Success

Action, Camera, Lights…

~ Rishi ~ 1 Comment

Another year went by. A new one has started.

Many of us have plans for the next twelve months. Or at least we think we do.

But do we pause and think if the order of things makes sense? And is that enough for us to achieve what we aim for?

Or are we rushing through the process, forgetting what comes first – lights or action?

Some of these thoughts crossed my mind as I spent the last week introspecting how the last year went by and what I should aim for in this new year.

I did a lot last year. Both on the professional and the personal front. A few things tick marked. There were a few misses but overall it was a good year.

A lot of learning happened. But one of the things that stayed with me was the process adopted and the results achieved.

There were times when I took a shortcut, either to get frustrated later on or through results that weren’t satisfactory or sustainable.

And then, there were cases when I adopted the right approach, and got to satisfactory and sustainable outcomes.

This happened in both my personal and professional life.

And as I saw where I was led to in either case, it became clearer that if I intend to achieve long-term success, I must do the right things at the right time. Rolling the camera without the lights won’t make much sense.

So, as 2026 begins, my one single resolve is to stick to a plan and make it work in the right manner. If I do that enough no. of times and for long enough, I should see some success…

Lights. Camera. Action.

Personal Achievements

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We as parents are never behind in taking pride in our children and their achievements. Whatever may be the field in which they accomplished something.

But there are only a handful of times when we aren’t expecting but feel pride in our children because of how they proved themselves.

This week was one such experience for both of us…

The occassion was our daughter’s first term assessment and the ensuing meeting with the teachers. When we had got the assessment and read through it, we were surprised by some observations. Some of the other details we read through, not realizing their import.

So, as we went to meet the teachers, there was some amount of apprehension about how our daughter was doing in general. At least within me.

But as we started talking to the teachers, we realized that our daughter was doing much better than what we could gather by reading the report. I was pleasantly surprised!

The feedback we got from the teachers was not only encouraging but also a relief. The little one (well, not so little anymore!) had shown improvement in most aspects of her work through the last few months. From a place of just being ok, she was doing much better.

Hidden inside the earlier apprehension was the question of whether she had adjusted to the higher grade well and is she able to cope up. The revelation was emphatic – she had not just adjusted well, she was doing more than expected in certain aspects.

As parents, that was a moment of pride. I felt as if there was some hidden force that had propelled our daughter to a higher state. My wife felt as if she was coming into her own, well guided all around her.

As we walked out of the school after those meetings, we couldn’t help but smile. Our daughter had gone beyond what we were expecting, and it felt strangely satisfying. As if we had achieved all those things.

Perhaps, that’s how we as parents feel and partake in our child’s world. Their achievements and success feels as personal as anything could…

I have arrived!!

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What makes us think that? And is it really ever true?

This last week, I was incessantly scrolling my Google app feed. There were a lot of articles related to financial advise, probably owing to my recent searches to identify certain investment decisions and taxation.

As I went through some of those articles, I ended up reading a detailed review of the data on income distribution in India and the US and how that’s becoming more lopsided over the years.

Consuming the laid out information, my mind went to how do I fare in these distribution models. As an individual and as a household.

I quickly began to think about what it means to lie in the top x% of the population and how we associate our success to how we have moved up that ladder through our lives. Except for maybe a few who were born with a silver spoon!

Figuring the progress from the start point felt like a self congratulatory realization. A pat on my back for what I have been able to achieve till now. Good while it lasted.

But as my mind raced in that direction, the next question that occurred to me was what was a target to seek? Am I happy with where I am or do I need to strive for more? And where to draw the line of satisfaction?

Thinking deeper, I also came to terms that financial success couldn’t be the only metric on which I can decide whether I have arrived or not…

There are many things that make up my life and existence. And while money is an important aspect of it, it’s not the only one in that list.

My relationships and my association with my family and friends is critical to my functioning. My health is important for me. The contribution of my work to a bigger cause matters to me.

So, while I may associate my success momentarily with how much money I make or what’s my net worth; but in the scheme of life, all those other things matter almost as much as money.

The only difference is that money is probably the easiest to quantify and hence the most exciting of the lot. Their value and importance in life only comes to the fore when there’s something specific happening.

