Vicky pleeeej

This has to be the "Line of the year" for 2018 among Hindi movies for me. Yeah sure, there were many other interesting ones. 2019 has already started with nation-wide sensation "Hows the Josh" & "Apna time ayega".

Well, I am back here. It is like visiting our school after decades. Lot of nostalgia. Memories and smiles with lot of pictures coming back to mind. In our heads, it all looks the same. Though a lot has changed.

It is a similar feeling visiting my blog. I used to be super active here. Lost it all. Trying to revive now. Hopefully it all comes back.

Lots have changed since the last time I posted here? On top of that list is the 5 cats that have come into my life. They will get a lot of coverage here going forward. Rest of the things are mundane. More body-weight. Less head-weight. More work. Less travel. More movies. Less books. More reading, less writing. More realizations, less complaints. Yeah I know, signs of getting old. In fact, I am turning one more year older tomorrow!

Any visitors from back then? Am trying to remove the cobwebs here. 

I showed the finger!

After years of believing that marriage would be a futile thing, I still could not duck this one that came at me. It was almost like God looked at me, showed me an angel and said "Aha..so you don't want to get married huh! Okay, now try and resist this one."


Well, I did not resist. So decided to sacrifice (hehe) my peace and freedom for a cause - of that of keeping Sangeeta like a princess. That's her name and I showed her my finger for the engagement ring.

I got engaged on March 18!

Priorities

Our priorities in life about people & things change dynamically over a period of time. I guess that's normal. I am not what I was two years back. I experienced some serious change of priorities in my life over the last year or so. That in itself is fair. What I must add is, the people or things that goes off your priority list should not be too off, if I could put it that way. The imbalance, so created, can be disturbing sometimes.

The IPL thread - Irritating PL

Two things gets on to my skin a lot when I watch the IPL Television telecast. Firstly, DC playing akin to the Indian national side during late 1990s under Azhar - without a bite and ever looking to be fine with losing. Secondly, the MRF blimp, and references to Lillee and MRF pace foundation and the bowlers who came from there and their grand mothers and the man who fills the big balloon up. It irritates me so much that every time they show the balloon now, I mute my TV set!

Damn irritating.

A year of discovery?

Turning a year older seems to be quite normal. My birthday yesterday was absolutely 'normal' like any other day. Deliberately so. Looking at the year that went by, I do not know how to tag it. Perhaps, it was the year of discovery. Rather, self-discovery. One of the key things I have started to realize is that I really do not have any passions, so to say. If you asked me a year back, I would have said I am passionate about teaching, or finance, or reading. Now, it may not be the case. All these and even the other stuff feels 'normal' and 'ordinary'. Good for me, me thinks.

What I have also realized is I am extremely fortunate to have some awesome people around me. The value that they add to me is amazing. This has been surely a year of true learning owing to interactions I have had with them at various points. Also, the time I spend in the lectures interacting with a magnificent set of students also helps in keeping the mind steady. When you are trying to explain a concept to a batch of eager students, the world outside the concept comes to a stand-still. I cannot think of anything much - my deliverables, health issues, other trivial matters that would otherwise be plaguing my mind - when I am into a lecture. It's an awesome perquisite of teaching.

Things that I have discovered and realized over the last many months are quite contrary to my 'older' self. Moreover, I am loving the transition, if I could use that term. I think I have found my footing in the world. I know what my stance must be, talking like a batsman. I am at peace with myself. The noise inside me is surely dying down and I am letting myself just be. I do not remember the last time I 'seriously contemplated' my career options or the 'time-effective way to garner resources and build wealth'. All these things and a whole lot of related materalistic aspects of the world seems like a big, worthless zilch to me.

So here's to another year of discovery and realizations. A year ahead towards NOTHING. Let more and more of nothing come to me!

By the way, I completed 27 years of my physical existence yesterday.

Tired..

Tired. Exhausted. Completely saturated.

Me and the press!

Statutory Warning: This post has a lot of 'ME' written over it. I have given the 'rule of modesty' an exception in here! So, beware :)

As a part of my professional life, I have got opportunities of being quoted in the press, mostly financial media. Dealing with the press has always been tricky and exciting. Tricky, because a lot of times I said one thing and what was typed was technically same yet different in gist. Exciting, because I am being read by a lot and my name's on the news page! So here's a collation of some of my brushings with the press over the past:

As a part of my life with ING
My only interview - was with FE! The print edition had my photograph with the article. Cannot find it on the online version though.

