PROVOKE

There are certain professions which are the keepers of "cool", "charisma", "passion" and "creativity" and other such defining keywords of the last 100 years.

Musicians - from the guys with guitars to those mac's have always been the pinnacle of this phenomenon upstaged only by entrepreneurs and sport-stars. Artists, writers, actors, entertainers and philosophers come in a close second. And then the Models, movie stars, politcians and even TV stars fleetingly fit these descriptions.

And then you think what about these people make them darlings of millions, sometimes billions. Why are they able to provide that elusive flight of fantasy to people's imagination which the people fail to provide to their lives. Why the fuck is the world drawn to these assholes of all the possible ones?

PROVOKE!

Its cause the what they do, how they do, and how they spread the word about it is with a single minded obsession to Provoke. Some do it knowingly, some see it as a by product of their work. But all the big names that you can fancy throwing around - do this fucking well - PROVOKE.

The world in its linear way of living needs these lateral shifts across the horizon to a parallel universe where they too can act on this provocation and PROVOKE. But inertia and fear has them bound to thoughts, but the mind needs the journey, it yearns for it, is is fucking built for it. and that's why when  the PROVOKE agent walks in the crowd, there is the gravitational pull to souls and mind - minds jump on it for they must travel beyond the boundary of experience you create for them. thats' why they get laid more than you.

There are obviously the dead lot, who do not react to provocation. Whose soul has died and so has their mind. But fuck that shit, they are tiny in numbers. Most people love the journey of the mind !!

In the future as droids take over the mundane and crappiness of most repetitive jobs, daily commutes, business travels - the world will be the orchestra of provocateurs and those who don't learn this skill, don't create experiences which can provoke others and themselves - they will merely be an audience - eating, drinking and sleeping - while the people who provoke - CREATE THE FUTURE.

In tyler durden's word: They will be all singing, all dancing crap of the world.

Stop whatever the fuck you are doing. Look around. Have you provoked a new thought? new idea ? an ideal soul? a fertile mind. Start provoking things, people, law, systems, ideas, business, music - fucking anything every living second of your life.

DO I provoke you right now! Do I ! Do I ! Do I ! Do I ! I Do! I Do ! I Do!

PROVOKE. 

The Cycle Diaries

Apart from the plain dumbness of this blogpost, their isn't anything great in this post. Its purely my ramblings of the weird reactions you get when you cycle in our cities in India.

So you take out your nice 700$ cycle, strap on the helmet, gloves, ipod and turn the lights on - so the idiots on the road don't hit you. You are now the most bizarre species on Indian roads, the cops, the autowalas, the cabbies, the nuclear family on the bike to drunk assholes in their hondas will gawk at you like they never seen or been on a cycle.

so here's a tale of my conversations with random gawking strangers

Exhibit A: Two teenagers on motorbike chasing me down as I ride my MTB hard at 30km/hr on this traffic road only to ask me "Bhaiya, aap cycle kyon chalate hon?" WHAT ???!!!!!  I was dumb founded and I am sure this dimb witted bandra idiot would have asked me next "Why do I breathe" and I would be stuck explaining big bang theory and universe to him all night.

Exhibit B: This is marine drive and 11 30pm. Drunk clown in his honda city pulls next to me and insists I let him ride for a bit while I drive his car. It was the most bizarre thing to say no to. I had a good instinct to take it and bash his car a bit for he was annoying me. As a drunk driver, I doubt he could have much on me then.

Exhibit C: An amused couple on a scooty pull up, just to ask where the breaks are? and then stare at each other in absolute shock at this 8th wonder of the world, when I showed them the disc brakes. I was actually amazed that they were trying to find my brakes for the last 1km.

Exhibit D: Autowala bhaiya desperately trying to make a conversation as I am struggling to keep my MTB with trail tyres at a speed of 33-35km/hr at peak traffic hours. His intelligent remark "Bhaiya, 35 ki speed hain, aur tez chalao" I mean he did sound like a desi version of a coach saying "Harder, Faster". But all this while he was pulling his auto dangerously close to me. Not cool bro!

