I'm a teacher, finally

P.S. Bootstrapped as an entrepreneur, it's time to get all my talents together to pay my bills! You'll find many such posters stuck in the Malviya Nagar area.

P.S. I always wanted to teach someday. Thanks to entrepreneurship, my dream has come true.

P.S. Sorry for hiding the number. I didn't want to make it public. You know, I'm such a girl!

On starting up

Last four months have been like a new birth to me, I realized my passion for entrepreneurship - the lust for ideas and making it tangible in the real world. These four months offered a new learning experience with so many lessons that even an entire book could not suffice. However, just to share it with like-minded people, I want to enlist some of the learnings here:

• Ideas are precious. Share it, but with caution.
  
  
• People won't appreciate(they don't generally know how to), they won't see a future(most of them are myopic!), they would question your ability(they seriously think that you're infertile!), they would say it's not the right time(they're unsure about themselves and they want to paste their diffidence upon you!).
  
  Just listen to them. Revel at the fact that you've been gifted with the passion for the idea that no-one else has.
  
  
• Find a partner. Who is passionate, different and trustworthy. Shake hands, firmly.
  
  
• Partner with a person who (a) you're really compatible with, (b) who is totally different from you in skill-set, and (c) who shares the same passion and vision for the idea as you. Respect him/her.
  
  
• Make sure that your partner is staunchly critical yet not offensive. Be the same to him. Stauncher, if possible.
  
  
• It's not the one with whom you first shared your idea, who can be your partner. It's the one who first shared the excitement for your idea, who can be your partner. Remember.
  
  
• Once done with the skeleton, meet 'talented' people - the creative ones - who can suggest ways to improve your idea when they don't like something, instead of just smashing it. It polishes your idea.
  
  
• Avoid losers. It's easy to recognize them. They'll always suggest why something can't be done instead of suggesting something that can be done. They would take away the input and give you no output.
  
  
• Welcome critics, but avoid cynics. It keeps you encouraged.
  
  
• While hiring people, always remember that enthusiasm precedes talent. It holds for you too.
  
  
• If your friend's advices are really good, include them. If not, smile and say, 'Thank you.' Remaining unperturbed when unwanted suggestions are flooding in is an asset for an entrepreneur. It offers you stability.
  
  
• Hire people who're frank enough to say, 'I want to join you because I want money.' They would tell you before they ditch you.
  
  
• While making your core team, remember that long distance relationship sucks! Make sure your team-members are near to you, so that you can fuel their enthusiasm frequently, assess their work and see the progress yourself. It makes things easy.
  
  
• Seek friends who you respect and who respect you, for suggestions. Mutual respect is really important. It enhances creative output.
  
  
• Be happy with yourself and your idea. It brings confidence.
  
  
• Write - your ideas, your learnings and your plans. It brings clarity.

P.S. Add more to the list by commenting. It'll help other readers.

When you aspire

I abhor the word 'aspiring' before any of my ambitions. I get so impatient that I immediately start working and planning to get rid of the 'aspiring' label before my aspirations. It may be wrong, but the connotation that the word 'aspiring' has on my mind is that of a 'wannabe'.

When I aspired to be an engineer, I prepared for IIT and cracked it. When I aspired to learn to play guitar without any teacher, I spent 6 hours a day for two months with it and got it. When I aspired to be a writer, immediately I wrote a novel, found a publisher and got it published. When I aspired to be a photographer, I learned the photography techniques, bought an SLR and did it.

And now I am aspiring to be an entrepreneur. And you know what, I am feeling restless. I want to get rid of this 'aspiring' tag behind the word entrepreneur. It kills me from within. It makes me feel ungratified. So, what I am doing to get rid of it? Well, that's the right question to ask. Ironically, the answer is in the question itself - 'I am doing' - I am doing all I can, pouring down my heart and soul into it. And trust me, within a month's time, you'll see what I mean when I say 'pouring down my heart and soul'.

In the recent days, I have developed a belief, which will sound a bit harsh but for me it holds. It says that when your aspiration takes a very long time to get fulfilled, it means that either you're not doing anything or you're doing many things but all wrong. Aspiration, without action, is stagnation.

