The Inspired Life
The Inspired Life
The First Generation Entrepreneur
Ananth Badhe, talks about what it means to be a first generation entrepreneur. The lessons, the struggles, the dreams, the sweat and tears. He believes that support and growth is not just dependent on the resources you have, but also in your ability to ask for help and use those resources mindfully. "Pick gold from whatever little you have"
If you like what you hear, subscribe and follow us on Spotify, iTunes and Amazonmusic. A new episode will come out every 1st and 15th of a month. You can also follow us on Instagram on theinspiredlifepodcast. If you want to mail me to discuss some of the things we are talking here or have a story to share on this podcast, email me at theinspiredlifeindia@gmail.com. This is Deepika and I thank you for listening.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_00:Welcome to the Inspired Life Podcast. I'm Deepika and today I have Mr. Anand Bhadhe with me, who is a first-generation entrepreneur and a very long-time friend. Hi Anand, welcome to the podcast.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you so much Deepika for doing this.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for agreeing to do this. Yeah, I took
SPEAKER_02:some time but thank you.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, with a lot of rescheduling of our recording date. But yeah, thank you so much. And of course, like I said, long-time friend. We have known each other for 23 years, but we've been friends for like 16 Yes. So, yeah. You were my classmate and also one roll number apart. And I remember you in college as only that guy who sat next to me in practicals and I was really irritated. I was
SPEAKER_02:894, you were 895. I think that's the only reason why I remember the roll number.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. 894 and 895. Yeah. Our
SPEAKER_00:college interactions, I think, it was more like classmates. We were not really friends. And I remember...
SPEAKER_02:For an interaction to happen, one of us should be in college, right? Or in the same class. I think I was in college, but I was not in class. There's a difference. But I think that's the only reason why I think there was a big, this thing.
SPEAKER_00:No, also we had so many kids in the class. It's impossible for everybody to be friends with each other. I think we hung out with people who at that time had similar interests or, you know, and yeah, I think most of our interactions I remember is post-Viva in what did they ask you or what did you answer and things like that because we are right after each other, we would tend to talk to each other and do that yeah and of course then you went ahead and went to Australia with Abhinav and that's how Abhinav you have been friends for from college I think and yeah and then after that when you guys came back is when we all started hanging out together and now our kids are friends so
SPEAKER_02:yes it works out perfectly
SPEAKER_00:now yeah perfectly all our holidays are together which is wonderful yes right okay so let's begin with our first question because the series on happiness and the first question always I want to start with is what is happiness according according to you.
SPEAKER_02:So what is happiness according to me now? So I know we spoke about this a couple of days ago when you wanted to talk about doing this podcast. And then I seriously have been thinking about what happiness for me is. There's so many touch points throughout the day that you have, which can potentially give you the source to be happy. And I cannot say that I cannot pinpoint it to anything saying that if I do this, this is happiness. If I do that, that's happiness. At the end of the If I finish my work, that's happiness. I don't know. I think it's happiness is anything where I think it's a frame of mind that you have to consciously kind of work on and consciously kind of make sure you work on. I think that's the only thing. I don't think anybody has like a sure shot answer of if I do this today, I'll be happy. But happiness for me personally, definitely would be a summation of the day's experiences, the day's goals, the day's interactions that I have. If at the end of the day I can go back home and I'm content with how my day has gone, I think that's happiness right there. At least for that part of the day, that's happiness. You go back home, you interact with your children, you spend time with your family, there's happiness there again. So it's about... It's about being conscious about activities that you can perceive as happiness. I think I cannot define what happiness is, but yes, it's definitely a feeling of being content at the end of the day. I think that gives me a lot of happiness. I
SPEAKER_00:mean, if you feel somewhat fulfilled at the end of the day that you have done what you intended to or what you were capable of for that, I think that sums very well for I think most of us, because like you said, happiness is not it cannot be a constant state for anybody there are things that you need to actively do to feel that joy and all of us have it from different places
SPEAKER_02:I don't think we work as in for a lot of people I don't think we consciously put in an effort to be happy and we're so caught up in what we're trying to do on a daily basis whether it's work whether it's you're interacting with someone or whether it's a client meeting or whatever it is so does it mean that if your meeting goes well you're happy so you might be happy with the result there as in that would be that probably is the desired result that you want from that meeting. Are you happy as a person then? I'm not sure. So I think it gets broken down into smaller bits and pieces and each one of those interactions there is definitely something that you can work on and there's definitely something that you need to work on to get the result that best suits you
SPEAKER_01:at that point.
