How Tech at IITM shaped me

When I entered IITM in 2008, I was awe-struck by the variety of activities that happened. Like a fresher, I tried my hand at many activities –such as playing hockey in quadrangle, participating in quizzes and building catapults in Project X competition. It was confusing at first because there was a vast expanse to choose from, but slowly I understood that tech was my calling. When I had joined Insti in 2008, I was amazed by the talk Sayan Ganguly (CoCAS) had given while introducing Shaastra and CFI. It instilled in me the hunger to learn and nudged my acumen to innovate. From there, started my tech-journey at IITM.
I have observed, participated, conducted and managed various tech events and activities at IIT Madras from a very grass-root level. What I have personally learnt from CFI, Shaastra and Tech-Soc are real-life lessons that continues to help me even after couple of years after passing out. I have listed down a few qualities or lessons that I have learnt in my Insti-tech stint. For example, something I have learnt on my tech-journey is that “Always, invest in people.” Tech at IITM has evolved because people every year for the last 7-8 years have invested in their juniors and have taught them the tricks of the trade.
There are 3 entities of Tech, which has shaped my capabilities: TechSoc, Shaastra and CFI. Each one is unique in its own sense and has provided me different avenues of learning. Getting involved in tech activities will obviously expand your horizon of building things, innovating and trouble-shooting. But, apart from that, there are more treasurable proficiencies that you will gain out of taking up a project at CFI or coordinating a competition in Shaastra or participating in an event on behalf of your beloved hostel in Tech-Soc.  Here’s a snippet of what broad life-skills does one learn from tech-activities and events at IITM:

1)     Teamwork:
This is a quality that you need most in life. There will be rough times in a project, when having a strong, dependable and knitted team will make all the difference. During Techsoc 2008-09, there were times when bots were not working properly and electronic modules were responding haywire. During Shaastra, sometimes, the events were not coming up as planned; at every step, I could vouch that the teamwork never ever faltered. The opposite is also true. In Robocon 2010, we had very hard-working and smart individuals. But, the team as a cohesive unit did not click. The team work faltered and that was the main reason we bowed out in quarters.
The lesson – “Never ever leave a fellow colleague hanging in a team”

2)     Jugaad or Out-of box thinking:
This is something that my hostel had instilled in me from the 1st year of Techsoc. The kind of shoddy bots we made could have made a Product Design guy cringe. But, the main selling point was that they worked. Sometimes, in life, you will get unrealistic deadlines from clients, from managers and you will have to turn it around! Jugaad will help you in giving ugly but working solutions in a time-crunched environment.
The lesson – “The best thing about Jugaad is that in tough situations, you get a license to just care about getting things to work and you don’t have to think about the presentation of the solution”

3)     Managing people:
This is a skill-set which B-schools teach you, but I have learnt the most about it at IIT-M. Every person needs to be good at managing people to succeed in life. Since success is a not a single-person centric and is driven by people, managing people is an utmost required skill.   Completing a work yourself is always easier than getting it done by someone else. And, that’s what you learn when you become a co-ord/core at Shaastra / Hostel TAS / a team leader in any CFI project. The main thing I have learnt from all of my managerial stints at Insti is spend time with your juniors, talk to them and build solidarity. This is what people forget the most. You can’t just give orders and expect that everything will be taken care of. You have to build trust, bonding and camaraderie with your juniors and that can happen only while discussing and solving problems together.
The lesson – “Build companionship with your sub-ordinates. It is the best way to motivate people”

4)     Brainstorm and Think Crazy:
Sometimes, when we used to get stuck at something, especially at Shaastra meetings, we used to take a small break and randomly brainstorm. We used to discuss some really crazy and improbable ideas, but the idea was to think as bat-shit crazy as possible. During one of these crazy brain-storming sessions, we decided to get few projects from CFI and few events from Shaastra and display them in front of Himalaya! And, the idea did wonders. People noticed it and we got a huge surge of Insti publicity, which we had lacked before! In life too, sometimes it is important to do crazy things to get noticed.
The lesson – “Brainstorm together and build upon crazy ideas, you don’t know what might tick”

