just a quick one

forgot to mention that I had my second demo last week at New State Academy. There were around 40-50 students along with some teachers. The demo went well and ended with a round of applause. The teacher told me that the session went well.

My friend who had gone with me also commented that the session was good except that my delivery was may be just a bit fast paced. Relevant feedback which I would take care of in the sessions to come.

Many plans have been made for the next year, will write in detail sometime later, till then enjoy the romantic mood set in by my i-pod, " tujhmein rab dikhta hai, yaara main kya karun". Bye!

The First Outing

Its been some time after the last post, and I was actually waiting for some action to happen before writing the new post. So, the good news is that some action has actually taken place. The action here is that my first demo session took place today at DAV school, Pitam Pura.

I have been waiting for this moment to come ever since I have started working on the concept. And today was the day when it finally arrived. Let me just be very straight here in admitting that the session went extremely well. If I compare with how I normally give presentations, this was somewhere around 6.5-7 on a scale of 10 and yet it was well appreciated by the teachers present. This and the feedback after the session has given me considerable confidence in the modules which I have developed. Though in the initial talks, it was becoming apparent that school was slightly reluctant to shell out money for the concept, but am sure and am quite confident that once the product starts getting accepted in the market, the money will start flowing in sooner than later.

More so, after having read and discussed so much about global warming over the past one month, I for sure believe so strongly about this issue that I am just looking at opportubities to reach out to maximum number of people and tell them what is it that is happening to their home, how is it that they are only responsible for all that is happening and therefore what is it that we humans can actually do so as to ensure a greener and a healthier tomorrow.

Consider this fact: if we look at the trend of CO2 over the past 400 thousand years, not once the level has crossed 300 parts per million part which is actually considered to be a safe limit by our scientists. However, only in the past two decades, the level of CO2 has gone up to 384 parts per million and is actually heading towards 400 parts per million mark soon.

The next session is on Saturday, just before I head into the new year party mood. So, wish me luck for that.

Since, I saw Rab ne Bana di Jodi, last week, my ipod has since been playing, " haule haule hojayega pyaar"....enjoy!!

Just a few quotations

Below are some of the best qoutations that I have read:
Character is one factor that will guide all our actions and decisions.

It requires courage to keep dreaming. And that is when dreams are most needed -- not when everything is going right, but when just about everything is going wrong.

Playing to win is not the same as cutting corners. When you play to win, you stretch yourself to your maximum and use all your potential. It also helps you to concentrate your energy on what you can influence instead of getting bogged down with the worry of what you cannot change. Do your best and leave the rest.

Everyone feels the fear of unknown. Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to manage fear without getting paralyzed. Feel the fear, but move on regardless.

Guard against complacency all the time. Complacency makes you blind to the early signals from the environment that something is going wrong

We need an open mind to look at things in a different way and allow new inputs to come in. Otherwise, there is a real danger of becoming complacent or even downright arrogant.

Constantly ask yourself what new skills and competencies will be needed. Begin working on them before it becomes necessary and you will have a natural advantage.

If you do not take enough risks, you may also be losing out on many opportunities. Think through but take the plunge. If some things do go wrong, learn from them.

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick is to not to get bogged down by it. We can get out of the deepest wells by not stopping. And by never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Excellence is not so much a battle you fight with others, but a battle you fight with yourself, by constantly raising the bar and stretching yourself and your team. This is the best and the most satisfying and challenging part about excellence.

Success requires no explanation and failure permits none. But you need to respect yourself enough so that your self-confidence remains intact whether you succeed or fail.

And just as I finish writing these quotations, my ipod has got deeply motivated and is indicating that something big must happen now. It has now turned on, " koi humse jeet na paave..lage raho..mit jaawe jo takraave, lage raho". I wonder if it is just motivation or a message to the so called non-state actors. Anyways, enjoy!

First School: Sorry Mr.Rohit, after the Mumbai terror attacks, Principal Mam does not meet any outsiders and netiher do we allow any outsiders inside the school premises.
I wonder what safety anyways the two guards, one extremely thin and the other too old to stand, can provide to the dear Principal Mam and to the students of the school. If terrorists do decide to pick this school, these two guards with no weapons would I am sure provide a lot more security to the Principal Mam

Second School: Mr Rohit, we have seen your proposal, please come for a meeting at 2PM today itself. So, Mr. Rohit quickly rushes home, goes for a quick shave, wears the best blazer he has and reaches 5 minutes before the schedule time. During the first visit, Mr. Rohit was not even allowed to go beyond the gates, this time reeptionist called him in, he was excited, he gave his card, the card went inside the principals room, the principal takes a good look at it, the receptionist comes out, she has a smile on her face, Mr.Rohit takes a step forward excited for a chance to meet another principal, receptionist appraoches and finally speaks, " Mr. Rohit, principal mam has a packed schedule this month and she says we might look at it sometime in Jan/Feb". Mr. Rohit tries his best to convince her to in turn convince principal mam for a meeting but guess its just one bad day for Mr. Rohit.

