चार धागे · एक लौ — four threads, one flame

Nimish Mehta

I build things with technology, try to be useful to people doing good work, sit in meditation more days than not, and write small poems when life insists on being seen. None of these are separate.

सही राह का बोध है तुझे, फिर भी गलत राहों पर लुप्त है तु

you know the right path, and still you lose yourself on the wrong ones.
begin

01 — the person behind the work

A person, becoming.

I'm Nimish. The short version is that I'm a builder and an entrepreneur. The truer version is that I'm someone still learning how to be a kind and humble person while reaching for things that are bigger than me.

I care a lot about doing work that matters, and I care just as much about how I move through the day — whether I was patient, whether I was honest, whether I gave more than I took. I don't always manage it. But that gap between who I am and who I want to be is the thing I keep showing up for.

What I care about

I want to use what I'm able to build to lighten real burdens for real people — especially those who spend themselves on others and rarely get tools built for them. I believe in giving back whenever I can, in staying curious at the edge of what technology makes possible, and in keeping a quiet inner life so the outer one doesn't lose its way.

On failing, and trying again

I fail at a lot of things — more often than I succeed, if I'm counting. I lose my patience, I fall short of my own intentions, I get things wrong. What I try to do is notice the flaw honestly, sit with it without pretending, and take one step past it. Sometimes that step works. Often it doesn't and I begin again. The meditation helps. The writing helps. Mostly it's just the daily decision to keep becoming the person I hope to be, rather than settling for the one I already am.

The throughline

People sometimes ask how the technology, the nonprofit work, the meditation, and the poetry fit together. To me they're one impulse seen from different sides: pay close attention, reduce suffering where you can, and tell the truth about what you find. Code is how I solve. Service is why. Pranahuti is how I stay steady. Nazm is how I stay honest.

If you'd like the roles, dates, and the technical history — it's all in the little terminal below. Type work, ventures, or skills.

02 — what I help make

Building

I'm drawn to problems where good people are held back by bad tools. The work I'm most proud of isn't clever for its own sake — it's the kind that quietly disappears into someone's day and gives them back their time and attention for the mission they actually care about. Lately that has meant building for nonprofits, an under-served corner of software where the stakes are high and the tooling is thin.

the company

Bookr

Bookr exists to give nonprofits the financial clarity that businesses take for granted. Mission-driven organisations carry the same complexity as any company — often more — but with a fraction of the tools and staff. Bookr builds software that closes that gap, so the people doing the work can see their numbers clearly and make good decisions without needing to be accountants.

instant FP&A & impact reporting for nonprofits

Pebble

The problem: a nonprofit's story lives scattered across a dozen tools — accounting, payroll, grants, programs — and pulling it into a clear financial and impact picture can take weeks most teams can't spare.

What Pebble does: it connects those tools in minutes into a single, near-real-time view — pre-built KPIs, financial reports, and budgets and goals a team can actually monitor. The value isn't the dashboard; it's that a finance lead or an executive director can answer "how are we really doing?" the moment they're asked, not the month after.

purpose-built accounting for nonprofits

Ingestion

The problem: generic accounting software wasn't made for how nonprofits work — restricted funds, grant tracking, cash and accrual side by side, reconciliation that eats days every month.

What Ingestion does: an accounting platform built for this reality — automatic reconciliation across cash and accrual, built-in reporting and general ledger, budgeting and forecasting in one place. The value is hours returned to small teams, and books they can trust when a funder or a board asks.

The craft

Under the hood I like building systems that stay calm under scale — data platforms, reliable pipelines, and lately AI applied where it genuinely helps rather than where it merely impresses. The technical detail is in the terminal (skills), and I'd love to compare notes.

Giving back

Some of the work I value most has no invoice attached. Over the years I've tried to lend whatever engineering and product help I can to startups and nonprofits solving real problems — including 3rd Street Youth, Bayview Hunters, and Aarohan. I mention them not as credentials but out of gratitude; they let me be useful, and that's its own reward.

the living cv · nimish@life:~

Curious? Ask me things.

Instead of a CV, a small terminal — the roles, dates, and the rest of the résumé live here. Type help, or just tap a command. The blinking caret is a little flame of its own.

The same facts, as plain text

Work

A short history, newest first. Roles stated plainly; the work is the point.