5)     Upward Management:
Unless you become the CEO of your company, there will be managers and directors above you whom you would have to report to. If you are the CEO, imagine that your client is above you. All the time spent interacting with Dean (Students) and Co-curricular Advisor had helped me in realizing the importance of making a person understand a month’s toil in a time slot of fifteen minutes. Here, I learnt the importance of being short, succinct and to-the-point. People higher up cannot go into details, you need to help them in understanding the crux of your story in a very limited time.
The lesson – “While interacting to someone higher-up, it is essential to convey your thoughts in a concise and crisp manner”

6)     You Can Win (however bad the odds are stacked against you)
During the end-leg of Techsoc 2011, Narmad was at second position. We needed nothing short of a miracle to win, because only two major events were left: Autonomous Robotics and S-Net. I remember people telling me that Narmad couldn’t win the Tech-Soc, it was practically out of our reach. But, I – being the TAS – told my hostel juniors only one thing: “We had to win this event by a big margin.” Because we wanted to get a lead so big that even if we didn’t place in the last S-Net, we should win. We had slogged all the year round for this and it was the hostel’s dream to get the Tech-Soc back.
We decided that there is only 1 way to win the Tech-Soc trophy – we went with two hostel teams in Autonomous Robotics competition! It was a big risk because historically it had been an event where only a couple of teams had successfully completed the problem statement, but we took the risk. We started preparing very early and we sweated it out; I remember the first and second years literally toiling days and nights to get both of the bots working! It was an event laced with drama. On the D-day, in the first round, one of our bots didn’t work. Though the second bot worked great, we wanted to get the other bot working as soon as possible and win both the 1st and 2nd positions. We quickly went into trouble-shoot mode and got the first bot working (it was a minor glitch). The rest as people remember was history (sic!) and we cruised to victory. We won both the 1st and 2nd positions and we beat Tambi comprehensively to win the TechSoc 2010-11.
The lesson – “Do not believe the non-believers. If you think you can do it, charge ahead”

So, anyone who is confused that how will building a bot/RC car/contraption for Shaastra or TechSoc help him in a finance job or how will participating in FSAE, Robocon, IARC will help you in consulting, the technical skill might not. But, let me tell you that the life-skill will surely help you whatever path you take up.
These life-lessons are the most precious takeaways of my tech journey. The prizes, the certificates and the accolades might wither away, but these experiences will stay with me forever.

Cheers!

This article was written by me for Chennai 36 (IITM's student and alumni website). Here is the link -  http://chennai36.iitm.ac.in/how-tech-at-iit-m-shaped-me/

The Helicopter Man Retires!

