Responsible consumption

Am back from attending the 3 day JLR NTP (Naturalist Training Program) at the Bannerghatta national park, conducted by JLR’s Chief Naturalist, Karthikeyan.

It is an amazing program (and Karthikeyan is a super-fantastic teacher) and I am extremely happy that I attended it. A long pending wish got done in my bucket-list.

During the program, one of the discussions was about how much effort actually goes into food production and how we trivialize it into simply idli and sambar.  We often do not realize how intricate and inter-connected things are in our lives.

We take for granted, the plate of rice and often end up wasting quite a bit. There’s so much that goes into the process to enable that plate on our table.

We pay for it. We pay in paper currency. Why bother with trivial data? Why care about some farmer’s hard work? Or about the involvement of nature in it? Or the time it takes to grow it?

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Hare or the tortoise?

Tapprs is growing!

Honestly, I didn’t think it would take off much. Out of my frustration of not being able to figure out what I wanted to pursue as a business, I simply started something whimsically. That has grown into what could turn out to be THE BEST TRAVEL & PHOTOGRAPHY RENTAL in Bangalore, if I stay put for a year! Oh yeah, maybe… more than just that!

Of course, there are issues. But those are sweet ones. Of developing a brand. Of growing, managing and scaling up. Of making profits. Of wondering if my hobby has gone for a toss devoured by the demon of money making!

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Updates

It’s been a while since I blogged.

After quitting from work on Mar 11, things have been very slow. I tried to accomplish too many things and naturally ended up not doing much. Here’s a quick update on things.

Travel:

The only travel I did in this period was a quick trip with wifey to Goa and a visit to my in-laws place, Shimoga.

The plans to travel to Andaman didn’t materialize.

Tomorrow, hopefully if my waitlisted ticket gets confirmed, I will be travelling by train to Sikkim (New Jalpaiguri and then by bus). I have plans to visit Varanasi too, if time permits.

Start-up plans:

The start-up ideas haven’t materialized yet and am finding it hard to decide as to what to pursue. Unlike many people who quit with a particular reason to pursue, I had quit without any reason, but with just an idea to do something new in life. I guess the process of figuring things out could take much longer than I had anticipated. And yes, by far, I had under estimated how soon I would set things rolling.

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Enjoy the coffee, not the cup!

Source: Picked from an old email. Real source unknown.

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor.

Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering Coffee to his guests, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite – telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: ‘If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones.. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other’s cups.

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Last day@ Ness

Today is my last day at Ness.

I enjoyed my stay of over 3.5 years here! I do believe Ness is a pretty good place to work at. Much better than the biggies – Infy’s, Wipro’s, TCS’s, IBM’s of the world.

In a matter of hours, will add to the pool that is confused if they are unemployed or self-employed!

Why do this?

A lengthy answer if you have a bit of time to waste, read about it here.

Where am I headed?

No clue yet! There are a few initial thoughts like I had mentioned in my earlier post.. but too early to discuss them.

Am I scared?

Absolutely yes! I do sometimes feel like being in a circular room trying to figure out a corner! At the same time, if I figure out that there is no corner, I wouldn’t mind dropping the search and returning back to where it all began… another job!

For how long will you look/try before you give up and return?

Haven’t really given that a thought. Perhaps a year. Or 6 months. Or if there is a drop in my net worth. Or if I figure out that there is no corner in the circular room. Actually, no clue!

Have the last 2 months been of any use?

Absolutely! These 2 months have been so worth it that I now believe this could be one of the best decisions of my life even if it is not successful.

That said, not having an offer and having to figure things out is so different from doing the same sitting on a nice job. Like Warren Buffett once said, it’s as different as reading about s** and actually doing it!

**Away until Apr 1**

Finally,… will be away from the blog and social media until at least Apr 1. I have been contributing too much noise to an already cluttered world. You guys are better off without my self-indulgent updates!

So, don’t bother checking for updates for a month or so!