Exhibit E: Another drivers fascination as he sees my sweat, " Kitna dor se aa rahe hon?"( How far are you coming from?" All this with a sympathetic look on his face and an expression of sheer pity for my poor state on a cycle. This explains the ugliness and round shape of most Indians. There is something called movement, working out etc. which your body is made for rather than sit and eat that heavy food and fart.

Exhibit F: This is the most common question "Kitne ki li". ( How much did you buy it for ?). A country obsessed in dividing everything by its price and trying to comment on how they know a cheaper, better place and how all these "foreign goods" are all fancy and how atlas cycles come for Rs. 4000. No doubt "Kitna deti gain" was a hit campaign, at least my bike gives away 500 + calories in an hour. Take that bitches.

Exhibit G: The 5 star hotels. One of these nights we decide to break our ride with a 2 am bite at one of the 5 stars in the suburbs of Mumbai. Result: Two 5 stars had no clue what to do with 3 bikers riding into their hotels. They had gaurds chasing us to say "Cycle nahin allowed" ( Cycles not allowed). After arguing with the management that we can well afford the place, our cycles were asked to be parked outside the hotel and a guard assigned to take care of our bikes. This was after tons of drama, walkie conversations and a call to some senior manager or general manager to understand "How to deal with 3 cyclists". Same thing happened at Marriott, 10 minutes of talking to 4 guards and then the manager and then his senior. Finally bikes allowed inside, we were asked the value of these 3 bikes ( above a 100,000Rs. ) and a guard assigned to watch these. Then the manager accompanied us till inside the hotel, probably checking whether we actually eat at his coffee shop or not.

There is tons more but I am tired and its a freaking monday. I got the world to change.

And, if you think this post is rude, or I look down upon people, BE IT. You have never ran or rode a bike in the cities of this country. Every ride across town is like a war medal, you have survived crazy bikers, random brakes, animals - assholes jumping traffic light and every vehicle trying to squeeze you out of the road and the buses - wow - they will squash you without hesitation. To train, to ride and just to have few inches of the road is a nightmare.

Some will give solution of 5am wake up calls or like I suggest mid-night rides but really? Can't I just normally ride to and fro to places.

Being a runner and somewhat a cyclist, I have ran/biked in Bombay, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Goa apart from few international destination like NYC, San Fran and more. Our country ranks so terribly on its treatment of sports or outdoor activities, that we must commit suicide as we are anyway killing our bodies everyday by sitting on our asses.

They Geeked my world

So I grew up in early 1990's and saw more movies than I read books. Somehow they always would show this alpha male guy as a billionaire/millionaire (except bill gates everyone was a millionaire; unlike today)  ; jaw-line intact ; shrewd and piercing eyes ; abundant confidence and this totally bad-ass but committed to his ambition zing. They wore black.

So most of my growing up years I was fascinated with this idea to build a global empire; I tried equally hard also to develop the alpha male in me. It has mostly been a failed attempt I think, but the real fuck-up was when I hit my teens - they decided it was the fall of millennium and it was time to give the uber-successful guys a new look.

If you are staring dumb-fucked at what I am getting at; then its OK. You were probably busy playing video games. But here's my story-line.

Henry Ford

Rockefeller

Howard Hughes

Bill gates

Larry Page

Sergery Bin

So you see the difference between the early 1900's and ealry 2000's. The power changed from the alpha male with guts, smartness and ambitions to the geek with brains, vision and ideas. The geeks were the employees and the business guys the owner, but its fucking all flipped. It confuses my mind - who do I want to be now.

90's I wanted to be an alpha male; 2000's I started realizing that geeks were cool, a growing trend across the world. Geeks have hacked coolness. Don't believe me.

Look around - the indie-music I phone swinging guy with that hot chic is a geek, that complete social media junkie making money selling youtube and facebook content strategies loves his DC comics and clark kent glasses, oh & that colorful half hindi half english T shirt spotting dude with a bad haircut - he is pro with editing software's - all the cool photos, videos and random design posters you share - yeah that's him.

And the best for the last - that guy who cannot walk up to any chic in school is now the centre - oh yes that geek him is an entrepreneur who just sold something for tens of millions of dollars. Hipsters are not cool biker gangs or bad ass guy with dirty russian tattoos but yoga practicing, organic food and cycle riding urban junkies.