Patience and more of patience is what is needed to survive here. The sales team here at our parent company, AlfaTech has a lot of such stories to share and it is their patience and perseverence only which has shaped the way our company has grown over the past so many years. And I guess, its true for any sort of business set-up especially when you are new and are in the process of starting up. Otherwise as well, if we look at life in general, patience is one virtue which can help an individual cope up with a lot of issues and also prevent things from taking an unwanted or an unfortunate turn. So, patience my dear friends is what I have to keep and perseverence is what I have to follow.

In office right now, so no i-pod and therefore no songs.

The first week....

So, last week I visited around 10 schools to begin with. Nothing spectacular has happened and very frankly nothing much was expected either, after all its just the first week at work. Anyways, in majority of the schools, one is not even allowed to enter the reception area and as asked I had to leave my proposal at the hands of some extremely dumb looking security men with absolutely no assurance whether the proposal would ever even see the door of Principal's office. But, then nothing else can be done in such cases except calling or visiting them again the next week and pursuing the matter further.

However, there were a few schools which entertained people like me, and made me meet either the principal or the concerned teacher. Surprisingly, most of them belonged to the DAV chain of schools. The end result so far is that one of the schools has agreed to hold the demo session in front of the teachers because they want to make sure that the content is suitable enough to be shown to their students. Though, I will not confirm it still as the concerned teacher has asked me to call on 16 of this month and then confirm. But trust on one thing, the response so far has been encouraging, lets keep our fingers crossed and see how it goes on from here.

However, the last one week has already taught me a very important lesson. As an entrepreneur or as anyone starting out on his own, one just cannot afford to have a big ego. I get ready everyday in the morning wearing a nice shirt, the best trousers that I have and a blazer on top of that, clean shave, well polished shoes and hairs in place, eager to meet up with the school authorities, impress them and convince them about the usability of the product that I have to offer. But then, in most of the cases, you are either turned away from the door, in some the principal is not even interested and throws away your brochure, in some the receptionist is asked to interview you ( i mean what she would understand from the proposal with absolutely no authority to take any decision, guess that's just another way to say NO). Frankly, while I was doing MBA or while I was in Marico, I have never experienced such a behaviour from anyone, not even from my seniors but am now gearing up even for the worse. And, that is exactly the learning that I have acquired, probably I would never have been able to react to such a behavior earlier, but now I have to, may be again and again and I don't know for how long. But hopefully things will change for good, one day, sooner or later.

In all this, I forgot to thank ( though I actually just can't thank him), or just mention about my dear friend Praveen. Someone who has believed in me, has stood with me in these times and has helped me beyond what anyone could even think of. Though its nothing new of him, but then this is something totally different and to go out of your way, to not only show care for what I am doing but also give sufficient time to me is truly exceptional as far as I am concerned and this is something which I will never ever forget. And I just hope, that we will forever stand by for each other. The guy truly has some exceptional talent and deserves to be doing a lot more from what he is doing currently and I can bet that he would be successful beyond one's imagination. Hopefully, with plans we have, this guy can defintely go places.

Time to log off and get ready for the week ahead. By the way my i-pod has finally decided to move on in life and is in a very wierd mood today. It has just turned on " Maa da ladla bigad gaya". You guys enjoy whereas I will go and make sure my mom doesn't listen to this one.

Time for the next turn

And Yes, the time has finally come to jump into the waters. To give a marketing perspective to what I just said, after having done with 3 Ps of marketing viz product, packaging and pricing, its time now for promotion.

The logo has been fixed and the first set of brochures were printed today. From tomorrow begins the task of going out, visiting each and every school and introducing what I am attempting to do. I did visit a few schools over the last week, just to get the feeler of how it would be to go in front of an unknown person and talk about my product. Trust me not all experiences were good. Its gonna be an extremely tough road ahead but then since I have already taken the turn, I now cannot take a U-turn, howsoever rough or as I said tough the road may be.

Am I nervous??? well, yes I am. However irrespective of what happens ultimately, I have to do it now. And so I keep moving and the journey continues.....

My i-pod has still not been able to get over the shock of Mumbai attacks and has refused to play me a song today as well. Good night!