And that's why I fear the word 'aspiring' prefixed before any of my ambitions. It makes me feel like a 'wannabe'. To end this emotive recount, I end it with one of my one-liners.

'When you aspire, perspire!' - Harsh Snehanshu

P.S. It feels great to be having a surge of emotions for something that I 'aspire'.

When Dreams Come True

The day dreams come true
It seems you’ve got a reason to live
The day dreams come true
It seems you've found a new reason to give

The day dreams come true
It seems that the Almighty is your best friend
The day dreams come true
It seems that the road to success is never going to end

Confidence climbs the charts
And self-belief smashes all the barriers
You tend to trust your heart
And lose all those intimidating fears

You have an option
To be humble or to be proud
But, your conscience tells you the secret diction
That – ‘Only humility can make you revered amidst the crowd’

The day dreams come true
You feel immense gratitude
The day dreams come true
You see a beautiful change in your attitude

The day dreams come true
You feel that you're going to prosper
The day dreams come true
You see many more dreams to conquer

Today, a dream has come true
Which happens to be mine.
That’s why I see in the mirror
Two eyes with a supernatural shine!

Oops! 'I' fell in love!

The book is out.
See it
Get it,
And read it too!
Let me know if you like it,
And let nobody know if you don't like it.
Keep it as a secret in your underwear pocket!

I'll be waiting to hear from you...
Anything you want to say...
Bouquets and brickbats accepted with 'almost' equal glee!
;)

P.S. It's my birthday tomorrow! Yay! =))

8 things I love to do:

The points are in the hierarchical order:

• Writing stories(on blog) - It is my passion. I am mad about it. My mind has started searching for a climax or a twist in every simple event of my life. I am doing work and suddenly a flash of idea rings my mind. Day by day, I am getting amazed to know how this amazing thing called 'passion' works!
  
  
• Playing guitar - The mere plucking of strings with my fingers gives me inexpressible joy. I know how to play about a dozen of instruments, but not one gives me as much pleasure which guitar gives. The pain in cuts and bruised fingers gives a sense of satisfaction that's incomparable.
  
  
• Catching the moment on my cam - My eyes tries to search for the weirdest of weird things in the surroundings and my finger waiting for the moment of that perfect 'click'. I've realized that a real photographer is the one who instead of looking through the camera makes the camera look through his eyes.
  
  
• Writing with hand - I love my handwriting, I find it artistic and beautiful. No matter whatever keyboards or voice recognition softwares the mighty human brain develops, nothing can take the joy of writing with my hand.
  
  
• Cooking - I was not sure about this one a couple of weeks ago, but now suddenly this has become my newest passion. I can find cooking quite similar to learning music - you get better and better with experimenting.
  
  
• Telling stories - This one hidden talent is known to very few people around the world. I have great stock of stories - all kinds - real life stories, inspirational stuff, humorous stuffs and anecdotes of all the famous personalities fed into my mind. Just remind me whenever you get time and I'll get started. Most of these stories have entered my CPU through books like Chicken Soup and anecdotes owes its origin to the numerous biographies that my bespectacled eyes skimmed through.
  
  
• Turning the pages of a Book - The essence and importance of books can never be overshadowed from my life. The mere joy I get while turning the pages of the book propels me to the Cloud Nine. I dream of the day when the large library at my home will have one shelf for the author named 'Harsh Snehanshu'.
  
  
• Teaching - This is the job that I want to do. I want to teach. I want to teach a subject called 'life' in addition to my area. I want to be the best teacher alive out there in the world. A teacher whose mere teaching attracts students, numbering more than registered for the course.
  

P.S. As days are passing out here, the more I am getting closer to myself. And the more I am getting closer to myself, the more I am falling in love with me.

Yo!