SPEAKER_02:I think a series of wins of those minor situations by the end of the day is typically what would be a great day which is which kind of equates to happy day nowhere do I mean that you know being successful is is happiness I think that's just not the the message that I want to say also I think rather it's the other way around I think if you're happy then you're in a way successful in in in life basically but But yeah, I think it's those little wins that you have every day and then that kind of becomes this thing.
SPEAKER_00:When I said work on it, I basically meant things like, for example, I know that I have a certain list of tasks that I like to do on a daily basis. It could be workout, practice your German and things like that. And when I tend to do most of them, I go through my list. It's the things that I've worked on,
SPEAKER_01:which
SPEAKER_00:gives me that happiness. Like, okay, today was a shitty day because so and so or something happened. But at the same time, I did all of this. So it kind of gives you a little bit more satisfaction with how your day went. So, of course, again, happiness is so complicated because everything might have gone well. But one thing which was probably high on your priority didn't go well. You tend to forget and that overshadows what you went through. With a lot of people, it does tend to happen. I'm sure. Yeah, it's a frame of mind how you are. I'm
SPEAKER_02:sure. So when you actually do think about it, you talk about these points where you have these touch points on a daily basis, right? So it's absolutely correct so regardless of how shitty my day is there are certain things that I do no matter what whether it means taking out time for myself whether it means catching up with a friend for a chai somewhere or sending reels on Instagram whatever it is right so that's your me time and when you're sitting and doing whatever you do in that me time it's not to pass away time right I mean that's not the intention or the goal of that thing at all the The basic idea there is you're doing something that genuinely gives you happiness. As in, even if you look at Instagram, if you look at a certain reel, you know that this person can connect with that reel. And then you're thinking about the other person. And you're willing to share that happiness with that person. So for a lot of people, I think subconsciously also happiness could be something. It does not have to be a personal experience, but it's also about sharing happiness. It's also about sharing something with someone which you know they'll probably smile about or they'll you'll probably bring a smile about. So yeah, all these small things. So when you actually do think about it, it's crazy the extent to which people go and subconsciously have activities in place. You might not label them as happiness, but they make you happy. I mean, that's the reason why you sleep well. That's the reason why you're ready for the next day. That's the reason why you do what you do on a daily basis.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. That's, I think, sums up the went on a long discussion about it and which is the whole goal of this. Before I go into, usually we talk about, you know, how do we keep up the pursuit in difficult times. Before we go into that, this time around, I want to talk about first how you changed your career or what you were doing with being a first generation entrepreneur. We all studied something else. We all are doing something else right now. But why don't you talk about that journey and yeah, we can take it from there.
SPEAKER_02:So I started off along with you and Abhinav and so We did sciences. Yeah. We did genetics. We did genetics. And then we did biotechnology, masters in biotechnology. I have no idea why I did that. I really don't know why I did that. But then a big turning point in my life actually was pursuing an MBA. And while I thought about what I wanted to do, I knew I wanted to do something in the sciences space within the minute I did my MBA and there was an opportunity at Deloitte that had come up and it was basically working with the life sciences industries and though on the marketing side of things and they were looking for a profile which had some knowledge about both the verticals and it seemed like the perfect fit Deloitte was good I had very very good experiences at Deloitte I made very good bonds and friendships there that are still rock solid today. I'm forever grateful for the people that I've met there, the learnings that I've had there. I come back home and a very dear family friend who's quite big into construction in the city, they were in the process of setting up a hotel because this was, I'm talking about 15 years ago, where the style for every single construction house then was they wanted to have a boutique property as part of their services, as part of their portfolio that they wanted to set up. And this gentleman was also doing the same thing. He was building a hotel near the Jubilee Hill's checkpost. And for whatever reason, he wanted me to come and take a look at that place and just get a vibe of whatever is happening there. I didn't think much about it. But then when I went, saw what was happening and came back, and then we started talking about what he wanted to do with the place. I don't know why he wanted me to get into business. But there was a point where I had to make a very important decision because I was doing well professionally. I was doing well in Deloitte. There were other opportunities that were opening up. I remember interviewing by the end of the tenure for HP out of Bangalore. And then I remember getting the job at Bangalore. We just got married then. And so there's a lot of these new things that were happening. But