Who needs a salary anyways!

A dear friend of mine is serving his notice period, and has his last working day tomorrow.  His current employer is a hi-fi financial services MNC, a very desirable name amongst b-school grads, and the natural questions to ask him would be where he is moving to and what is the jump in annual package.  But probably the only answers he would have to these questions would be a grin and a wink, bec he ain't a-movin', he's a-quittin'!

All around me i see people quitting lucrative hi-speed careers to do something different.  More than a dozen people i myself know well have done it, and all the time i keep hearing / reading about many more.  I did it some 3 months back meself!  :-)

Some are pursuing their hobbies / arts, some just needed a long break (long enough that their annual mandatory 'mandy' leave wouldn't suffice), but most are trying their hand at "dhando".  There seems to be an entrepreneurial wave going around which is not a blip or a temporary craze, but something that looks much more serious and long-lasting. 

I attended an investor conference a few days back and was happy (and a little bit amused, i must admit) to see that 99% of the people filling the hall were CEO's and CTO's of some start-up which was in "stealth-mode" and looking for funding.  I also met some VC friends who said they were looking at 600-700 ideas a year!

Unlke in "the valley" there has never been any kind of a support environment here for technology / internet start-ups.  No infra with regards to start-up funding, advisory, hand-holding, legal framework (in terms of IP), etc.  But i guess that's a chicken & egg situation.  Without much start-up momentum, there is no incentive for that kind of an environment to exist and subsist.  Hopefully that's all set to change now.

There are suddenly numerous "angels" floating around.  Most VC's are also declaring that they "seed-fund" great ideas.  But i was also told by my friends that these same guys are currently nowhere close to putting their money where their mouths are.  Most of the Moolah is still flowing to traditional ideas and established companies looking for that next level of growth. 

What we really need are a few great exit stories....acquisitions or IPO's....and then the real money will start flowing in.  Maybe we also need a few Y Combinator styled incubators to up the momentum. 

In the meanwhile i hope many more people are able to free themselves from the daily corporate drudgery to follow their dreams.  It is best to really live this single life we've been handed out. 

It is risky, but so is:
- learning to cycle
- falling in love
- eating road side pani puri

:-)

Aching to break free

Boozy called to say that he had to work all through the national holiday on monday, when everybody else was at home with family and friends hogging on Diwali sweets.  Often in the past he has worked through Friday nights and weekends, struggling to keep up with deadlines.  That conversation got me thinking about the freakin insanity of the whole thing.  Doesn't the "work to live, not live to work" concept hold good anymore?  I have seen friends in equity sales, investment banking, or for that matter, in many arbit profiles, burning out by the minute.

In our whole distorted ordering of priorities, we end up giving such a ridiculous weightage to achieving (or holding on to) a fast track career, that we actually stop living.  We used to have so much fun in college, with little or no money in our pockets.  But then we walked on a programmed path towards becoming an engineer/doctor/CA/MBA/Businessperson and entered the rat race.  No, this is worse.  This is a shit race.  We are all turds in a fkin shit race, gettin flushed away so fast, without getting a chance to leave any kind of mark. 

Even just in my limited social sphere, i know so many young people who are unhappy with what they are doing.  I'm not talking about people generally cribbing or being greedy for more.  I'm talking about the unhappiness resulting from wanting to do something different.  Something more meaningful or fun, or something reflecting our innate nature and individuality.  And i'm talking about the kind of people who can never be at peace with the fact that they are working on a pre-designed job description in a pre-designed grade structure, and knowing that they can be effortlessly substituted by another dummy in a tie and a good shirt, who'll probably do the job as well, if not better.

I'm not in any way trying to suggest that a corporate job is bad.  If you have a job profile that you like and are getting paid to your satisfaction, it can be really great.  Promotions, bonuses, responsibilities, status....lots of good things to look forward to.

But if you are continuously unsatisfied and are pining to do something else, which will probably give you much more happiness and peace even if it is at a lower income, i hope you are lucky enough to have the courage to make that change.  I'm still working on tightening my balls enough to finally break free.  I want to give a shot at some long standing plans.  If they dont work out, i know i'll be able to pick up a job again, satisfied that atleast i tried.

And that situation need not be all bad.  For example, the place where i work is amazing.  Bosses are great (though you cant have the same bosses forever....who knows if there is gonna be a terrible one in the future), culture is nice, have some good friends amongst the colleagues, etc.  This is the kind of place where I can work for 20-30 years without being desperate to move.  But inspite of all that, for a long time now there has been a constant unhappiness lingering under the surface.  I know i have to try doing something on my own.  And i know i have to explore my creative side.  I just have to do it.  Its now or never.  There's a lot of clarity about that, but its still so damn difficult to take that final call....

Why are silly things like losing a year or having a gap in our CV so scary to us?  One of the things we are probably most afraid of is falling behind our batchmates and peers and being thought of as a laggard.  Fk it all.

This one is from the eyes of my friend boozy, and is for every person stuck and slogging it off in a deadbeat job...

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Aching to break free...

I get out of my home and

There's an eerie calm on the street
I head towards the station

Dragging my tired and aching feet

It feels so strange to climb

The railway bridge all alone
Noone pushes or gropes me

Or even tries to flick my phone

Even the train pullin in slowly

Has a lazy air around it
No need to hunt for a toehold

Its so unreal...there's place to sit

My heart is sinkin fast

As the office block gets closer
The security guy signing me in

Seems to whisper "what a loser!"

Project reports & Status reports

& data analysis spreadsheets
Deliverables & deadlines

Hammer down like drum beats

The dull glow from the monitor

Lights up my swollen eye sacs

The keyboard rests on the monster

That I've grown instead of 6-packs

I am utterly exhausted

And my poor back needs some healing

But all thats nothing compared to

This deap-seated unhappy feeling

My tired body and weary mind

Are screaming out a warning
Yet, what am i doing in office again

on a beautiful Sunday morning?

The only great thing today is

I dont have to stand in line
The coffe machine, the photocopier,

food counters & urinals are all mine

But I wonder where i'm heading to

Is this what i'd set out for?
The momentum has somehow built up so

Things dont make sense any more

Get an email from an old friend

Has some pics of the good ol' days
A guitar, drums, beer bottles,

Great buddies who've parted ways

I wanted to play guitar and to write..

I wanted to do something cool
Something to pour my soul in

But i'm sitting here like a fool

The empty feeling inside me

Is screaming out a warning
Yet, what am i doing in office again

on a beautiful Sunday morning?

- Vivek Rao

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