Some observations

Since last three days all we have seen and heard of is news about terrorists attacking Mumbai. All of India has one, two or may be a lot more things to say about the whole incident, everyone has some opinion on someone or the other associated directly or indirectly with the episode. And so mentioned below are some of my observations based on what I have been seeing on TV before, during and after the incident:

@ Terrorists: 10 terrorists against more than 300 NSG commandos and yet they were able to hold ground for three days. I am highly interested in understanding the psyche of such men, what is it exactly that motivates them to kill innocent people, what is exactly the point which such people are trying to make, do they really think that by killing innocent people they will be able to win something for themselves, after all against whom do they have all the hatred and anger. If someone comes up to me and tells me to carry out such an act for whatever he may offer to me, I cannot imagine myself doing it. Then, what is it that is told to such men which motivates them to be a part of such operations knowing that they would not be able to hold their ground for long and would ultimately perish, which actually happens in most terrorist actions.

@ All political leaders: While the action was still being carried out, BJP runs a campaign wherein through a letter, our former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee, makes inability of the government to fight against terrorism an election agenda and seeks votes from the voters. And this campaign by the way is not even for national Lok Sabha Election but for the Delhi assembly election which were scheduled to be held on that day. How can a senior leader like him be a part of such a campaign? And how idiot can those people be who thought of such a campaign and how insensitive can those leaders be who approved of such a campaign. Rather than being in Mumbai and suppoting our commandos, politicians are busy seeking votes.
And then today morning, we hear about our home minister Mr. Shivraj Patil's resignation. So, instead of highlighting the point that he has resigned because of his failure to fight terrorism, all of the congress is focussing on the fact that L.K Advani did not resign in his time and look our minister has resigned. Again, a very basic lack of common sense and sheer stupidity on the part of our politicians.
Maharashtra home minister R.R Patil makes a statement that such small incidents keep happening in bigger cities. Can Mr. Patil please explain in what regards is this incident a small one. I feel that by making such a statement, he has actually degraded the sacrifices made by all those officers and men killed in the attack. How can someone be so idiot to make such a statement? Rather than asking for him to resign, he should actually have been sacked from his ministry.
In an all party meet convened by our Prime Minister, our leader of opposition and a future prime minsterial candidate L.K Advani is missing and the reason given for his absence is that he is busy in an election campaigning and therefore could not make it to the meeting. Fantastic!!! what is more important: coming to power and becoming a prime miniter or ensuring India's safety and prosperity. For someone who gives a higher importance to the former issue, has absolutely no right to be in the politics. Very simply, if someone is in politics sitting in Lok Sabha, his/her primary objective should be to ensure that India grows and becomes a developed economy but all such people worry about is how to rule the centre.

@ Raj Thakerey: Where are you Sir? Over the three days and beyond, no one has seen any comments from Mr. Raj Thakerey. I am sure everyone would have understood the point which I am trying to make, with people from all over the country and not just Marathis coming together and rescuing Mumbai. So, I just have one thing to say to Mr. Raj, this country India belongs to Indians and therefore all of us are first Indians and then Hindu, Muslim, Sikh etc and then may be UP, Southie, Marathi etc. Therefore there is no place in our country for someone who calls himself/herself first a Marathi or may be something else and then an Indian. So I would request Mr. Raj to take all the Marathis (who so ever feels that he is only a Marathi) with him and go to some place where he can find only the Marathis to live with. Why trouble us Mr. Raj, please leave our country and go. We do not want people like you in our country.
And I fail to understand those who support him. Can't such people understand that you are shedding the blood of your fellow countrymen and what is it that is stopping you from living together and in harmony. Such people seem to lack sheer common sense and how idiot or stupid can they be to follow an even more idiotic mind like that of Mr. Thackerey. So, please follow advise, simply leave, you will be happy and so will we.

@ Aam Junta: My friend calls me and tells me or rather asks me that her good friend from her engineering college died in the attacks and therefore what she should do. He was the only son to his parents. Then yesterday, I read an account of one of our alumni losing his very good friend. Do I or anyone else has any answer to the question which the girl asked? Aam Junta is defnitely angry, and wants to see some action now, probably every one has had enough. People are talking about the spirit of Mumbai, but the problem is that we are becoming used to terrorism, terrorism has now become a part of pur lives. This, my dear friends is an extremely dangerous sign and therfore our government and officials should take some action. If not now, then when?

@ Pakistan's involvement: News is coming thick and fast that all the terrorists belonged to Pakistan and there is a clear involvement of them in the attacks. But no action has been taken so far. Either, we have no proof to establish that Pakistan is involved or we do not want to do anything. If the Indian experts are so damn confident about Pakistan's inolvement, why don't we share all the evidence with UN, USA and other international bodies and help declare Pakistan a terrorist state. If all the world countires get convinced, we can look at cutting all ties with Pakistan, stop the supply of all the exports to the country and grow more international pressure on them to finish all terrorists camps and organizations. Remember, when America was attacked, they finished entire of Afghanistan and since then there has been no further attacks on the country. And in our country, attacks are happening regulary and at increasing frequency now. I can understand that it would not be as simple as I have written but this can certainly be one way, after all war may not be the only solution.

Today even my ipod has refused to play any song, it can't think of any for the occassion, so sad and so bad is the situation of our country!

