atul jha – Page 43

disconnect

Some-days, I want to disconnect from the world: like disappearing inside a cave with no external world around. The closest to this has been swimming for numerous hours in the sea or running at my pace. Reading and writing are other resorts. But then it takes you to the world you are consuming.

What I mean by disconnect is doing nothing, just sitting with your thoughts, watching the world around you, observing day and night, and listening to birds chirping. It’s like Vipassana.

The hyper-connected world has made us go nuts. We are constantly consuming news and music or plugged to phone chat. We are not giving our brains enough time to think, dream and become creative. It’s like turning zombies, and I am one of them.

Can we disconnect ourselves, stop living like zombies, and start observing the world within us? Can we supercharge our creativity?

trust

Trust is a universal currency. It’s a pillar that holds any tsunami or turbulence in our life or work. We have to be confident in ourselves and our decisions before trusting others.

Trust gets you a big win. Be it business, friends, or relationships. One has to be in a company where both sides are equally involved and mature enough. Due to our insecurity or ego, we get into conflict. It results in losing trust.

Once we lose trust, mending it becomes a challenge. There will always be a sense of doubt and uncertainty. We will lose our peace of mind and justify our actions to each other.

enlightenment

What is enlightenment?

A good night’s sleep
An absolute authority as a dictator
Being the wealthiest person on the planet
Living life on our terms
A companion who understands and is trustworthy enough to be there in the thick and thins of life
No visa to travel anywhere
Getting a healthy death and living disease free
Living life without regrets
Touching a million lives and making a better world

I got some answers after calling dozen other friends last week and making them utter what they see as enlightenment.

I don’t know what enlightenment is, to be honest.

It can be very subjective and differs from person to person in their state of current mind.

alcohol

I remember getting introduced to alcohol in my early 20s. It was beer.
My love for beer grew to the extreme, and at one point, I was in Brussels hopping microbreweries and learning the art and craft of beer making.
I wanted to start my beer shop. We had less than half a dozen microbreweries across the country.

No week was without 5-6 liters of beer. At one FOSS event, we even announced our beer event, had a website, and had a bunch of volunteers. I made lots of friends, and beer was our love. I was not aware of or cared about health as such. I was lean and thin. I needed lots of fat and muscle. I think beer loaded me with carbs.

Something happened to me on my 30th birthday, and I went cold turkey.
I think it was my ego and quest to build my startup. I had started reading, and most books talked about the side effects of alcohol. It took some time to rebuild myself. I had a gym instructor who helped me and long runs. I was taking control of food. It was a different version of me, and I loved it.

Last six months, I got back to drinking wine and fenny(in Goa). My reason was to clear my creative block. While it did help. I ended up completing 20 short stories and half a dozen poems. But at the same time am feeling weak mentally. It has thrown me back into the past: journey, conversation, and everything. It’s past, and I never wanted to revisit it. I had made peace with it.

I think I will be alright in a few weeks. But my advice to most youngsters would be to avoid alcohol. It fucks with the brain and brings pain afterward. Early life is about building and cementing life, career, and relationship and figuring out all your wants.

Happiness

Happiness is new corporate trash positioned like a carrot to employees by human resources. Giving food coupons or movie tickets is not happiness. Neither are weekly alcohol galas post-work.

Happiness is mental well-being. That can happen with good company culture. An environment with zero toxicity. A place where employees could question senior authority. That will happen if the culture supports radical openness, transparency, and accountability.

People working with you should be in the organizational cause, be motivated to wake up, work and be part of a rocket ship.

The funding winter has opened floodgates full of thinking for employers and employees. People asked to leave, and companies are getting shut down. What happens to happiness now? All the corporate BS sold in PR, media, and social media is getting a reality check.

responsibility

We take the responsibility of others on ourselves.
We think the world will not move without us.
As a pilot, we start imagining everything under our belt.
We try to mend fences and go to lengths to win the crowd.

Is it because we are alone ourselves? Or is it like a battle or race we are fighting with ourselves? How far can we go like this? How far can we continue?

Who are we responsible for the family, world, society, or all?

freedom

Aslam is in his early 40s, a chubby man with a beard and a big smile.
He reminded me of Santa Claus but in a white kurta pajama.
He was a co-passenger on the train to Mumbai.