Some of my views/quotes: Reuters, Yahoo Finance, Hindustan Times

As a part of my current professional start-up
FE 1, FE 2, Yahoo Finance 1, Yahoo Finance 2

I decided to put these things up on my blog for three reasons:

1. I wanted an 'artificial' feel-good.

2. I wanted to put these links up in my records and have it till they are available on the net.

3. It is a part of a 'deal' with someone.

P.S.: I know it is 'cheap' to put up these things up on a post! :) But then, I am human too :)) Happy reading

Next is what?

When we play video games, there are times we get stuck at one level without knowing how to go to the next level. That's always fun, the pursuit of the door to the next level. However, things get boring when you are not sure what the next level is, forget about how to reach there.

I am stuck in this phase in a game we call life. I have crossed many levels and it has been an exciting game. But now, I feel stuck. I cannot see the next level and hence obviously the way to get there. Sure, there has to be some next level in this game. Till I see it, I roam around at this level. And since I know this level quite well now, it is a boring stagnant phase.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that I get married and that is the next logical level in this game. Well, if I were conventional I would not have been here at the first place. So, that is surely not the level I want to jump to. There has to be something else.

Next is what, I wonder!

Some day hopefully...

... I'll do these things :)

1. Write a book that goes on to become a best-seller.

2. Start a full-fledged NGO primarily (but not restricted to) working for under-privileged children.

3. Give a live performance by playing Tabla, preferably supporting a vocal artist [within that, preferably a Ghazal singer (within that, preferably Jagjit Singh or Hariharan!)] I am yet to learn how to handle Tabla though.

4. Give a talk to a gathering of thousands and thousands of people on love!

5. Be a RJ and host a show on radio.

6. Be a pre-paid cab driver, say for Meru, Easy Cabs..etc, for at least a day! Bizarre but true :)

Searching.. or rather waiting..

.. for the right stance like a batsman does waiting for the next delivery. I am shaking a lot, moving around a lot and not being still. I am not focussing on the next delivery, thinking of the target to achieve. When the smaller things are not taken care of, the bigger goal can be achieved only miraculously.

For me the right stance is a matter of time and not efforts. It is counter-intuitive but that is how it is. May be because I do not assign a lot of blame on myself for lazing around. So I do not try to shake around my routine or the things I am doing and not doing. May be I lose precious time in the process. But big deal! Is it not my life?

To the stakeholders in my life, I wish I could explain to them that this stillness is not permanent. In fact, the stillness is only on the outside. Stillness is not stagnation. Wish the people in rat-races realize this too to take a step back and search for the right stance! In life, as in cricket these days after the T20 avatar, a boundary is what only matters and not the way it is scored. Yet, the satisfaction of seeing an elegant cover drive is different from a top edge going to a boundary while playing a rash, desperate shot. Same way, scoring we all are. But how? Does the manner not matter? If it does, a back-foot straight drive cannot be produced without an extremely serene and balanced stance. Stance, my friends, is the key.

As I search a little (searching is by putting efforts) and wait a lot for my stance, some lyrics are lingering in my mind (from the movie Guru):

Jaage hain der tak
hamen kuch der sone do
thodi se raat aur hai
subah to hone do

aadhe adhure khwaab jo
pure na ho sake
ek baar phir se neend mein
woh khwaab bone do

Beautiful..

Changing partner!

After few years of loyalty towards Sony Ericsson, I bought a Nokia yesterday, the new E75. Ericsson has served me well over the years. Hope Nokia does the same. It better does, with the host of features this piece promises.

Still learning to use the phone and features! Will update my feedback soon.

Such is life!

Today's Vishu. New Year for us. Has always been a special day for me among all other festivals. The younger lot of the family receive Vishukaineetam from the elders on this day. We are not celebrating it this time because my mom's elder brother expired in October. A death cannot be more shocking than his. He went to office, came back, had dinner and slept forever. To be frank, I still cannot imagine many times that he is not around us anymore. If we thought this shock was something that will take time to be absorbed, He had some other plans for us.

On April 9, I was having a web-chat with my maternal cousin who serves the country being in Indian Air Force. He asked about how my dad is doing after a surgery that he underwent last week. He told me that he is flying down to Mumbai on the 10th night and he will be coming home to meet my dad. Well, meet we did. But on the unlucky 13th. There was a small change in the setup too. We all met him at his house after his dad, my mom's second brother, had an untimely sudden death.

