Life Doesn't Give You A Second Chance Always

Like in the ‘road not taken’ even in our lives many times we face the dilemma of choosing the right path. Right now even I am in a similar situation. There are many who suggest to follow your heart but that is easier said than done.

I went to bangalore few days back for an interview. While I was going I had a conversation with a person sitting next to me in the bus. Though I forgot his name I cannot forget what he said..

I have already seen the movie which was being played in the bus. So that did not interest me. The person sitting next to me was doing something on his laptop which I did not observe initially. He was preparing slides for a presentation about an entrepreneur school and from the first slide of the presentation I came to know that the name of the initiative is ‘Samskruthi’. He was adding slides related to “skills required for an entrepreneur” “the plan to develop those skills in the individuals” etc…

The word ‘entrepreneur’ injected some interest in me to know who he was. So I initiated the conversation with “Sir..what is this samskruthi about?” He replied that it was a social organization and ‘entrepreneur school’ was an initiative to educate the youth who did not have the privilege for better education facilities and develop them into confident I-can-do-anything type.

Then when I asked him about how he is planning to do that exactly, he described the works that they will delegate to the students and how those works will boost their individuality and also he was expecting at least 50% of those who graduated from that place will establish similar schools and help in grooming more underprivileged youth. This way he thinks his idea will be expanded. He was going to Bangalore to present the idea for fund raising. He said he believes in transforming anyone into a better person under right conditions.

Though I did not understand completely how he was going to transform not-so-well educated guys into confident entrepreneurs. I liked his intention to make a difference in their lives without expecting anything in return.

He wanted to start something like this for 30 years and finally he thought it is now or never so raised funds and it will be starting in nxt year October. He was going to quit the job he was doing all these years just for the sake of living and which was not his real passion. 

I am done with all the questions in my basket. Now he started asking me. “Are you from Hyderabad” “Yeah I am from hyd.” “why are you going to bangalore? are you a software engineer there ?” “No.I got an offer from capgemini but did not get my joining date yet.” Then I told him why I was going to Bangalore.

He asked “Oh..why are you going to a business analytics company ?” “I am interested in that field” “are you from cse?” “no chemical engineering.”  “What do you do most of your time?” “I spend most of my time with books. I like reading. Any interesting read is fine.”

“As you read a lot are you interested in writing too??” “Yes. But I doubt whether I can come up with a commendable work.” “Then why don’t you develop your writing skills and enter into journalism/writing a book or something like that?” “Well I have some long term plans like that but currently I am looking for a 9-5 job in the field I like.” He smiled. I did not understand why.

“You are a chemical engineer into a software company looking for an opportunity to know about business management and you are also interested in writing. Right” I could sense what he means.Though I have not said anything he understood the dilemma I am in. I said “Sometimes fate takes you to some places you are not interested in”. “Then what are you doing to get out from those places and go to where you are interested in?” I did not answer. I was just looking at him. “What is that one thing you wanted to do or become?”

It is not easy to answer this question with a clarity.But I tried my best to explain him my goals.

Then he said “Generally people have many goals. Out of which one is what he really wanted to do or become before he dies. But instead of pursuing that goal they go after other because of various reasons like force from parents, for money etc. But I tell you. You can get enough money in all the ways. I don’t know anything about you so I am not deciding anything about you. But what I know is the thing I wanted to tell you will definitely be useful to you on your journey call life” I did not know what to answer. I just said “continue”

Yes I know people who joined in IIT for their parents. Wanted to join IIM to impress the parents of their girlfriends. But what they really wanted to do is totally different.

“Do not post pone that One thing you always wanted to do. Life doesn’t give second chance always. Dying with regrets is only a little bit better than not living at all. I have waited all these years for the right opportunity. But I did not get any. So I quitted my job. Pitched my idea to various people. I was rejected by many. But I found the interested ones and I raised funds. I am very near to start the One thing I always wanted to do. It may take years to see the fruits of this idea. But as many people say the happiness is not in the destination but in the journey to reach it. I will not get crores with my idea but surely I will make a difference. The kind of difference I wanted to make in the lives of many. You will never get the right opportunity. You have to create it. If you did not find the way…make it.”

“Life is an adventure. Explore it. Know what you wanted to do. When you don’t know about something all you have to do is to learn about it.”

I don’t know why. But I wanted to end the discussion. But he is determined to shower his wisdom so that it will help me somewhere in my life. So I did not disturb him.

“Your destiny is shaped by your decisions and actions. Don’t let environment decide what you will be. Sometimes however hard you try you may not get what you wanted. But never turn back. Try harder. Stay committed. Perseverance is the secret behind any successful person. Life is like a roller coaster ride. Even if you think you are in the most fucked up situation of your life. Do not panic. Because things can only get better from that point!!”

 “You don’t have to take the road not taken always. Take the path which you wanted to. That will make a difference. You will spend most of your time on the career you choose. If you compromise in that your life will be a torture.”

