):
expertise in a particular topic.
This is incredible, Awesome.
Hey, thank you for making itthis far.
I'm going to cut this episodehere, Otherwise it will get way
too long.
I wanted to come back next weekfor the part two of my
conversation with Parul where wedelve into his Canadian journey
, talk more about his YouTubechannel, how he started it, how

(01:00:14):
he deal with trolls and much,much more.
Here's a sneak peek of that.

Parul (01:00:19):
There are videos that sometimes hit millions of views,
like, for example, you rememberthat car video where I'm
cleaning and I'm saying don'tcome to Canada.
15 million views on YouTube andsimilarly 15 on Instagram.
That's a 30 million views.
Now imagine the number ofcomments that contains love,
hate.
I don't do that.
I'm not an immigration agent,but I cannot trust any
immigration agent out there tothe market is messed up.

(01:00:41):
I know I get sometimes a lot ofhate comments to that you are
commercializing everything.
If I don't do, then how comepeople will take me seriously,
right?
Some people think that YouTubeis the way I make my living out.
To be very clear, I can rightnow say that on your podcast for
the first time.

Gurasis (01:00:57):
And what's the most expensive thing you would like
to own?

Parul (01:01:00):
Wow, I don't want to share that actually.

Gurasis (01:01:04):
So stay tuned and let's continue knowing each
other beneath the accent.

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From Humble Beginnings to Cybersecurity Stardom: Parul Khanna's Extraordinary Journey | Ep. 041

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}From Humble Beginnings to Cybersecurity Stardom: Parul Khanna's Extraordinary Journey | Ep. 041