Much has been spoken on Dhoni's retirement from tests and there is something which both the fanboys and the haters have to understand!
MS Dhoni was "one of the best" captains and "the best" wicketkeeper batsman India has ever produced. And as a cricket fan who has closely followed his career, there are a few things which need to be highlighted!
Firstly and most importantly, after Dhoni, we go back to that age when if the Sahas and Karthiks make an odd 30 or 40, we will be more than happy! But, with Dhoni at crease, we always expected more. We expected him to score a 50, score a 100, bat with tailenders, save the test match after the trademark Indian top order collapse. All that has been so ingrained in our minds that it will take some time and grit on Kohli's part to groom another Dhoni (the wicket keeper batsman). He has saved us enough tests and he has taken us out of many sticky situations in the past to prove his mettle in this field. He was not able to contribute to this part for quite some time as he was going through a long, dry spell and hence, retiring was the logical step.
Now, coming to the MS Dhoni- the captain. There are 2 sub-parts here. Dhoni the home skipper and the away skipper. The home skipper was like a lion in his den. He knew the grounds, the conditions, his team's strengths and weaknesses and stuck to the basics - make turning tracks, post big totals, bombard opposition with spin!" which worked for the team! But, the away skipper was sometimes like a deer caught in front of headlights. India's bowling never had or even has till now the tooth to take 20 wickets in Australia, South Africa and England. We haven't got a genuine away wicket taking bowler after Zaheer and that is not completely Dhoni's fault -the Ishants and Sreesanths did not click always. They had those sporadic moments of glory, but consistency eluded them! Since Dhoni understood that it will be really difficult to take 20 wickets, he changed his strategy and became very defensive. He understood that a 2-0 loss is better than 4-0 loss! But, in doing that, more often than not, he still lost away tests. His team selections were biased - keeping Rohit Sharma and Jadeja in for god knows how long!
Coming to his retirement, yes, it was odd, and a surprise/shock to all cricket fans. On one hand, fanboys will say that he did the right decision. He understood that he could not contribute more and giving Kohli the baton made perfect sense. On other hand, critics will say Dhoni abandoned his team, he was self-centric and he could have waited till the end of the series. But, one thing we are missing is a simple point - Dhoni is human, he is 33 and his body had started breaking up after the huge number of matches he has played. The logical decision is always to quit the form of cricket you are least natural into. Everyone would agree that Dhoni is a natural ODI cricketer and not a natural Test cricketer! So, quitting Tests makes sense. It is a highly impulsive, personal decision, one may or may not have been thought through by him completely.
In a nutshell, like Dada, Dhoni was a person who brought out conflicting emotions in people. He was not like Dravid and Kumble whom no body hated! Yes, like Dada, he too believed in getting his team right, even if senior team members got hurt to the point that people brandished him as an arrogant, biased captain. But, it also had another side - he was okay with failures, he kept his head cool and understood that he has Indian sport's toughest job! That was Dhoni, the test cricketer, a person who brought the tribal eastern state on cricket's national map, understood how difficult it is for small town players to make it big in Tests, changed his natural game to fit into Tests, who kept wickets for 1 and half days and then carried people's expectations of making a 100 with tailenders after a batting collapse and finally a good test captain with a knack of going defensive away with debatable actions!
Cheers to Dhoni and hope he gets us the World Cup again!

P.S. - I wrote this as a Facebook status on my timeline on New Year's Eve.

I was an AAP supporter until.............

I answered a question on Quora - What do you think is the problem with people who keep saying "I used to be an AAP supporter until..."?

The below is my answer. Basically, this post is about how I was enthusiastic about AAP and Kejriwal and lost trust before national elections. This post was written on 28th March, just before national elections started.  

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The problem is not with the people who say this. The problem is with people who don't question AAP. 

Short answer: Because, I can't let a person run the country who has zilch experience and who could not run a government in Delhi for more than 50 days.

Long answer: This answer is a synopsis of the journey of AAP and my emotions and my trust factor associated with it. I was an AAP supporter initially with an admiration of Modi. But, after the recent events, I really feel BJP is the only real choice we have. 

Pre-Delhi Elections:

I had been an ardent supporter of AAP when they decided to fight Delhi elections! I cheered their most of the moves because they were changing how elections were fought in the country. This was their most significant difference.

I was pleasantly surprised when they won 28 seats in Delhi. I was really happy when AK took the oath at Ramlila Maidan. I was determined that AK will change the system in Delhi with what he has envisioned. 

Delhi government:

But,then came their litmus test. 

They faltered at almost every step. I was even fine then. I told myself AK and his cabinet are taking their first baby steps. Give them some space. Let him govern Delhi with a peace of mind. But, there they started showing a major drift. 

Their stances on giving free water, subsidized electricity on the cost of tax-payer's money were first signs of people-appeasement. Still, I turned a blind eye thinking it was fine because it was making an impact with the bigger picture of a people-friendly government. 

Then, came the atrocious mis-managed Jan-sabha. Kejriwal, Dude! What were you thinking? That was the first chink in the armor in bad management. Jan sabhas are not a new thing in Indian democracy. Almost every CM does it, but there's a manner to do it and AK government failed. 