I m gonna miss those days.....

I begin this post by congratulaing my dearest friend and my wonderful room mate at MDI, Vineet and another dear friend from Jamia, Shiti on their marriage and wish them a very successful and a happy married life ahead. I must admit, it was a great experience sharing the room with you buddy, moments that I will never forget....you getting up in the morning (I used to wake you always) and logging on to orkut, pagalguy, gmail and various other sites and discussion forums even before your eyes were fully open (who on earth does that but Vineet)....always the one doing the laundry (thanks to Vineet, I never did that even once during the two years)....handling the IT infrastructure of every room in the hostel ( I won't mention which part of the hostel though)..endless hours of talking on phone and chat ( and always distrubing my sleep :P, see am a good roomie, never told you that :) )....many hours of bakar session, countless movies, night outs and eating out. Over and above all this, you have been a great friend as well, one of those few with whom I now share an ultimate level of comfort when it comes to sharing or saying anything. So, once again wishing both Shiti and Vineet a rocking life ahead.

Besides being Vineet's marriage, it also turned out to be a perfect alumni meet with atleast 14-15 people from my batch turning up for the wedding and it was as usual back to the regular dance sessions and endless bakar. It was truly great to go back to those times, remember the things we used to do and shout at the top of our voices, " MDI Rocks" and ofcourse "Chakka Wing rocks" as well. Sometimes you wonder how quickly the time flies, its been almost two years now since we passed out and none of us seem to realize it when we met. Its only at times like these when you sit in isolation and write such posts that you realize that the time has moved ahead at its own pace and so have you. But I always want to go back to those times and relive them again and again, some of the life's most cherished moments I have spent in that campus, moments which will always remain with me and remind me that among maybe a thousand of aspirants and equally desrving people, I was one of the lucky ones to have expereinced those moments. Thanks MDI and thanks to all my friends and teachers who have made those times worth remembering.

" kab milenge na jaane hum yaaroon fir se sabhi
laut kar ab na aayenge wo masti bhari din kabhi
khud ye apna kahe ki ae doston....
I am really gonna this place....
I am gonna miss my college days!!!

Yaad hai wo saare lectures...humne jo bunk kiye the
proxy ka pakde jaan, lafde kya kam kiye the...
milke likhna wo journals aur submissions last minute pe
exams ki wo taiyari, aur likhna wo teen ghante..aur bahar aake wo kehna...
Saala kya bekaar paper set kiya tha

Milta first class kabhi yahan to lagti thi KT kabhi...
laut kar ab na aayenge wo masti bhare din kabhi
O dil ye apna kahe ki ae doston...
I am really gonna miss this place
I am gonna miss my college days

Yaad aayenge teachers, humko dil se hamesha
Yaad aayega ye campus aur iski apni duniya
aur yaad aayega hamesha ye aashiyan
I am really gonna this place..
I am gonna miss my college days..."

My i-pod was just playing this song, liked it so much that wrote it all here...njoi

Miss You MDI!

Exciting times ahead

Last week went well with meetings going successful, work progressing well and the guitar lessons moving on in full swing. And the week ahead promises to be the most exciting in the journey so far.

The second phase of content development would get over in the first two days. Moreover, some more input is also expected from two different sources which would defintely add a lot more comprehensibility to the content developed so far. Why things would now take an interesting turn is because if the second phase is cleared with no more alterations, the idea would now move on to the pilot or test stage. This would involve testing of the concept in a real life scenario, wherein we would actually go ahead and conduct test sessions in front of students in schools and get a real time feedback on the acceptibility of our concept on various parameters. Ofcourse this would involve convincing one school to allow us to do what we intend to do. We have a good product on our hand ( well, atleast that is what I believe !!), the challenge now is to take it to the right people or to put it more conventionally to market it well to the target audience.

As the journey takes a new turn begining next week, as I said the excitement levels are also rising. Yes. there are apprehensions but there is excitement ( repeated usage of the same word, but i do not remember any other) as well and as long as the level of the latter is more than that of the former, we will keep moving ahead, just like my i-pod has switched suddenly to the old classic " musafir hun yaaron, na ghar hai na thikana, mujhe chalte jaana hai...bas chalte jaana".

Enjoy the song, as I log off. Good night!

Have had two meeting in the past three days, and both of them were extremely successful. The project has now reached a stage where the work on content development is on in full swing. The first draft has received favourable response but there is a lot more work that needs to be done before things get finalised.

