Entrepreneurship,

I turned 42 this year. 42 is a significant number for me. I am not sure if it's my favorite number, though. 42 is the answer to the great question of life, universe and everything. Well, I don't think there's a better joke than this. But jokes aside and while Douglas Adams seems to write it so matter-of-factly, the entire few pages where deep thought gives this answer to Loonquawl and Phouchg is filled with amazing philosophy. And am sure Douglas Adams will roll in his grave (or be happy, we'll never know) when I write this :-) ! Here is the exact lines that I love - copied from the book (without permission, duh) ...

Prelude My grandfather was an incredibly disciplined man, a teetotaler and vegetarian. Traveling as a vegetarian is a painful thing. It still is, but it must have been worse in the 60s. And yet he travelled quite a bit in his day. One of his such trips was to Japan. I think it was Tokyo or Osaka, but I don't recollect too well now. There were a few stories of his that stuck with me: one was about how difficult it was to get decent food - if you were a vegetarian, they understood you to be a herbivore and usually only had raw fruits and vegetables. He didn't think it was discriminative - rather, they didn't cook anything without an element of fish or meat in it, so this was the only option. The other was about how punctual and polite people acutally were. Many of those stories ended up creating a desire to try and live in Japan for a couple of years. While I am not sure if I will do that yet, my trip to Japan was a fantastic opportunity to experience this wonderful place. ...

On Introductions I've generally realised and come to terms with the fact that my reaction times suck. That is to say, if you took a shot at me, I'd not know what to come back with immediately. Much like George in S8E13 - The Comeback, I'd have a comeback a while later in a rather very unhelpful way. But the problem spans beyond comebacks. I am a thinker by nature. So I'd have a brilliant way to present my thought - if I have sufficient time. But if you put me in a spot and asked me to describe my thought, I'd end up underwhelming. I generally prepare and rehearse multiple times to make sure I don't disappoint. ...

I keep reading about how India is really moving up the ease of business list. That's nice to read but it doesn't seem to translate very well to common people like me, though. As a citizen of the country, it should be relatively simple for me to setup a company there. Even as a non-resident, it should be simple. Am non resident, but my passport is still Indian. So that is my home, irrespective of anything. I usually don't want to rethink this, but often times the way things work in India are so annoying, that I can't help but think if that's really my home. ...

Success is an elusive metric. What does it mean to succeed? I've pondered over this question a few times. I avoid reading this stuff up, though. So whatever follows here on are my own thoughts. Some influenced me, but mainly as they occurred in my head. They must be naive, for most of you. What is Success? According to a dictionary, Success is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. Let me, then, start with my purpose. For a long time, my only aim in life has been to live free, to pursue my curiosities while not worrying about financials. My interests aren't at the scale of solving world hunger or climate crisis. They are much simpler - build a robot or two, teach kids basic sciences, invest in people who need a break, write a book, pursue my own idea of spirituality and so on. These are highly selfish pursuits, too - I don't have any grand visions of philanthropy. ...