Happy Sailing!
A vast sea in front of my eyes. Thick and dark blue with strong
tides and soulful waves. Waves were washing off my feet as I stood there at the shore not
knowing whether I must go ahead with this journey. I didn't even have a
motor powered boat, all I had was two oars and a rickety boat to find my
way through this.
After a lot of thought, my feet bid goodbye to the shore with confusion clouded inside my head.
I set sail on my rickety boat. The sea was tranquil in the beginning, it was kind to me. Yet I sailed with a lot of questions in my head. Where will this journey take me? Will I find the right direction to move? If I lose my way, will I find someone on the way to help me? How long will it take me to reach where I want to? Where do I want to reach, what is my destination?
I decided to silence these questions in my head and give this a try. As I sailed on the ups and downs of the rough sea, I started feeling lonely. Now and then, there would be few boats that passed by with someone on it who waved a Hello, most of whom I knew earlier. One of them said 'I am sure wherever you are going and whatever you are going to be doing, your trip is going to be awesome..you will do great'. That gave my oars a bit more strength to row through the sea.
The sea was getting rougher as I reached the middle. The middle of nowhere. I was feeling thirsty. Thirsty for people, new people. But in the middle of this sea, would I be able to find someone?
Soon, I spotted a huge ship. My mind was clearing up. Someone waved at me from the ship asking me to row towards them. I did, with some blind confidence. A rope ladder was rolled out to my boat using which I climbed on to the ship. It was a riot of people inside.A few familiar faces and a lot of new ones. But that was what I was expecting.
I was welcomed inside with a hot cup of authentic chai, by the Chai King of the ship. As I sipped and relished each sip, I walked a bit further to see piping hot biryani being served on the table to satiate everyone's Kolapasi. Once you were done with filling your tummy with yummy biryani, kulfi was ready to be served. One could choose from a sea of flavors. An old man with a Topi was heading the counter and his name badge read 'Lalchand'.
Around the dining table, a bunch of women were having a serious discussion on global networking and women entrepreneurship..Amidst all the fun and chaos, this was a unique discussion. I was curious so I asked them, 'you all look very serious..do you also have fun?. There was a confident answer, 'WE DO'. I immersed myself in the conversation for sometime to pick up a few take-away points.
Meanwhile I was getting worried about my rickety boat, so I ran to the deck to see if my boat had been safely pulled into the ship. A bunch of concerned folks were busy securing my boat. I was getting help without even asking for it.Suddenly I tripped on something. It was a pot. Several pots with fresh green plants were basking in the sunlight. A small child roaming near the green space claimed with pride, 'this is going to be My Harvest today!'.
Coincidentally, someone was celebrating their birthday on that day and another group of 6 people had planned a 'surprise' for him. The6 people were playing guitar and singing, cakes were being cut and the birthday wishes were filling up the room. The entire place was lively and vibrant.
With a gleam on my face, I moved back into the ship to explore more of it.I was hungry because being a vegetarian, biryani wasn't my forte. That is when someone walked in with a 'lunchbox'. It was filled with nutritious lunch and I couldn't ask for more. I ate to my heart's fill. I was feeling energised and positive. However I still wasn't sure where we were heading to. I began asking the question to everyone on the ship with a puzzled look on my face, when someone shouted 'why worry when I am there? Just travel with us!'. Still the question of 'Can I?' kept lingering in my head.
Slowly I noticed that the ship was moving towards a lighthouse. As we moved closer, I saw the lighthouse painted in red with 3 words written on it in yellow - YOU TOO CAN.
The ship was anchored there for the next 2 hours for full on inspiration by two chief sailors - Author Prakash Iyer and visionary CEO C.K.Kumaravel. It was the launch of Author Prakash Iyer's latest book 'YOU TOO CAN'. There were stories of entrepreneurs being shared, questions being asked, contacts being shared, selfies being taken, networking happened rigorously.
It seemed like I was discovering my direction.
I had started the journey with the thought 'Why am I taking this journey? I am not an entrepreneur..'
My journey took me into a cruise full of start-up stories, and evolved the thought in my head into.. "I will go ahead with this journey..because I am not an entrepreneur YET'!