That, however, shouldn’t be so. A good reminder to myself…

The meandering climb.

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Aniket was panting. He was on a steep climb and was running out of breath.

He found a small rock that was protruding out, almost as if inviting him, to sit down. He took that offer.

It had been a relentless last couple of hours. Once he had reached the base of this summit, he was ecstatic. He had scaled three folds to get there.

And yet, as he looked back and then ahead, Aniket’s mind told him that he could do more. There was more power left in him to scale the next one.

Not one to ever stop for rest, he took up the challenge with aplomb. Stuffing a quick packed meal into his mouth, he gulped down some water, and took out the map to chart his course.

Aniket was ambitious. And he wanted to get to the top quickly. So, the most natural path was straight up!

He started out in zest but somewhere within the first hour itself, he could feel his legs weren’t strong enough. They needed some rest. He kept pushing though.

Then, after a while, his breathing started to give him problems. His heart rate monitor was constantly in the high zone. Eventually, when he saw the rock he was now resting on, his mind gave up and he settled down.

He was tired and soon felt asleep. After dozing for almost an hour, he woke up. As he saw around, for the first time, he noticed the beauty of the surroundings in all their might.

He had scaled many a peaks but had not seen this beauty anywhere. It was magical, paradise like. There was a light fog and the sun was peeping through the clouds, shining on some parts of the valley.

As Aniket looked around, he realised that it would be a big mistake if he just climbed up without absorbing all this nature around him. He still wanted to get to the top but his heart raced at the thought of walking through those beautiful narrow pathways he could see ahead of him.

He decided to change course. For the next couple of hours, he walked on those meandering pathways, touching the plants on the sides, enjoying spring water from the tiny streams, feeling the air around him.

It took him longer than it would have if he had climbed straight but he got to the top just before dusk. He saw the sun setting, soaking in the evening rays and their wonderful colours.

He was dead tired now but also very happy. He had listened to his heart and had gone through a new experience. Something, he would remember all his life. He slept peacefully that night.

The next morning, when he woke up, Aniket realised that what he had seen was a dream. He was in his apartment, lying next to his wife.

He lay there, staring at the ceiling and remembering the experience. And the lesson.

He could aim for the summit but that didn’t mean he had to climb straight up. There were different pathways, some of them richer than the straight climb, that he could take.

That meandering climb will take him longer but will be worth it…

Selfless Dedication

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This weekend was special. We got together to celebrate my maternal uncle and aunt’s fiftieth wedding anniversary!

The occasion itself was momentous. Not everyone gets to enjoy marital bliss for so long.

What made it more memorable was the time I spent with my cousins together. We were catching up with each other after a while.

As we tried to make the most of these two days, every hour spent having fun felt great. I thought it couldn’t have gotten better. But then something very special happened…

During the celebrations, when their grandchildren asked my uncle and aunt some questions, my uncle described my aunt’s unfailing dedication and contribution to home building. And how that was an important aspect of how their relationship strengthened.

How she, being a housewife, took it upon herself to raise the kids, took care of everyone in the extended family, and handled all the changes with aplomb, being at his side always.

It was so refreshing to hear those words. Not just because his love and care for her shone through those words, but also because it reflected the important contributions our mothers made to our lives.

I thought about how my mother, again a housewife, always put our interests first before hers. How she took extra efforts and care to ensure everything in my extended family always went on smoothly. How she continues to do so even now.

Selflessly dedicated. To us. To the family.

And yet, we don’t consider homemaking as a critical part of our lives as much today. Or don’t give it the importance it is due.

Yes, women now work more often than not. And that means many more responsibilities than before. Life’s more busy in general and that means many more things to take care of. But somehow, they cobble it together well.

It’s an amazing quality that women and moms have. I see the same attitude and spark in my wife. And many of the other women in the family I know or have observed closely. More superpowers to them!

Later that evening, as my mom and aunt danced gracefully to celebrate the occasion in their own style, we were all cheering from the sidelines.

For the performance of their lifetime…

My Tribe…

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We live our lives surrounded by people. Some close, some just acquaintances.

