Entrepreneurial spirit of Mumbai

Am sure you have heard of it. how many of you seen it happening with your eyes? I just did. Recently while organizing a family function, i hired an event manager ( a fly by night operator, not the Saurabh Garg big shot types). He managed the whole event except table chairs for which he referred a guy called Somnath. i co-ordinated with Somnath and event went well

Today Somnath came to collect his payment. He told me that i was foolish to hire an event manager and had i contacted him earlier, he would have done the same event at half the price. He showed me pics of past events on his mobile and i found pics to be very impressive. i got down talking to him on how he came into this business. Turns out that 5 years ago he was a gym trainer in Kalpataru (my previous residence) and everyday he used to see events happening in the club. He enquired and thought that he can make money if he starts supplying table chairs to these events. So he got visiting cards made and placed them on reception. Slowly he starting getting calls and because his prices were low he started getting brisk business. few months down the line he realized that he would make more money if table chairs were owned by him because margins were not good if he was just a middleman. He took out a loan and hired a warehouse and bought chairs and tables. As margins increased he repaid the loan and branched to other buildings (my current residence) and also in balloon decoration, theme decoration, Flower decoration, DJ, Music system and he hired a comparing guy as well.

Result is that he has a decent turnover 5 years down the line and if i can guess correctly, we are looking a true blue millionaire in 5 years time.

Salute to mumbai and people like him

Between the 2 passports

I am in the process of getting my 3rd passport as the 2nd one is about to expire. I got my first passport issued in '95 & 2nd in '06 & my 3rd should be issued in a month's time in '16. While  waiting for my appointment in passport office i thought about how much life has changed during the time my last passport was issued and now when it is about to expire.

Firstly in purely travel terms , i have been to 10 countries on this passport (first passport had 5 Visas on it). More importantly, i had been to 3 continents by '06 & now have added 3 more to it.

Professionally, i had not started working when my last passoprt was issued. Now i am almost 10 years old in my work life and have worked for 2 companies.

Personally, i was a bachelor in '06 and i met a girl 2 years later, got married in '10 & got the best moment of my life when Myra was born in '14. As of now even she has travelled to 3 countries :). Also, I have made my best friends i guess in last 10 years during and after my MBA and they are the one i count on if there is anything to be sorted out in my life.

Also, in the last decade i have changed homes 6 times though all of it has been in Mumbai. More Strikingly, all the 6 homes have been within a distance of 500 Meters. The last one i have moved into a  month back is a place that i have bought & am extremely content that i have been able to give a permanent roof to my family in Mumbai.

Altogether, its been a satisfying decade personally & travel wise. work wise i am not where i want to be but still in a better position that i had hoped to be 10 years back.

So, what now for next decade before i move to my 4th passport? I am never the one for goals since i firmly believe that we control a very small fraction of what happens in our lives. Still, in next decade i want to travel to 10 new countries with my daughter and wife and also want to arrange a euro trip for my parents. Personally, i hope to be debt free in next 10 years and own 4 properties which i earn rent out of. Professionally i still dont know where i would want to be but if i am employable after 10 years and able to fend for my family, i would be content.

looking forward to my 3rd passport...

Happy Hunting Grounds

Today i should be writing about year gone by or resolutions for next year (most people i know online have done it) but i somehow feel like writing on death. Now, when i talk about death, it doesnt mean that i am becoming mentally ill or plannning to call it a day soon (VRS from life as my friend calls it).

Its just that i find myself thinking of what would i want for myself once i am dead. i have always been enamoured with the ritual of people wanting to get their ashes immersed at a particular place. For some it is a holy site, for others its a place they loved  when alive and for others still it is next to where their loved ones are or were. For someone like me who is an atheist, first option is out of question. Having travelled to few countries & in India in past many years, there are some spots i have loved so much that i would want to go there often if only i could. These include:

1. A beautiful beach in New zealand just below Cape Reigna.
2. A small town in NZ called Wanaka
3. Mojave desert in California
4. Jacksonville in Florida
5. A village named Bad Aussee in West Austria

Then there are so places in India..

6. Any non crowded Beach in goa
7. Marine Drive in Mumbai
8. Dhikala in JC national park Uttarakhand

Out of all these, i love 1st and 8th the most. Just being at these places is a surreal experience which cant be explained. So, these are the places i would like my remains to be thrown.

But then, what is a good place without someone you love. So, whenever i am done, i would still like to be (either in remains or soul) where my wife and daughter are.


PS-About the title of this blog. Happy hunting grounds is the place that my most fav author (and one of best human beings ever) Jim Corbett referred to as a place where people go once they die.