Ever since the project has gained some pace and momentum, a lot of apprehensions are also becoming an important part of my though process. The feeling of "what if" which so far had never come to my mind is suddenly affecting what I think, the way I act, and how I approach my work. There are so many doubts and questions for which I have no answers because somehow I am not blessed with a far sighted vision which is attributable to almost all the successful people in the past and the present. I am definitely convinced about what I am doing, I know where am I heading but I am unable to figure out what would happen if anything anywhere goes wrong. Actually, the problem with me and has always been with me is that I just cannot visualize things going wrong, the hope that I have from life is immensely positive, which means that no matter what, I believe that if I have put in my best, somehow somewhere things will fall into place.

I am at a stage where there is absolutely nothing to fall back upon and therefore the only way I can go is move ahead. I guess that should be the answer to any query or any apprehension that I have as of now. Just keep the spirit on, believe in yourself, and keep moving ahead. Guess, this is exactly, what I would intend to do from tomorrow, work with a lot more passion, with a lot more attitude and with a lot more conviction.

Now, I realize, how wonderful it is to write a blog and discuss everything with you. Probably sitting alone in my room, I would have just slept over all my fears and might not have ever come up with a solution to my negative thought process. Thanks dear blog!

By the way, Praveen underwent an operation today on his nose. Get going soon buddy, we have a lot of work to do. It was just a small operation though, but small or big, an operation is an operation and it definitely brings in not very good or healthy feelings. And since, it was Praveen, I was a lil worried throughout the day until I spoke to him in the evening and got convinced that he is all well. So once again to you bhai, get back to shape soon!

Amongst all the blogging war that has been going around in the MDI group since past two days, we have still not come up with something nice and relevant to gift to PP. Soon, his marriage will be around the corner and like always we would still be struggling to gift him something which he can cherish all his life. Don't blame me PP, but people are not ready to listen to my wonderful ideas.

And what is this, why is my i-pod playing, "mere yaar ki shaadi hai", its still time to go for PP's marriage. But anyways, as I log off, you guys enjoy the song.

Memories

Last week was extremely busy with almost no time at all to sit and relax. Reason mind you was not work (after a very long time in my life) but was first Diwali followed by My Best Friend's Wedding.
We met first when we were in batchmates class III and became friends when we became classmates in class IV. Since, then we have been friends and not just friends, we have been two people who have just about seen everything in each other's lives. Sometimes consciously and a lot of times unconsciously he has shared with me all my joys, excitements, sorrows, frustrations, fascinations, my past, my present and my future as well. As he got married on 1 Nov, while i was shooting the video covering his entire marriage, I also wish him all the happiness and my best wishes. Shikha (Chetan's wife) is definitely a lucky girl to have married a gem of a person and am sure Chetan is one lucky boy as well.
While making a movie for Chetan to gift him for his marriage, I went through all the old pictures I had and all the wonderful innocent memories of those times flashed through my mind. First stage show of Magic Land, first visit to Appu Ghar, movies and ofcourse the famous benches of Wazirpur. I also wondered if ever again, four of us ( Chetan, Praveen and Nitin and me) would be able to meet the way we used to and chat our way through long hours. I do not know but one thing is for sure, the memories would always remain and a mere mention of it would make all of us smile and remember each other irrespective of where and how we are.
As I wind up for the day, the song " Hum rahein ya na rahein kal, pal...yaad aayenge ye pal" plays in the background. Enjoy!

So far....So good

5 meetings over the past week, favorable responses from all, concept has been accepted by all of them and so I say, so far...so good. There's lot to happen still, there's lot to be done still, its a long way ahead, but I can feel a sense of excitement similar to what one would feel while planning or thinking about the journey ahead to the hills or to the beach during the coming holidays.

Went to the three most famous campuses in Delhi this week, first to IITD then DU and lastly JNU. As you enter each campus, you are greeted by young college students strolling around, some with books in their hands hurrying up to be on time for the class, some hurrying up to catch the latest movie first day first show, some just sitting in one corner or under the tree, some alone and some hand in hand. The first movie that I had seen during first year in my college was Ajnabee starring Akshay Kumar, Bobby Deol and Kareena Kapoor. We were around 11-12 people, had just got over from our first sessional exams and as a part of celebration, we had gone to see the movie, apparently a hit thriller from Abbas-Mustan. Don't remember much about the movie but sitting in the front most seat with so many friends around was certainly lot of fun which I still remember distinctly. The movie was of course followed by a number of other movies and run offs from the college to play cricket, to eat a Rs 20 burger from Mc Donalds.

Why is it that my i-pod always plays songs as the mood I am in or may be I just choose to. Anyways, "Those were the best days of my life" has just been turned on, so Enjoy

Dreamz : A begining

Today, as the clock struck sharp two in the afternoon, I entered the room for my first independent meeting after I left job. It was the usual meeting wherein one person was trying to convince the other on his concept but for me it was entirely different from the usual meetings that I have been a part of in the past. This was the meeting which would mark the beginning of my journey towards dreamz and hence it certainly goes into the record books.

