Walking Through Paradise

If you come and stand on the Calangute beach in Goa and face the ocean, there are two treks that you can do - one to your left, the other to your right. Both treks are very different, but undoubtedly and exceptionally beautiful. I'm going to talk about the one towards the right, which will take you through beautiful beaches like Calangute, Baga, Little Baga (did you know this beach exists?), Anjuna, Vagator and all the way uphill through a dense jungle to the Chapora Fort. before you embark on this trip, I suggest you print a map of North Goa and keep it with you. Please do not refer to it just now, just keep it with you. You'll refer to it when the time is right.

Turn right from where you were facing the ocean in Calangute, and start walking along the shoreline, keeping the sea to your left. Wet your feet, splash water on your girlfriend, hold your spouse's hand, show tiny crabs to your kid, and reach Baga in around half an hour. When you reach Baga, it may seem to you that your path has been cut off by a channel of water that connects inland drains to the sea. Don't get disheartened. That lovely green hill that's beckoning you will have to wait, but only for a little while. Turn right and dissect the shacks into the Baga village and let your biological compass find a bridge that takes you across the channel and at the foot of the hill. The real fun starts here. In the monsoons, trekking along the ridges of the hill could be a little dangerous, but with proper hiking shoes, and a stick to clear away bushes from your path, you will be just fine. Rise up the ridges and when you reach the top, you'll see a sight that 99% of the tourists would not be able to see. Behind you, is a vast green plateau, which will cure your eyes of years of exhaustion if you keep staring at it for 10 minutes. In front of you, the majestic Arabian Sea lies in all its glory, reminding you with every crash of the waves on the rocks down below that there are things in this world that are way, WAY larger than what we consider important in our day-to-day lives. Sit there for some time, and then descend the hillock to reach one of the best kept secrets of Goa - a secluded little beach called 'Little Baga'. There's just one shack there, and hardly a couple of hundred feet of beach, and chances are - you'll be the singular soul on that beach. The beach itself is nestled right in the middle of green hills on three sides, and the ocean on the fourth.

After you've celebrated your solitude in whatever way you may deem fit, start climbing the hills again, ocean to your left. This climb is a treacherous one - drink a lot of water, and watch your step. 'Pugdandis' or walking paths will be your best guide, but not always. There are a lot of cashew plants around, so be careful of straying animals, like bears. Keep walking, make sure your biological (or phone's) compass is always on. Keep moving north. The ocean should always be on your left. Make your way through the hilly terrain, and reach a rocky descent down onto what I call a 'relief' after the treacherous hike - Anjuna beach. I've done this trek at least 5 times, and on all occasions, the moment I climbed down to the Anjuna beach, I just dove into the cool and refreshing water. I can't explain the beauty of that experience in words. You are back in civilization again, so you'll find a lot of shacks lining the beach. Relax, doze off, have lunch, solve Differential Equations, and pat yourself on the back for having made this far.

Then, pick yourself up, because, believe it or not, you've not even covered halfway. Keep walking along the beach and reach the famous Anjuna Flea Market. The market is open on Wednesdays, and you get some good stuff there. From here, I recommend walking through the asphalt road and going towards the spot where all the buses drop off the tourists. Your target should be (once again, and bravo!) the hill right in front of you. Find your own way to the foothill and start climbing once again. Reach the top, and you'll realize that this is a much greener plateau than the one you had seen a few hours ago. Keep going, there are no specific directions, except that you need to keep moving north, with the sea to your left. You'll go up and down and up and down in a rollercoaster of greenery, and then finally, you reach a sheer drop. Start climbing down. Be VERY careful here, it's not as easy as it seems. Your objective will be to reach the Vagator beach that you can see down below, between the swaying palm trees. Reach Vagator and take a short break. Vagator's sand is quite hard, as compared to that of other beaches, making it easier for you to walk. Keep walking, and when you can't go any further because of razor sharp rocks jutting out of the water, look up to your right, away from the ocean. That's the hill you need to climb to reach the 'Dil Chahta Hai' fort - Chapora. Once again, it's a steep climb, almost impossible if you don't have the right gear, or are tired, or hate gymming. But if you have the spirit in you, you'll be able to do it. Once you have conquered the fort, I suggest you refer to the map you had printed and kept in your rucksack earlier. Find Calangute, find Chapora fort, and say to yourself - If I can do this, I can do anything.

Top 5 Reasons To Become An Entrepreneur

A few days ago, I wrote a note titled "Top 5 Wrong Reasons to Become an Entrepreneur" on Facebook. Some of my readers have asked me to state what, in my opinion, were the RIGHT reasons to become an entrepreneur. So, here I am, once again, back to this blog after a long time.

Before I begin, I would like to take a moment to say that entrepreneurship has its own share of challenges and fun. Sometimes, life can be difficult to the extent of being miserable. Sometimes, life can be enriching, satisfying and fulfilling. In that sense, it is not much different from any other means of livelihood, for instance working in a farm, or working in an office. Why then, should you become an entrepreneur?