He was silent after for sometime. It was already around 2 am so he said "Good Night" and disappeared under his blanket. He was about to begin the journey which he was dreaming for 30 years. It was not just what he said, what is more contagious was his strong will to make a difference.

The same words when you hear in different situations will have a different impact on you. I already know whatever he said but at that moment they had an impact on me. I was thinking about the one thing I wanted to do. And am I really working hard on it ?? Are you working on your most important thing ??

Be Eco Friendly

Almost everyone says that they are concerned about environment but you know how many of us do things that are really eco friendly !!.

Today when I met my friend Vishwanadh I came to know that he started an e-commerce business. I asked him the details and he explained that it was about selling eco-friendly-crackers and right now people from Hyderabad and Bangalore can buy on his site.

I thought he was selling crackers with a great theme ‘eco friendly’ so that he can earn lots of profits. He showed his site http://www.ecofriendlydiwali.com/index.php. He was offering high discounts and it was also mentioned on the site that 50% profits will be given to Project Green Hands for planting trees. I couldn’t guess how much profit he will make after offering such discounts and the 50% charity. This made me curious to know whether he was hiding anything.

“So vissu are you really donating the money?” I asked

“Ofcourse I am.” he replied.

Then I thought he was doing some gimmick in the discounts tpart. So I asked “Are you really offering the high discounts like mentioned on your site? “

“If you find any of the items I am selling at a lower price than mine I will give them to u for free. I am offering the discounts as I said.”

“Man then this business will leave u nothing. Almost negligible profits right ? ”

“How can u expect high profits when I am also donating 50% to planting trees.”

“Then why are you into this business and can you explain how do want to do something ecofriendly by selling crackers ?”

“Finally some sensible question. I did not start this business for profits. I wanted to control the pollution during the Diwali time. I am against the use of crackers. I tried asking many people to stop using crackers and tried to explain the pollution because of them. But that did not yield good result. I thought about the next best thing I could do to curb the pollution if I cannot stop people from using crackers. So I came up with this idea to promote the use of ecofriendly crackers. Doing something ecofriendly was my main intention so I decided to donate 50% of the profits to project green hands. It is an organization which is active in many countries and has thousands of volunteers. This way I can contribute to them as well as promote it. If you don’t want to buy crackers but only want to make contribution to project green hands, you can always do it directly on their site. http://www.projectgreenhands.org/ I would be more than happy if you stop using crackers and donate money to planting trees directly.”


Now I understood the reason for operating on low profit margin.

I asked him “How ecofriendly crackers are different from normal ones? ” 

“Ecofriendly crackers emit more light and less sound. They are below decibel limit. Overall pollution from these is very less compared to the crackers which we generally buy” he said.

“So what you are saying is to buy crackers from your site which are eco friendly by which we can also contribute to planting trees as well as reduce pollution during Diwali.“

“To be specific..I suggest you not to buy crackers at all. But in case you think crackers are compulsory then please go for eco friendly crackers. If you buy ecofriendly crackers from my site I can guaranty you that you will get maximum discount and high quality and you can in a way contribute to planting trees. I will contribute the money to project green hands in your name not mine.”

I thought about the advantages of buying from his site...  

• Firstly I can buy something which is of high quality at a very low price and it will be delivered to my home. Thus I can avoid going to the market and buying something which may not be of good quality but is surely priced high.
•  By using eco-friendly-crackers I can reduce my contribution to the pollution.
•  I am also contributing to project green hands this way.

Well I think it would be foolishness not to use eco-friendly-crackers after knowing about it, if at all you HAVE to use crackers during Diwali.  

When one wanted to make a difference, small contributions should be made by other people who think what he is doing is right.

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now !!

Revolution 2020-Review

  Author: Chetan Bhagat

Storyline: Revolution 2020 is a story about 3 childhood friends Gopal, Raghav and Aarti. They have their own ambitions. Aarti wanted to become an air hostess. Raghav gets a rank in IIT-JEE and joins IT BHU. Though he joined in engineering, journalism was his passion and he wanted to bring a change in the country. Gopi’s only wish is to make lots of money. He couldn’t get into IIT in his first attempt. So he joins as a ‘repeater’ in a coaching centre in Kota, spending the entire savings of his father. But fate offers him an opportunity to start his own engineering college, with the support of Shukla, an MLA.  To start the college he follows the corrupt path as he did not have another way. 

    

    After college Raghav joins as a reporter in a newspaper. His profession creates some problem to Gopi. Shukla, the person behind Gopi, stamps Raghav as much as he can with his political power to get him out of his way. Raghav fights back and starts his own newspaper...Revolution 2020!!

     

    Both Raghav and Gopi like Aarti. Aarti likes Raghav and Gopi was her best friend. How did the relation between Raghav and Gopi change due to their common love?? Can Raghav achieve what he wanted to with Revolution 2020?? Did the relation between Aarti and Raghav continue in spite of his unsettled and busy career which leaves very little time for her?? How can Gopi become the director of an engineering college without even a college degree?? How far did Gopi go on his path?? Can Gopi compete with Raghav to get Aarti??