The concerned person was Dr. Chirashree Ghosh, CEMDE (DU) who is an expert in the field of environmental science. During the discussion, it was apparent that she too very much liked the concept and showed some signs of wanting to be a part of it as well. She in fact gave some very good examples and facts which would help me to begin work on the content. The best thing is that she has agreed to help me in my endeavor, which I would consider as a good beginning. Tomorrow I meet another professor at IIT, Delhi. Hoping she too would like the concept and would want to be a part of it. Thought these are the very early stages but there is a certain amount of enthusiasm about all of it. I am sure as the things would progress, there would be far more momentum coming along. My target is to be ready with the module by the end of this year so that by January 2009, we are ready to launch and can begin with pitching to the schools and concerned authorities. 

On the other hand, with i-dream, things seem to have taken a back seat. There are a lot of ideas occupying our minds, both me and Gaurav indulge in a lot of discussion about all the ideas, but we are yet to set our minds on one of them so that we can begin some practical work on the same. Yesterday in between another round of heated argument, we have decided to keep 31 October as the deadline beyond which we would concentrate only on one idea and conceptualize it completely. 

Btw, I went to Jamia yesterday. Took the ring road, drove all the way to Ashram and nothing had happened to me. But the moment I took the right turn from the Ashram red light towards the campus, four glorious years of my life flashed right through my eyes. Though a lot of people were informed of the meet but only a few had turned up. However, the highlight was taking a walk across the campus, up and down to our department, opening the doors of our classroom, trying to remember where each of us used to sit and the icing on the cake was meeting a professor of ours, whom am sure everyone used to love from the bottom of their heart ( understand the underlying meaning). The faculty as such has undergone a lot of change, with an environment engg lab and a nano technology lab coming up. We then went to Mc Donalds, had our favorite burgers, and then  headed to Al-bake to have the world famous paneer rolls. It was truly wonderful, in fact just about fantastic to have got a chance to visit the campus and relive all those moments. 

"Purani jeans" is now playing in the background, perfectly capturing the mood just set in. Enjoy

Initializing Dreamz

Nothing to write about the past week except the fact after a lot of discussion and thought, I have decided to go ahead with my plan to develop a module to create environmental awareness.

And with that , I am extremely glad to say that this would be my first step in my journey towards my dreamz. As, of now to be very honest, even though I have done some calculations, yet I am not sure how much money I am going to make out of this venture. But I am quite confident about one thing, the amount of mental satisfaction that such an initiative would give me would be far from what I would have ever got working anywhere else. Ofcourse, there is a lot more to be done, but one can definitely take this as a start of many more things to come. 

After I had discussed my plans with my dad, the same were postponed for about one complete week so as to also involve my uncle into it. And then I also got into a lot of discussions with a lot of people. Everyone with whom I had an interaction regarding this liked the idea but people were apprehensive about the revenue mechanism meaning how actually would I make money out of this. However, most important thing is that I believe in this idea, more so because I seriously feel that if we ought to have a greener, healthier tomorrow, someone somewhere has to do something. Hence, with that belief and self confidence, I have decided to move ahead and work on developing this idea. Beginning next week, I would be meeting some scientists and researchers and then take it forward from there. Wish me luck!

My guitar lessons are going full on. I must confess even though I am comfortable playing the basics, but its a lot of hard work and a lot of patience. Since childhood, music has been a very integral part of my life. It has all the elements which can define any state of an individual at any point of time. My music has stayed with me in my times of joy, in times of sorrow, in times of struggle and surprisingly even before the college exams. Yeah, my roomie and me used to play " haan yahi rasta hai tera" from lakshya just before each and every exam while at MDI. It became such a rage that the entire wing used to enjoy the song and then make a crack at the exam. Its the other thing that half of them including me still could not answer half of the questions, but we managed to pass anyways.

As the season is now making a shift in delhi (it is beginning to get cold), so is the song on my i-pod. Its now playing " pehli nazar mein kaisa jadoo kar diya, tera ban baitha hai mera jiya". Enjoy the song and have fun.

Rock On

Yes, as the title suggests, I rejoined my guitar classes today :).

Would be back to playing my guitar from tomorrow. Oh! its a wonderful feeling.

My brother has just switched on the song, " Rock On..hai ye waqt ka ishaara". Enjoy!!!

Just an idea....

A day of mixed emotions. May be this is the start I was looking for or may be this is the worst thing that I have thought of. I don't know yet because today was just a start though in a positive direction with more of people at office coming forward to accepting my ideas. Now, only Verma uncle is left who needs to accept and get convinced that this could be the way ahead for AlfaTech Services. 

Since, we are in the environmental field, my concept is to develop an environment education module for kids, which could be a relevant extension of what we are doing though in a totally different direction. As of now we have been a hardcore technical/instrumentation company and to venture in the field of education would require some serious thought within the company.