My heart filled with gratitude for the community I was gelling with, a support system that I can always look forward to, in this journey towards my destination!And they all wished me 'Happy Sailing'!
After a lot of thought, my feet bid goodbye to the shore with confusion clouded inside my head.
I set sail on my rickety boat. The sea was tranquil in the beginning, it was kind to me. Yet I sailed with a lot of questions in my head. Where will this journey take me? Will I find the right direction to move? If I lose my way, will I find someone on the way to help me? How long will it take me to reach where I want to? Where do I want to reach, what is my destination?
I decided to silence these questions in my head and give this a try. As I sailed on the ups and downs of the rough sea, I started feeling lonely. Now and then, there would be few boats that passed by with someone on it who waved a Hello, most of whom I knew earlier. One of them said 'I am sure wherever you are going and whatever you are going to be doing, your trip is going to be awesome..you will do great'. That gave my oars a bit more strength to row through the sea.
The sea was getting rougher as I reached the middle. The middle of nowhere. I was feeling thirsty. Thirsty for people, new people. But in the middle of this sea, would I be able to find someone?
Soon, I spotted a huge ship. My mind was clearing up. Someone waved at me from the ship asking me to row towards them. I did, with some blind confidence. A rope ladder was rolled out to my boat using which I climbed on to the ship. It was a riot of people inside.A few familiar faces and a lot of new ones. But that was what I was expecting.
I was welcomed inside with a hot cup of authentic chai, by the Chai King of the ship. As I sipped and relished each sip, I walked a bit further to see piping hot biryani being served on the table to satiate everyone's Kolapasi. Once you were done with filling your tummy with yummy biryani, kulfi was ready to be served. One could choose from a sea of flavors. An old man with a Topi was heading the counter and his name badge read 'Lalchand'.
Around the dining table, a bunch of women were having a serious discussion on global networking and women entrepreneurship..Amidst all the fun and chaos, this was a unique discussion. I was curious so I asked them, 'you all look very serious..do you also have fun?. There was a confident answer, 'WE DO'. I immersed myself in the conversation for sometime to pick up a few take-away points.
Meanwhile I was getting worried about my rickety boat, so I ran to the deck to see if my boat had been safely pulled into the ship. A bunch of concerned folks were busy securing my boat. I was getting help without even asking for it.Suddenly I tripped on something. It was a pot. Several pots with fresh green plants were basking in the sunlight. A small child roaming near the green space claimed with pride, 'this is going to be My Harvest today!'.
Coincidentally, someone was celebrating their birthday on that day and another group of 6 people had planned a 'surprise' for him. The6 people were playing guitar and singing, cakes were being cut and the birthday wishes were filling up the room. The entire place was lively and vibrant.
With a gleam on my face, I moved back into the ship to explore more of it.I was hungry because being a vegetarian, biryani wasn't my forte. That is when someone walked in with a 'lunchbox'. It was filled with nutritious lunch and I couldn't ask for more. I ate to my heart's fill. I was feeling energised and positive. However I still wasn't sure where we were heading to. I began asking the question to everyone on the ship with a puzzled look on my face, when someone shouted 'why worry when I am there? Just travel with us!'. Still the question of 'Can I?' kept lingering in my head.
Slowly I noticed that the ship was moving towards a lighthouse. As we moved closer, I saw the lighthouse painted in red with 3 words written on it in yellow - YOU TOO CAN.
The ship was anchored there for the next 2 hours for full on inspiration by two chief sailors - Author Prakash Iyer and visionary CEO C.K.Kumaravel. It was the launch of Author Prakash Iyer's latest book 'YOU TOO CAN'. There were stories of entrepreneurs being shared, questions being asked, contacts being shared, selfies being taken, networking happened rigorously.
It seemed like I was discovering my direction.
I had started the journey with the thought 'Why am I taking this journey? I am not an entrepreneur..'
My journey took me into a cruise full of start-up stories, and evolved the thought in my head into.. "I will go ahead with this journey..because I am not an entrepreneur YET'!
My heart filled with gratitude for the community I was gelling with, a support system that I can always look forward to, in this journey towards my destination!And they all wished me 'Happy Sailing'!
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