  • 2020–now Bookr — Co-founder & CTO. Building software that gives nonprofits the financial clarity businesses take for granted.
  • 2018–2020 Medlife — Director, Engineering. Led engineering for diagnostics & e-consultation in a large health-tech platform.
  • 2015–2019 Medlabz — Co-founder (CPO/CTO). Product, design and engineering for a healthcare venture.
  • 2013–2015 GulfTalent — Software Engineer. Part of the team that rebuilt the product and its stack.
  • consulting Dozee · Globalspace · Docexa, and several nonprofits — across healthcare, IoT, fintech and the social sector.

Ventures

Bookr — clarity for nonprofits. Mission-driven teams carry business-grade complexity with a fraction of the tools. Bookr closes that gap. Two products:

  • Pebble — instant FP&A + impact reporting. Connects a nonprofit's scattered tools in minutes into one near-real-time view.
  • Ingestion — accounting built for nonprofits: auto-reconciliation across cash & accrual, built-in reporting and GL, budgeting and forecasting.

Skills

web/app
Django · React / React Native · Angular
data
Postgres/MySQL · Kafka · Spark/EMR/Databricks · Clickhouse/Redshift · DBT · CDC/Debezium
infra
AWS · GCP · VPC/networking · Jenkins · S3/CDN
ai
applied where it genuinely helps, not where it impresses
design
Figma · a bit of Photoshop · Miro
off-screen
Tabla · writing & reciting Hindi/Urdu poetry

Education

IIT Bombay — B.Tech, Mechanical Engineering (2009–2013). Most of what I do now I learned by building and getting things wrong.

Service

Some work I value most has no invoice. Over the years I've tried to lend engineering & product help to startups and nonprofits — including 3rd Street Youth, Bayview Hunters, and Aarohan. Mentioned out of gratitude, not as credentials.

Contact

↓ cv.pdf

03 — pranahuti

The hour that keeps the rest honest.

What it is, plainly

Most days I sit for meditation in a practice called Pranahuti — a yogic tradition in the lineage of Sri Ramchandra, in which meditation is supported by a subtle transmission at the heart. The word means something like the offering of the life-force. I won't try to explain it as a theory; it's practised and felt more than described.

Why it matters to me

I'm not a still person by nature. My mind runs ahead, gathers worries, wants the next thing. This practice is the one part of my day that asks nothing of me except to be present and a little quieter. It doesn't make me wise or calm on its own — but it keeps me honest, softens the edges I'd otherwise carry into my work and relationships, and reminds me that the inner life is the soil everything else grows from.

An invitation, not instruction

I'm only a practitioner, and a flawed one. If you're curious about the tradition, go to its own teachers and resources rather than take my word. If you'd simply like to talk about meditation or staying steady while building things, I always have time for that.

04 — a mirror, in words

Nazm

"You don't write because you want to say something — you write because you have something to say."

I've written small poems — mostly Hindi and Urdu nazm — since I was young, first in a tattered diary and later in a little blog called alighted candles. They aren't polished and aren't meant to impress. They're an attempt to hold a mirror up to ordinary life — its longings, its failures, the quiet truths we'd rather not look at — and to say them as honestly as I can. If a line catches you somewhere true, that's the only thing I hoped for.

Long poems

Temporary Affair

en · 2017

holding a few good memories as time takes its toll.

In the trampled train of my thoughts, I find myself sitting somewhere unknown Knitting only a few good memories of past Residing in likes of her, revising so fast But still so freshen, as if I am living it now Brimmed with overjoy, so implacable and unresistant to outgrow Frighten by its inconsistent appearance So fragile, so changing just an unforeseen move would have it blown Afraid time will take its toll, leave me with my train of thoughts But this time I might find myself sitting somewhere unknown, and alone may we grow into miles, distance clouded over the closeness, I will remember in my smiles with every thought of her borne.

To kyun nahi?

hi · 2015

if every statement holds a question, then why not an answer?

हर कथन का सवाल है तो जवाब क्यों नहीं और अगर इतना उनकहे मुद्दे है तो सवाल क्यों नहीं जवाबो से सब सुलझता तो क्यों कुछ बोलता नहीं जब बोलता है तू तो अमल करता क्यों नहीं दूर तक आसमा है तो आज़ादी क्यों नहीं अगर उचाईया इतनी है तो हम उड़ पाते क्यों नहीं दिशाएँ इतनी है तो है तो जाने का कोई ठिकाना क्यों नहीं और दूरियों का कोई अंत नहीं तो ना रुक जाने की चाह क्यों नहीं सोच में इतनी उलझने है तो उलझनों पर कोई सोच क्यों नही जब जवाब ही अंत है तो पाने की चाह क्यों नहीं

Khoya kyun hai aaj tu

hi · 2013

you know the right path, and still you lose yourself on the wrong ones.

