Friday, January 23, 2009

The Great Indian Dream


I was in a hurry .trying my best to be on time for the lectures.had just skipped breakfast,mom unhappy with it .dad was sipping his morning cup of chai,going thru the newspapers. "make sure u buy the economic times on ur way ,there’s an article u wud love to read ",he said .that look in his eyes and i had a clue,a hint as to what it was.

On my way to the station,I bought the economic times.went thru the headlines although I was walking .naa toggling. ..nothing new ..Ramalinga Raju hogged the headlines with the big irony called "satyam"…my eyes scanned the front page top to bottom.there it lay southwest of the front page.."students ,pros in venture-spirit ",it read.it spoke abt an economic times survey abt the growing entrepreneurship culture in the country.it spoke abt the startup culture in the country,mostly statistics and numbers.about the enthu level in the junta ..i was unhapppy though ,they cud have come up with a better,interesting story.trust me there’s no dearth of it ….

this brings me to a topic I am passionate about “entrepreneurship.”

for someone who has been keenly following this spirit ,the numbers came as no big surprise.India for me has always been a nation of entrepreneurs..right from the next door baniya - to the doodhwala bhaiyya-to the road side vendor-to the humble farmer ,from the cop on the street-to the mafia and the dons ..to some of the biggest communities..but we never took on the world .till tata’s ,ambani’s and murthy’s came along .but this time things are different.we are a game for it.the playing field has been leveled,thanks to globalisation.

For me entrepreneurship is all about the pleasure of creating something new.for urself ,ur team and the society as a whole. i see a generation full of energy,enthusiasm,and that zeal to make it big.there is a buzz about startups in some of the best known universities. the power and simplicity of some of the ideas have left me awestruck .The last bar camp at iit bombay ,I met a 13 year old looking for venture funding! and lets not in any way underestimate the rural population. Its just a matter of time before the bug catches up with them too.And this ain't something that happened overnight. the idea had always been there taking shape in to something concrete..about time,u see a big structure.

these are tough times in the job market with recruitment at an all time low in the recent past.last couple of months the world has seen some of the biggest names in the business history fall down .but in the midst of the crisis lies the big opportunity. its just a matter of following your instincts,taking the road less travelled and grabbing the opportunity with both hands . its heartening to see some already people willing to walk through this tunnel all alone.u cannot wait for the ideal time, for I believe they never come.now is the time to do it.now is the time to take that all important plunge .

back to the ET article ,an important point to note was that more than 60% of junta never took to entrepreneurship for ‘fear’ . I remember talking to one of the lecturers in our college who said it it was just about overcomming this fear which differentiated men from boys .it takes guts to take this calculated risk but then tough decision are to be made along the way.one great man once said if u always played safe, u will never know what it is like to win .i remember this famous dialouge from rocky where he says "fear is like fire within,which can harm u.but if u learn to control it,then it will burn down the opposition.”

As I write this article my pc plays the song “tu dhoop hai ,jham se bikhar; tu hai nadhi ,oh bekhabar; beh chal kahin ,ud chal kahin.....teri toh manzil hai wahin” .i wonder whether I have been intoxicated by possibilities ..u bet I am .

adios.

15 comments:

el_idioto said...

well even i've been bitten by the bug... but finance does play the spoil sport and even more are the deterrents who just want a piece of the profit pie without doing nothing... it's hard finding genuine people ... and abt the risk factor... well it's always worth it...
after all ... what's life if not lived over the edge....

Gaurav DobhaL said...

made some really bug bitten points.. but as you said, the process is slow. People will find that ambani, tata in them someday. Just hope its for good. Emotional driven targets could be misleading. yet I feel money market aint everyones cup of 'chai'.. you have it..only if you have it

ricky said...

well findin trustworthy people can prove a bit tedious
but patience has its own aura

enterprneurship is a washing machine
the more you struggle,
more cleaner you come at the end

i wish to write experience with a buddin entrepreneur
a dear friend of mine

it was sunday,i got up early @ 10
( i wake up early on weekends :p)

went for my impetus module
their i met kuljeet
BE 4m shah and anchor, mba 4m ISB, batchmate of my cousin
placed in a reputed audit firm with 10+ lacs gross income

but still had a "keeda"
he was not satisfied
started with his own concept of restaurents "THE PARKING LOT"

to provide services to dumbhead like me to park their ass for cup of coffee

"boss i had to go at 4 30 in the morning at andheri station 2 get my pamphlets
stuffed in the newspapers,
i had to stand their otherwise the paperwala were enterpreneurs enough
to sell it for raddi,
followed by reaching restaurent
and briefing the staff and starting the food preparation and so on...."