They are not tall ; they are barely fit with too much weed, smokes and beer; they have no jaw line and they seem more secure when their parents are around than left alone with real men. Yet, story after story is of another geek conquering cooldom, achieving fame, a billion bucks and the girls.

As technology sweeps everything and gives us glasses and cloud, everything will be online and they will decide. And if you are not on with it, do hell with it. you can find yourself a corner.

Is it ever to late to be Geek ??

Trumbled Life

This is my umpteenth effort to write daily and write a lot.  I always wanted few things in my life - play a lot - I love playing and competing, be a business-guy ( what I call entrepreneur now) and be a writer. There is something incredibly sexy about people who write books and deliver talks. So this is me rambling, writing and almost deciding that my book will come out next year. This is my trying to be sexy.

As an entrepreneur, a marathoner and a tri-athlete, a seldom blogger and a few articles published here and there, I am building towards my dream. I am broke fairly often, and I am not great at any of these three. I am far too distracted with little other things through my 20's. My teens I was thinking too much and doing too little. I mean I did play tons of football and some other sports, I did think about a lot of these things, did start blogging. But I wasted a lot of time, a shit load - a truck loads. Yet, somehow magically the choices I have made are the same ones my 6 year old brain would have made two decades ago. Sports over alcohol decadency, being alone and lost in ideas and problem solving than with a large crowd, scribbling circles ( which seemed like writing to me then) than I don't know what else. This makes my choices simple, I have always wanted these things.


But I ain't the best at anything I do.  Have you ever had that feeling, that even if you truly discover your passion and not became really good at it ?  That my potential much like my youth will pass my someday without making full use of it ! There is an absolute storm in my mind, and sometimes a silence in my action. But in all this chaos,  passion and struggle I have learnt few things, things I am glad I know firsthand.

Everything is possible if you begin and make an effort. More often than not fear stops us, not our potential. I have learnt to fear less with everyday and make more effort on my beginnings.

They say don't compete with others. But my friends are getting married, having babies and buying houses and assets. I am figuring out my relationship status.

I am fighting hard, I know how I can make Letsintern into a global platform connecting students and organizations around skills and opportunities. I dream a billion$ in the valley, and walks by the alley. I also dream of my pending IronMan 70.3 in Taiwan. I also dream about world cup in Brazil or a birthday in Paris.  There will be lots of beats skipped, moments lived and mostly passions ignited and time burnt. I have some time right now and I want to do things, things I like, which make sense to me, things that will change something, a lot of things.

I have this massive book idea about a bunch of guys pushing out into a roadtrip across India, some random journeys and how travel is the most amazing discovery and strangers your best friends. I think it will work. I think I have the idea so very clear now.

I have to still meet the most incredible people in my life and I still have to meet the best ideas, my best life.

Why I want to change the world !!

Change is the only constant is the bullshit you have all heard, I am saying we can change the change.

So scratch your dimwit brain, coffee is changing in the meanwhile; growing cold. The food is getting stale, refrigerate it. You just changed the change.

You can do this with anything. Sip. Strawberry shake. Sip. and I look up. A stupid pop song on on speakers blaring. A crowded coffee ship.  All these able people with pretty clothes and same lives. Then you think. Do they have potential? Are there any great people here?

They are middle generation of tyler durden. Even the pain of mediocrity is numbed by shopping malls. Fallen dreams, average love, and absolutely boring source of income has made them facebook slaves staring at internet to provide the answer or the next moment of wow and share. Idiots. No, wait. They are not.

They have brains. Good. Brains can be trained. They have been trained for 20 years, 30 years or more on this linear way of life - School, next grade, someday college, someday job. job. promotion. do something. look relevant to society. teach kids the same cause we know no better.

This is the change I want to change. There is non-linearity to life. There is madness to genius. There is potential to human. This is why I want to change the world.

 Right now we are running slave houses - training an entire generation's brains to suit the work-force requirements of their slave drivers. Can we free them! Can we tell them a secret. Oh fuck! I want to be the guy to tell you the secret, to scream to the world a secret. in the ear of every human - you have potential - you can do something!