Following, this the Somnath fiasco in Khirki Extn. was like getting cheap publicity. Fine, maybe, your intent was right but your method certainly wasn't. Frankly, Delhi is no Gotham and we DON'T need a Batman! And, frankly, Batman is quite the opposite. He prefers working in shadows rather than in full-blown media limelight. There, I first saw the immaturity of AK's cabinet ministers. 

But, still, I supported AK with his corruption helpline which according to me was not such a good idea (Delhi didn't elect you so that we ourselves have to conduct sting operations, but whatever!). I pacified saying at least he is trying something to weed out corruption. 

And, then AK, you sat on a dharna, which was one of the stupidest things to do! That was when I lost my confidence. There would have been better ways to handle Delhi Police. They are an egoistical bunch, but this is not how you make relations in politics and handle the state. What did you get out of it? Absolutely nothing other than sending the police officials on leave! AAP screwed it up big time at that moment. They kind-of lost the educated middle-class at that time. 

After all this came the humdrum of Jan Lokpal Bill. I frankly assumed there would be good debate on this and then we might see this actually being passed. But, you made a audacious statement of quitting if it is not passed. For God's sake, if you want to do 25 things, you don't quit if one thing gets blocked! Fine, BJP and Congress played spoilsport, joined hands and did not let you introduce the table. But, frankly,you could have come back and tabled it again after proper procedures being followed. Leaders don't abandon the ship if the ship is being threatened by pirates! He fights them tooth and nail unless one is vanquished. You resigned and you fled!

This was the final nail in the coffin of my trust on you. 

Entering National Politics:

And, then the downfall of the trust started. Your "I am above all" demeanor, "everything is run by Ambani and Adani", "Gujarat is not developed, everything is hype", all these bull-shitting tactics fall flat. C'mon, Gujaratis are not stupid. They are one of the best business minded people (even the ones in rural areas). They would not have chosen Modi for 3 times if he was not doing some things right! Give credit where it is due. 

You don't answer questions posed to you by BJP. You don't stick to your promises. You think everything wrong in the country is because of Modi! You want to make the nation believe that only 2 seats matter (Amethi and Varansi). What about the rest of 500+ seats, Mr. Kejriwal?

You haven't talked about economic policies, you haven't talked about how will you tackle inflation, you say you are going to check natural gas prices (but, no one knows how). 

Final conclusion and suggestions:

In my opinion, what you did was to very opportunistic. It is a big gamble you have played by going national. You had a good support base made and you wanted to maximize it without proving yourself. You knew if you stayed in Delhi, you would not be able to go national for another 5 years and will get sidelined like regional parties. But, my friend, you forget, Rome was not built in a day. Congress and BJP are parties who have reached the national stage after many decades of evolution. And, you know that history only remembers if you attack the front-runner. No one remembers who came third in politics. Everyone remembers the 1st and 2nd. And, hence, you have attacked Modi in every arbitrary manner possible. 

See, even I have fought elections and won; it might have been a hostel election, but the fundamentals remain same. :) You have to not only give points in your manifesto, but also say how will you implement it. And, above all, you need to show people that you can lead and show a report card of where you have delivered. The only places where I believe you delivered is RTI and the change you have brought in fighting elections (clean candidates, transparency in donations, etc). But, my friend, winning an election and actually governing are too different things. You are a great fighter, but you have miles to go in governance. And, that's where you have failed. I don't want another government who cannot govern. Our elders have done the mistake of electing Congress twice. I, being a first-time voter, won't do the mistake of voting for you and electing a government that cannot govern.

It is my humble request to AK that AAP should not be another 'secular' hypocrite, people-appeasing party. We have too many parties who fit the bill for this name-tag! Don't ruin the revolution you started.

Thanks!

The Game of Patliputra

In the last 3 days, Nitish Kumar has played a political master-stroke. He has made sure that JD(U) is not relegated in Bihar politics anytime soon and has consolidated his position in JD(U). Read on if you want to take a glimpse of the electrifying politics happening in the Hindi heartland.