for whatever reason, I wanted to take a year off and then try and seeing how a business actually works and helps and all that. And I took the jump. I got into business. I was learning the ropes from some of the best in the industry. The person who was handling the F&B side of things was someone who already owned an office operated restaurants in the city. And they were very, very famous restaurants. So I was going to learn from him. The person who was building the hotel was somebody who was one of the best in the city. So I was learning how to handle money and projects and timelines from someone like that. So I had two excellent mentors. And after a bit, there was an opportunity where I could kind of take over the business. because this wasn't their primary businesses. And that's when, as a family, we took the decision in terms of not pursuing the professional side of things and then really getting into the business because till now you had like a protective cover over you. You had people who were running the show and stuff. But a year and a half into being mentored and guided, I think changes your perspective into how a business should run. And then when we took the plunge into business, It was very scary personally to do something like that. But then I think that was one of the best decisions that I have taken in my life. And then it just started. We got into hotels, and then we got into other businesses across the hospitality field. We started with this hotel, and then we picked up another hotel in Begumpet. And it's been good enough. 15 years into the hospitality industry and it's been good.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we've been part of the initial tasting the chef, how much food, it was super fun and I hope you open another hotel so we can come for another round of tasting. No,
SPEAKER_02:so we are. In fact, we are finalizing a place towards this side of the city and then hopefully the deal should go through now and we're negotiating on the rates and stuff and then if that happens I think we will spend the next year in trying to build another property
SPEAKER_00:all the best
SPEAKER_02:thank you
SPEAKER_00:right so of course now uh you were mentored and there were people are looking up over you for a year and a half but like you said it obviously must was a scary experience because your first generation there's nobody it makes a big difference when your family members are there to guide you and mentor you and tell you because there are such so many small decisions which can you know domino into something larger if you don't make the right call at the right time so i'm sure there were a lot a lot of difficult times uh not only in the first year and a half, but even later when you went out on your own. Now, like we were talking just earlier, sometimes it's easy when these really big obstacles come your way for you to forget every other good thing happening in your life and just get consumed by it and let it pull you down. Did any situation like that happen with you? And if yes, how did you manage and how did you
SPEAKER_02:deal with it? No, plenty, right? Especially when you are in a business like the hospitality industry, it's not profitable. It's process oriented. It's people oriented. You're constantly meeting and talking to people and then processes don't complain. People do. And you have to deal with that. And that's the thing, right? You can either get sucked into the entire whirlwind of emotions that come out when you're dealing with somebody or when they're not happy with something, whether it's a service, whether it's food, whether it's the pricing for an event, whatever it is, if they're not happy happy with it. You will get sucked into all these things and you will go through minutes, hours, maybe even days of constant thought process in terms of why it's not working for you. You know, how do I tackle this issue? What do I do to make it happen? And then you forget. You forget to smile at the end of the day. But I think that's absolutely normal. What real What really helps I think personally for me is successes in terms of how you resolve that situation. Now you probably resolve a situation in the same day or it might take a few days for you to resolve it but then By the time you tackle a situation, then you get out, right? You are happy with that result. But what about the past 24, 48 hours, right? As in, you're not aware of what your feelings are for the last 24, 48 hours, because the only thing that's running in your mind then is, how do I do this? How do I do that? And it's strange. And that's why initially when I spoke, I said, you have to be consciously be in a position where you need to, regardless of what happens at the end, end of the day, you need to have a smile on your face. You need to be content with whatever you've done for that day and then you sleep peacefully. It wasn't always like this. The person that I am now is very different from the person that initially was trying to set up businesses and handle businesses. I was available on call, I think, every single minute, hour of the day or night. I was stupid. I use the word stupid now. But I was stupid where I was available at 7 o'clock in the morning. if something happened at the properties or at three o'clock late at night, if something happened at the properties. I would come back to the hotel, I would go back home at around six, seven o'clock, I would have dinner, and then I would come back again to the hotel to sit at one of the properties and make sure that these guys, you know, shut shop by the end of the whole thing. I mean, you still had room businesses, but the restaurants shutting, we would still be part of that entire process. And then one day it hit me, I said,
UNKNOWN:Whoa.
