This was solved after I corrected two mistakes:
1) I wasn't using the recommended win32diskimager flashing tool, but was trying to flash image using ubuntu flashing tool rufus.
2) Was not flashing it to the recommended (16GB+) SD card, but was trying to flash it on the smaller size 8GB S.L.P. image SD card that came with the starter kit.
The moment I corrected this mistake by flashing the image to a 64GB SD card using win32diskimager, I could boot instantly. I could also directly compile and run the pre-made c++ code that was already stored in the home directory that came with the image. Thank you @realizator