After his party's dismal performance in Lok Sabha elections (2 seats out of 40), Nitish was on shaky grounds. His MLAs were almost in a revolting mood as Nitish had taken the decision to sever ties with BJP without consulting many of his MLAs. His MLAs were of the opinion that if JD(U) had fought with BJP, they could have won 40/40 seats which was frankly very, very possible as it would have been a consolidation of Pro-development Middle class + Youth + Upper castes + Dalits + Muslim vote-banks. But, since JD(U) decided to go on their own, the pro-development + upper castes vote-bank went to BJP and Dalits + Muslims  got fragmented between LJP (Paswan) and RJD-Congress. Nitish had miscalculated his political arithmetic and had committed a political blunder!

Now, it was time to strengthen his diminishing power in his own party as well as in the ever-changing landscape of Bihar politics.

As you might now, he offered his resignation from CM's post a few days back. With this move, he basically played the following 5 moves.

1) Firstly, he took the moral high ground and appeared as a man of his words. He made sure that BJP cannot question him on moral grounds. He made the people of Bihar sympathetic to his cause and showed a strong stance that he is not going to compromise his moral values for votes

2) His MLAs were hugely discontent after the election results as most were not in favor of breaking the alliance with BJP. After offering his resignation, he became a martyr figure in front of his MPs and made sure that they do not defect to BJP. He rallied his supporters behind him and shot himself into the political limelight

3) Sharad Yadav (JD(U) president) and Nitish are not the best of buddies. After Nitish put down his papers, it seemed as if Sharad Yadav was just waiting for this opportunity to take up the CM’s chair. (Remember, he lost LS elections from Madhepura and being the CM will do much good for his political career). Party MLAs almost booed off Sharad Yadav in the party meet and Nitish seemed like the one who is above all petty politics and the only one who is not power-hungry.  Nitish with this stroke made sure that Sharad Yadav understood that it is only Nitish who runs the show in JD(U) and although, Sharad Yadav  is the party president, MLAs see Nitish as their supreme leader

4) JD(U) meanwhile sent out a feeler to RJD through Sharad Yadav and kept their options open in case they need to align with Lalu to keep BJP+LJP+RLSP at bay. Though Nitish will surely re-think this option, as JD(U) and RJD joining hands is similar to Congress and BJP joining hands. But, you never know in this ever changing political landscape. The tectonic plates of Bihar politics are shifting and many new alliances and equations can come to the fore

5) And, finally, in a fitting end to this political symphony, Nitish today appointed Jitan Ram Manjhi as the next CM of Bihar. A brief background of Manjhi – A close aide of Nitish, he currently holds the SC/ST, OBS, EBC Welfare Ministry. Manjhi is a Mahadalit from the Musahar community who occupy the lowest strata of the society in the state.  So, for all practical purposes, Nitish will be pulling the strings and Manjhi will just be the Mahadalit face. Nitish gave a strong signal that he is the only one trying to uplift the EBCs and Mahadalits. Since JD(U)’s core vote-bank has  shifted to RJD and LJP, Nitish needs a new core vote-bank that he can rely upon. Hence, Nitish is laying the foundation of a new core vote-bank so that he has the numbers to take the Bihar Assembly battle single-handedly.

In a nutshell, the battle lines for the 2015 Bihar assembly election are being drawn and it is going to a hard-fought battle. Nitish has understood that he cannot underestimate either BJP-LJP or RJD-Congress in Assembly elections. If he loses power at State, it will take him another 5 years to regain the lost ground. But, there’s a silver lining for Nitish even in these gloomy days. There is something which Nitish has captured in the hearts of Biharis and that is his governance, honesty and simplicity  - During the Lok Sabha elections, the general mood on Bihar streets was: “We are going to vote for Modi at Centre, but our vote lies with Nitish for 2015.”

And, you thought that only Lannisters could play intense power battles! ;) 

5 Most Interesting Novels by Indian Authors

With the advent of Quora, I have started satisfying my hunger for writing by answering on Quora questions. But, this blog is too close to heart to give up! So, I am copying an answer which I wrote to the question: "What are some interesting novels to read?"

