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.