These are some parts I think you should know by reading the book.

Chetan Bhagat did a great work here. To tell in one line about his style in this book… “He first entertains you, grabs your attention and then says what he wants to.”

This is an absolute page turner right from the first page…till the end!!! The ending was really touchy… did not expect it. I didn't even expect that the book focuses on the IIT coaching institutes.

Most of the story took place in Varanasi except for some part in Kota.

This book has many shades. It first showed the chaos that is there through out India in the name of ‘IIT coaching centres’. Then it focused on the corruption in private engineering colleges. Even the pollution problems in Varanasi are raised many times. It ended with a message that “Everyone should sacrifice a bit for the change they want to see.” On the other side it shows how the relation among Gopi, Raghav and changes dramatically as the story precedes.  

The story is said from reference to Gopi and the highlight of the book is how relation between Gopi and Aarti developed. Just like his other books even this one has lots of CB trademark one-liners.

I liked the way CB described Gopi’s feelings when he was a repeater in Kota and his feelings towards Aarti even when she is in relation with someone else.   

I personally loved Revolution 2020.

The Goat,the sofa and Mr.Swami - Review

Author: R Chandrasekar.

“The goat, the sofa and Mr. Swami” is a comical satire on the Indian politics. The protagonist Mr. Swami is an IAS, secretary to the ‘old man’ Keshav Motwani, inefficient PM of India. ‘Old man’ is 82 years old and spends most of the time watching the digitally edited DVD of a girl dancing nude. 

Once Shah, the Pakistani PM, expressed his interest to watch the test match between India and Pakistan, which will take place in India. ‘Old man’ agreed and invited Shah to the match and also promised him to show the DVD he has. There were many issues in the Indian administration right from the day the sudden visit of Shah was announced. The rest of the story is about how Swami dealt with the problems. Some of the problems Swami faced were...

• Many bureaucrats wanted to sit on the sofa along with the Prime Ministers and watch the match.  
• Every state in India wanted to have their presence during this event.     
• Shah wanted to gift a goat to the ‘old man’. This led to uncertainty in accepting it and then on deciding about the goatherds.     

The bet by the prime ministers on the match in the end resulted in many funny incidents.

I liked the characterization of 'old man' who watches edited videos every night, wakes up late, makes Swami read the important news from newspaper. If he did not like any one, he transfers them to Mogadishu, a country in Africa. In case of emergency he joins in the hospital and wants Swami to take care of the situation. The conversations between Swami and old man are very funny.

The character of urine drinking, opposition leader, Tiwari is hilarious.

The entire book is filled with rib tickling incidents though some are far from reality. This is a quick read and the price on Flipkart is ok. I think it is because of the bad marketing that many are unaware of this book.

Overall a good read.

Last Man In Tower - Review

Author: Aravind Adiga.

The protagonist Yogesh A Murthy (known as ‘masterji’) is a retired teacher living in Vishram society of Mumbai. His son lives in another part of Mumbai with his family. Masterji lives alone. He is respected by all the residents of that society. Shah, a real estate guy, thinks that the location of the society is where the future is and wants to redevelop it. So to buy that society, he offers a tempting amount to the residents  and keeps a deadline for them to vacate. After initial resistance by some residents gradually everyone in the society will incline to accept the offer because of their personal reasons except Masterji !!

  

Masterji don't want to leave the society at any cost as he has all his memories there. Shah, who once came to Mumbai penniless, worked hard to get to this position and he don't want an old teacher to come in the way to his dream project. Even after many attempts of negotiation by the builder through his left hand man, Shanmugam, masterji doesn’t turn up. All the residents along with masterji’s son try to convince Masterji to accept the offer. But still Masterji sticks to his word.. “I want nothing. I just want to spend rest of my life in this society”. But the residents feel that the money builder offered is the only solution to their personal problems. So soon they start isolating Masterji. The rest of the story is about how Masterji resists the builder and about how the residents who once used to respect Masterji go against him plotting ways to ‘remove’ the only block from their fortune !!

The author Aravind Adiga is gifted with storytelling skills. The way he develops characters in his books is brilliant, the characters would be so real that they should be given birth certificate. I liked his prize winning book “the white tiger” and the story line here in “last man in tower” is better than that. But this book is very slow, than "the white tiger". I enjoyed his first book more than this. The story picked pace from the middle. As the story precedes the fight between Masterji and Shah soon turns into fight between Masterji and the other residents in the society. The struggle by the Masterji fighting alone against everyone is described well. Though the character of the builder Shah was developed well initially, in the end he did not play big role.

Many parts don’t add anything to the story and the first 200 pages are used mostly to develop the characters in the society, the builder and his assistant. I liked the way he showed in his books about how the needs of the people change them. You cannot say they are good or bad. The circumstances just drive them to do those things.

In “the white tiger” he talked about various conditions in dark side of India but in this he focused on a single society in Mumbai.

I like the author’s style of developing simple characters and show how they would react in different situations.

If you liked Aravind Adiga’s style of writing in “ the white tiger” then you will surely like this one too.