In early 2017 I finally admitted an awkward truth

In early 2017, I finally admitted an awkward truth: I’d dropped out of a respected Indian design school and, almost by accident, ended up building an accessibility startup instead. College stopped being “the default next step” and turned into just one of several levers I could pull 🎓👇 Their foundation year was rooted in art practice, while I was obsessed with design as systems, products, and technology. After two months, dropping out felt less like failure and more like aligning with what I actually wanted to build. Back in Delhi, Oswald Foundation started working in the real world. We won Startup India Rocks! 2016, got users, and it suddenly felt serious. So when I applied to places like RMIT, Glasgow, CCA, UQ, and the University of Twente, it was as a hedge rather than script. That long admit list became a snapshot of one fork in my career graph. In August 2017 I picked Creative Technology at Twente, which, looking back from 2025, didn’t replace the startup path. It made it sharper. Full story: https://anandchowdhary.com/blog/2017/college