He was not flying down to Mumbai on leave because his dad was unwell, as the above turn of events might suggest. My uncle was doing well and my cousin was coming to be besides his wife as she delivered a baby. The baby boy saw the light of this world on the 11th. As one would imagine, he was one happy soul. Till the next day when my uncle developed some breathing trouble and had to be hospitalised. After few hours, he left for his heavenly abode on 13th. Can you experience a more stark bout of mixed emotions in your life as my cousin is going through? Between a new-born baby and an extremely supportive dad lost in the inevitable meeting with death. The grand father did not see the new-born. Or did he come into this world as the grandson? As they say, child is the father of man. Though not what it is meant to suggest, the saying quite literally fits here.

The way I see it is that my uncle timed his exit perfectly to try and erase whatever little pain he could with the new-born around his son. A baby's innocent and vibrant smile can heal many a wounds.

I wrote about death few days back. I never imagined even remotely that it was a feeling that I was going to experience this soon. How I wish this was not real. But as I said even then, reality just is.

A man who went to the holy Sabarimala for more than 40 years, my uncle I guess knew he was being called for by Him. He spoke to almost every one whom he loved over the last week. He told someone he was going to leave this world on 13th. On that day, he asked the doc the time twice before going back again to a semi-conscious state. The third time he asked, he smiled to the reply and he went to sleep for ever. He probably also knew the time he was supposed to leave.

On both occasions, we did not realize that when we last met them, that it was the last time we were seeing them. When someone's ill and bed-ridden, you start to factor in the inevitable. Not when a person is walking now and is no more few hours later.

Such is life! I cannot dare to think that life is even close to predictable after all this. Today's Vishu and Kuttimama has always been one of the firsts to visit home this day and give us the Vishukaineetam.

This one's for you Ammama and Kuttimama. We will miss you.

P.S.: I do not wish to receive any condolences/emotional replies on this post. Please. I am doing very fine. The reasons why I posted about this does not include anything to do with my/our sorrow.

One more year of wisdom

I turned 26 yesterday.. clap clap. One more year of learning, one more year of mistakes, one more year of decisions, one more year of joy, one more year of questions, one more year of wisdom has passed. The day per se was normal, as always. I do not remember a single birthday that I have really 'celebrated' in a big way. I have always wondered what's the entire hoola-goola about! What great has happened with my stepping on to this world! :)

Side effect of birthday is that I have to talk a lot more than a normal day. Calls keep coming and have to talk with the callers. I love them yet it becomes painful to keep muttering the same things over and over again. The questions are generic and so are the responses. What plans for today? How are you celebrating? What gifts did you get? Working or just enjoying today? A lot of these and more.

I do not feel any different after the birthday. I guess it will take another year to digest that am already a year older and by then I will turn one more year older and it will take a year more from there to realize I am another year older. Something like that. If I keep extrapolating it, I will really die a year younger than my actual age! Yippie..

If the above para does not make any sense to you, I have achieved whatever I wanted to. A lot of things happening with me recently have also not been making any sense. Not that I am complaining.

What have I been upto? Less reading, more sleeping. Less thinking, more wondering. Less work, more entertainment. Sometime last month, I had drawn up a list of movies that I wanted to see. So I 'ransacked' Rhythm House and bought a total of 7 movies. Out of those I have already watched Manorama Six Feet Under, Fashion, Dasvidaniya, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, Welcome to Sajjanpur. Yet to watch Anuranan and Bong Connection.

Will be watching Luck by Chance, Dev D and Dilli 6 very soon.

February for me is a month of birthdays. Know many whose birthdays falls in this month. So every other day I am sending a mail/sms to the birthday boy/girl. I can see the Vodafone guys smiling. Wicked. Birthday related messages/calls must be subsidised. Government must do something. Somebody must do something.

I did not make any New Year resolutions thinking will make them on my birthday. Now I think I must do it at the eve of my quarterly birthday on May 10. Why? Coz I do not want to do it now, simBle.

To talk of the wisdom I gained over the last year, the most important was that everything around us are so very trivial and irrelevant. We over-estimate most things and situations. Most things do not deserve the attention we give. Especially people. We spend so much time and efforts for relationships/people and later regret it. That should not happen. We must invest time in relationships yet no expect so much that you will eventually regret it. All people are otherwise equal but for the attention we give them. It is so amazing if you detach yourself from your real self and just observe things happening with you. People and problems will seem very micro then. Try it. You will enjoy. Just watch yourself as if you are somebody else. Don't judge. Don't preempt. Just observe. It is fun.

