You too can be an entrepreneur

29th February, 2020

This morning as we were walking towards the government hospital we observed an old lady in her 60’s with her two grandchildren aged about 5-6 years, picking up seeds on pavement and filling in plastic bags.

PAGE like always in his usual style. Ajji, yen madthidira ? What you do with these ? 

Ajji : These are honge seeds, I am collecting for oil.

PAGE : Do you extract oil on your own ? And what do you use it for ? 

Ajji : No, I take them to Yelahanka and get them extracted. For a Kilogram, I get 250ml oil. 

I use them to light lamps.

PAGE : Do you only extract oil or sell seeds too ?

Ajji : When I need cash, I sell them to same oil mill and they pay me Rs 20/- per KG.

PAGE : Oh OK, do you know what by lighting lamps with this oil you are actually keeping the insects at bay because of its insecticidal and antiseptic properties.

They also use this oil to treat eczema, psoriasis, skin ulcers, dandruff and to promote wound healing.

So think what else you can do with it’s oil.

Ajji : Oh OK. Sure Son.

PAGE : So next time when I go to farm will carry seeds for you. No need to pay me. You can use for oil or sell them.

We shall take your leave for now and meet again soon... 

After asking her whereabouts, we left... 

Then, our Meenamma is like don’t you spare even Ajji also. What do you want to make her an entrepreneur?

PAGE : Yes, Why not. When Colonel Sanders think of KFC in his 60s, why not our own Ajji.

And do you know what not just that Ajji, those two kids also will be entrepreneurs. 

Without knowing she was building two future businessmen (until and unless our society fill their minds with the monthly salary demon)

Now the kids know what to do when they need pocket money. They won’t go to their parents or do something illegal. They will instead collect the seeds and sell them. 

When we also spoke of additional properties of it... this will ponder their minds for sometime. It’s left to them if they want to think of starting something on their own or not.

They were anyways extracting oil. Additional step is to get empty bottles, fill them and sell... Ajji can be a very good marketing champ due to her age. People will believe it’s her experience which will work magic through the oil.

After that conversation dropped her at office, then way back home had to meet few with some entrepreneurial ideas... and sure something will be on our plates which will keep us busy... 

A fruitful day with fruitful meetings... Very soon we will reap the fruits :)

Love Life

I removed this post because I think maybe it shouldn't be up here forever.

Still, I'm disappointed by the whole thing. ;)

Five K’s you should know to sustain and grow in an organization…

Five K’s you should know to sustain and grow in an organization…

1. Know People – Build Network
2. Know about the company – Keep yourself abreast of the latest changes
3. Know thyself – Work on your Strength and weakness
4. Know your domain/process – Knowledge expertise
5. Know strategic domains - where you want to move to…

The word is “Only”.

Professor Ernest Brennecke of Columbia is credited with inventing  a sentence that can be made to have eight different meaning by placing ONE WORD in all possible positions in the sentence:


“I hit him in the eye yesterday”.

The word is “Only”.

The Message:


1.     Only I hit him in the eye yesterday. (No one else did)

2.     I only hit him in the eye yesterday. (Did not slap him)

3.     I hit only him in the eye yesterday. (I did not hit others)

4.     I hit him only in the eye yesterday. (I did not hit outside the eye)

5.     I hit him in only the eye yesterday. (Not other organs)

6.     I hit him in the only eye yesterday. (He doesn’t have another eye)

7.     I hit him in the eye only yesterday. (Not today)

8.     I hit him in the eye yesterday only. (Did not wait for today)
This is the beauty and complexity of the English language.

Languages in my trail...

Languages in my trail...

Interesting fact of my ancestral trail, which is little complex.

Father’s ancestral trail - My Dad’s Mom was Kannadiga from Mysore, who settled in Bangalore around 60 Years back. She got married to a Tamilian from Bangalore (Shivajinagar - Mudaliar street), (Mudaliar – who had converted to Christianity after praying to Mother Mary for curing some illness). Is my Dad’s mother tongue, Tamil/Kannada? But he used to speak Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Urdu, and of course English. (His dialect was awesome as of that origin, I have admired it. He had certifications in these languages from School)

Mother’s ancestral trail - My Mom’s Mom was Kannadiga from Bangalore, She got married to a Tamilian from Chennai (then Madras)  and got settled in Salem. Is my Mom’s mother tongue, Tamil/Kannada? She knows Tamil and English.

