The 4:00am drive! :)

This post is a sequel to the post i had written in a very similar mood 1.5 years back while i was driving at 3:30am coming back to campus after my first year MBA:

http://liveyourdreamstruely.blogspot.com/2009/06/330am-drive.html

Its something about the early morning drives that refreshes your mind, makes your thoughts deep and reflective. Like the earlier 3:30 am drive in my previous post, even today i was driving to drop somebody. I had to drop Amit, my friend and co-founder of Discover Life to a bus stand so that he could catch a bus for meetings in schools in Chandigarh scheduled later in the day.

Since the last 3:30 am drive things have changed. I have passed out of MDI Gurgaon and now pursuing my entrepreneurial aspirations. The second year was all the more eventful at MDI :). Will miss those days always. But the amazing thing is that some of my best friends for life are working in gurgaon itself and i can anytime go and re-live our memories :)

Also in my earlier post i had talked about not joining a corporate. I have been lucky enough and crazy enough to actually do that after 1.5 years :) Life has been an exciting ride. Working on something new everyday, the highs and lows, adventures and lots of misadventures :). But enjoying these moments to the full. Staying at home, eating ghar ka khana and playing badminton with friends daily. Priceless! :)

And as i drive back home singing out loud with the car radio 'chal chalein apne ghar', I feel liberated :)

No food in belly..but dreams in their eyes..

Amongst all the shame, chaos, fear and hatred for things happening around, the young sporting talent from India has won hearts worldwide. With their fairytale stories, these young Indians represent the new India to the world. No food, education, training and environment to win, they still managed to shine with dreams in their eyes, putting blood and sweat in their efforts, having a crazy level of belief in themselves, breaking the chains around them to stamp their presence on the world.

This is the young India. Fearless in its approach, creating their own path moving beyond the conventional, taking risks, full of pride, taking on the world. They live dreams. In the form of young athletes, students, entrepreneurs, professionals we have a breed of young heroes ready to take the nation forward.

The red carpet is laid and the young restless dreamy eyed Indians are ready to walk and dance on the world stage like never seen before.

Jai Hind

'HINDI' Hai Hum Watan Hai Hindustan Hamara

Did revolutionary poet, Iqbal, use 'Hindi' in context of a language, we would never know. But we know one thing for sure, that the beautiful poem 'Saare Jahan Se Accha Hindustan Hamara' talks about the importance of our cultural heritage, things that are our own, being proud of our identity and the amazing things about our nation which truly give us the feeling of national pride.

One such thing is our language 'Hindi'. All languages are great. I wish I could learn more of them and still plan to do so sometime. But being born and brought up in Delhi, Hindi was a language in which I grew up and have my memories itched(had this random conversation with a friend about thoughts and memories running in our minds in a certain language).

'Jungle jungle baat chali hai' was a kids anthem. The hindi comics of nagraj and bankelaal were my most eagerly awaited reads :D. I did read a lot of English books too, but Hindi as a language has its own charm. The poems I used to read in 'Hindi' such as 'Satpura ke ghane jungle, neend mein doobe hue se, undhte anmane jungle' at school time still echo in my mind and those simple yet true to life stories of Premchand made what my childhood imagination was.

These days we observe children at very young age talking to their parents in English and parents feel proud to showcase their kids' English verbal skills. It is nice to see kids learn so much at such young age but then it feels sad to see them lose connect with certain things that are essential to building the national pride in their hearts and minds. Somewhere we are weakening the very foundation of building up our nation.

Now its difficult to imagine losing connect with one's roots through non usage of a particular language. I can give my own example where due to being born and brought up in Delhi, I never really considered learning 'Maithili' which is my native language during my childhood. Now I regret not knowing the beautiful language and its nuances which also gives me a great sense of disconnect with the entire culture in which my ancestors were brought up.

I hope this disconnect does not happen with our nation and its young people on the basis of treating 'Hindi' as a secondary or an obsolete language.

Our hopes rest on a poetic line again by Muhammad Iqbal:

KUCH BAAT HAI KI HASTI MITATI NAHIN HUMARI..

Jai Hind

10 reasons why working from home rocks :) A Startup Insight :)

For many startups the first office is that extra room/basement in the house where the crazy entrepreneurial ideas take shape. Let me give you my 10 reasons why working from home truly rocks :)

• Unlimited supply of tea and coffee: Custom made from mom's kitchen at any time of the day to lift your spirits :)
• Take a bath at any time of day: Don't have to wake up early morning and get ready for work. Taking bath at 1:00pm works great
• Work attire: Tshirts and Pyjamas rock
• Freedom of sleep: Take a nap at any time of the day and well you can sleep all day as well
• Music: Be it random FM music, Ghazals, Rock or the regular Bollywood music. You are allowed to play all day at the volume levels you like
• Work Life balance : You don't have parents complaining that you don't spend time at home. Although sometimes they do wish you stay out for peace ;)
• Travel: Having worked for one year in Gurgaon and travelling 4 hours everyday from home to work, not travelling to office is a luxury. Though drives are still there but just for fun :)
• Home cooked food: My friends staying away from home would really support me on this point. Home cooked food totally rocks
• Watch all you want: Be it movies or TV Series, its all available on the TV next room or on your laptop or better still go to the movie hall in the middle of the day any time on the week to catch the latest flick
• MASTI: With entrepreneurial friends around, we gang up any time, create a lot of bhasad, play badminton, drive around, roam around in markets and have awesome masti :)

PS: Entrepreneurship involves crazy levels of hard work, but well for all this fun, its worth it :)