So, often we see  people all around misusing the resources, or indulging in activities that could be very hazardous to our environment. Some very common examples are littering on the roads, wastage of water, wastage of fuel, improper use of transport etc etc. And if we actually look at it, most of these people are well educated and are very much aware of the harmful effects of their activities. Yet no one bothers to care primarily because the tendency among we Indians is that since no one cares, why should we care. Since, I have been in the field of environment, I now know that so many people, so much research is being conducted all across India with an aim to protect our environment today so that we can have a better tomorrow. But common people are obviously unaware of it and therefore continue to show " I don't care" attitude to the most serious challenge which the mankind is facing today. 

I know it is difficult to change most of these people, however I do believe that the kids studying in schools can be the change agents to understand what needs to be done so that we all have a better tomorrow. What we learn in school, we carry with ourselves throughout our lives and this is the right age for these kids to learn and then implement through their lifetime. Hence, there is a strong need to make these kids learn, understand and appreciate the fact that this is their earth, this is their environment and therefore it is their responsibility to take care of it. With this theme in mind, I intend to design a learning module and reach out to all the students all over India and spread the message of environment protection. And of course it is a very noble cause as through this program, we can influence not only an individual but an entire nation as well.

There are a few more things which I need to clarify before I can begin working on developing this concept further. Hopefully by the end of next week, i should be able to resolve my doubts and then take a call whether to go ahead with this plan. Though the business proposition looks extremely strong, but I can cement that only by the end of next week.

Otherwise it was the usual day at office. Ankur was also not there, so no one to tease around and also no one to tease me as well. Come back soon buddy, am already missing you :).

btw, I have yet not been able to enroll myself for the guitar classes, hopefully second saturday being a holiday, I should be able to do that by tomorrow. 

And a very wonderful song is now beginning to play in the background, " kahin to hogi wo, duniya jahan tu mere saath hai, jahan main jahan tu aur jahan bas tere mere jazbaat hain" from the movie jaane tu ya jaane na.

Enjoy the song, good night

A tribute

With a dream to live an independent life, a life not governed by anyone but himself, he set out on a journey in the year 1993 . The mood was apprehensive all around, he had a wife and two children to take care of, most members in the family were negative about the decision, but he was determined for he had the attitude to succeed and most importantly he believed in his dreamz. 

The first year turned out to be the best of what could an entrepreneur ever dream of. With the contract value of over one crore, everyone was suddenly so positive about the entire idea of jumping into the business. He took his family out for dinner at Richi Rich restaurant to celebrate the wonderful start. There were smiles all around. 

But then it is said that about 95% of start-up businesses fail in the first five years and it is such a time which is a real test of character and perseverance. From everything being rosy, things took a 180 degrees turn and the next few years proved to be the toughest ever. With deteriorating cash reserves, growing disbelief among the family members, it was proving extremely difficult to sustain and still run the household. But he never gave up, he stood his ground firm and determined. His wife was standing with him in these tough times and it was she who gave him the courage to go on and fight it out.

And he did fight and one must say he is very good at it. For these difficult times brought the best out of him. With not much success with the foreign partners yet, he ran the company on his shoulders for one complete year doing all kinds of instrumentation service work which no one would expect a head of a company to do. But such were the times and such was the struggle.

It is said that if you have the attitude to achieve your dreamz, you would end up turning your dreamz into reality. And he is the most appropriate testimony to the statement. His perseverance finally paid off when the products which his company was marketing finally found a stronghold in the market. From then on, it was no looking back. The company started growing from two people to a current staff of 10 people, a client list spanning all the major institutions, research labs and renowned scientists across India, from just a one small room office to two bigger rooms.

There was a time when he and his family used to travel in buses, second class railways, now they don't even have to think before booking an air ticket. There was a time when his wife had to think twice before buying her son something which he desires, now her sons don't have to think twice before buying anything for themselves. There was a time when they had a 1986 model bajaj chetak, now they have a car of their own. There was time when they used to live in a rented house, now they live in their own apartment. His children have and are completing their education from the best institutes without any hassles.

These are may be just the materialistic things, but an important aspect of a wonderful life which he has given to his family. However, more than this, it is the satisfaction in his face at the end of each day which matters the most, the satisfaction of having stood the test of time and emerge out victorious. Truly there are certain things in life which money can't buy. 

If you are still wondering who is this "he" mentioned above, I say proudly that "he" is my dearest father. And this was just a small tribute from me for all that he has done for us and all that he has achieved in his life.

I will sign off now and leave you with the wonderful song, " ye honsla kaise jhuke, ye arzoo kaise ruke....manzil mushkil to kya...dhundhla saahil to kya" from the movie DOR.

A day which could very well have been a usual day at office turned out to be quite an eventful day.