I am amazed by the fact that there are people in this world who have chosen to love me unconditionally. It is such an amazing feeling. I can feel it with them, when I am with them, when I talk to them. People who likes me despite not having met for years. People who pray for me and hope the best for me. I know it because I can sense it. Telepathy or karmic energy, as they call it. And guys the same applies the other way. I am not very vocal about what I feel and think about you, but I love you. I have you in my thoughts very frequently. In some cases, I have not spoken to you for months and years. But that's so impertinent. I can feel you are happy with or without me. And that's what matters. Really.

So now you know why birthdays are so irrelevant for me. You love anyway. You care anyway. You bless anyway. You miss anyway.

I wish to see a much peaceful world. A much responsible world. Love is amazing and we must love everything and everyone. Let us preach it. Let us practice it. It is difficult but then so is life.

Do not wait for the next birthday to do something you want. Do what you want to each day. Birthdays soon would be quite a normal day.

My new finance blog

As I had mentioned sometime back, I have been considering starting a new blog to post matters relating to financial markets and economic issues. And so, during the dying moments of 2008, I created the blog page for finance. The url is http://www.finthoughts.blogspot.com and I have already posted something on it. The endeavor is to utilize that page to talk about markets and economies including concepts relating to the same.

I will be very happy to include topics and concepts on demand from the readers of that blog. The idea is to use that page to share thoughts and add value.

Happy reading!

Alvida 2008

I started off the year with this beautiful thought that my then boss had passed on to us: Sir Edmund Hillary on failing to conquer Everest twice said.. I will be back. As a mountain, you cannot grow. As a human being, I can!

2008 has been a good year for me. Took a couple of tough decisions, and realized that I need to take more of them if I had to get even close to where I want to be. February, in that sense was a tough month. To move out of ING that month was a difficult thing. I still miss the place and the team. But then, you cannot get everything together, can you? I wanted to chase the satisfaction of working for myself and I am happy I took that decision. Since then, the pace of life has been much more comfortable and manageable, albeit slow. Thankfully, the flow of moolahs has not shown the same trend. And so, I am happy. In fact, what excites me the most in my professional life is that there is so much more left to be done. That in itself is a good motivator.

Personal life has been steady. Still single and still happy! Still at peace. Relationships are a lot like salt, me thinks. You add it to your life on a need basis, like you add salt to add taste. You do not just get into relationship because you ought to do it. If you think this sounds obvious, then look around. A lot of them are in a relationship because they are supposed to be in one. So I have stayed away from relationships. Or to put it differently, nothing came my way and I did not chase any.

As a person, I choose to believe that I have matured. I have made a lot of mistakes this year, like in any other year. Yet, I do not feel quilty. Doing mistakes without feeling the guilt is a good way of learning, I have realized. One does not become wise with age, but with thoughts. I am satisfied that I have been able to give my thoughts a breeding ground. All through the year. This is the least I expect to keep doing for each living year of my life.

Looking back, there has been no extra-ordinarily happy moment or event in the year. Few events this year will go a long way in changing me and my emotions. I am happy that I could move through them in a manner I would have hoped to. Ironically, one of the most exciting and dreadful moments of the year came together!

A lot of my resolutions for the year have been left undone. Thanks to me remaining passive and lazy for a large part of the year. Yet no real regrets. Today is the first day of the rest of my life, and I can still achieve them. And I will.

I have not made any list of resolutions for 2009. There are a lot of ideas in my mind, but cannot term them resolutions. Ideas that are, in most cases, productive. Ideas that are not really associated with my profession. Ideas that basically will leave me a lot more peaceful and content when implemented. Well, that's the key. Execution. And that is going to be my theme for 2009. I will look to execute a whole lot of ideas.

Here's wishing you and your loved ones a very happy 2009. Keep smiling and stay healthy.

My first ton!

Sachin completed his 41st in Tests few days back, and I complete my first today. My 100th blog post! Yippiee.. applause, applause.

When I started to blog, never thought I would be able to maintain this for so long. Not in terms of posts, but time. More than a year and half of blogging. I have surprised myself with this!

I had titled it 'Musings of a restles mind...'. Restlessness does not indicate stress and discomfort. It indicates thoughts, and lots of them. All at once, erratic, all over the place. I love thinking. Sometimes I think about what to think. I do not think about negativities. I do not think about regrets. Thinking makes a person talk less. And I want to talk less. Very less.

