The British colonial rulers loved the weather in Bangalore. As they described it, it was 'Europe without its freezing winters; India minus its scorching summers.' They gave it all sorts of affectionate sobriquets. Like the 'air-conditioned Indian city', 'the poor man's Ooty'. And with it's beautifully balanced seasons of temperate warm months, mildly-bracing winters and seasons of gentle showers, this was the month of April showers which brought the May flowers.
A decade ago, Bangalore (now Bengalooru) led the large cities with the onslaught of summer ” hot, dry and dusty; in February, Bangalore was the hottest big city in India, while Delhi and the north were shaking off the cold winds of winter blowing in from the Himalaya. After Independence, those colonials 'stayed on' settled in the hills. They made a lovely little township on the fringes of Ooty and the military settlement of Conoor.
Our friend, Old Joby was among the nomadic settlers of Bangalore who finally decided to settle in the city 20 years go. After years of service in Madras (Chennai), his parents who had braved the scorching summers of Tamil Nadu, decided to settle in Conoor near Ooty which had been the summer resort of the Governor of Madras and his entourage.
But, Ooty in summer was a rather different proposition from Coonor in the winter and the north-eastern monsoon.
After a year of hilly 'English' summers they fled the arthritic rainy months in Coonoor and settled in equable, pleasant Bangalore.
When our family came to settle in Bangalore (in the 1910s), on an occasional summer day the mercury would apologetically touch a maximum of 28 or 29 degrees, before a sudden April shower would douse the flames.
I wonder what she and her descendants would have done in today's Bangalore summer with a maximum heat of 38 and 39 degrees, water shortages and deforested parks and roads. I wonder where they would have gone next?
God Save Bangalore and all the huge pile of people piling in to make it even worse!
Monday, April 19, 2010
The Whatifs and for what we live for?? We dont need success, we need excellency!
Of all the questions we leave unanswered the one that comes back to haunt us the most is “What if…”
What if I’d taken that course in my Degree?
What if I’d the good sense not to?
What if I’d proposed this girl?
What id I’d been born in this job market?
What if….?
What if I’d planned a little less?
What if I’d lived a little more?
What if I’d chucked it all and started my own company?
These What if’s are never idle fantasy. These are our hopes, dreams and desires.
Logic and reason are the naphthalene balls we use to pack them away to a sandock called ‘Someday’. But, when the day comes we are too old, too poor, too tired or too lazy.
This blog is for all those friends who, I believe that,’ve met eachother with a reason, a reason to achieve something, call it Destiny, fate, etc., but everything in life that happens has a meaning and happens for a reason, that reason can make or break our lives. This is for the type of people who cut all the bullshit and seize their moment. So they would not wake up one day with regrets. Of course we see markets and opportunities and need gaps. But, most importantly, we need to stand in front of the mirror and see our true selves.
That self tells us that its meaningless to sell soap just because you are said well to do so.
Being a corporate slave is the easy option but not the one that is felt good about doing what you are ought to do. Just ask yourself, Why is that there is always someone else who rates your life in terms of Marks n Numbers everytime you write the exam? Why is that someone else sets your question paper for the whole year you studied? Why is that you report to that someone called Manager? Why is that you are a SOMEONE to the CEO of the company you work for? Who are they to decide your life? Why have you let that someone control your own life? Your Manager sits and writes down your hike for the year, and you are not happy about it, then why do you take the crap from him? Who is he to stop you from Achieving your dreams? I have always thought about this, and now, I am on my own path. Critics are everywhere, but I know that no statue has ever been erected in the honor of the critic!! I never listen to them, but I have my vision, my Goal, my Dream and my Challenge which keeps my life going.
Trust me guys, all the men who took the Entrepreneurship path had one thing in common, Persistence and they believed in themselves. It was never easy, they went through all the downs to finally scale up high. Read the below stories. If you have a pulse in you, then it’ll beat hard enough in your veins to get the real adrenaline pumping!!
THE Entrepreneurs
Deep Kaira (Makemytrip.com)
Deep went into business the way every entrepreneur dreams it will happen: a venture capitalist offered him a $2 million to start up. But with the dotcom bust he had to invest his life savings to buy back his own company. Makemytrip.com is today India’s and US’s leading Travel Portal
Nirmal Jain, (India infoline)
Nirmal shut down his information services business in 1999 and put all his eggs in the Internet basket. His gamble paid off and today India Infoline is one of the country’s biggest online trading platforms.
R Ashank Desai, (Mastek)
From a middle class family he was an outright. In the early 80s much before IT was a buzzword, Ashank Desai setup Mastek along with a couple of friends. Mastek was the first company to focus on India as a Market and is today one of the top 15 IT companies in the country.
Shantanu Prakash, (Educomp)
Despite a regular middle class upbringing, Shantanu went into business while he was doing his BCom. The entpreneurial streak continued after the MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. His company Educom is today the leading provider of digital content for schools across Indoa.
Sanjeev Bikhachandani (Naukri.com)
Sanjeev is India’s most successful internet entrepreneur. For close to a decade he stuffles on the sidelines but never gave up on his Big Idea. In 2006, naukri.coim became the first dotcom of IPO on an Indian Stock Exchange.
Then there is Vinayak Chatarjee who made Feedback Ventures, there is Jerry Rao who formed Mphasis, Vikram Tahwar made EXL services (fortune 500), Deepta Rangarajan who made IRIS, etc there are a lot more!! Hundreds and thousands of them. They could’ve chose to work in a company and be just like you, right? Why do you think they chose this way, the hard way, the hard way of entrepreneurship? That’s for you to think…. Read on…
Back to our discussion
A few topics that will help us to start thinking in the direction of some of the few.
The Usual Success
Here is what most of us think;
I am good at what I do, I am a very good asset to my company!! I need to be the most productive guy in my team. All the jazz about technology entices me to do more!! And I get paid 35000 rupees at the end of the month!! Which is quite a good bet!! I will become a senior Engineer, then a Manager someday, I even have plans to do MBA. I will save all my costs including my innerwear costs and pay up for the friggin MBA fees (by some crap university whoz only getting rich by ur fees) so that someday I will be a Manager, a Project Manager, Area Manager n so on.
I am also planning to get married , have a nice wife, a car, a nice house and kids, a dog... it goes on.. then Will grow old and visit some holy places , travel, and finally die as everybody does.
I ASK YOU, IS THIS WHAT WE LIVE FOR?? Is THIS success to YOU? Whats the CHALLENGE in programming or designing or even handling a team just because you are told you are good at it and you have to do so? Arent you a Believer? An Opportunist? Don’t you have a Vision? It’s a Shame if you don’t.
Hoping you are motivated enough to spend your spare time into something of your own, let me come to the main part of our talk,
The Plan
Guys, here is the plan.
Lets meet for the occasion to talk things through, a small request and it is that we need to stay committed, work as a team, even if we scratch our butt out, we need to stay focused towards our vision and never give up.
Key Points of Action
1. Meeting in june – Decide Venue
2. Drawing out a plan of action
3. Scripting our strategies
4. Roll out a work plan
5. Responsibility Sharing
6. Future time table
7. Forming a Team
8. Assess our potential, baseline the investments and outline the recurring cost.
Please feel free to put in your suggestions, ideas and thoughts into this. Lets all work as a Team..
Lets Rock with it, Roll with it!! We’ve got nothing to lose if we do it anyways, but, if we don’t, we lose everything!! Including our real self!!
Happy Realization… and yes, Keep thinking, towards innovation!! Self Excellence is the best Excellence.
Lets Rock!!
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