I am not sure if he was fasting during Ramzan.
His lips were dry, and in a monotonous tone, he greeted me.
He asked my whereabouts and then started sharing his life journey.

Me: Hum mumbai ja rahe hai.(am headed to mumbai)
Aslam: Hum to Goa za rahe hai. ( I am going to Goa)

He introduced himself as Aslam and into the fish business.
It got me excited as the sea is my interest.
I like swimming in it apart from consuming fresh catch.

Aslam: Aap kahan se, yahan ke nahi lagte (Where are you from, you don’t look or sound like a local?)
Me: Bihar se. ( I am from Bihar, I said.)

I have always been an impatient listener but not in this case.
What wooed me in listening to Aslam, I don’t know.

I left my home when I was 15 years old.
I could not handle my father and six other siblings.
Studying was not my piece of cake, and neither were daily scoldings.

My father started small and made a fortune as a car mechanic.
We have half a dozen shops in Bangalore.
I wanted a life for myself, and that’s when I ran away to Mangalore.
I think it’s the best decision of my life.
It was my mother who gave me some money to me and agreed to my decision.

The true meaning of life is freedom, living life on my own terms. I patiently listened to Aslam with no words to utter.

Aslam: Atul bhai, zindgi me tabhi aapko seekne ko milta hai zab aap khud se galti karte ho aur usko samaj ke, usse bahar nikal zate ho. (when you commit mistakes, you learn from them.)

I liked Aslam’s commitment to living an independent life and being the master of his destiny.
He asked if am married, and I said no.
And like others, he too advised me to get married asap.
I think our conversation took a pause afterward.

I had my book to finish, and Ashlam looked tired.
He snored for a while, and I had my headphone to rescue.
We spoke after a few hours when the ticket checker arrived.
I saw him offering Namaz on his seat.
He looked more joyful after breaking his fast., He offered me some dry fruits and dates. I gladly munched them.

That was the end of Ashlam. It was Madgaon station. He promised to take me to his fishing industry if I happened to visit Kundapura.

itch

A lot many innovations happened because of personal itch. Be it a bicycle mechanic building the first airplane or an entrepreneur building a rocket, an electric car, or a solar company. A patent commissioner coming up with innovation in the area of physics or a philosopher coming up with mathematical formulas.

Also, it is not necessary that you would know everything. If you have the itch, you will find people, hire, mentor, and partner.

Our time on this planet is limited, and it gives us enough opportunity to work on our itch. There is no time to complain or crib about what you don’t have and can’t do because of limitations.

Frank Kafka, Van Gogh or Ramanujan has that itch. They gave us the best of literature, art, or mathematics leaving early. They had that itch.

changes

I see climate activism picking up. Everyone is talking about it. Who is going to suffer most: the poor and underdeveloped countries?

We do thought leadership about the adversity even after:

Sitting in our luxury condos with air conditioners switched on 24/7.
Concrete and glasses are all around our plates.
We spend thousands of liters of water daily and pollute the environment with soap/detergents.
The running of the washing machine for hours for clothes. It could have been rinsed by hand.
Instead of drying in the sun, wasting electricity for same.
Buying everything using mostly none and hoarding, which in terms results in wasting natural resources.
Over eating and wasting food .
Taking public vehicle in everything instead public transports.

The solution is to change ourselves first before preaching others.

We are making life painful for poor and marginalized.

agreements

Why are we living a life divided over boundaries and agreements?
Is it our insecurities?
Are we broken and scared from the inside that is pushing us towards living in agreement?

I understand our society and upbringing come with this invisible barometer for settling down with whatever and living in agreement. Millions of failed marriages and broken relationships are the result of it.

We see the same with running an enterprise where partners dislike each other but continue to live in an agreement for future wealth, which they might not enjoy as the journey will tire them or make them sick.

Our time on this planet is limited. If we do not work hard and aim for the sky, what is the meaning of living?

We will fall for the trap of living in agreement and, as we grow older, cursing ourselves for settling with ordinary as an agreement. Wake up, smell the coffee, and make your life worth living.
Unshackle yourself, go out, and make a world for yourself. Let every minute count and be fruitful.