We did an interview with Quora Star, Gopalkrishna Vishwanath. Here is him unfiltered for the first time 

Gopalkrishna Vishwanath is a man with much credibility, from a village in Kerala, he worked as as a Structural Engineer, at MECOM Ltd. for 3 decades. Quit from the position DGM he went on to lead a Knowledge Processing Company in Bangalore as GM. He holds a BE and ME. Since 2011 he has lead a retired life. He caught our interest because of this love for old films and golden classics. He is a Quoran Powerhouse at a heart-crunching 80 million views and still rapidly counting. He has been awarded the Top Writer ribbon on 2018 and 2017. He says that 2020 seems to be his annus mirabilis.

Here are the person, Gopalkrishna and his human story.

Interviewer: Good afternoon sir, the interview took place frantically,
regardless we are delighted to have you with us!

Him: Thank you for this opportunity. I hope I will come up to your expectation

Interviewer: Sir how did you first join Quora and how did it come

about?

Him: I was in USA in July 2015. I used to spend a lot of my time browsing the net.
More often than not, whenever I did a Google search for information the first or the second link or at least one of the links on first page of the search results was a Quora answer.  I got curious and decided to take a peep. I opened an account and was instantly hooked. 

Interviewer: How does it feel to have garnered such a diverse and
vast fan base?

Him: I am amazed. I never knew that I had it in me to become a popular writer. All my earlier attempts at blogging had failed. My writings were ignored and I would be happy to get even 5 views for my blog posts.  So my success in this new format has exceeded  all my expectations. I am feeling great at my success.

Interviewer: Who is the person behind Gopalkrishna, the star?

Him: The real person behind Gopalkrishna Vishwanath, the popular Quoran, is a retired structural engineer with a bachelor's degree in Civil engineering from BITS Pilani, and a  master's degree in Stuctural engineering from the University of Roorkee, now called IIT Roorkee. He is a person  who had worked for a Government owned consultancy organisation for 28 years and was involved in the entire range of activities that go into the design and construction of steel structures in Industrial buildings, like feasibility studies, cost estimates, project reports, structural analysis, design, drawings, inspection of fabricated structures, designer's supervision at site and the certification of completion at site. He is a person who quit public sector service  at the age of 52 and joined a private company where he learned a new business viz Knowledge Process outsourcing, consequent to the arrival of the internet in India around 1999.Being a specalist in the design of steel structures in Industrial buildings and he set up and ran a knowledge process outsourcing center with a team of 30 engineers and draftsmen and accepted design and detailing work off loaded  by American Fabricators.  He worked for this private company for a little over two years before resigning and setting up the same business for himself. He ran his startup company for 10 years before selling the company. He quit mainly on health grounds and due to advancing age. On the personal front, he is married and has a daughter and a son, both of whom are settled abroad. He is now living a peaceful life  with his wife in a retirement home at Devanahalli, just next to the International Airport at Bangalore. He spends a good part of his spare time on the internet and Quora is his favourite web site.

Interviewer: How does it feel for you as a normal retired person to be bombarded with constant backlash, hate and speculation, condescending replies but, at the same time so much love?

Him: I have got used to it. It's all part of life on the internet. You can't have everthing that is pleasant and good. You have to take the bad with the good. I am grateful that good feedback is 90 percent, the criticism or disagreemen is 9 percent and the abuses and hate are just 1 percent. I can live with that.

Interviewer: We are sure; you have experienced this, what was your most embarrassing public encounter with a follower?

Him: A girl whom I had not seen but known only on Quora wanted to be my daughter in law! She said she doesn't care what kind of person my son is and she would willingly adjust to his nature! She promised to be a worthy daugther in law and win over my entire family if given the chance!

Interviewer: Does it feel almost mundane to you to be asked continuously about QPP?

Him: I have taught myself to be patient and cooperate always.

I realise that QPP is an obsession with thousands of young Quorans. I can understand their eagerness to be part of it. I patiently answer as many questions as possible and even repeat the same information when answering different persons who ask me the same thing. I take this opportunity to repeat that advice. You need luck and patience to get an invitation to join QPP. I am guessing that the invitations are sent out randomly from time to time. How many views you have or how many questions you have asked or how many answers you have posted are all immaterial. Some lucky members have got the invitation within  a couple of weeks of joining without making much contribution. Many members who have been here for several months and contributed many questions and answers have not been invited. Quora has not announced any criteria for being eligible for QPP invitation. So, from the available facts, it appears to me that they send invitations randomly from time to time. Even if you get an invitation now, it is no big deal. While last year they were paying well, this year the money they are paying is peanuts and not worth the trouble. The average partner for an average question gets 9 cents after the question has been visible for a whole year. I advise everyone not to wait for a partnership invitation but to enjoy Quora for what it really is and that is, a platform for learning and sharing.

Interviewer: Who is your favourite writer, and do you consume entertainment gossips in your feed?

Him: There are many favourite writers. I would not like to name them because it would be embarrassing for me to realise that I have omitted some names who ought to be in the list. 

Interviewer: Writers like Divyansh Mundra have expanded their accounts to bestselling books, to Balaji Vishwanath who has launched a company, but you always seem to stay so self-centred on Quora. Why?

Him: Both Divyansh and Balaji are less than half my age. They are in the prime of their lives. They are talented, ambitious and I wish them even greater success. But at this stage in my life I am not interested in emulating them. I am now leading a retired life. For me the rat race is over. I want to enjoy Quora and am not willing to take the trouble to collect my writings and publish them. Neither am I keen to re join the workforce or set up a new company. I am 71 already. Let me enjoy my retired life.

Interviewer: Which blooming writer would you like to highlight?

Him: Again there are too many blooming writers. Every week I notice someone new who impressed me. It would be embarrassing to list them. I may unwittingly omit some deserving names. So let me pass this question too.

Interviewer: Sir, your presence here has been a treat we wish to have the opportunity to speak more elaborately in the future, we wish you millions more! Thank you so much for coming on our show Quora’s Millionaires.

Him: I too enjoyed this interview. It has been a novel experience. I have been interviewed in person before. I have appeared on TV, Newspapers, YouTube, and given a talk to an elite audience in the ball room of a 5 star hotel too.  I have been interviewed over Zoom and Google Meets, but this experience was different. I thank you for giving me this opportunity and I wish you and all my listeners all the best.

We hoped you enjoyed this interview, for more from the personality make sure to go to this account. https://www.quora.com/profile/Gopalkrishna-Vishwanath. We hoped you loved this interview.