The Dots Will Connect Eventually :)
If the 2000s were all about laying the foundations in the first half and dealing with a lot of crises & transitions in the latter half, the last decade has been about crossing milestones, checking items off the bucket lists and culminations!
This is the decade that I kickstarted my entrepreneurial journey in; scaled up Happy Marketer to one of the best-in-class and most awarded digital firms and eventually sold the business earlier this year to the Japanese conglomerate, Dentsu. Taking the plunge was fearful yet exhilarating but the freedom to explore new opportunities and be in control of one’s own destiny was life-changing. The joy & satisfaction of having nurtured one’s own setup and the camaraderie with the #happytribe is something that will be hard to replicate. The success at Happy Marketer opened new doors for me to speak at numerous global conferences, teach at some of the best universities in the region; co-author a book; mentor at one of the best B-Schools & invest in high growth enterprises.
This is the decade that I found love and a partner who decided to join me and walk by my side in the adventure of life. After navigating a 3-year long-distance relationship, we were fortunate to be able to converge and begin our lives together in Singapore. After having moved a total of 15 houses in my bachelor days, Dipti & I finally managed to secure our own place that we could call home. The new home coincided with the arrival of a little blessing called Ayaan and life changed forever. If nurturing the company was a satisfying challenge, bringing up one’s own progeny has been a delightful, complex, work-in-progress learning process to date. To have witnessed how a baby transforms physically, emotionally, mentally and socially is nothing short of a miracle and the cliche is true indeed that no matter how tough one’s day has been, all is well the moment you see the little one run and jump on you, say something ridiculous or just cuddle in bed 🙂
The freedom and luck to pursue dreams, take chances & grab opportunities is what has shaped this decade for me on many fronts; be it risking it all to fly to Mumbai at the last minute to watch India lift the World Cup in 2011 and create history; to being at that same venue 2 years later to witness Sachin play one last time before bidding adieu; to #bleedblue in Adelaide in 2015 & Manchester 2019 to cheer Team India to victories against arch-rivals Pakistan; to watching a heartbreaking historic moment live at The Lords when the Kiwis went down to the Poms in the most tragic ways possible; to watching the legendary trio of tennis – Nadal, Federer & Djoko in action at the Australian Open, Shanghai Open and eventually in the most memorable of settings at the Centre Court in Wimbledon.
The last few years ushered in the opportunities to see and listen to global luminaries such as the Obamas, Thomas Friedman, Rahul Dravid; meet childhood heroes like Aravinda De Silva, Waqar Younis & Misbah; have personal interactions with legends such as Indra Noyee, Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Vishwanath and Boria Majumdar and priceless moments like playing a game of cricket with stars such as Harbhajan, Azhar, Dilshan, Zak & Pathan – hope one day soon, I can add Sachin to this list 🙂 I also had the privilege of leading our club to a championship win in a local league & even winning my first tournament as a team owner!
These interactions were eye-opening, inspiring and expanded one’s horizons and what added to that were the experiences one had whilst exploring new corners of the world as part of work travels or vacations. From Adelaide to Kyoto to Sapa to Siem Reap to Zanzibar to Ivalo, life has been kind to bestow us with these moments to create cherishable memories. May these journies continue in the coming years and help us forge bonds across continents that we are yet to explore, as nothing soothes the mind and enriches life as much as these personal odysseys.
What’s remained constant in these 10 transformative years is the relentless love, support, and encouragement from my Baba-Maa, my in-laws & the close friends who have been there with me through thick & thin throughout. One is eternally grateful for these bonds and blessings that have made success taste sweeter & the losses bearable.
In hindsight, it all feels hunky-dory but as they say, in hindsight everyone is a visionary; if I look back and think of the 26-year-old me struggling to make ends meet and reeling in a major personal crisis at the turn of the previous decade, I had not thought through or chalked out anything of what eventually transpired. In fact, pretty much everything happened otherwise! And not that every year was a rosy one but what I realized is that amidst the ups & downs of life, a lot of the positive outcomes stack up and eventually there comes an inflection point when a lot of things fall in place and 2018–19 has been that period for me!
As we step into the ‘20s the hope is to not overthink & plan too far ahead; live one day at a time; say yes to many opportunities; to explore & experiment and make the most of what’s in our control every day. Life can go either way and the dots will connect eventually.
As Stephen Pinker says despite all the negativity in the media, it’s the best time to be alive as humans as the world has never been safer, cleaner, healthier, wealthier and more educated but yet there remains so much to be done to ensure better, equal & fairer distribution and access to resources and opportunities. In the coming decade, hope I am able to contribute meaningfully to some pursuits in those directions and inspire and impact many lives along the way.
2020s – Let the magic begin!
