The Whatifs and for what we live for?? We dont need success, we need excellency!

The Conspiracy,

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!!

Endless Questions in a Timeless World

Sittin by the window, starin at the sky, never ending oceans of memories whoze tides keep washin d banks of my mind every now n then as I cherish them forever, makes me wonder that... why cant we relive a moment all over once again? or possibly go back to our lives, rewind and replay?..probably reliving all the glories and correcting all the mistakes, it wud've made us al,l better people than what we are and with better people it definitely would've made this whole world a better place to live for all living beings! wouldnt it be nice? Why is it always once chance? One Exam, One wedding, one birth, one death, one opportunity, one moment that could change everything? One accident, one issue in the way that controls your life?


If these things are just 'One' thing that we could've seized and then changed the world over then there we have other 'things' which are always in bulk!! Why is it always so many problems, so many worries? so many things to do n remember? Why so many responsibilities? Many sorts of pain, misery n disappointments? so many heartbreaks?

And all of this is interlinked with eachother and a man is let alone to face n think and live his life through in the best possible way and all this for what? What major can a man achieve? Making a rare invention or a discovery is that an achievement? does it make a man worth living his life? and nobody lives forever, its unfair to even think of something stupid like that? how is anyone rewarded? Man made something good and useful for another man and other men awarded and rewarded him, is that it? what are we all here for? then what is it that makes living so unique and subsidiary to death?

Suppose we are living in a box which we call it a world or rather in scientific terms what we call it a Universe with so many stars and galaxies and planets. We are 10thousand times smaller than an atom in size when measured with respect to the universe. Do we have other such boxes or universes and whats beyond that? who created this universe and for what? what is this entire setup of world, universe, heaven, hell, man, animals and aircel savetigers dot com? for what is this all? I am no saint, scientist nor a philosopher. I dont intend to become one, but just a common man's thought, I really want to know whats beyond this universe and who made all this with what intention? what is the brief history of time? when did the first tick of a second in the clock called TIME start in this universe? and what was before that? Will I not have Endless Questions in a Timeless World? I think I should research more, will continue to record my findings :) thanks for readin, dont get affected by my xtended part of brain thinkin universal extensions :)

Rock by the Bay in Jazz by the Bay last weekend - A Lesson Learnt again

In my new Optra, my first long drive me and my roommate Vijay set out on last weekend to Mumbai from Pune and our first sights of the Express Highway was memorable. The weather was just perfect, it was cloudy, cool n Breezy and the road had no potholes (first time I eversaw such a road) even if you use a magnifying glass and search you wouldnt find even a dot. The road was laid to perfection. With Bon Jovi Singing "Thank you for Loving me" and a row of sentimental Rock consisting of "I live my life for you" from Firehouse and "When I see you smile" from Bad English, etc., playing one after the other, the day was so Blissful and Romantic!! I had mixed up the songs in the 5 CD changer music system with some of old hindi Romantic Retros and a pack of hot samosas and the Tea we had flasked me and Vijay were so lost!! Optra was going at 140 Kmph with pin drop silence and made us feel that we were going at 60. All the mountaints, the greenery surrounding us, the cars and people we passed by, oh boy, it was the best journey of my life!! It was way too amazing for first timers like us. Vijay was really enjoying sittin next to me I only wished if he knew driving, I wouldn't mind sharing my car with him!! Vijay is an awesome guy to be with! He is not just my roommate, but also my all time companion, moral support and a shoulder in the hour of need! He literally takes care of me and I owe him my life for all the great things he has done for me.
 Well, we were going for our fav bangalore Band - Sonic Flare's Rock Show and feel being a part of it like in the old days. My best friend Jongky is the famous Keyboard player of that band and I loved each n every member of that Band. This time there was a new Vocalist whom I was excited to meet as I had heard he is a great singer and can pull any note as he had practiced Classical Karnataka Music. And Jassi (Jasmeet Singh) who was my Ex Collegue at Dell who is currently doing his MBA in Mumbai was also supposed to Join. So Along with a draw towards superb music and meeting Old friends, driving my new car, Romantic Songs, Samosas, Exquisite Drive, Tea, Vijay, Weekend after a long time, the weather oh boy the foundation was laid perfectly and joy had no par and I couldnt believe I was more happy than the word happy could appeal to - I couldnt guess something terrible is coming my way.