A BIG NEWS in my life:

My Professor has just offered me to do a Ph.D under his guidance, if I 'wish'. No competition, no examinations, direct admission. Hmm, the universe is conspiring to let me realize my destiny. :)

P.S. If you think you can, or you think you can't; you're right - Henry Ford

The Bucket List

It is 5:15 am in India and 12:45 am here. One hour ago, I went to the kitchen to make soup. My mind was not quite thrilled with the day I had. Talking about today; I, Keshav and Rajiv travelled a lot, to the poshest area around the town, but at the end of the day I and Keshav realized that we didn't really enjoy the thing. Something seemed missing. That forced my mind into a philosophical mode. The mode which I generally avoid getting into. So, I was there in the kitchen and suddenly I asked Keshav, "What are the ten things that you want to do before you die?"

These kinds of questions are very uncommon nowadays. No-one has time to sit back and 'dream'. We generally keep ourselves occupied, with orkut, facebook or even by doing nothing, to prevent any serious thoughts enter our minds. But today, we crossed the limiting barrier of 'laziness to think' and each of us came up with our own Bucket List - a list of things which we want do/be before we die. What we came out with amazed both of us, the weird dreams and belief that we have already achieved them happened to blow our minds.

I am writing my dreams down here and I think I'll cross-check this list before I die(friends, do remind me if I forget!).

So ladies and gentleman, here is my bucket list:

1. Get my name published in a book and that book should make a mark in the world!
2. Win Bharat Ratna at the age of 40.
3. Compose Music for a bollywood movie - that too honorary - be the honorary music director for that movie.
4. Drive Bentley along the river Colorado, with my parents, sister and wife seated in it.
5. Publish a photo captured by me in the National Geographic Magazine.
6. Win a Nobel in Physics as well as Literature.
7. Take care of someone, love the same someone and marry to the same someone and make her feel that she is THE MOST special person on this planet.
8. Come to Scotland - Glasgow for my honeymoon and live in this same White House Apartments and read this 'post'.
9. Be the best short-story writer India ever had.
10. To have my best friends crying 'dil se' during my funeral i.e. to have my bunch of good friends remain my friend forever.

P.S. Nothing is impossible if you dare to dream. Give yourself some time to make one bucket list and be amazed to see what you really want!

Personal

It is 3.30 am in the night. I am awake. The morning light has crept in. Had a bread-jam. I don't know what is keeping me awake. I suddenly realize that I have some purpose in my life and that purpose can only be realized if I keep myself involved - involved in some things or other. I had been wasting my time quite a lot. In worthless blabber, in reading and seeing craps(not literally) and facebook-ing. Today was a unique day. It made me contemplate about something which I had not cared about much in my 19 years, 8 months of existence. And that something is my life.

Seeing the work culture here, which is awesome, I don't know why I get an intuition that research is not exactly the arena for me to step upon in my future. It is certainly peaceful for the body and challenging to the mind but there is some kind of monotony that I can always associate with it. Theoretical physics is such a big field that no wonder two hours later I come across something awe-inspiring and change my statement, but for the time being I feel that it is not for me. Perhaps I am too lazy to apply my brain. The work here has no relation to my current feeling, rather the work-culture here is really fun and I am making a nice progress too; but inwardly I feel something else is in store for me. The only question is 'what I really want?'

So enumerating the career options for me, hmm, let me see:

• Research, Physics : on hold; chances - less.
• MBA - I have no specific interest. Perhaps if I go for it then I'll end up founding an NGO for AIDS patients. That's certainly what gives me a certain specific interest, but that interest has to be polished to a more general state.
• IAS - No way! I hate being a part of the bureaucracy.
• Direct Job - That would be misusing the runway to the higher exposure that IIT has offered.
• Higher Studies in some other field : Certainly, this seems a lucrative line. I get a definite urge that I'll shift in any field of arts after my B.Tech. But then always, I can carry out my passion for writing as my side-business, with whatever I do for living.
• Confused - yeah that's my state.

P.S. I've written a story in Graffiti after a long time of one month, and that's just because a slight appreciation that one of my blogger pals did to me by commenting on the last story. Thanks for re-igniting the writer within me!

Keep the feedback engine on...

10 things to do before you climb your death-bed

These are some of the moments which defined my life. These moments were the best moments in my life, and I want to recommend some of these to you all. Hope you also share your best moments with me.