"dude if you can manage people you could do anything,
if you had paid 14 lacs in ISB it is of no use if you dont make contacts,
i got all my HR skills 4m my project partner who was in indian army"

"in my new venture i had seen days where their was no staff,
when i had to clean dishes, mob floor etc"

well the stories were endless being themselves a new topic
i could smell a real entrepreneur now
who belives "ready for everything"
"lets do it!!!" if they can why cant i

belive me all these gave me goosebumps

"par really dude these were the experience of life time,
bahut kuch sekhane ko mila"

there it clicked me,
their is still space for entrepreneurs even in this recession affected period
if you have solution, you have the world

agreed market is not everyone cup of CHAi,
its not necessary you hit bulls eye in the very first shot,
man it takes a lot to evolve as what i have seen
but what someone correctly said right move at right time can make the difference

this comment is incomplete with the famous phrase
"WORK FOR FREE, WHEN you WORK FOR FREE, YOU EXPLORE NEW POSSIBILITIES"
which i chant as my guru mantra

an ordinary man said...

gr8 article bro...u've really hit the nail rite on the head...but there is the risk factor not everyone can afford to take...

and talking abt ambanis n tatas one cannot forget there was jus one dhirubhai ambani or one ratan tata who cud make it to the top. So i still feel entreprenership still remains a double edged sword in India.

anand said...

@rishi
gud to know the bug has bitten quiet few..finances r better than ever before.angel investing is happening in a big way.all that matters is the all conquering idea.

@gaurav
nothing wrong with emotionally driven targets if coupled with sound logic,infact channelised properly they can be indeed be very effective

@ricky
i was a part of impetus..there r a lot of stories to share..

@tanmay
theres always going to be only a few people who epitomise the spirit..but then there r many down there who have created a niche for themselves ,its just that media refuses to highlight the fact.at the end of the day wherever u reach,the journey is going to be worth the effort

Anonymous said...

great points...the one about fear was the most appealing..conventional indian approach tells us to be the way we are and so we end up taking no risks at all..its time for a change..very well written...great post

Sanket said...

SO true entrepreneurship has grown in India largely. And these are good signs. But sometimes just feel that just the success stories of entrepreneurship that come out brightly seen. About how the underdog fought his way to the top. But millions of unsuccessful ventures go untold. We only talk about One successful Ambani, not about hundreds who lost the everything they had...
Not that i am against that, but sometimes luck plays in a big part...You never know how much the Sensex will be after 5 yrs do you? Same way, you never know what you have invested in becomes obsolute in near future.

anand said...

@yugi
well yes the middle class has been playing arnd with the safe attitude for quiet a long time ...but then things are changing...

@sanket
very true..only a handful succeed but the rest dont fail..just that they havent succeeded this time arnd,if they learn and come back again am sure the odds wud be high ...
and yes luck does play a part,but too small a part to bother abt plus u cant help at things which r out of ur control

things can go obsolete but u r never going to hit the bulls eye without investing .

Brett said...

Very well reasoned post...
I too am not a fan of the so called traditional Indian way.
Hopefully the generation change will bring about that change as well

Dimple Nangia said...

nice stuff :)

anand said...

@brett
lets hope for that change

@poisonivy
thamks

Sagar said...

nice one!!! finally u came with topic of ur instinct
but ET has also come up "Power of ideas"
which to a extent will help to overcome so called "fear"

anand said...

@sagar(gyaani)
i am aware of the ET initiative..am not sure how it may help overcoming fear,...but definetely some way to get exposure
btw this is ur first visit to my blog...welcome sirjee.

Gurtej said...

Nice post sir... Would love to see you make it big... I'd surely like to work in your company some day... I'm one of those who 'play it safe'...

anand said...

@ gurtej
u paly it safe and at the same time u play really well that is again something very few people are able to do..
and inshallah we shall work together in pandey & pandey.