I have felt that the vast knowledge provided by books is largely untapped in India and people need to start reading more to appreciate their real life more. All the books that I have read have provided me with something which I never knew of. For me, books are interesting when after completing it, one feels liberated and one's horizons of imagination and clarity on reality are quadrupled. Now, coming to the main answer, there are too many interesting novels one can read. I am just focusing here on Indian and Indian-American authors so that 'desi' people can relate it more.

There are some Indian authors who have changed the art of story-telling in the Indian and the world literary landscape.

Some of my favorites Indian books are the following:

1) The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh

 

The book has been awarded the Arthur C Clarke award for best science-fiction novel in 1997.

The story is a heady cocktail of fact, fiction, science and mystical practices. It mixes some Hindu beliefs and modern-day scientific concepts and the story once you are into it is "UNPUTDOWNABLE". It is one of those books which does not give you all the clues and you need to think and I mean think hard to know what exactly happened in the end!

2) Train to Pakistan by Khuswant Singh

 

This is one of those books which is read widely and heavily quoted from even 57 years after it was first published.  The book depicts the partition riots between India and Pakistan in 1947 from a local foci of a village. It shows the realistic face of hardships faced by both communities, the local administrative authorities, an alien Samaritan with a backdrop of a torn love story. It paints raw human emotions at its finest. The book is still popular among literary circles because the story is applicable to even present-day situations

3) A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

 

Firstly, one should read this book only when he/she is confident of reading a 1000+ pages book. A Suitable Boy is one of the longest books written in a single volume as it is 1349 pages in length. But, once you get into the groove of this book, it is a book which has myriad shades amalgamated into one. The book is a story of four families over a period of 18 months as a mother searches for a suitable boy to marry her daughter. The book is set in post-independence India and deals with issues like strife between Hindu and Muslims, abolition of the Zamindari system, land reforms and empowerment of Muslim women. It is a mammoth masterpiece and has won the Best Book, Commonwealth Writers Prize in 1994.

4) God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

 

The debut book by Arundhati Roy won the Booker prize in 1997. The book deals experiences of fraternal twins who are always preached the "Love of Laws" which proclaims "who should be loved, and how. And how much". The book's title aptly describes the story and tells the readers that sometimes though the big things are not in our hands; we can always take care of the small things. 

After reading this novel, I hoped Arundhati Roy to write more because this is the only novel she has written till date. 

5) Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri 

 

Now, this is not a novel but Jhumpa Lahiri's debut work is one of those books which you cherish reading. It is a book collection of exactly nine short stories detailing lives of Indians and Indian Americans who are caught between their inherited culture and   the modern-day world. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2000. The book mainly deals with relationships of different nature and different perspectives of people in the same situations.

I have tried to paint the picture of Indian literary works in a diverse way here and hence have included these diverse out-of-the box books. There are many more books by Indian authors which are worth the attention, but these 5 from my reading experience are must-read novels and would make you think more about life and it intricacies.

Medical Chronicles Part 1

I have completed my engineering. But, this post is not about how awesome my 4 years at IITM was. This is just a post I had written long before, but I hadn't published it. I would be releasing the story in parts. This is the first part.

“Swagat hai aap sab ka break ke baad iss adhbhut khel mein jise hum kehte hai KAUN BANEGA CROREPATI!”, boomed the voice of the star himself, Amitabh Bachchan.

The guy sitting opposite found himself staring blankly into the red and blue neon lights. And then the familiar male baritone sounded again, “Mere saath aaj hot seat par baithe hai Durgapur ke Mr. Sayan Roy aur wo 25 lakh rupaye jeet chuke hai.”

His heart skipped a bit; one wrong answer and he would be out with only Rs. 3,20,000. He turned to the audience stand, he could see his Mom and Dad beaming, but dangling on the edge of their seats. 