अम्बर की हर ऊंचाईयों पर, समुद्र के गहन की कौख तक है तु माँ के आंचल मे, घर के आंगन मे है तु जीवन के हर एक पेहलु में गतिशील, फिर भी खोया क्युं है आज तु मन मे तुफ़ान को लिए घुमता है, पर पहाडों से आज भी थरथराता है तु कई अरमानों को गुथ रखा है, पर शिकायतों का मेलाब है तु सही राह का बोध है तुझे, फिर भी गलत राहों पर लुप्त है तु सच-झुठ का परिज्ञान है, फिर भी खोया क्युं है आज तु मीट चुका वजूद है तेरा, क्युं विनाश से भयभीत है तु बिक चुका ईमान है तेरा, वंचन से क्युं आतंकित है तु भिगती रगों मे ओजस है इतना, इस क्रांति को क्युं नकारता है तु ऎलान का लय निकट है, फिर क्युं आज खोया है तु

Ek sandook tha mere paas…

hi · 2013

"You live once but you die twice — once when your childhood is over."

I had a small trunk once, and can't find it now — on the loss of childhood.

एक छोटा सा संदूक था मेरे पास, मुझे मिल नहीं रहा है अभी चीज़े तो काफी काम थी उसमे, लेकिन खुश था उसे पा कर मैं कभी मेरे आज से भी ज्यादा खुश, शायद मेरे जरूरते काम थी कभी उस संदूक में इतना तो याद है मुझे, कई रंगो के मिट्टी के खिलौने थे लेकिन जीवन के उतार चढ़ाव में सब चूर कर, एक भद्दे रंग के मलबे में तब्दिल हो चुके थे संदूक में एक छोटी से कलम भी थी, काफी पुरानी और उसका सिर भी टुटा था कोरे कागज़ों में आधे कटे पीटे शब्दों में ही, पर महज़ उन कुछ शब्दों में आज बयां कर देता था संयोग से मुझे मेरे भविष्य ई चिंता ना थी, और न ही मुझे मेरा अतीत याद था कुछ अपनों की तस्वीर भी थी उसमे, याद आते ही देख लिया करता था संदूक के साथ उन अपनों को भी खो दिया, पर जब साथ थे तो होने का एहसास ना था आज उस संदूक को फिर पाने की चाह थी, पर मुझे मिल नहीं रहा है अभी पर डरता हू मिलने के बाद भी, क्या उसे खोल पाउँगा कभी डरता हूँ उस मासूमियत से, क्या इस निकरस्त दुनियाँ में जी पाएगी कभी डरता हूँ उन किलकारियों के लिए, यादें ही सही पर खो ना जाये ये कभी एक छोटा सा संदूक था मेरे पास, मुझे मिल नहीं रहा है अभी

Placement: Ek Lottery Ticket

hi · 2012

the long struggle toward a goal, and the wink of luck at the end.

कई ख्वाइशें थी मेरी इच्छाओ के चादर में बुन रखा था मैंने कई सपने थे मेरे अरमानों के दामन में संजोय रखा था मैंने कभी मंज़िलों से दो गज़ की दूरी पर आकर ठहर गया कभी, ना खत्म होने वाले राहों पर चल पड़ा जीवन से हार कर कई बार निराशा का सामना हुआ तो कई बार इस विषई जीवन को अदा करना का विचार आया लेकिन हर एक संघर्ष के साथ मैं नहीं चुनौतियों को ललकार रहा था हर एक जीत मुझे निश्चयी तो हर एक पतन मुझे एक सीख दे रहा था हर एक राह मुझे सही, और हर एक दोस्त मुझे अपना सा लग रहा था लरखते, गिरते फिर सँभलते मैं मंज़िल तो पहुँच गया कभी जिसकी कल्पना करता था आज वो साकार हो गया गम से नम थी कभी ये आँखे, आज खुशी से फिर जलख पड़ी हज़ारो दुआओँ के बाद में मेरे प्लेसमेंट की लाटरी निकल पड़ी 😌

kyunki har baar kuch aur paane ko ji kiya

hi-Latn · 2012

a struggle for life, and the wanting that keeps pulling us forward.