You will be fine not going to college. or getting a job. if you don't. You will face an enormous question - What to with your time.  You will watch TV. More Facebook. More youtube videos. More silliness. Thats great. Someday you will be bored and say hey lets do something.

You will start doing that something. Since you chose it. you like it. You will start figuring out like minded people. Collaborate. You will became better. Since you like it. You will try to be even better at it. Since you get better, you would love it. And soon your something will mean lot of things to a lot of people. you will earn. You may not own the business. you may work for others who value your something. Doesn't matter. Its your something. you will grow. you just changed the change. The decay of your potential and metaphysical existence changed. Changed. Changed. Forever. you will teach your kids that. Changed.

Everytime you feel its a drag. Stop. Quit everything. Face the question again: what to do with your time. Change the change again. Grow where you are decaying.

This is the purpose of my life. This is why I want to change the world.

Leaving you with a simple idea: Richness is owning a limited resource ( Gold, mines, land etc. ).  Money and things it can buy are infinite. Money is infinite. (Ask any economist). Hence, not limited. Time is limited.( Ask anybody that). Own time. You will be rich.

Two and a Half Boxes.

So here I am, writing again ! This piece is inspired by three simple keys on my keyboard ALT+CTRL+DEL. The Refresh buttons.

The life is a gift born out of passion, and is only supposed to be lived with as much. I met an interesting person today, a 19 year old girl dressed in a white top and blue jeans, who was excited to be working on some Internship project with her friends. She was happy to work on a Sunday - official holiday for most people in the world. I thought to myself, soon she would be 23-24 and would crib every time the word work will be mentioned on a Sunday.

It was raining today in most parts of Bomaby/Pune, and I was sitting on my favorite window seat at the MG Road Barista in Pune working on my laptop and watching the rain fall. Looking at the world around us, hearing people banter about movies they will watch on a Sunday, cribbing about Monday blues, about rains and blaming the government for recent blasts to bad roads. It all looks like a chaos when you look outside that window, and rain seems to be the peaceful interruption. The girl went back to her laptop after a brief enthusiastic chat.

But then you look ahead, they will all get up and go to school, college or work. They will live a routine which everyone lives around them. Isn't it weird how we all live life in a pre-defined routine of school, work, breaks and vacations. Why do we need to get up and do what everyone else is doing? Why do we get up to earn a salary?  why do we do what everyone else is doing? Does life have to be predictable, is there only one race that we all are running ? Suddenly rain looked chaotic and people seemed in some rhetoric melancholy.

Thoughts like these are dangerous; they consume you, They are lethal as they seduce you and are difficult to ignore - they fucking make sense. With all these thoughts I sat in my car, put some music on from my blackberry (missing my ipod which I left in Delhi) and tried making sense of the Pune one ways to make my way to the expressway back to Mumbai.

Back in the car, my wiper was working overtime. Water had made itself appear in petite waterfalls by making its way through cracks and creeks down the slope of the hills. The Grass was a beautiful green, a green which I had only seen in the pastel colors I once bought as a kid. The Roads were good and the little fog around the ghats just added to the charm. Back to my thoughts.

We are human beings because we have brains and not monkeys who will throw the cap on the head just cause he did so. We live carbon copy lives and define it as reality. Reality is nothing but the horizon we create by our past experiences. Life is mostly beautiful, more fulfilling beyond the horizon, but few take that step. Why ? I call it the theory of "Two and a half boxes".  Box 1 : The need for a home. Lets question why we need an address, why do we need that one place where we will keep coming back to year after year. Why have the same view outside my bedroom window, why live on the same street.  Box 2: Our Work, how we earn our crumbs (Come on!! most of us are never happy with what we earn). Why is it important to work in definitions like everyone else. What will happen if I land up in a new city and look around for a job which pays my rent and interests me. I do that till I find something else interesting to do. The Half Box: You are my half box, if you are reading this. Half box is the Friends and other routines that define the little time we get for ourselves.

The two and a half boxes are restricting, self imposed and mostly not required. At this point I stare at the Ctrl+Atl+Del, is it time to refresh, time to open a new window, to change the wallpaper, to clear the desktop and break old patterns. Maybe it is, because if something sucks in life, it is "Pattern Living", most people live their entire lives in similar patterns, break them, defy them, dare them and dream of the life you don't know.