Big B propelled the game forward by asking the penultimate question; “50 lakh rupaiyon ke liye ye raha aapka agla sawaal.”

Q. Which one of the following tranformations accurately describes “Apospory”?

a. Embryo from nucleus
b. Embryo from integuement

c. Embryo from egg of an embryo sac developed directly from megaspore mother cell

d. Embryo from egg of an embryo sac developed directly from a cell nucleus

It was a tough question, but deep down he swore that he had seen the question somewhere. This was the moment of truth, if only he could crack this, nothing could stop him. He was quite confident of his eidetic memory.  In his mind, he ruffled the pages of the botany book. The term ‘Apospory’ ringed a bell, but not so loud that he would point out the right answer. He had used all the 3 lifelines; one on a question of history, one on politics and the last one on Olympics! None of these were his strong subjects.

But, this one was his childhood buddy. Biology was his life. He could have thrived on chromosomes and cancer for his whole life. But, he couldn’t believe that biology was ditching me, when he needed it the most. He murmured to himself, "Et tu Bio?"

He eliminated the first 2 options by logic, but couldn’t pick between C and D.

“Megaspore or Cell Nucleus?, he whispered, seeing the saint-like face opposite to me from the corner of my eyes, begging for some kind of help.

He only got a reassuring smile, but no answer came forward. He had to take his risks, after all that is what he had learnt till now.

“Option C”, he said, removing the cough in his throat.

“Confident? Lock kar diya jaye?”  Big B asked in his male baritone, about whether he should lock the answer.

 “Yes”, He replied.

“Computer ji, please lock option C”

He felt a sudden thrust from above, like he was caught in a whirl wind of some sort. The answer clicked in his mind now. He had made the wrong choice. It was D. But, he could not come back. It was like all his dreams were being washed, one by one.

Just then a sudden jolt woke him up. It was his room-mate, Anand. He spoke in a hurried fashion, “Wake up dude, it’s already 8.30. The exam starts at 9!” 

Rising from the Ashes

This is a post which was long overdue. My last post was in last summer and I almost forgot that I even had a paltry blog of any kind. I had predicted long back that this would happen. I always knew that I would never keep up blogging! But, somehow again, miraculously, I have the zeal back in place. 

To be honest, two things triggered this "Rise from the Ashes". One, an Indian victory in cricket! Yes, that too can happen! You, read it right! India, after 16 matches finally won an International match! I know, its not a big deal. It was a T20 after all. But, sometimes, it is important to come back to winning ways. As Anita Bhogle and Harsha Bhogle point out in their book "The Winning Way", winning is a habit which is inculcated by winning teams. I remember a cricket match described in the same book, pertaining to this same phenomenon. It was a test match in 2006 between Aussies and Bangladesh. Bangladesh was staring into victory because Australia were tottering at 145/6 at end of Day 2 after Bangladesh scored 427. But, then Gilchrist, led from the front and scored a marvelous century. Still, the odds were in favor of Bangladesh. And, after that century of Gilchrist, Bangladesh just collapsed like a house of cards in their second innings. It was disastrous and Australia won the match by 3 wickets. This happened because when you lose strings of matches, you don't know how to react when you are in a winning position. Hence, the importance is rise from the ashes. Rather, to be precise, it is to know how to rise from the ashes. To be mathematically sound (which I am not!), India had a good probability to win one game out of 17 matches! But, the important thing is they grabbed it with both hands, when it arrived.    

The second thing today which taught me the importance of rising from the ashes is an interactive lecture by Sunil Handa. He is an IIM-A professor. You can read about him in the chapter called "The Alchemist" is Rashmi Bansal's Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish. In short, he is a successful entrepreneur who gives entrepreneurial motivation and lectures to students. His mantra in life is simple: "Fight, Fall down, Get up, Fight, Fall down. Get up, Fight......." For him, his 7th idea struck gold. So, he rose from the ashes 7 times before taking a plunge into the limitless sky. You can savour the sweetness of success only if you have worked your ass off! You can't just sit around waiting for the right opportunity. You need to keep fighting till you win!
Something which I feel is most important in keeping the fighting spirit going is Perseverance. In sports, they call it "stamina". If you would have seen the recently concluded Australian Open final, you would have understood what stamina actually means! If there was one parameter in which Djokovic was way ahead of Nadal, it was STAMINA! In a high-octane tennis grand slam final, which lasted almost a record 6 hours, it is safe to say that the only thing which drove it Djoker's way was his perseverance. It is similar in entrepreneurship, as Mr. Handa points out. You need to "Be Stubborn". Yes, you need to be nagging wife to be a good entrepreneur! 