SPEAKER_02:Boss, where's my work-life balance in the entire equation? Not only was I coming into work, but I had my wife coming into work. I remember both my girls. My older one was, I think, four years. Until she was four years old, she was coming into work. As in, she grew up in one of the properties. We had a younger daughter. And I remember for the first two years, she was here. So I don't know what was happening. We were happy. Definitely, we were happy. But at what cost? So there were these series of changes that I wanted to bring into my life. And one of them was, which I still do till date, regardless of what happens, 9-9-30, my phone is switched off. And staying up and waiting for some problem to happen, and then you attending to that problem I wasn't even positioning myself as an entrepreneur anymore I was positioning myself as an employee the whole mindset kind of changes right as in the day you realize that your whole mindset changes and now I'm content I go back home I switch off my phone at 9 9 30 I switch it back on the next day I have people that I've hired to do a certain role and I pay them a very good salary to do it and so So I think these little checks that you need, right, both in your personal and your professional life, the sooner you kind of figure out what those checks are, I think a lot of people will be a lot more happier. I'm sure of it. I think as of now, I think we have this serious need to kind of control everything around us. We have this need to micromanage everything that's around us. And I've been guilty of that. I've been guilty of that for a solid decade.
SPEAKER_00:I still do it.
SPEAKER_02:And the day you realize that, you know what, things don't change much if you're not in that setup, as in there's so much happening in your head, saying that if I'm not there, this will happen. If I'm not there, that'll happen. And the day you pull back and then you're sitting and then you're seeing that nothing's happening. So you wasted a good six, seven, eight, nine, ten years of your life trying to be like the single point of contact for for anything bad that happens. You're missing out on all the lovely things that you could have been doing. And yeah, so stop micromanaging. And a lot of good things will come your way then. So I think that was one of the main learnings that kind of helped and shaped my thinking. And then I do a lot more work now than what I used to do before. Now it's all compartmentalized. I don't worry about the smaller things. If they were to go wrong, they will go wrong. There are people who have been hired to tackle those problems, so they will tackle those problems. My role now is much more different than what it was a decade ago. And that's mainly because you're conscious about the decisions that you're making and then you're conscious about wanting to go back and have a lovely time at home or with friends or whatever it is. You need to make time for yourself. And then I think, I'll definitely not say I've cracked the code, but it's definitely the last 10 years has been better than the first 10 years,
SPEAKER_00:for sure. You're figuring it out for yourself. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And I'm sure like a support system which is around you, whether it's your family or employees or your friends, play a big role in how you're navigating through these difficult times. Is that something that you agree with? See,
SPEAKER_02:it's always good to have a support system in place. There's no doubt about it. A supportive family, a group of friends that are very, very close to you. Business acquaintances who can help you out in issues and all that. But none of them amount to anything if you're not in a position to help yourself first. I couldn't have the world's best mentor telling me, you know what, this is what you have to do, then that's what it's there. Fail, that's not a problem. I'm there to support you. I've got unlimited funds for any business idea that you want to
SPEAKER_01:do.
SPEAKER_02:Regardless of whatever happens, if you are not in a position to receive, right? The entire support system is useless. It's a very beautiful thing to have, but then it's a glass palace, right? At the end of the day, it looks pretty. It does not add any value, no matter what. I think for a lot of people, I've heard this in my life. I've heard this where I've had people come to me and say, you know, you're lucky because you have this and you're lucky you have that you're lucky you have a fantastic support system money is not the issue for you and
SPEAKER_01:all that
SPEAKER_02:It's very strange when people say that. It's because one, they might see what is visible, right? But what is not visible is that I should be in a position where I am ready to accept it and I am ready to take in help whenever help is being offered. Correct. The choice, the power to make that choice or that decision is something that people don't have. People are not conscious about the fact that you could have the best support system but if you're not ready to accept that support system it's absolutely there's no point it's worthless absolutely worthless yeah definitely blessed that I have a wonderful family blessed that I have a wonderful support system if I'm frustrated during the day if I want to catch up with someone there are people around me who would definitely drop whatever they're doing and then you know catch up for a cup of tea or whatever it is and you need that you need that you need that you need that to basically declutter your mind declutter your soul whatever you want to call it right so you need that space to declutter but then if I'm going to be rigid then if I'm going to just sit there and say I am not going to accept help I can have the best support system but I'm not going to implement anything that they tell me
SPEAKER_00:or there are people who also they say your idea is lovely but I'm just not disciplined or good enough to implement this or follow this so that support system is wasted right that all
SPEAKER_02:yeah so that's a choice that we have to make on a daily basis that's a choice where you will have people who will want to help you and it's amazing how many people will come up to help you if you ask we don't ask we just don't ask we don't know how to ask we don't know what people will think if we ask and we're building up these scenarios in our own head without doing the simplest of things we just don't ask and yeah so if you're prepared to ask if you're prepared to learn I don't think you might have the worst of the support systems, but you'll still figure out how you can pick gold from whatever little that you have. So I think it mainly depends on your frame of mind when people around you are basically being supportive.