Buenas noches Amigos!!

Still a boy !!

So I have been around and had my fair share of women, heartbreaks and everything in between. I have drank silly post a break up, screamed I love you, cried, cooked, been loved and had one night stands.

But 25 - the year of my life which will be the game changer year for me. Ran my first marathon, started my first business, got my first business interview for print and television and finally, for real, fell in love.

Internships in India - Search Indian Internships

Hi,

For anyone looking for Interns or Internships in India. This website: www.letsintern.com is the solution to all your problems. Please take a moment and check it out.

Cheers!

5 CV Mistakes Students must avoid

Running Letsintern.com gives me the privilege of going through dozens of CV's everyday. I constantly come across some fatal errors, errors which leads to immediate rejections or a strong negative perception. This read is for fresher looking for jobs or students looking for internships but are applicable to all.

Mistake No.1: Naming your CV "resume.doc" is a clear turn off as it shows the candidate is not serious about his/her application or does not understand he difference between his desktop and mine. Own your CV, don't get lost in the crowd, make it easily searchable for your recruiter - neatly name it "First Name.Last Name.pdf". Also, avoid suffixes like "final", "latest", "ver2" etc.

Mistake No.2: There are things your recruiters wants to know upfront and things he doesn't. Your CV should cater to this. Your Religion, Father's name and caste are not required. Your Academics, Extra-Curricular's (Relevant), Achievements are of key interest. Please note: Drawing competition in Class VIII needs no mention on your CV. Keep it succinct, to the point and no more than 1 page. Respect your time and others.

Mistake No.3: Contact information is critical and needs clear mention. If we like your CV, we would like to get in touch with you. So your email address (the one you check everyday) and phone no. (personal cellphone please, not land-line) are as important on your CV as your name and age. This is as much personal information as you need to give, the rest is not required. Focus rest of the white space on points mentioned above. Lots of CV's miss out on this or have residential address but no email address.

Mistake No. 4: How difficult is to run a spell check ?? 2 out of 10 CV's seem to have a grammatical error or a spelling mistake. This is the document which is going to sell you, if you are not serious about this, there is little you will be serious about in life. Your chances of being taken seriously, are seriously minuscule.

Mistake No. 5: I write this last, because this is the most important. The objective statement - "I would like to contribute to the best of my ability and leverage my knowledge etc etc...." -  sounds cliche and is full of jargons. Want to make an impact - 15 words is the limit. A thought simply put. "I want to make money while doing what I enjoy" is a great objective statement and is what most people want to say,  so why not write it. This is bound to catch anyone's attention because it is honest, simple and straightforward. Be simple, be true and do not complicate this line to sound more "Corporate".

At the end its a reflection of your academics, experience, achievements and attitude. Make sure its reflects your best self across these parameters.

WT'F' Conversations Overheard

1. At a Restaurant.

19-20 year old girl, not skinny but not plump either, walks in and sits with her family.

Girl: I want Pineapple Juice.
Waiter: Anything else, Ma'am
Girl: Juice, fresh hai na ?? ( It's fresh juice, right??)
Waiter: No Ma'am, all juices are canned.
Girl: No, then cancel the juice. PAUSE
Waiter in anticipation of order of some other beverage/drink.
Girl: Bhaiya, Thumbs Up le aaya ( Get me thumbs up )

MY Reaction: Laughing my frigging  a** off.


2. At an ATM waiting line

Guy:  You look Frustrated
Girl: Yes! No! Somewhat!
Guy: Work?? Looking for a change in job??
Girl: No No..are you mad, job is great.
Guy: Uhmmm..
SILENCE
Girl: By the way...do you know of any marketing openings??

My Reaction: WTF!! Conversations like this only women can master.

3.  At McDonalds

Harayanvi Boy:  2 Burgers.
Mcdonald staff: Have it here or take away.
H. Boy: Nahin! Gadi Mein khanna hain ( I want to eat in my car)
Staff: Sure Sir. Here you go.
H. Boy opens the brown bag looks at the burgers inside, gives an amazed look to the satff boy. 
Sraff: Any problems sir
H.Boy: Paper plates nahin hain kya??