1. Watching the sunrise from Kanyakumari, the tip of India: It was 4:30 in the morning, I got up and ran to the beach. There were people of all the ages, with a single burning desire to see the most beautiful dawn of their lifetime. The small sun appeared in the horizon out of nowhere, colourful clouds danced in welcoming it thus embarking the beginning of yet another wonderful day.
2. The Shawshank Redemption : If there is one movie which you can't miss in your entire lifetime, it's this. The Shawshank Redemption - A Story of Hope. There is no better source of inspiration available on the entire earth.
3. A tour on Shikara : Kashmir, considered as a paradise on earth, remains incomplete if we don't mention shikara. Its basically a small boat. Cruising through the ice-cold Dal lake in the Shikara with hands and feet being frozen and eyes being mesmerized to see the beauty of the lake surrounded by mountains, I felt at bliss.
4. IIT Insti Top : The city of history and majesty, Delhi, and a 10 floor high vantage point to give a panorama to this city - Incomparable. The breeze that flows at midnight at this place together with the soothing moonlit darkness multiplies the effect thousand times.
5. Guitar(My Eva!) : If in your lifetime, you don't happen to exhaust your fingers trying to make a song out of this, then certainly you missed something big. Fingers ready to bleed the next moment and you still determined to reproduce the song that you just heard perfectly, leaves you no option to think of any other thing. It is a great game of passion vs comfort!
   
6. Sudarshan Kriya : I am not a Bhakta of Sri Sri Ravi Shanker, nor any active member of his foundation, but I really respect him for his ingenious invention "Sudarshan Kriya". Tiring, exhausting and straining while you do the kriya, and utmost destressing, comforting and relaxing when it's over. It was the first moment in my life when I achieved the state of blankness with awareness in my mind for 15 long minutes.
7. The Autobiography of a Yogi - This is not just a book, not just a best-seller, but it is a sheer revelation. The things which are unbelievable and still exist, the infinity of human potential, the sublimity of the soul and the siddhi's conquering even death. There is no other so radical book ever published in the history of the world.
8. Writing : Thoughts are integral component of our existence. Of all the chatter that our mind produces, there comes something which is so new, so radical, so unique, so profound, so hilarious that you get an instant urge to secure it forever in words. You just pay attention to your thoughts to know how wonderful you are. I bet once you realize your thought's beauty, you will instantly wanna store them in words.
   
9. Listening to Indian Classical music and maestros : If you want to feel elation, relaxation as well as divinity at the same time, lock yourself in a room, and play any Classical music at a serene volume. It will take away all the stress and bring you closer with divine. In India, in guru-shishya parampara, music is treated as Goddess Saraswati, and every maestro - be it Zakir Hussain, Amjad Ali Khan, L.Subramaniam or Hari Prasad Chaurasia - strive for the union with the divine through their music everytime. See the documentary "The Speaking Hand" on tabla virtuoso Ustad Zakir Hussain to inspire yourself.
10. Share your feelings : The last point is very close to my heart, as it is totally my own thinking - no inspiration for this. Before you climb your death-bed, at least write a testimonial to all your friends on orkut and even in life. Make them know how much you like them, how special they are, what were the moments when you learned from them, and what are the things that makes them special in your life. You can make yourself happiest only by making others happy.
    

Taste of Triumph - 2

I had no expectations, it was totally out of sudden, amidst mixed emotions - a call made me dumbstruck. I was strolling along the Wind-tunnel of the institute when my phone rung up, I was jumping in heaven after that call. Man, I got to know that I had got the third position in the Rendezvous Abstract Photography Competition(which consists of Rs.200 cheque and a certificate to cherish). I screamed the loudest "YES!" I could on the road, almost the whole of the crowd near me was a kinda' dumbstruck. I called my Mom and she jumped on her toes, talked to my Dad and my Dad became emotional, my life could not have been better. It brings great pleasure to have a sudden surprise, without even having any expectations.

P.S. Acknowledgements : Vidhu for taking great pains for inquiring exquisite details for the event, Akshay and Aman for their words of appreciation(which really mean a lot to me even though I don't tell) and my parents for being twice more happy than I am and for believing in me twice more than I believe in myself.