We end up speaking in Tamil at home, and also sometimes in Kannada & English.

Coming to me, I know English, Tamil (only to speak), Kannada (Studied for 14 years*), Hindi (Studied for 7 years*), Telugu (learnt watching movies can converse with little difficulty) and finally Malayalam can understand but can’t speak as the Mallu’s for that I have to stay in Kerala for 5 years (Haven’t got a chance).

*Though studied for so many years, I still struggle in these languages, and not at all good at any of the above languages mentioned. Not even computer languages. J

Mrs. Bixby & the Colonel's Coat - by Roald Dahl

Mr. and Mrs. Bixby lived in a small apartment in New York City. Mr. Bixby was a dentist, who earned an average amount of money. Mrs. Bixby was awoman who was full of life. Once a month she would get on a train and travel to Baltimore to visit her old Aunt Maude. At least that was what she told her husband. What she really did was see a gentleman known as the Colonel and spend all her time in Baltimore in his company.

The Colonel was wealthy and lived in a charming house just outside of town. He had no wife and no family, only a few loyal servants, and in Mrs. Bixby's absence he amused himself by riding horses and hunting. Year after year the pleasant friendship between Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel continued without a problem, and never once did Mrs. Bixby's dentist husband suspect the truth.

Then, after one visit just before Christmas, Mrs. Bixby was standing at the station in Baltimore, waiting for the train to take her back to New York. It had been a thoroughly enjoyable visit and Mrs. Bixby was thinking how different it all was from her dull husband at home, when suddenly one of the Colonel's servants appeared through the crowd and presented her with a large cardboard box.

Mrs. Bixby: "Good heavens! What´s he brought? What a big box! Was there a message?"

There had been no message, and as soon as she was on the train, Mrs. Bixby found a place where she could open the box in private.

Mrs. Bixby: "How exciting! A Christmas present from the Colonel...I think it's a dress. It might even be two dresses. Or it might be a lot of beautiful underclothes. I won't look. I'll just feel around and try to guess what it is. I'll try to guess the color as well, and exactly what it looks like. Also how much it cost -- Good heavens! It can't be true."

What the Colonel had given her was the most magnificient mink coat she had ever seen. The fur was almost pure black, with a touch of blue in it, as well, as deep rich blue. But what had it cost? She hardly dared to think. Then she saw there was a letter in the box, as well -- a farewell note from the Colonel! He had heard her say once how fond she was of mink and asked her to accept it as a farewell gift. For his own personal reasons he would not be able to see her anymore.

Mrs. Bixby: "Well! Imagine that! Well, I've lost one thing, but gained another. Wait--there's something written on the other side: 'Just tell them a nice generous aunt of yours gave it for Christmas'." "The man must be mad! Aunt Maude doesn't have that sort of money--she couldn't possibly give me this...but if Aunt Maude didn't, then who did?"

In the excitement of finding the coat and trying it on, she had completely forgotten the most important detail. In a couple of hours she would be in New York, and even a man like her husband Cyril would start asking questions if his wife suddenly walked in from a weekend wearing a fabulous new mink coat.

Mrs. Bixby thought to herself: "I think he's done this on purpose just to annoy me. He knew perfectly well I wouldn't be able to keep it. But I must have this coat! I must! Very well, my dear. You shall have the coat, my dear. But don't be afraid. Sit still and keep calm and start thinking. You've fooled him before. The man has never been able to understand very much apart from his business. So sit absolutely still and think."

Some time later Mrs. Bixby stepped off the train in New York and walked quickly to the exit. She was wearing her old red coat again, and was carrying the box in her arms. She signaled for a taxi.

Mrs. Bixby: "Driver, do you know of a pawnbroker that is still open around here? Stop at the first one you see, will you please?"

At the pawnbroker's Mrs. Bixby told the driver to wait for her. Inside she made up a story about losing her purse and all her money, and left the fur coat with the pawnbroker in exchange for fifty dollars in cash and a pawn-ticket which she insisted have no name or address on it, but simply the word 'ARTICLE.'" The important thing was not to lose that ticket--anyone finding it could go there and claim the coat. But Mrs. Bixby was not about to let that happen. She would tell her husband that she'd found the ticket in the back seat of the taxi and could hardly wait to claim whatever it was on the following Monday morning. A most ingenious plan--if it hadn't been for her husband.

Mrs. Bixby: "Wouldn't it be wonderful if it were a real treasure?"

