To take the plunge, and when?

OK, this is not about marriage - am yet to find any luck(?) there :)

I feel India is going through a phase where people - however few in number right now, but surely growing - are looking at doing more of what they like than just working for money. It could be working for social good or fun jobs like for example, bar-tending.
This could just be my feeling because I recently quit my job and as a result running into/reading about more of this kind of people. But nevertheless, it is an interesting trend and will do a lot of good for the people, and the country in the long run. People are becoming entrepreneural, taking risks and venturing into areas where the previous generation probably would not have thought of going into or bothered about. We have people leaving their plush/respectable jobs and becoming a Sarpanch in their village, some planning to take up photography full-time (resemblance to 3-idiots is coincidental, I actually know someone who wants to do this), some even wanting to get into movie-making without much to show in their bank accounts (again, someone I know).

So, whether it is for social good or just following your passion (sometimes they could be same); how do you decide when to take the plunge? This is for the vast majority of us who end up in jobs that we not necessarily enjoy. For those others who are already into what they love doing - you are lucky people :)
If one is in the wrong job, we are mostly frustrated - except for some intellectually challenging moments - and always looking forward for something exciting to happen. I used to have this feeling of probably taking away someone else's job.
First is to identify that this is probably not your thing. If you already know what you would rather be doing, it helps. And the sooner you know this the better it is so you can start saving as much as you can from the corporate salaries. It is very important to know what you will be doing next and not leave something just because you dont like it. There are some who just leave their current jobs and take some time off to figure out what they want to do in life - works with some people!

Coming to money, how much money is enough before taking the decision? One of my friends says 'the need will always grow to meet the income', so you will never have enough. I would say it is the 'wants' that grow. So, cut down on the wants and keep needs low. Once you start practising this, you realize how much money one could have saved had you started this earlier. It happens, it has happened to me and it is important to go through it once so we know how it feels.
Talking of needs, most people who have moved out their plush jobs to follow their heart or for social good, are usually near the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. They have climbed up the pyramid, some quicker than others by virtue of their upbringing/exposure to influential people, etc. We need to find where we are and how fast we can reach the top.
I like this concept as it answers a lot of questions on why some people behave the way they do.

There could be moments when you are in doubt after taking the plunge - have a support system, talk to friends, family, etc. I am assuming you have already spoken to them before taking the decision :)
I usually think of people who have inspired me - one small piece I read when I need strength is Steve Job's speech on finding what you love doing.

So here's putting it all together:
- find a cause - sometimes the cause finds you. Travelling is a good way of finding one.
- keep needs low and save a lot. Build/buy a small house (easier to clean as well), a small car (if it is a desi car, better, for multiple reasons). These are the 2 biggest liabilities that we get into - until you have kids :), and there are other little things like spending less on fuel, eating out only on special occasions, etc. that we can adopt in our lifestyle which can help save a lot.
- dont forget to get a medical insurance. I am yet to get one! Any recommendations on which is a good medical insurance would help.
- go for it, before the society makes you change your mind :)

Hope and justice in an unfair world

04.Jan.2010

As I sat through yet another simple yet inspiring session in some tribal areas of Orissa, I realized that apart from 'awakening the entrepreneural spirit', the TATA jagriti yatra has given hope - hope that things can be changed, inspite of all the bureaucracy, hope that once u hv a committed set of people with you, you can do the seemingly impossible, hope that you will get such a team if you hv a good idea and u hv the leadership to pass the message across, hope that at the end of the day, there is justice in an unjust world.

All the role model visits have had some common streaks.. a pinching or a tipping moment that prompted them to take up a cause, strong ethics and values, lots of dark nights - some of them have recurring ones every year, the ability and willingness to dream BIG, a great team/support system, persistence and above all, a great deal of humility.

The learning so far has been tremendous - simplicity from the Mumbai Dabbawalas, the courage to dream big and not stopping at hurdles from G. Vijayaraghavan - the man behind Technopark in Trivandrum, the need for a 'vision' not vision from Paul and Sabriye (International Institute of Social Entrepreneurs - a.k.a the 'Dream Factory'), the joy of doing something beautiful at Arvind eye care, Madurai, owning a problem from Elango at Kutumbakam village, Chennai, emotional returns v/s monetary returns at Industree, Bangalore, outsourcing from the government to Naandi foundation to solve problems like hunger and basic education (what is 2/3 + 4/5 ?) - yes, it is shameful that we have the world's largest number of hungry people, empowering people to shape their destinies by Joe Madiath of Gram Vikas at Orissa... this is a long list of all that I have been touched by so far.. hope to write in more detail about each one of them soon.