I surely owe it to all of you for this blog to remain active. Thanks to all for reading my random musings and reacting to it. Most posts are intended to please myself, yet it triggers some thoughts inside many. I find that part of blogging exciting.

Here's hoping for few more hundreds of posts over the next few decades! Didn't I tell you I think really big!! No? Ok, now I did.

Keep reading. Keep commenting. Keep thinking. Keep smiling. Keep loving. Keep praying. Keep inspiring. Keep learning. Keep sharing. Keep living.

Tracking 'Silence Quotient'

Ladies and gentlemen, I have formulated a new concept known as the Silence Quotient. Applause Applause..

In one of my earlier posts, I had written that silence is golden and I want to feel it. This was a result of a lot of things going inside me, a result of few introspections, a result of analsying the 'noise' around me. I have not taken any deliberate measures to achieve this, yet wanted to see how I have fared. In some way, trying to measure 'passive performance' on this front. To be sure, I wanted a quantified measure of how much I have spoken over the last one year. How could I do it?

Actually, over the last two months, two of my friends and well-wishers who knows me very well happened to mention that I seem to be in a shell. So that is a qualitative assessment of how things have been. But I wanted to measure it.

I looked into my last 12 months' mobile bills to get some sense of how I am faring. And the results are positive! :) Here's the summary of the analysis:


The orange line shows the minutes I have spoken on outgoing calls and the green line, the number of smses I have sent out. The dip in both the lines must either mean I have become a stingy mobile user or I am ACTUALLY talking and interacting less. Right?

Now, I must confess that I am really happy about the findings. I have indeed lost the zest to just talk about nothing-at-all with people. I avoid conversations which is all about rhetorics and general in nature. I can sense that the noise around is lesser. Please do not misunderstand that I am avoiding people or not taking calls. In fact, the above chart does not reflect anything about incoming calls. But that too has come down. I am indeed enroute external silence, by actually talking less!

There is a lot to be done regarding internal silence now. That will happen too, very soon. My Silence Quotient is definitely on the rise and hopefully will become optimum soon.

I must admit that during trainings/lectures, I obviously talk a lot but that's unavoidable. Other than that what I can avoid, I have been trying to.

And finally, talking less does not mean that you are feeling odd or out of the friends' circle or left out or something. My personal observation has been that the two does not have any great correlation. I have been feeling lighter, mentally. (Wish I could say that about my physical self!)

P.S.: If you are wondering how am I getting the time to do all this, where do you think the time saved on talking is going into? :)

The laughter monster

This incident happened earlier today while I was at someone’s house. I had gone there with my mom and my cousin to call them for the marriage of my niece. There was a baby in that house. He must be about 6 months old. He was playing while we went there. His mother told us that he is not usually so jovial. The baby had GOD written all over it (to deviate slightly from the theme).

The baby came to all of us without being shy. He was really enjoying his time. Till something happened... I started laughing! Yes, I got a call and what I heard made me laugh. What was told over the phone is irrelevant here, how I reacted is.

The merrily playing baby was too shocked to hear me laugh. And as one could expect, he started to cry. Cry very very badly. He got scared. We had to leave a little earlier than our plans so that the boy could be pacified saying ‘see, that monster is gone… cheer up’ :) Poor kid.

Two things here. Firstly, my laughter can be scary if I go full on. Secondly, the baby did not get scared because he was a baby. Even men get scared! Two incidents I can think of straight away.

FIRST

This one happened about 5 years back. I was returning home from classes. It was about 11pm if I am not wrong. I was the lone passenger in the rick. As we (me and the rick driver) were passing a cemetery that falls on the way, I remembered something and started laughing (I do laugh remembering things too). The driver got a stunner and he almost lost control of the rick. Thankfully, it ended well. I had to hear few comments from him though – some not so friendly comments!