P.S. I saw Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy performing at a 10 metres distance, they are so versatile man...hats off to them!!!
P.S. Don't judge my photography by seeing the photograph of my certificate, as the poor photography owes itself to my sleepy head.
P.S. I want to sleep, though it's a morning now...good night!!!

Taste of Triumph

Finally, the wait has been over. I had been waiting for this very day from the last one and half years. I have shared this feeling with no other person, but now I can write this feeling to the world. Last two semesters had been time of despair, failures after failures, with no taste of success coming in any field of activity. I am not only including academics in my list but I am pointing towards everything I tried my hands upon. I was involved in music, but none of the competitions did I win; neither in photography, neither in football, almost everything I tried my hands upon I ended up finishing last in it. I used to say that I am happy and satisfied but that was just to please my mind, I was totally at war with myself. My self-confidence dripped down day after day and I would be switching from one hobby to another intermittently. A dilettante like me could not find anything in which he was better than the majority, dissatisfaction clouded my mind all the time. That X(in the article 'The Algebra of Life') which I was missing in my life was success, as I was tired of failure. From the beginning of this semester, I was craving for success and I knew success in academics was the easiest to achieve as it had been my forte in the school-days.

And today as I got my optics paper, a wait of 3/2 years has finally been over. I got 21 out of 22 and I was definitely very happy. The lost self-belief was finally won back. I could see the happiness in the faces of my real friends at my marks and anguish in the face of some of my fake friends. Some appreciated me while some condescended and disbelieved me that how could I get that marks. I called my Dad and told him my marks, and to my surprise tears started rolling down my eyes. I could not decipher what was making me cry but I could feel iotas of relief stacking over my mind as my tears were rolling down. Dad was much more happy than I was, as he craved for my success much more than I did. I could feel the happiness in his voice. The voices of yesterday - when I used to tell my school marks to my Dad - echoed my ears and brought more tears. I am missing my tutorial class now - just because I needed to write this feeling, the feeling of success, for the first time in my life after I started blogging.

P.S. No P.S. this time.

Dreams Realized

Sometimes I think that I have wasted my schooldays, by being very shy, very nerdy and geeky. But, while thinking all this I realize, I am taking my alma mater for granted. If I had been anything I wasn't, then I am damn sure that I would not be residing in the finest institution of India.

Two years of arduous experiment with my left brain has paved my way for the future. The kind of outgoing and extrovert person I have now become is a welcome change, and was much needed. But, if I had become so masti-oriented guy while in school, surely my dream of IIT would have always been a dream. I think sometimes that what if I had not qualified in JEE, what would I have been doing? I realize that during the two years of preparation there was not a single moment when I thought this. "I was going to get through JEE", was a belief that was stamped on my self right from the class 9th. I always visualized myself in IIT.

Now I feel that because I had this burning desire to get into IIT many things happened strangely in my favour paving my way to where I am. The universe conspired to let me realize my dream. I got the best teachers at the time when I needed them most, India was kicked out of the World Cup 2007 thereby giving me more time to deal with my books, one guy came in my apartment from Bansal's and we had nice time discussing various concepts, I steered through the Boards with a great attitude and three days before JEE my grandma calling me and saying that she saw in her dreams that I have cleared the JEE. Interestingly enough, I became an orkut bug much after the JEE, otherwise I am sure would have lost my vigour for studies very early enough.

The kind of attitude I had while JEE was ensuring me from within that I was gonna clear. Some higher force was paving my way to help me fulfill my dreams. When you really want something, all the dormant forces become active to realize your dream.

P.S. Please don't misinterpret. I am just sharing my experience and thoughts. No egoism involved.
P.S. I was wondering what allows somebody to get something and any other person lose that. Its only desire to get that.
P.S. There is a book called 'The Secret'. Its marvelous, do read it.
P.S. If you have dream, you have to protect it. People who can't do something themselves force their opinions on you. You gotta go and get it. Become deaf to all the noise of the society and pursue your dreams with utmost passion. Universe will pave way.
P.S. Every failure offers more learnings than a success.
P.S. Follow your heart. It can never go wrong.