I spent most of first half of the day designing a business concept as a way ahead for AlfaTech Services(which is my dad's company dealing in environmental instrumentation). I had suggested three business ideas with an aim to grow the company beyond the instrumentation line and move towards consulting. After giving a serious thought to the document which I had prepared with full enthusiasm, my dad liked two of the ideas which were essentially less cost intensive yet easily scalable models. I will tell you about these ideas at a later date when these are approved by other people in the company and some initial work starts on these ideas. Dad coming forward and accepting the ideas positively certainly made my day. Ever since I have some, I have been discussing a lot of ideas with my friend Ankur ( my dad's partner's son and an old friend of mine), trying to think of ways to increase the business. Though my ideas do not acceptance with a very hard to convince Ankur, but we did decide on our common goal, which is to grow our company by at least 10 times by 2015. I know the figure is too crazy to be realistic, but I have always believed that your goals and dreams need to be as crazy as possible, so that no one believes they can be true. Trust me, the real fun and satisfaction is turning such crazy dreams into reality. We are on our way and we do have the confidence that we can certainly crack it.

And now Gaurav has just come in and he for sure wont let me work more on this blog any more

So good night for today as the song " teri ore, teri ore hai rabba" has just started playing.

the journey so far

Its been almost a month now since I came from Goa. And what have I done so far, nothing substantial yet but a certain start has been made in a lot of directions. 

First thing, I have joined a gym, to keep  myself fit, healthy, feel and look good. It is very much true and I also believe that there is a direct correlation between you feeling good and therefore being confident as well. An early morning jog through the roads of Pitam Pura followed by some weight training at the gym gives a very head start to my day. In the campus at MDI and even while I was working, I always used to wake up by 8 or 8:30 when almost the full of sun was glaring at my face, during holidays it used to get worse with wake up times of sometimes 11 as well. You wake up so late only to realize that half of your day is already gone. Plus I have also over the period of time realized that later you wake up, more lazy you feel and more lazy you feel, more of your work either gets delayed or never gets started at all. On the contrary when you wake up early, you carry the freshness of early morning all through your day. Besides my gym sessions make me feel ready to take on the challenges of the day with the same zeal and effort as I lift my weights. 

Second, I have begun to understand my dad's business with a lot more details. Though technically, I am still not very comfortable, but slowly and gradually I am trying to understand the tricks involved in this kind of business which is in total contrast to the fast paced business that I used to lead at Marico. This one's all technical with most of the clients in government sector, where things run even slower than my IBM laptop. I have heard stories of people waiting for 4-5 years to get funds to buy instruments from us. I can actually devote an entire chapter on why India is still so behind in the field of research. Anyways I am trying but frankly I am not that patient, therefore I am on the lookout of a business opportunity within this company which can be slightly fast paced. 

Third, I have started working on an idea of setting up an engineering solutions company with Gaurav. I still cannot tell you all about the ideas that we are working at, but I can assure that the ideas are certainly interesting and if they click, we can very well be the next wave of innovators. We have recently participated in a contest Eureka being held at IIT B. Immaterial of whether we win or lose, it has certainly given us momentum as we now have almost the entire concept ready on paper. These days we are in the process of developing the application, this is where Gaurav takes over and hopefully I will chip in as well with whatever little things that I remember of my engineering. 

I am also working on one more business concept, though am just not able to find sufficient time to kick start it. With competition growing in this segment with a new company coming up every day, it is high time that I start some serious work, because I have a very strong feeling that it can be made operational in the least time possible.

Forth, I have started to maintain this blog which will definitely help me satiate my desire for writing.

Fifth, I am yet to restart my guitar lessons, but with some luck and some time, I should be able to do this within this week only.

So, that is where I stand in the journey of dreamz. So far, things have been hopeful and looking good and I will hope that with continued hard work things will only improve from here and through this blog I want you to feel a part of this journey as well. Whatever may be the destination, lets enjoy this dream journey together.

Good night as the song, " Bakhuda tum hi ho, " plays in the background.

Here I am, like so many people in this world including a number of celebrities trying their hands at writing and maintaining a blog. Everyone has his/her reasons of writing a blog, I have one too.

First let me talk a bit about myself. After MBA, I worked for last one and a half year in Marico selling parachute hair oil and saffola cooking oil in most weird places in Karnataka and in the beautiful state of Goa. I left my job and came back to Delhi in September with a vision to turn all my dreamz into reality.

And here in lies my reason to start a blog. I cannot foretell the future, I do not know whether I would be successful in completing all my dreamz. But I wanted to share my journey to a destination which hopefully should be the realization of my dreamz. Moreover I like writing and one of my dream is to one day write my own book and I feel writing a blog is a step in the right direction.

So, here I am beginning my journey with you, my dear blog. I will sign off for now, tomorrow I will tell you at which stage I am in my journey.

As I shut my laptop, the song " Rock On !!!" plays in the background.