AT IISE, we took some time out to put down our dreams in a piece of paper and that is what we see here in this pic - a box full of dreams.

Day 1 of the TATA Jagriti Yatra

24.Dec.09

Itz been 3 days since I left Bangalore and I have already lost track of the day of the week/month..
After having met 50 very interesting people with varied backgrounds the day before the yatra as part of the facilitator's workshop, I dont know what to expect from the 300 others who have joined us today.

An interesting thing that came out during the workshop was that atleast 30 to 40 percent of the people had quit their jobs to either start something close to their heart or to just plain experiment.

The actual proceedings started in the evening with a session by the Mumbai dabbawalas. How they started - some Parsi loved his wife very much and missed lunch prepared by her - , what is their structure, how they have been running successfully at six sigma level for the past 119 years and how they suddenly shot to fame when Price Charles visited them at the Church Gate station - they call him their brand ambassador :)

Now, Mumbai Dabbawalas form case studies in big B schools - it was the case study for our group as well.

Gowri, Shashank's (Yatra founder) better half and part of the Jagriti Yatra team, gave a magical and artistic touch to the evening by teaching us a few and effective dance movements to the Jagriti geet (Yaaro chalo by Prasoon Joshi). The beauty of these movements is that they are so simple and can be done while seated. Interestingly, these movements were created by her for some senior citizens who cudn't get out of their wheel chairs.

The symbolic flag-off was very creative.
The excitement was mounting as we boarded the buses to Mumbai Central. The train was delayed. Some people started singing random songs and soon the foreigners were singing Christmas carols joined in by other enthusiastic folks. It was very sweet. We finally started at 3 am on 25th Dec, after a wait of 4 hrs.

We knew we could expect the unexpected on the rest of the trip.

Mumbai calling, yet again

This is the 6th time I am going to Mumbai, and except for one trip to meet a good friend of mine, all others have been transit stops - coming to Mumbai to start another journey.

This particular trip is different and special in many ways. Firstly, I am going to Mumbai by train - my longest journey by train after the 2 and half days trip to Delhi which I made 6 yrs back when I went for the Himalayan trek.
Secondly I am going on my own - covering 1000 kms in Rs. 360 seems amazing!
Thirdly, the reason I am travelling to Mumbai - to join a 18-day journey throughout India as part of http://jagritiyatra.com/.

The first image of Mumbai I have is of our plane landing straight into a huge slum. After it landed safely on the runway, I realized it was probably parallax error.
During one of my other transit stops, I was 'forced' to stay in hotel Leela for a day as our flight was overbooked. I took this opportunity to explore Mumbai on my own - cudn't do it the last time around as my good friends ensured that I was not alone and was looked after. Not that I am complaining, they were all very sweet. So, I went to Colaba in the local train when I had the opportunity to go by taxi. From there, I made a quick visit to Elephanta caves - supposed to be a heritage site but has lot of scope for improvement in terms of maintenance, especially cleanliness. One funny thing I remember about this trip is that I went into the first class compartment by mistake thinking it was second class and thought the local trains had become a lot better from my previous trip where I had travelled second class :)
Compare that to a similar but opposite scenario in Switzerland where I thought I had mistakenly entered the first class compartment when I had a ticket for second class :))

Never has a car lacked so much - the REVA nxr

5th Dec. 2009





It was the launch of REVA’s next car - the NXR - at the REVAlok day in Bangalore.
People came in their little REVAs to be greeted by enthusiastic members of the REVA family. I hadn't felt so much warmth in a long time even at real family gatherings. Everyone smiled at each other, silently acknowledging and appreciating the choice made for a better environment.
There was no press, no hype, no glitz, no skimpily dressed models at the car launch.. the car would speak for itself. Well, the NXR actually 'talks' back to you through telematics that helps keep u in touch with your car.
All the speeches were short and came straight from the heart.. I liked the part about how Brigadier Harish followed Chetan Maini (founder and CTO of REVA) for 2 kilometeres in Koramangala to get feedback on the REVA without realizing that he was going to ask for feedback from the founder himself :)
The interaction session brought some interesting points.. one of them being the current owners being brand ambassadors for REVA as there have been many instances where we have been stopped and asked questions. The most touching interaction was when one of the owners said how he was able to use the REVA to move around and be independent inspite of having only one functional leg - a lot better alternative to a wheelchair car which costs more than 10 lakhs. He only wanted some slight modifications in the REVA which the board was eager to take up.
I was happy to personally thank Chetan Maini for "giving me a guilt free ride in the city."

