30 September, 2009

Lucky to be alive..

One of the most interesting people I have met have been at the places I have gone to study. IIT was no different and it has it's set of interesting people. God was one of them. He is one of the most interesting person that I have met.

A few days ago, God had given me his bike as he was going out of the country for a few months.
And a guy and his gang tried to rob and God's bike a few days ago. Needless to say the experience was scary. And whatever you may think, I did feel tensed for a while even after the incident was over. On hindsight, I think that it was not because I was getting robbed, but because it was God's bike at risk.

I had parked the Avenger, opposite to the Jayadeva Hospital here in Bangalore, and had gone to the Airtel office for some work. This guy, must be in his late twenties, little bit overweight, unshaven face, and at the first impression looked decent. I was just getting to my bike when this person approached me from back, and said hello. First I thought that he was the guy collecting money for the parking space. His appearance looked just like that. I started to take out the 5 rupees change that I had in my pant's front pocket. But before I could do that, he said, I am from ICICI bank. I then thought that he is come to take my details for a credit card. I was not too sure about that as I did not see any forms with him.

He then said something that made me stop and take attention. He said, that I have not paid the EMI for the bike for 3 months, and so I should give him the bike keys!

I was like wtf! Are you serious? I know that God had taken the bike on a full down payment.

The discussion continued for around 30 minutes during which the guy shouted at me, for running away with Bank's money, for not paying up on time, and also tried to snatch the bike keys.

I called up my other friend and explained him the situation. And at this point of time the guy tried to snatch my mobile phone by saying that give me the phone, I will talk to your friend.

Denying that move of his, he then played another card. Take me to the police station on your bike! Ok.. I had enough at this time! The last thing I was going to do was to offer him a ride on the bike, and let him attack me from behind!

I shouted on the road for help, at some people passing by. I told them to please call the police, this guy is trying to rob me. But the guy said something to them in Kannada, and they left. And with that also went my little bit of hope that I had.

After a while he seemed to give up and requested me to drop me to the auto on the other side of the road. He pointed to a specific auto, and I think there were other people in his gang.

That was the heights! I mean comeon, how lazy can you get! Finally he started to leave, but not before one last attempt at taking my bike keys, my mobile, and my goggles that were hanging in my shirt.

Finally before he left, I gave a word of advise. Please get authentic papers before you even attempt something like this. Else I would just think that you are a person who is trying to rob me.

My friend on the phone had scared me, saying that these gangs follow you after you leave, and rob you wherever you stop. So with this scary thought in my min, I rode my bike at a speed in the rain much higher than I would normally do, but such was the ask of the hour. I reached my other friend's office and must have seen back atleast 50 times in that short ride to check if someone was following me. What I was scared about was the fact that the guy kept putting his hand in the jacket of his. I shivered, but still stayed calm. Not once did I raise my voice and kept talking softly.

Thankfully no one did follow me. I waited at my friend's office and then got back home safe.

I thank God my friend and the almighty.

27 September, 2009

Stay away from the Cynics

That is precisely the advise that I got when I decided that I am going to be a Design Entrepreneur.

As if being an Entrepreneur was not enough, I wanted to be a Design Entrepreneur. I think that being a design entrepreneur is more challenging as one has to deal with issues of subjectivity in the opinions of the critics. In a tech startup what matters most is whether your idea is working properly or not. In a design startup, the difference in opinions always happen as design is such a subjective field.

And I think that one of the things that every entrepreneur has to face is the cynical people. In other words these are the pessimists. I have already written about them in other posts before, but I still hate it when I meet someone again, inspite of not wanting to run into them. Well you can't help it. They are everywhere. And if that vibes of cynicism comes from your very own home and from your close circle of your friends, there is a huge chance that it will shake you from within. It is not only difficult to gain their confidence without an element of skepticism, but also impossible to have them change their views. In such a situation, you tend to lose the self confidence, and just look for that one person in the world who would stand for you and by you no matter what. A person who can believe in you.

So my advise to others like me who are starting out on their own, please stay away from the cynics.

24 September, 2009

People Come and Go ... all for a reason.

The most interesting thing that exists on this planet is the 6 billion plus unique souls. Yes, we the people.

People come into our lives for a reason. And then they leave for a reason too. As they say, everything is planned. Everything has a larger picture in which it is a close fit. And more often than not, we are unable to see this larger picture. But then, seeing this larger is no easy task. One has to be at a position way above the tasks that compose the bigger picture. It's like saying that you cannot appreciate the beauty of the earth, unless you see it from outer space.

So what brings me to this post. This is primarily to pause and reflect on the kinds of people and the interactions that I have been having with them. While there are a few that I dislike, I will not put up anything against them here. And also there will be no naming of anybody, even if it is by changing their names.

There are people you identify with and your frequency matches so well that you are comfortable sharing your thoughts with them. You tend to open up like no other person, and are most comfortable around them. It is indeed surprising that many a times this happens to be a close friend. And more often than not this person is from the different sex. And when things go to a position where you are married to someone else, there is a problem. Having this new person accept the same level of comfort is difficult.

Some people come into your lives, just to make you feel special, and they will do all that it takes to make you feel wanted. And then suddenly, all of a sudden, they are gone. This could happen due to new people coming into respective lives, or due to some misunderstandings that arise due to the increase in feelings for each other. Some relationships are best left at the friendship level to be best understood and appreciated. So once they are gone, there is no trace of what they came for, for what they decided to go.

What do you do in such a case? Fret over their disappearance or be fortunate for what they have done for you ? Could it be an extreme case of letting go. Letting go of the fact that the person is not going to be there around you to make you feel special. Do you fall back to what you were? Or do you stay in that elated position that the presence of the other person put you into. I think it is the later. Anything short of that would do immense injustice to the person who left. It will not be an honest appreciation of the time they spent with you.

The ways of this world are unique. And the people in it make it all the more unique. People come and go ... all for a reason. In most of the cases people fail to understand this reason. If it was so easy to understand it, people would be able to get over relationships faster. There would be lesser amounts of depression and lesser fretting over spilled milk.



I love this above song. everytime I listen to it, I understand that people are unique. And dealing with their uniqueness in its best possible way is what makes life so interesting.

21 September, 2009

On getting a year older

I recently celebrated my birthday. Thank you all who wished and thought about me, even if it happened only for a minute :)

I like birthdays. They give you the time to reflect on the way things have progressed in the past year. It is a moment of introspection and retrospection.

The happy times and the not so happy times come to the mind. The quarrels and the misunderstandings. The letting go of things and the holding on to the things you believe in.

On reflection I think that the past year has been good.

18 September, 2009

Oh the life of an entrepreneur

No other way ...

He: I hear that there are two long weekends coming up.
Me: Really? When?
He: Well one is this weekend and the other is the coming weekend. What plans ya? Where are you going? I know you travel a lot, so where are you going? Tell Tell..

Umm.. first of all tell me .. what day is today .. Friday??? Oh man ! I was thinking that it was Thursday ! And long weekend? Well I do not know what is a weekend.. Long weekend is a far fetched thing.

Welcome to the world of startups and being an entrepreneur. Where everyday is a goal day and there are no practice days.

12 September, 2009

I'm loving it

Life is getting interesting, exciting and unpredictable every day.

There is no doubt that there is a lot of pessimism that can arise out of it, through many who surround me. But I try to stay away from them.

Whatever be the case... I am loving it nevertheless.

09 September, 2009