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.