Mr. Bixby: "We can't know what it is yet, my dear. We shall just have to wait and see."

Mrs. Bixby: "I think it's absolutely wonderful! Give me the ticket and I'll go over immediately on Monday morning and find out!"

Mr. Bixby: "I think I'd better do that. I'll pick it up on my way to work."

Mrs. Bixby: "But it's my ticket! Please let me do it. Why should you have all that fun?"

Mr. Bixby: "I'd rather you didn't handle it if you don't mind."

Mrs. Bixby: " But I found it. It's mine. Whatever it is, it's mine, isn't that right?"

Mr. Bixby: "I suppose you haven't thought that it might be something for a man, a pocket watch, for example."

Mrs. Bixby: "In that case, I'll give it to you for Christmas. But if it's a woman's thing, I want it myself. Is that agreed?"

Mr. Bixby: "That sounds fair. Why don't you come with me when I pick it up?"

Mrs. Bixby: " Uhh-- no, I don't think I will. You see, it'll be more exciting if I stay here and wait"

Monday morning came at last, and as Mr. Bixby was about to leave for the pawnbroker's on his way to work, his wife made him promise to telephone her if it turned out to be something really nice. About an hour later, when the phone rang, Mrs. Bixby rushed to answer it before the first ring had finished.

Mr. Bixby (on the telephone): "I've got it!"

Mrs. Bixby: "You have? Oh, Cyril, what is it? Was it something good?"

Mr. Bixby: "Good? It's wonderful You wait till you see this. You'll faint.

Mrs. Bixby: "Darling, what is it? Tell me quickly."

Mr. Bixby: "You're a lucky girl, that's what you are."

Mrs. Bixby: "It's for me then?"

Mr. Bixby: "Of course it's for you, though I can't understand how it was pawned for fifty dollars. You'll go crazy when you see it."

Mrs. Bixby: " What is it?"

Mr. Bixby: "Try to guess."

But Mrs. Bixby couldn't guess. Instead she insisted on going down to her husband's office herself to get it, even though it might disorganize his day. Later when she rang his bell, her husband in his white dentist's coat opened the door himself.

Mrs. Bixby: "Oh, I'm so excited."

Mr. Bixby: " So you should be. You're a lucky girl, did you know that? We´re through for now. Go and have your lunch, Miss Pulteney. You can finish that when you get back."

This last was directed to his assistant, who was busy putting his instruments away. He waited until the girl had gone, then walked over to the cupboardwhere the coats were hung.

Mr. Bixby: "It's in there. Now shut your eyes for a moment...all right now. You can look!"

Mrs. Bixby: "I don't dare to."

Mr. Bixby: "Go on, have a look--mink! Real mink!"

At the sound of the word she opened her eyes quickly, and at the same time started forward to grab the coat in her arms. But there was no coat. There was only a stupid little neckpiece in her husband's hand. Mrs. Bixby put a hand up to her mouth and started to back away. She was sure she was going to scream.

Mr. Bixby: "What's the matter, my dear" Don't you like it?"

Mrs. Bixby: Why, yes...I...I think it's very nice...beautiful..."

Mr. Bixby: "It quite took your breath away for a moment, didn't it?"

Mrs. Bixby: "Yes, it did."

Mr. Bixby: Very good quality. Fine color, too. Here. Try it on...it's perfect. It really suits you. It isn't everyone who has a mink, my dear."

Mrs. Bixby: "No, it isn't."

Mr. Bixby: "I'm afraid you mustn't expect anything else for Christmas. Fifty dollars was rather more than I was going to spend, anyway. Go and buy yourself a nice lunch, my dear."

Mrs. Bixby moved towards the door. She was going to go over to that pawnbroker's and throw that miserable neckpiece right into his face and if he refused to give her back her coat, she would kill him.

Mr. Bixby: "Did I tell you that I was going to be late tonight? It'll probably be at least 8:30, it may even be 9:00"

Mrs. Bixby: "Yes, all right. Good-bye."

Mrs. Bixby went out closing the door loudly behind her. At that exact moment, Miss Pulteney, her husband's assistant, came past her on her way to lunchand greeted Mrs. Bixby, smiling brightly. She walked in a very confident way, and she looked like a queen, exactly like a queen in the beautiful black mink coat that the Colonel had given to Mrs. Bixby.

“It’s all in the mind”

“It’s all in the mind” - Our attitude makes the difference; same things are seen and felt differently by each of us depending on our attitude.