It is very rarely though that we think about how those who are close to us are playing a great supporting role in propping us up.

Everyday. Every month. Every year hopefully.

I just finished reading Andre Agassi’s biography, Open. It is a good book, he comes out quite honestly about everything he had to go through to be the player he was.

One big thing that however has stuck with me was the mention of how he built his team, his tribe. And how important he considered them in his life, going to the extent of depending on them even in the most sensitive and difficult situations.

As I reflected on this revelation, it seemed to me that we mere mortals don’t do this enough.

We don’t think about our tribe enough. Or how important they are and how we need to keep them closer.

Going back to my own experiences, I realise now that places where I had an amazing set of people around me, I did amazingly well there.

In middle school, when in quick succession, I changed schools thrice in three years and didn’t have my good friends with me, I struggled to do my best. Then, as I moved to high school, I found an amazing set of friends and those years were way better.

In my work life too, places that got the best of me, including my first job and a couple of others, I had a great set of people around me. Whom I worked with, became friends with, and hung out with. That positivity reflected in my work at those places. And vice versa.

The biggest lift I have seen however has been in my personal life. Whenever I have drifted away from those who are close to me, physically or mentally, I have suffered.

Conversely, when I have paid attention to keep them close and given importance to what they say and how they keep me honest, I have flourished. Not just once but multiple times.

And so, to me this makes a lot of sense! Keep your tribe together.

And hopefully, as years go by, that bond yields much more than what went into forging it…

Inspired!

~ Rishi ~ Leave a comment

There’s something magical about sports. I love it.

For the fun and joy it provides, of course. But also for the inspiration it provides to a mere mortal like me.

This week I had two such inspirational moments.

First was when I was reading through Andre Agassi’s biography. An extremely well written one, where he talks about his love and hate relationship with the game and his personal struggles to lay down the path of glory.

And second when I watched Virat Kohli get to his 30th hundred leaving behind the great Don Bradman. Having waited for more than a year, it was a sweet feeling to see him get there despite all odds and everyone having written him off.

These moments made me recall all the amazing things I have learnt from sports and sports people.

Playing made me grow as a person, both on and off the field. I always played something or the other – football, cricket, hockey, athletics, and volleyball.

Mutual respect, trust, resilience, discipline – all qualities I picked up along the way.

But the bigger lessons came watching some of the professional superstars.

Observing Tendulkar, and then Dravid on the cricket field made me respect discipline and humility. I modeled myself to not get swayed by success or stuck due to failure.

Following Agassi and then Federer, hitting tennis balls through the line, taught me how to do it elegantly with my head held high. Knowing I had given it my best.

Watching the great Schumacher zag through the lanes and winning against odds made me appreciate the value of never giving up. And continuing even after a bad start.

Enjoying Messi’s play on the football field helped me understand how skills and team work need to come together to do great things. And why I always need to collaborate.

There are many more instances I could take and learnings I could recall.

But one important thing I really imbibed reading about these greats behind the scene, was the fact that success doesn’t come overnight.

It has to be toiled for, day after day, hour after hour of practice. It has to be planned for, even when the chances are slim. And it has to be aspired for, to really make a dash for it.

As I wind up a whirlwind week, these are all good reminders of the game I am playing. And checking myself on how I am playing it…

The Connection We Have

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AI is the flavour of the season and in Silicon Valley there is a palpable feeling of you being in the wave (riding or not is another matter)!

This weekend I was reading up on what some researchers at Anthropic (one of those heavyweight startups) are up to. They are basically trying to understand neural networks and how they deduce the outcomes that we get.

Then, I read another piece about how there are companies working to figure out different AI agents/models around making humans, sitting in back offices and chatting with you and me to help resolve our queries, redundant.

After reading these articles, I was imagining how these developments will affect the world of writing.

There’s already a lot of debate on how AI generated content is becoming quite common and how it is different from human generated content and which is better.

Naturally, as someone who aspires to write more, it does feel I am choosing the road which will be increasingly less travelled. And yet, not ready to give up the romanticism of my new aspiration, I have tried to keep on writing, working on my craft.