I loved the NXR promos as much as the NXR itself. Stuff like 'Evolution is getting rid of things that you dont need - No sparks, no noise, no clutch, no gears, no tailpipe, no emissions, no petrol' or 'Never has a car lacked so much' to name a few.

The 4 seater NXR is born green and comes with a host of features like
- turning radius of 3.9 meters
- intelligent instrument display that provides info on range available, speed and driving efficiency
- top speed of 104 kmph - more than sufficient for cities
- range of 160 km which is covers 97% of all journeys one makes
- normal and fast charge options (fast charge available only in Lithium-Ion variants)
- 'Regen' braking that extends the range by putting energy back into the batteries everytime u slow down
- fully crash tested, highway safe car - M1 category
- optional solar roof charging provides a trickle charge
- REply - a suite of telematics solutions that alerts you with key info such as range available, time to full charge, provides reminders on service and insurance renewals, lets u remotely pre-heat, pre-cool, provides a report on your driving habits and tips on how to improve, etc.
- REVive - remote emergency charge if you run low or out of charge
- and last but not the least, forthe price of a couple of tanks of petrol, one can commute all year long

The price for the NXR hasn’t been fixed yet for India – according to me, a price between 5 to 6 lakhs rupees would be a competitive one.

The cars themselves will be produced in REVA's new low carbon assembly plant in Bangalore which is being built to IGBC (Indian Green Building Council) guidelines which includes rain water harvesting, natural light and ventilation, and employs solar energy for electricity and heating - hence the term 'Born Green'.

REVA, named after Chetan’s mother, also means ‘a new beginning’ in Sanskrit – and a new beginning it definitely is. If I heard it right, REVA is the first company producing commercial electric vehicles and has the largest deployed fleet of electric cars with customers in 24 countries. Bangalore has 1200 proud REVA owners and there are about 3000 cars worldwide.

If I had to sum up the evening's proceedings in one sentence, it would be something like this.. I felt how it was to have realized a dream - a dream of designing and producing responsible auto in a responsible way and still being so genuine.
Each guest was given an indoor plant as a token of thanks.

PS: Please pardon the low resolution pix.. I felt like kicking myself for forgetting my SLR.

2 small decisions I am happy to have made

Last month was anniversary critical mass and we were getting Tshirts done to mark the occasion.. here's where I got an opportunity to make 2 small but important decisions which I will cherish for a long time.

The tees were supposed to be ready by Wednesday morning and when I went to check out some samples in the evening around 5 pm on Tuesday, I saw some women were still working and they would have had to work till late to complete the remaining stuff.. I told the guy in charge that it is ok to delay the delivery by a day but the women have to go home on time.

The second one was really easy.. they normally pack each tee in a separate plastic bag and I obviously said no to it. So, that explains why the tees are so crumpled and messy.

I-Day in Bangalore as seen while on a ride

I did not have any specific plans for I-Day as I was puppy-sitting. But the cyclist in me got the better of me and I joined the I-Day critical mass ride. As I rode on Mysore Road, I saw flags hoisted on some buildigs and street vendors selling flags and little badges. One big relief was that there were very few plastic ones being sold compared to previous years.. some improvement.. One particular I-day celebration caught my eye from the top of the flyover.. it was of a Muslim girls school. All the students were dressed in spotless white clothes from head to toe, including their head/face covering. Made me ponder if this was really freedom.. I did not want to think too much and raced down the flyover.

There were 20 other cyclists gathered at the Press Club gates in Cubbon Park. We started after fixing the Indian flag onto one of the cyclists and rode along Vidhan Soudha and Parade grounds, attracting some attention, including from a journalist from CNBC.

I rode back on the same flyover to find a bunch of enthusiastic guys put up a huge flag on the shoulder of the flyover.. thatz the biggest Indian flag I have seen so far. I got down to take some pix and there was this guy on a scooter who had stopped too to be part of the excitement, or so I thought.. but what this guy said really spoilt the spirit of freedom of secular India. There was a mosque in the background and he did not want me to cover that in the pix.. how absurd! I just ignored him and did not care to even respond to him.

I had almost reached home when I saw 2 kids walking home from school.. one of them had the little badge on, but the other did not. I went back and put my badge on the other kid and she gave me a big smile and both posed for a neat snap :)

All in all, it was 4 hrs well spent on Independence Day.

Jai Hind