Validation

We live in a world where our survival depends on how others perceive us. The reason why beauty care, fashionwear, or social media thrives.

The burden of validation impacts everyone. The person seeking validation and people in their circle.

Sometimes I wonder which came first our ego or the craving for validation. Or is anger or health issues part and parcel of this validation?
Has validation taken us, humans, beyond humanity and made us part of an endless reel where we are less real?

Do we crave validation to fulfill our inner void?
Do we crave validation because we are broken?
Do we crave validation because we are lost?

complex

Have we made our life complex with our needs, actions, and desires? We want love, we seek attention and we crave independence. As a result, we end up building a complex maze of wants. We end up being angry, depressed, and sad when desires are unmet. We get stressed, overwork, collapse and go down further with wishes not met.

ethics

Any relationship is fruitful if it’s built on some ethics. We are mammals and we do see and observe things. We do have emotions.

The more I venture out into this uncharted territory I feel isolated, be it personal or professional life. The importance of ethics is rotting with the generation. Is it the progress of civilisation where everyone is running after everything with no ethics?

Manipal

After living in metros for over two decades, I am moving to Manipal, a small town in coastal Karnataka known for engineering/medical college.
It also has an adjacent temple town named Udupi which I want to explore.

Moving out of Bangalore is simple: to indulge in nature and water sports.

I also have half a dozen of my team working from there during pandemics. I made over a dozen visits there and loved the laziness and vibe.
What the future holds for me there, we shall see.
As a traveler living in the present, I am switching bases.
I am excited.

If you are around Manipal, feel free to catch up for lunch/dinner/coffee starting tomorrow.

Will I miss Bangalore?
I will be visiting here for customer catchups once or twice every quarter.

mirror

One of our mind’s negative manifest is mirroring.
We expect things to be as they were in a job, relationship, or life.
The reason is our laziness and comfort.
It adds a barrier to our life and affects our progress.

We start comparing our new companion with the old one.
We start comparing the previous job perk with the new one.
Our old habits and expectations get shocked if new work or relationship is different from the past.
We get frustrated and in tears.

As long as we continue mirroring the past in the present, we will make life miserable for newer folks, ourselves, and the newer management at work. In short, we won’t be satisfied.

Can we start our life with a fresh slate?
Can we join the new workforce expecting it to be day one?

entrepreneurship

My biggest challenge with entrepreneurship is the amount of hype it gets. We are not some modern gladiators or in the fashion parade.
We don’t need all the media boost and appeasement.
Some end up calling themselves entrepreneurs just for the glory and wrong reasons.

Entrepreneurship is like any other occupation to solve customers’ pain, work with like-minded people, and increase collective stakeholder’s wealth.

Very few get rich or end up having a rewarding life opposite of what the media speaks.

I dislike this extra baggage or stardom some of us carry along with because we are entrepreneurs.

focus

Focus is our most valuable currency. We are living in a connected world where everyone is seeking our attention. It is on us to decide what to prioritize.

The same goes for running any business. It takes lots of sweat, will, and luck to make it a success. But above all, it requires focus. There is no such thing as overnight success.

Some of you might disagree with seeing the PR shown on newspapers or news how 18 years old making a successful company or an entertainer end up millionaire overnight.
Such news get eyeballs and your attention, beware.

Maverick Effect

Harish Mehta is one of the NASSCOM’s founding members and has written a book titled: Maverick Effect. The book talks about his life journey keeping NASSCOM at the center.

I was not aware of what all went through in the journey of making India an IT Nation. The role of NASSCOM as a lobbying body to help industry foster has been phenomenal. It was like reading some documentary in itself.

NASSCOM has fostered an Indo-US IT relationship as a flag bearer and evangelizing IT policy in the government.

The book talks about NASSCOM’s role in saving: Satyam after forgery by its founder Ramalingam Raju.
It also talks about bringing anti-piracy laws.

In short, I feel India’s IT policy and telecom revolution have some role in NASSCOM. That is what the author wants to convey in the book.

diverse

I have been to over five states of India in the last 15 days.
It makes me more humble.
It affirms our country’s diversity.
Every state has its specialty and problem.
I wonder what keeps such a diverse state together as a country.

Is it our will to live and represent a unison or our need for roti, kapra, and makaan? What keeps us all going?

cycle

I am at my home in Sitamarhi, Bihar, visiting my parents. I was born and studied till class 10th here. It’s like waking to memory lanes and walking across the gallis and fields.

Many things have changed post-COVID, one being I see many houses ending up vacant. The owners have passed away. The kids have no interest in taking care of the property.

I still remember my neighbors and fights in giving land for road construction. I was part of this mohalla when it was barren land.
My father and dozen others worked towards making roads and bringing electricity poles.

We have a road. The houses are there but empty.
Every generation toils lifetime and earns for the next generation instead of living their own. It’s like a mad rush of accumulation of wealth for whom? We are running fast and creating wealth, but for whom? Will our next generation care about it?

We are living for the future instead living now for ourselves. Are we all part of this cycle where one generation creates wealth, and another leaves it and walks away? It saddens me to see the houses, their gardens now turning haunted. The liveliness and cheers are all gone.