The more I reflected on the articles and what’s about to come, one thing became clearer in my head. In this age of AI, the connection I build with my reader is going to be the key to my satisfaction as a writer.

If I, as a writer, am able to connect at a deeper, emotional level with the reader, I will have done my part well. At least a few of those reading will find my work authentic and connect with it.

And if I am able to keep connecting repeatedly, I should be able to do justice to the time someone invests in reading my stuff.

It’s a precariously tight rope to walk on. If I swing too much, I may trump myself. If I don’t, I risk being stationary and eventually falling down.

The only way is to keep an eye on my goal, take deep breaths and write with my heart…

By the way, just realized while writing this is applicable not just for writing but for pretty much anything we want to excel in in our life!

Being authentic is the way forward then.

Proud, Prouder, Proudest…

~ Rishi ~ Leave a comment

There are times when your heart suddenly swells with love or pride. And then there are times when this feeling goes higher…

This past week, something similar happened to me.

My wife was chosen as an emerging leader in her field!

A Big deal. A proud moment for me and the entire family.

When she broke the news to me first, my heart swelled with pride. For she has gone through a lot to get there. Having been a witness to almost all of it, I can vouch for it.

As she announced the news to the world a few days later and it appeared in my social media feed, it instantly pushed me to press the like button to express my pride. But I stopped short of posting any comment there.

Not because I didn’t want to. But because I thought it will be better to put this through my written word. Anyways, I have not been a big contributor to the social media scene off late. So, why do it and break my pattern.

Back to the spotlight. I opened up my feed and the notification had some more news about other people liking and commenting on my wife’s post. As I read some of the comments, and she corroborated some offline instances, I became prouder.

For she had got much more heartwarming reception and feedback from her team and people around her. That speaks volumes about her leadership and naturally left a much bigger imprint on the pride index within my heart.

But most of all, I feel the proudest about how she has balanced things on the personal front and yet gone beyond herself to deliver on the work front. It isn’t easy to do that and my respect for all the women who do that day in and day out has only increased.

We have known each other for almost two decades now. And in our often happening life, the way she complements me may not get reflected often in my writing. But the pride she makes me feel hopefully only continues to swell…

The Power I Hold…

~ Rishi ~ 1 Comment

The lady was half asleep. She had had a tough day at work and after completing all the household chores, she had just gotten to bed.

Her house was a small one. They couldn’t afford a bigger one. Not with just one person working.

Her husband had been out of work for a while now. He had been fired from his last job because the company had filed for bankruptcy. Since then, he had been trying his best to land a new gig but without much success.

They didn’t have any child yet. It had been half a decade since their marriage and while they loved each other, they wanted to be sure about their financial stability before having a child. It wasn’t easy raising one and they only wanted the best for their kid, whenever they would have one.

As she turned around to the other side, her husband entered the room. He had been frustrated at his string of failures to secure a job and had been keeping aloof for a few days. She cajoled him and snuggled close to him, to comfort him. They lay there in each other’s arms soon.

But she couldn’t go to sleep now. Not with all that was running in her mind…

How will they get back to a better life now? How will he find a good job? How will they earn enough to afford a bigger place? And when can they plan to have a kid, she really wanted to become a mother.

The thoughts in her head kept floating in all directions, forcing her to toss and turn in her bed all night along. Her husband had dozed off after a while, he was too tired from life to continue being awake.

As dawn started to wake up, she stared out of the small window in their room. She could see the night sky giving way to a lighter hue. She could hear some noises from the nearby trees, leaves rustling, birds waking up.

Her mind kept racing. It was the dawn of a new day. She could either continue thinking about what had happened in the past few months or look forward to today and tomorrow. There was no other choice.

She got up and sat at the head of the bed. As she took deep breaths, she realized that she had power over her life still. She could make it work.

What if they were in a smaller house? They had a better one than many others.

What if they didn’t have a few luxuries in life? They had a decently functional life for now.

What if her husband didn’t have a job yet? He will find one soon enough if he kept trying.

What if they didn’t have a kid yet? She could decide and have one whenever she wanted to, they were both healthy.

After all, there was always today and tomorrow to make life up. To do what best they could with theirs.

For, she held a power. The will to make life work for them…