Watch out... Miss Entrepreneur at the wheel!

Entrepreneurship can drive you to do things that you have been avoiding forever. In my case it’s driving. I plead guilty to the fact that I have no sense of direction, have never learnt to cycle (hangs head in shame) and have the sweetest husband on the planet who drives me around when necessary (and a driver to get me to work and back). And when all else fails there are always autos and trains.

That does not mean that I have not looked at others zipping by, perched comfortably at the wheel and not felt a tiny pang of envy, as I lounge around on the backseat of my car, bopping away to the music on the iPod and watch the world go by. But the simple truth is, I was and still am TERRIFIED of driving!

Anyways, entrepreneurship brought home the fact that I will have to cut corners and fast. So out goes the driver. And driving myself to work seems to be the most sensible thing to do.

So I have finally joined a driving class. To be honest, this is not my first attempt. Had tried once before and after the fourth class had a massive showdown with my instructor when he kept tut-tutting through the 30-minute session and the final straw was when he asked me, “What will other people on the road think when they see you driving like this?” Like I care! I just want to get from from point A to B and not leave a trail of bodies in my wake. Well the result was I got out of the car and walked home and never looked back.

This time around my classes seem to be going ok. I have figured driving can’t be that bad, if a few factors are in place:

- Driving speeds are limited to 10 kmph
- The roads have all of two cars, including mine
- Yadavji (my instructor) is sitting at the passenger seat with a separate set of controls

This Friday, I get my learner’s license. Am super excited. Watch this space for more musings on what happens when a 30-year old decides to learn driving!

Award winning copy... on the back of a truck!

Sometimes the funniest things can be found in the unlikeliest of places. We were on our way back from lunch at a friend’s place and I was sitting at the back of the car with my son Kabir, trying to stop him from launching himself out of the windshield. (And for those thinking - have these people heard of a car seat? Yes we have, but our free-spirited son thinks it’s below his dignity to be strapped into one! But we have put it to good use as a toy dump!)

Anyways, I was trying to entertain Kabir by showing him things on the road and we saw this truck with the funniest line at the back –

“Meri chali... toh teri kyon jali”

Sorry can’t translate it into English. Methinks, it loses its punch entirely. Wish I had got a pic!

Vishal (my husband) and I are so kicked about this totally cool line that we are planning to put it at the back of our car too. So next time you see a midnight grey Hyundai Santro (that is what the Hyundai catalouge says; we call it black) on the roads with this crazy line at the back, do wave out and say hi!

Green.. the colour of my passion!

I am no tree hugger, but I think our planet deserves every little help we can give it. But it makes me hopping mad to see people indiscrimanately abuse the very planet they live on. I am not perfect, and I do make my mistakes (like cladding my baby in diapers occassionally), but I at least try and do my bit (walk instead of driving, using a cloth bag over plastic, repairing electronics instead of replacing with new ones).

It all began for me when I came across this really awesome movie The Story of Stuff. It is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever. It will definitely make you feel like shopping less :-) So if you want to do your bit for the planet and at the same time lighten your purse a little lesser then Going Green is for you.

I have made a little presentation which presents a few quick tips on how you start making small changes in your own life and begin the journey of Going Green. Do you have any tips to share.. Would love to hear from you :-)

Sites I love for their great work... Morgan Stanley's Green Book
Junkbusters

Mumbaifreecycle - a group started for Mumbai; open to all who want to "recycle" that special something rather than throw it away. Whether it's a chair, a fax machine or an old door!

If you truly believe in Going Green, do try and make positive changes in your life and encourage others; it is the least we can do for our future generations (yes, becoming a mom has altered my thinking)! I wake up in sweat nightmaring about the crappy planet I am leaving my son!

The Story Of Stuff By Sandhya Sadananda Gupta

view presentation (tags: earth planet save consumption)

Check this cool video...

On turning 30...

"Thirty was so strange for me. I've really had to come to terms with the fact that I am now a walking and talking adult." - C.S. Lewis

Hmmm... I see that I am a little late on the blog scene. But as they say, better late than never. And what prompted me to start my own blog? Well the latest turn of events in my life, have made me think that there might be people like me out there, who I can learn a lot from to help make sense of the current life-situation I am in (more of that as you read along). And what better way to get in touch with them and hear from them, than start my own blog?!

So what were these dramatic turn of events in my life? Well, I turned 30 a few months back. And that got me thinking. Do I want to spend the rest of my 30 years on Planet Earth (assuming I will live upto a grand 60) like I have the preceding 30? Well I have no complaints about life till now. I have a fantastic family, am married to a great guy, have the most adorable 15-month old, have my health (though I could do with a little less weight) and have had a good career. In 8 years I have risen from a mere account executive at a PR agency to heading PR for brands with a cumulative value of nearly 1500 crores.

But somehow it does not seem enough anymore. There is a itch that just can't be scratched, about wanting something more. About doing something more meaningful. About making a few scary choices, taking a few gambles, not playing it safe all the time and seeing where life takes me.

Around the time I was in this introspective mood, I bumped into a like-minded person, who while not 30 yet, was going through a similar what-should-i-do-with-my-life-to-make-it-memorable situation. And the result of that bumping was that after enjoying nearly 8 years of a cushy corporate life, I have decided to take the plunge into the exciting but scary world of entrepreunership. Yes, me a play-it-safe 30-year old mother of one, with middle class values that have always taught her to take minimal risks - quit her job. And how was the experience? Well it felt like I had jumped off a plane without a parachute and was freefalling. Well I have still not landed and it looks like it is going to be quite some time before I do.

Well once I put in my papers, my boss was really sweet in trying to convince me to hang and even offered me a revised job profile. I must say, the new profile was tempting, but I had made up mind. Now I am serving out my notice and getting ready for the unknown adventure that lies ahead.

So how does the future look? I honestly don't know. But I read this lovely article by Sudha Murthy on her memories of JRD Tata, and she writes about the time she quit TELCO (now TATA Motors) to move to Pune with her husband, the then unknown Narayan Murthy, to set up Infosys and told JRD about this news. When he asked her what would she do after she got succesful, she professed that she wasn't too sure that they would achieve success. And this is what he had to say: "Never start with diffidence. Always start with confidence."

So here's to confidence and exciting times ahead... Watch this space for more... Leaving you with an image from Dilbert, my most favourite cartoon strip after Calvin & Hobbes!