the body

I think it was Aparna who recommended this book to me. The author Bill Bryson has written dozen other books as well.

I have been taking care of my health more in the last four years. The only way I could have gone through the pain of running my startup and books were a great resource.

After reading a dozen books on varied fields from guts to food to exercise, running, This book gave me a feeling that I am reading a smaller encyclopedia health book. The author has covered good ground on all parts of the human body and lifestyle.

I have added this book to my gift book category for all the wisdom.

build

I have heard from many about planning and then executing. My problem with planning is that it drains you so much that there is no energy left in execution.

There exists a multibillion-dollar industry on project management and roadmap tracking. On a multi-year and thousand minds, it makes sense.

But when we are small and building, what matters is the initial customers and their pain. Every team member gets motivated seeing their work used in the real world.

In our founder’s catchup, we always circlejerk and converse over hiring a head of product and whatnot. I always suggest early customers define your product. In building a consumer app and copying a US counterpart you need a product person for the donkey job.

social

I tried my best asking parent to move with me and leave Bihar. I realized after all these years of trying, it is not happening. One main reason for this is the social capital built in the last 50 years.

My mom and dad have a separate bunch of friend circles. Some meet every day or weekly. Apart from this, we have the same milkmen, cleaning lady vegetable wala who knows everything about us. They have seen us growing since early childhood. They have this huge social capital built around.

If I bring them here, it will be like putting them inside a walled garden which they will not enjoy.

Apart from the family we also need a company of friends around as we age, something I have learned with time.

winning

Enterprise sales are about winning people and their trust. At the same time, one cannot make everyone happy. We have many sales closed because stakeholders believed in us and, we delivered our promise with time. In numerous instances, our believers switched organizations and got us there as well. We closed multiple sales just by delighting those who believed in our journey.

We had gone through dozen-odd meetings where our potential buyer would ask us to come back next set of features. It would be never-ending.

We did it because we were also learning and desperately needed early product uses. With time we realized about qualified or unqualified sales prospects. It would take us a few meetings to pursue or move on. I think time and experience made us better than before.

We are still not perfect and, it’s day zero for us. But one thing is sure, people or customers have to like you before buying your product.

sometimes

Sometimes I feel like I have all-time in the world. It is just people around me are running. Is something wrong with me? Why am I not running and acting busy all the time? Does it make me less aspirational? Are they all have everything sorted that they are running for their true north?

Daily Traffic, grocery shopping, or even at the hospital, I feel this same race.

I don’t know. But it feels weird.

Land Of The Seven Rivers

Last week I picked up Land Of The Seven Rivers by Sanjeev Sanyal.
I loved the book and the amount of research the author has gone through writing the book. It starts with Harappa culture, talking about the Aryans, and goes from Mahabharata to all old Kingdoms and the Mughals.

I could imagine walking as reading the chapters. The end was with changing Indian landscape and the development of Gurgaon with changing economic liberalization.

The book covers good history on the origin of major Indian cities and British raj.

You like the history and geography of the Indian subcontinent. This book is a good read.

mother

I am not sure why mom cries every time I leave her and come back to Bangalore. I sometimes wonder if these are uncontrolled emotions and, I can do nothing much about it.

Being a mother is not easy; Apart from carrying in her womb for nine months. Mothers see their children grow, accept all their tantrums. It is like constant work in progress till eternity.

I am not sure what we can do in return to keep her content, happy with all she has done for us; Apart from spending more time with her.

I am going to ask my sister sometimes the same question. She is raising her first child.

leap of faith

Last week I met a friend and got to know about him getting married. I congratulated and asked the background story. He mentioned meeting his wife over Instagram. I was shocked and surprised when he mentioned their leap of faith and how it worked for them.

In my life, I have made a few friends at random places and closed many sales over the coffee conversation.

I am not saying the world is a perfect place but it is not imperfect either. We don’t have to start looking for reasons for everything. Being a cynic or perfectionist is not the only virtue humanity needs, sometimes a leap of faith does wonders too.

husn

Sab ghum rahe hai apni husn ka zalwa liye. Poochte phir rahe hai auroo se kimat khud ka.

Khoye hue hai khud se, kar nai rahe yakeen khoye hone ka. Auroo se aise pesh aa rahe hai ji mano khud he khuda hai.

Mazhab, imaan aur zindgi bann gaye hai auroo ki mehfil me bhatakne ke liye. Koi kabhi cha-h-ke aur kabhi na-chah-te hue unki husn ke tarif kar baithta hai.

Auro ki tarif ku gumar is karar sar chad jata hai mano khud kya hai auro ne he tai kar diya ho.

Madari ke bandar ke mafik, chand logo ke wah-wahi ke liye kya ho gaye hai hum? Apne husn ki numaish kiye za rahe hai hum.

Kya itne akele pad gaye hai hum ki khud ki zindgi bazaar ki numaish ban gaye hai.

contest

People advise what to wear or act on certain occasions, like a dressed monkey for a grand feast. There have been a few instances where people acted lowly because of my dressing.

I wonder who decides what we should wear or how we carry ourselves: consumerism lobby, which thrives on selling more? All are chasing it like rats believing it’s our bucket list? We are throwing authenticity and originality to the dustbin on a quest of fitting into this world.

We eat, act, project, or behave how others want us to see. My simple question is, why? As long as we are not offending anyone, why can we not be as we are?

Be it personal or professional life: I end up meeting lab rats of consumerism and society faking and making up like life is a popularity contest. I have nothing against them. It is just that my time is not for them.