Month: February 2015

The Child in Us! The secret to business success…

~ Rishi ~ Leave a comment

All of us were children once! Some of us still are.

I just told you one of the secrets of being successful in business and entrepreneurship!

What is it about being child-like that prompts success when starting and running a business. I have been thinking about this topic for sometime and decided to pen down my thoughts today. 

We start our lives as a care-free, ignorant child. Lost in our own world. Oblivious to what’s happening around us or in the world. Blissfully unaware of our surroundings. The only thing that matters to us during those days is NOTHING!!! 

And then we start growing up. We slowly learn things and become aware about what’s happening around us. We start recognising people and pick up their habits and mannerisms. Ignorance is lost and that’s the first blow! 

We grow up more and enter the education world keen to make friends and play. We learn a lot in the process and become aware of what’s happening in the world. As a result, we start forming opinions and deciding our boundaries and limitations. Blow no. 2! 

We enter teenage and are often rebellious. We want to do things the other way. But then, that’s not how you do things honey! And we are stopped in our tracks to try out new things. ‘You can’t do that’, ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea’, ‘I hope you get back to doing something better’, and the quintessential ‘What will people say’ are statements that we hear. And we lose our enthusiasm for trying out. No. 3! 

And then we finally enter the work sphere in our lives. And all our remaining hopes get quashed. We have to function as per the defined processes. We have to stay within our limits and not try new things. We must follow orders and stick to the protocol. Gone is our last remaining ounce of child-like thoughts by this latest blow.

That perhaps explains why a lot of people desire to do something of their own but can’t muster enough courage to try it out. The fear of failure and rebuttal dissuaded them. Something which was absent when they were a child!

Successful entrepreneurs on the other hand keep that inner child alive and kicking and come out triumphant on the other side of life to start a business. They nurture their inner child and grow in between the Nay-sayers and doubting Thomases. They don’t care if they fail or succeed, it just matters that they do what their heart and mind wishes for. And they know, even if they fail, it will be great learning and they will live on to fight another day.

The world looks at them in awe! But it was just the inner child that they kept on nurturing and enthusing all this while to succeed and live the life of freedom and dreams…

The many groups I belong to! And what social media made me realise…

~ Rishi ~ 1 Comment

I have been a frequent mover all my life!

It started with my father’s transfers which was pretty much every 3 years. So I changed schools 6 times during my elementary education. Then I joined the Army and traveled to 2 more places. Then 2 more for my MBA. My job took me to 2 different places. And I am at a new place as I write this!

It was really cumbersome during childhood to make friends in new places. I did not have a dedicated friend circle with whom I grew up. And it kind of riled me sometimes.

But it gave me a distinct advantage – I have many groups I belong to. And as I have grown up, I realised this subconsciously – the more the number of groups I belonged to, the more I grew in life. But the realisation hit home recently when I inadvertently became a part of a high school group on WhatsApp.

As it happened, during our high school days we were a small gang of boys and have stayed in touch through all our life. Some great friends there! But we had no girls in our group! Quite surprising, when I come to think of it now! Don’t ask me why, I’m yet to figure out! 🙂

Anyways, we all got onto this new group with a bunch of girls (now ladies) whom we had studied with. We had been connected on FaceBook and other mediums but never interacted much.

It all changed the last couple of weeks. In fact, talking about this group here seems funny because just a couple of weeks ago half the people in there were almost strangers to me!

The girls have gone on to play some awesome roles – enterprising housewives, doctor, consultant and above all as a mother. And the guys are all pretty settled in their respective family lives. But in the past couple of weeks, we have discovered a funny side to ourselves…

We laugh and banter with each other on silly things, as if high school days are back. We take digs at each other knowing fully well no one will be offended. We share our family’s moments within the group and have formed a mutual admiration society in between ourselves talking about myriad things. It has given us new friends to share our joys and sorrows with. In fact, we wonder why we did not interact even a 100th of what we have done over the last 2 weeks!

It was perhaps meant to be now! While we were all busy in the humdrum of our lives, we were missing the fun and joy and smiles that only childhood friends can bring on. And for all we are worth, we are all much more happier these days, enjoying and reliving those memories of our childhood and becoming kids again…

And its the same across all groups – be it family or friends! Social media has bought us all closer on an informal level that nothing could. It has given us the freedom to express and associate with and learn from each other.

The positive impact these interactions have, far outweigh the time spent on social media. I feel we all owe it to the social media revolution engulfing our lives, where we all are connected and share our happy and sad times with others. Otherwise, in our cocooned existence in today’s world, its easy to become lonely and get lost!

I am sure there are more surprises in store in the future as social media evolves! As Martin Buber said “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware”, so I move along, ready to experience new things and enjoy the old times with my numerous groups!!!

Aren’t we overdoing hypocrisy?

~ Rishi ~ Leave a comment

During the last few days, the following points have flashed across my mind –

Hyperbole against the recent roast video with some Indian celebs (yes, I am referring to the infamous AIB channel)! Reactions against Valentine’s day, a repeat telecast more or less every year (with new twists)! Faces of people watching a movie where a love scene is being played out (and countless other intimate scenes)! Inter-caste marriages and the rigidity against them…

All of these only pointed me towards one single thought – aren’t we overdoing hypocrisy?

As I tried to address these thoughts and reason them out in favour and opposition both, it appeared to me that hypocrisy has become our second nature!

What is wrong with some celebs being roasted and profane language being used in front of a private audience and only available on a YouTube video channel, when all are matured adults. We are all used to hearing all kinds of those words in every-day parlance. I have heard even women mouth some! And most children in all kinds of societies start swearing pretty early these days. But put it on a video and it becomes taboo? Sounds convoluted.

Or the actions and reactions on Valentine’s day! Seriously, what’s wrong with people celebrating love? Well, for one, I don’t really subscribe to the Valentine’s Day theory – for me expressing love is a personal matter that I indulge in on a regular basis. But why hold it against those who do – they are living in a free world! Moral policing only makes it look regressive, which is the least we should expect our society to head towards.

Even with intimate or love-making scenes, we almost all times overdo our reactions. Either the channel is changed on TV or people start looking at their mobiles or newspapers or turn to talk to each other in the cinema hall. Seriously, did we become a 1.3 billion nation without intimacy? We need to grow up and accept it as a regular and normal part of our lives and behave maturely. And a passionate kiss on screen won’t be a big deal anymore…

Lastly, my favourite – inter-caste marriages! I am happily married to the lady of my choice and it matters the least to me or to my family which caste she belongs to, as long as she understands me (she does, better than myself)! If 2 people are in love with each other and want to marry, what’s wrong with that is something I have never gotten over with. In fact, parents and families should be double happy that their son\daughter are going to be loved all through life and aren’t entering a contract with invisible compromises or money exchange!

Even in other walks of life and in too many of our decisions, we exhibit this same hypocrisy in doing things while hiding from others but berating them when out in public. Isn’t it time that we accept being a responsible citizen of the free world and let everyone live their lives as to their liking? We shouldn’t even be bothering ourselves with what others are doing or saying or thinking.

In fact, that’s a mantra to live by and make life easy. This year, I am personally focusing on cutting out the clutter around me to simplify my life. This involves removing hypocritical reactions to what people around me do and not tying my brain’s processing down (and reduce my productivity). And it’s been yielding fabulous results – I concentrate more and am thinking more positive thoughts!

Hoping more people think less about others and focus on their lives. And become less hypocrite and accept the obvious in front of others. And then we all can do so much better and be happier…