We reached Mumbai, met Jongky and Jassi near the Air India Building, they were loitering their ways on the Marine Drive - Parked the car and went to Hotel Ambassador where Jongky and band had taken a room. Met all the Bandmates, it was really very nice meeting them and we had Italian Food (dont remember the name of the dish we ate) which Rags (Vinay  - Drummer) Ordered for us. It was vegetarian and with lots of cheese and whipped cream it was tasty. After we were done, we went on a long walk on the beautiful Marine Drive with Jongky n Jassi addicted to taking photos next to Trident, Oberois and Taj. There was time for us to catchup with old talks as well as the show was yet to start at 10:30 PM and the time was still 7:30. As we watched the Sun Set, we sat and spoke so much about memories and laughed as if we are never going to stop. We returned back to Jazz by the bay (where Sonic FLare was playing) and we started to mellow down our day into music that Sonic Flare was set to play. 

the new vocalist announced after tesing all the sound for Base, Lead, Drums, Chime, Treble, Keyboard sync and amps, that its Sonic Flare from Bangalore Karnataka - the crowd had already started cheering and the first song was With or Without you from U2, after which they played Sonic Flare Original Composition Hurt and No heros and so on and it went on.. They played Poison, Police, Crash, Bon Jovi, Californication from RHCP, Alison Coopers, Alanis Morrisette, Judas Priest, with the female vocalist playing Zombie etc., also followed by requests from audience, overall they played around 35 to 40 songs and finally the show ended. We packed all the equipments and when we were about to start the car, heard a huge crank noice and the car broke down completely!! I couldnt believe my luck

It was 3 in the morning and my head wasnt working at all!! My new Optra had broken down. Chevrolet Helpline number not helpful!!! I didnt want to get cheated by some local Garage guy and tear a whole in my pocket. Vijay and Jassi quickly sprung into action calling Just Dial to towe my vehicle to a repair centre. Finally after an hour of juggling a mechanic came and said that its a Major Engine Problem and something internal had broken down. Chevrolet Showroom expert on the phone only estimated 1 lakh rupees worth of repair!! I couldnt believe my luck!! I realised why the day was so beautiful so that it wud end this way. We bid bye to the band guys who had to sleep so that they could perform another show tomorrow and moreover they were tired. Further, we pushed the car and parked it in a nearby parking lot and settled to sleep till Dawn. Morning we called up the Towe way folks, towed till a showroom and waited for diagnosis. was told this would cost around 60 to 70k. I couldnt hold it, I was on the verge of a breakdown. Then I spoke to my choclate and she made everything seem so easy and nice. I got ready to face the current issue and solve the problem. Took a bus after waiting near the Kalanagar Skywalk for 3 hours and paid double fare to get a seat in teh Neeta Travels Volvo and reached Pune with hardly any energy left at 2:30 in the morning. Paid the Auto fellow 250 bucks from the Bus Stand till Hadapsar. Came home and Crashed with pictures and thoughts fuming in my head. Currently my car is in repair status, its been 3 days and I will be getting the car delivered day after tomorrow and I need to go to Mumbai again!!!

Boy that trip was way too memorable!! Life teaches so many new lessons, and wants us to learn. Until we learn it, it will make us understand the hardway. I will never go for a second car, will never be excited too much about how my day is going and will always talk to my choclate and owe Vijay, Jassi and Jongky my life for their help. Without people and without friends, nothing is possible and with them, nothing is impossible.
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Maddy