Janma is jahaan me, chehre per ek alop si khusi thi, Aankhe jab kholi, sab apna sa nazar aaya. Kisi ke haatho se seecha ye mera jivan karvate le rha tha, Phir bhi kai sapno ko agyaat baagh me bikhra hua paya. In bejawaab sawalon me uljhta ja rha tha, Chah kar bhi is kaush se nikal nahi paya. Ucha udne ki chah me kahi dafa gira, lekin chalta ja rha tha kyunki har baar kuch aur paane ko ji kiya -2 — Kabhi ye duniyaan jo mujhe apni si lagti thi, Aaj usi se khudko alag sa paya. Kabhi main mere astitva per sandeh kiya karta tha, Aaj mere zameer ko khusde khafa paya. Kabhi parayon ne, to kabhi apno ne nirash kiya; phir bhi me ladte ja rha tha, Kyunki har baar kuch aur paane ko ji kiya-2. — Barso baad simte hue badal chatate nazar aa rhe the, Pehli bar kisi anjaan ruh me apne ko paya. Hazaron kaushisho ke baad bhi, mein ek ajnabhi hi tha, Ek vo thi jisne kuch samjha nahi aur me tha jo kuch kah nahi paya. Namanjuriyon ne kahi dafa mand kiya lekin Kismet ke juae me khudko lutaate ja rha tha, Kyunki har baar kuch aur paane ko ji kiya-2. — Aaj ugte hue suraj ko ekatak dekh rha tha, Use pane ke baad Kuch aur na chahen ka vichaar aaya. Atit ke saare gum aaj dhundale nazar aa rhe the, Saath uske mano naya jahaan paya. Aaj khudko sirf ek hi kathan bayaan kar rha tha, Shayad yahi hai wo, jo har baar paane ko ji kiya-2.

Short poems

A poem for every day — a few words that try to touch a life.

ख्वाईश

16 / 11 / 2017

ये बेग़रज़ ख्वाईशो की हज़ारो मंज़िले, सपनो को बटोरू, या अपनों को

a thousand destinations of selfless longing — gather the dreams, or the loved ones?

इंतज़ार

14 / 02 / 2015

दिले-ए-मासूमियत को कहाँ इल्म था, कि दिल लगाना हमारे इंतज़ार का इम्तेहान हो जायेगा हाल यूँ है की आधी रात हम उनकी याद में तारे चुगते रहें, और बाकि बिस्तर की सिलवटों में निकाल दी

the innocent heart never knew that loving would become a test of waiting.

पहल

06 / 02 / 2015

तेरे कल से तू इतना ना लड़, की आज के किए वायदों को भूला दे एक पहल तो कर के देख, शायद ये ख्याल ही सच में तब्दील हो जाये

don't fight your yesterday so hard that you forget today's promises — just begin.

ख्वाइश

17 / 01 / 2015

ज़िन्दगी से ख्वाइशों ने ऐसा लिया तकाज़ा, की किसी और की कर्ज़दार हो गयी हम भी तो इनसे ऐसे बंधे, की समुन्दर किनारे कागजो के घर बसा लिये

longing borrowed so heavily from life that we built paper houses by the sea.

हकीकत और कल्पना

15 / 01 / 2015

जब हकीकत और कल्पनाओं का इख्तिलाफ हुआँ, बुने सपनो के मायने टूट गए तो पूछा ज़िन्दगी से क्या मैं तुझे ज़ी रहा हूँ, या तु मुझे बसर कर रही है

when reality and imagination disagreed — am I living life, or is it spending me?

कल और आज

10 / 01 / 2015

जब कल और आज मुत्तफ़िक़ न हुए, सारे उसूल एक पल में मुकम्मल हो गए तो पूछा वक़्त से मैंने मैं तुझे गुजार रहा हूँ, या तू मुझे खर्च कर रही है

when yesterday and today fell out of step — am I passing time, or is it spending me?

The original home of these: alighted candles. Sit with whichever one caught you.

05 — say hello

Say hello.

If any thread of this — the building, the service, the practice, the poems — struck a chord, I'd genuinely like to hear from you. No agenda needed.

"I fail often and I'm still learning — but I'll always answer a sincere hello."