1.   Because you can!

We live in a world of expectations. If your father was in a government job, the expectation from you would be that you would be a service holder as well. Or may be a Doctor, at best. No one will expect you to be a magician, no matter how good you are at showing magic tricks. If you come from a family business which sells apparels, no matter how much you want to do it, you will not be encouraged to become a writer. Your ties are very important, but when ties cease to become connections and start becoming chains, it starts getting a little uncomfortable. There's a brilliant scene in Satyajit Ray's "Jana Aranya". A young jobless man stumbles upon a business opportunity and comes home to discuss it with his father, who is a middle-class retired schoolmaster. His father comments: "Business? No one in our family has ever done business", but thinks about it for a moment, and  follows it up by saying "But it's also true that till 2-3 generations back, no one had even done a job". That is the reality. Someone in our family had started something. And he/she had the grit to stick to it. Why not you?

2.   Because you love doing it.

But then should you become anything and everything that you CAN become? Perhaps not. Do it if you simply love doing it. Do it if it gives you so much happiness that it makes you forget all the pains and hardships that come along with it. Because that, and that alone, will be your fuel during your journey. This is also one of the biggest reasons why most folks who come from an alternate source of employment, try their hand at entrepreneurship. A friend of mine loves to travel. She, and a few of her friends who love traveling as well, founded a company which takes customers on customized trips which are off the beaten track. She is earning, she is traveling, she is happy. Your income is very important, because it sustains you, and perhaps sustains others who are dependent on you. You've got aspirations as well. Now, if you can meet your aspirations by generating an income from something that you absolutely love to do, can you think of a reason why you should NOT do it? I can't.

3.   Because you want to solve a problem.

When I moved into my apartment, this place was almost in the middle of nowhere. One had to go out of the complex and drive for sometime to reach shops etc. A guy I know noticed that residents had been facing issues, and decided to set up a medicine shop in the complex. 2500 flats. An average of 3 residents per flat. One essential commodity:   medicine. I deliberately don't want to take any of the big examples like Facebook etc. Let's take another 'small' example. A relative of mine retired from his job but was still fit enough to continue to work. He wanted to do something, but he didn't know what to do. One day, he came to know that the area that he lived in was very good for the cultivation of medicinal plants, the extracts of which were used in fragrances. Apparently, there were a few folks who were trying to cultivate it too, but didn't have any means to market their produces. This gentleman used the power of the internet, and used a portion of his savings to set up a farm of medicinal plants, and is doing exceptionally well today. Another small example is my own venture, ArtSquare (www.artsquare.in). When I was in college, a junior of mine, who was an exceptionally talented painter, once came to me and told me how he was heartbroken because a gallery had turned him away, when he couldn't afford their steep exhibition fees. I saw a problem, and I decided to do something about it. Now, anyone can showcase his artworks on ArtSquare, at zero cost. It's always open, accessible by anyone from all over the world, and has a host of services to delight art buyers. Entrepreneurs who are problem solvers, are often driven by the problem and the solution, so much so that some of the challenges that come along the way, cannot bend their knees.

4.   Because you should give yourself YOUR moment.

Earlier in this post, I spoke about two important points - expectations and responsibilities. You are responsible for some people, and these people matter to you. They have certain expectations from you. And these are very important. These practically define your life, they define your choices. But I can assure you - NONE of these individuals want you to be unhappy. Be it your wife, your child, your parents. They want you to be happy, to do something that you like to do. In your life, try to give some time to yourself! To do things that you love to do, for however short a period that may be. If you are truly happy, your output level will be so high, that you'll pull off things that you had otherwise imagined were beyond your reach. Some time in your life, you may want to turn back and say - I did that! Make no mistake, this does not mean that if you're going to an office and working hard, you cannot say that. If you've done a wonderful project and received recognition for it, THAT is your moment. But, if you haven't, perhaps you're at the wrong place, doing the wrong thing, my friend. Perhaps, you're better off doing something else. Perhaps your moment, is yet to come!

5.   Because you don't want to regret it.

I know many people who simply hate what they are doing right now. They will crib, bitch, complain, criticize and absolutely massacre their current occupation, their role and the people associated with it. But they will not ask themselves a simple question - "Ok, I don't like this, so what DO I like?" Years from now, when you sit in a chair, old and frail, waiting to meet your maker, what thoughts would be going through your mind? Would they be - "I absolutely loathed my job. I had a tough time. I scraped through it, like a man who crawls through a tunnel of shit, and even managed to do well for myself, and retired with a handsome amount in my bank. But now, that money is of no use to me. I DIDN'T enjoy then, and I CAN'T enjoy now. Lord, what a fool I have been!"? Or, do you think they would be - "I took a bold step. It was something that I always wanted to do. I had my tough days, I had my good days. But boy, wasn't it fun? I have lived my life to the fullest. I have lived life on MY terms and made MY decisions, and the people I love supported me to the fullest possible extent. I have made them happy, and I myself have been a happy person throughout my life. And now, dear Lord, I'm ready when you are." :-)