A year later

It is almost a year since I moved away from a regular job and the city I'd come to like. 2009 was like 2002 for me in many respects - the year I moved out of my comfortable home to Roorkee, high on optimism, to face the "real world" as they call it, and undergoing a significant transformation of perspective (and perhaps personality). It was a difficult year (those of you who know my roommate would understand)! Besides, you've got a good idea from watching 3-idiots. :)

2009 was a year where I was clear on just one thing - that I'd bring a lot of freedom, adventure and creativity into my lifestyle. Everything else was hazy - the business ideas, people, markets, technologies and all that jazz. But now, after a year, a lot of pieces are in place. Optimism is extremely high. I've interacted with a whole lot of people who've encouraged me rather than be skeptic.

I'm not making money, I'm living with my parents, I haven't had a drink in a long long time (clubbing days are long gone), I'm still trying to build back the social circle I kinda lost (and continue to lose to marriages), and I've had more than my share of bad bad days. But guess what folks, I'm having a lot of fun!

This is not an attempt to preach anything. Hell, I was the boy in school whom other kids' mothers told "why don't you sit with Aditya in the class", and now they're likely to tell "doesn't matter that he started off on his own, you do your MBA and ...". What I'm trying to say is, there's no right or wrong way, but there's surely a fun way and a boring way, and I'm happy I've made the switch. :)

Education is good, but not necessary to be successful

Well this post has nothing to do with travel or photography. It has to do with entrepreneurship.

True story. In 1980s, there was a young school-going boy in Kanpur. His father, an ordinary government officer, aspired that his son become a doctor. The boy, being very good in studies, thought it was for the best. When he completed his schooling with great marks, a friend of his father came visiting. When he learnt about the boy's performance he dug into his pocket, took out 5 large notes from a whole bundle and rewarded the boy. Excited and happy, the boy went to his mother to show her the money, which was quite a lot in those days (maybe even more than what his father made in a month). The mother tells him his "uncle" is rich because he is a businessman and is the "maalik" (owner) of a company. The boy, impressed, decides he'd rather be a "maalik" than a doctor!

Few years later, the boy has grown into a young sales agent for polythene bags in Kanpur. One day he observed that a pan wala sold pan masala by taking a little from the original cylindrical container, wrapping it in a newspaper and selling it "loose". Everyone ate pan masala, but wanted to buy a small amount only rather than a complete box in which it was sold. That was the "eureka" moment, and the young man sold the concept of small flexible pouches for pan masala to Deepak Kothari, the boss of Pan Parag.

The small pouches were a super hit. Everyone could buy a small pouch for "one use". Today these pouches have revolutionized retail, specially among lower and middle classes, because they can buy lots of products - from detergent to shampoos, which were beyond their reach in larger packaging. The young man is now old, and goes by the name of Ashok Chaturvedi. The company he started is called UFlex, and is among the largest flexible packaging companies in the world, worth over Rs 6000 crores today.

Another entrepreneurial success story, courtesy my mom who works for this company. There may be minor factual errors here, but the essence of the story is that a man from a very ordinary background, who still doesn't speak very fluent English, today owns many private jets! Cheers to the passion of entrepreneurship. :)