SECOND

This happened again about 4-5 years back. We were having a boys’ night out at a friend’s place. After dinner, we were just whiling away time discussing ‘worldly issues’. I guess we were 8 of us. All except me was sitting in the bedroom. I was watching TV in the living room. After some time, one of my friends came to check on me. By that time I had switched off the TV and was blankly looking at the ceiling lying down. He came and asked me to come in. He started to pull my legs saying few things. Others from the bedroom were calling us there to be together. So my brave friend was with me and others inside. Suddenly, the laughter bhoot came into me and I started laughing thinking about something. At first, normally. Then gradually geared up and soon it was a full on laughter (Again, I can laugh for an hour at a stretch). My brave friend kept teasing me and was smiling for some time. My roar of laughter reached the bedroom and they were all shouting at me.. Yeh fir se shuru ho gaya, hey bhagwaan.. I could hear them saying. All of a sudden the power went off and it was dark. That made me laugh more (I am reeeeally mad). The guys inside closed the bedroom door leaving my brave friend with me! After few seconds, may be sensing something is seriously wrong in me, my brave friend ran towards the bedroom and started banging on the door to be opened so that he could be ‘safe’!

These incidents are extremely nostalgic for me. What fun! At others’ cost. :)

Fighting to find mindspace

Not that I do not have time, but not the way I need it to blog. I call it mindspace. Will hit the 'purple patch' of blogging soon though.

I was telling someone the other day that I can sense that I am turning into a lunatic with each day passing. More freaky, more weird than ever before! I find myself laughing more these days, and that's weird because I do not need reasons to laugh. Increasingly, I care less about what I am wearing to where. Carrying myself in a very casual way to lectures. Not really taking care of the 'niceties' and the 'formalities'. Being more volatile and 'unstructured' in the way I am living overall. Something that my parents keep complaining about. In their words, it is not 'disciplined'.

Also, I like doing things that most people believe are 'what-the-fu**' kinds. And I do not really like doing the 'in-things'. I sleep through (literally) the box-office hits in most cases and am excited about a movie that has 11 people watching it on the first day of its release.

I have stopped scolding the batches and keep mocking myself. Was actually dancing in a batch the other day! When was the last time I lost my cool? Can’t remember. And that’s not me. Can’t be. But yet that’s how it is.

I am less nervous about a lot of things. Leave it to the moment in most cases, including my presentations. Doing it more ‘extempore’ than before. The ever-excited wreck I was, am being more laid back these days. Less ‘turned on’ by things that otherwise would have excited me. Talking a lot lesser than before. Discussing a lot lesser than before. Getting out of home a lot lesser than before.

If not anything else, all the above crap might make you believe that I am starting to lose it. If still not convinced, see it to believe it!

2008 is half way through... already!

As always, time seem to fly. I remember distinctly the day when I wrote the piece to start off this year. Then, the year ahead looked very bright. Now, it looks even brighter. Had to take the toughest decision of my life earlier this year and am happy that it is paying off, as of now. I started off the year seeking a more peaceful mind. I'm happy that I've found it. I have found time to do a lot of things that I wanted to. I've managed to contribute meaningfully towards causes that I believe in. I have been able to devote more time to think, write and feed my mind.

As I sign off the first half of 2008, it's time to aspire to be happier! Much happier. It's time to have fun, smile, enjoy the moment, feel peace, read, write, sing, dance, laugh (and I do it 'awfully' well) and dream. And as always, dream BIG. Very big...

My venture is going smooth, touch wood. On an auto-pilot mode actually, where most things are happening without me actively working towards it. I am fine with that. I will start to be more active when this laid-back life becomes boring. Come to think of it, it has been more than 4 months that I have been 'at home'. I have never felt bored during all this time. Had quite a lot to do most of the times. If not, then was happy whiling away time sleeping :)

A lot of people have asked me how it feels to be self-employed. It would be incorrect to say it is something that every one should desire. I mean, it is a matter of perspective. More importantly, temperament. Not every one can be happy just working for few days a month. One should be a more laid back person to enjoy such kind of a lifestyle. Of course, if I actively scout for more assignments, then things will be more hectic.

Personally, I always yearned to be free. Free, not in a sense of being irresponsible. But to be more choosy about when I want to do what, to be able to decide on my own routines. This, to my mind, is the biggest plus of being self-employed. Apart from it, revenues and satisfaction level are higher.

The negatives? You do not meet a lot of people every day. You might get lazier and lose the focus of what you want to achieve since there is no one around you (like colleagues) to benchmark yourself against and help you feel pepped up each day. I know a lot of people who feels energised when working with a team of like-minded professionals at workplace.

Let me share something that happened just this morning to emphasize on the main plus. I woke up at 11am today, and saw a missed call from a business contact. I called him back and told him that I could not take the call since I was sleeping. Had slept late last night after seeing the Euro 2008 Finals. Something that he said from the other side felt like music to my ears - 'Lucky you'. I guess, that sums it all :)

Keep smiling guys :)