For me, this lecture was more about knowing things which one always knows. Its all common sense, but again in the complexities of life, the simplicity gets lost somewhere. Hence, I would just like to jot down a few points which I felt that it would help me in life, not only in entrepreneurship.

1. Fight for yourself:  In life, you would only fight for things which belong to you. No one else would come to fight your war because its your money, your company, your baby. Your life is at stake and hence it is logical that you would do anything to win the war. No one is going to play Jesus, so stand for yourself.
2. Inspire Yourself: You are your own teacher. Why is it that in a class of 100, only 1 or 2 people turn their start ups into successful companies. The teaching is same for everybody. It is on the concerned person how he actually inspires himself by the sermons!  Even if you are down, keep inspiring yourself. Keep looking at the positive side.
3. Have Faith: If you keep running in the race, there is good enough probability that you would strike gold. Just have faith in yourself, your idea, your belief, your strengths. No one knows you better than you yourself. Have faith on your winning spirit.
4. Carve your own path: You would not learn on how to run your own company from other's experiences. Every one carves their own path. That is law of nature. So, keep experimenting, keep an open mind, keep questioning others and steadily move about carving your own path. You have to solve your problems on your own. People can advice, suggest, give consultations. But, it is you who needs to solve it!
5. Be Inquisitive: You need to ask questions, if you want to make it big. You won't get the answers immediately, you would need to strive for it. Keep questioning status-quo, else you would never attain innovation.    
6. Be Stubborn: You need to act like a persistent kind to become a successful entrepreneur. You need to be have that tenacity to stay steadfast when there is a strong wind on your way. You need to stick to your words, your vision, your dream how much ever people scorn at you. Because, one day, that contempt would turn into solid respect.
7. Passion doesn't come on its own: People spend their lives searching for their passion. But, in reality, they don't actually search. They just sit there in their normal vicious lives and keep waiting for their passion to arrive at their doorsteps one fine day. That's not gonna happen, mate! So, its time you pick your lazy ass up and start working. You don' find passion; you develop passion! And, that would happen only if you start something! 
8. If you don't know something, Learn it: This is one of the best advices I have ever got in recent time. In every strata of life, people keep complaining, "I don't know about this. How will I do it?" The answer is simple. Learn it! Yes, there is no other way. If you have no freaking clue about something, you need to learn about it!
9. Invest in people: After a start up takes off, the most important thing is people. Learn a bitter truth. You would never ever get the best people for your company. Because, the best people are already working in bigger companies with fatter salaries. So, you need to take something raw and then make an asset out of it. You need to shower love, affection and trust on these people. Because, then they would remain loyal to you. There would be a few people, who would not change even after 3-4 years. But, there would a few people, who would stay close to you and multiply your turnover multiple times! 
10. Lose the safety net: Mr. Handa's logic was simple. If you feel that your value is worth a lakh per month, then stick to your 'safe' job. But, if you feel that no one can put a price on you, then lose the safety net immediately. Having the IIT / IIM tag does not guarantee safety. People can be sacked anytime. According to Mr. Handa, the safest job is in your own company. 

I know that most of you won't reach till the end of this post. Frankly, even I would not have. I have written this for myself more than anybody else. Sometimes, when I am down, when I feel clean bowled, be it any situation, I would just read this post and know that you need to be a phoenix to rise from the ashes! As of now, I can just hope that my blog has finally risen after such a long hiatus!