SPEAKER_00:Another thing I want to ask you is you did talk about being an entrepreneur before that you were an employee and you did say that how you had to shift the way you were behaving from not being an employee at your own business and become an entrepreneur. Can you also talk a little bit more about the not-so-beautiful side of being an entrepreneur? Because people are like, oh, so cool, you're working for yourself, you know, so amazing. But it's not that as easy as just, I'm my own boss, right?
SPEAKER_02:So it's crazy, right? So people only see one side of things, right? So you're in hospitality. They see the glamorous side of it. They do not see the other side of things at all. See, for me, one of the biggest driving forces of me continuing and building whatever I'm building today has been the fact that the people that I support. the employees that I have, I take care not only of the employees, but also in a lot of situations, the families as well. So I don't know if this is, I'm pretty sure it's not common, but I think it's been more than a decade and I've had the same guys working for me. In a hospitality industry, it's very, very, very rare. I have about 50 people who have been working for me for the last 10 years or more. It's not like I pay exorbitant salaries or anything like that. But it's loyalty, right? As in you look after them and they look after... It's
SPEAKER_00:the core values you have. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02:And it's surprising the kind of challenges that come up when you have certain values in place in terms of how you want to run your businesses, how you want to run... how you want to set up the entire... people management skills and all
SPEAKER_01:that.
SPEAKER_02:There are tons of stuff that any entrepreneur on a daily basis, right? I mean, you probably see an entrepreneur or you probably see somebody who's running a business get out of a fancy car, get, you know, wearing some branded clothes or whatever. It's very glamorous. For people to see that, it's very glamorous. There's absolutely no doubt about it. But there are things that those people are doing on a daily basis which is kind of supporting that kind of lifestyle. And yeah, so there are tons of things. I mean, I don't even know where to begin. There are challenges. It's definitely not what people think and assume. And there's so many people who get drawn towards at least hospitality, right? Because they see the glamorous side of things. But they want to do something in the food industry. They want to do something in the lodging hotel industry. They want to do something in the QSR segment. But that's the thing. You can only have certain processes in place. But you are dependent on people coming and then coming and then basically if it's a service they have to take that service if it's a restaurant they have to come and eat there the whole set of challenges are completely different setting up a business capital intensive raise that capital whether it's your own whether you're funding it or a bank loan or whatever that's one side of things one side of the issues making it stand is another set of issues if you figure that out how do you scale up scaling up is another set of issues nothing prepares for you as in there is no there is no MBA per se that will tell you that you know you do 0.1 to 10 and your business will be set up you do 10 to 20 you'll have unlimited number of people coming in and taking up your service you do 20 to 25 or whatever it is this is how you scale up it's all about it's all about a set of challenges that you have to construct keep working on a daily basis so there's nothing like this is one challenge if you kind of deal with then your business is set you do something else your business is set
SPEAKER_00:nothing like
SPEAKER_02:that they don't see the daily struggle of trying to make sure that you have your own targets if you want to hit an X amount of revenue you by the end of the month you you need to break that down you need to have like a daily target and if you have to hit the daily target what who are the people who are responsible for it so you will have to make sure that you know no matter what happens your daily target is met because your your goal is something else at the end of the day so so yeah
SPEAKER_00:like two things that I experienced which of course because me also on this journey on and off over the years people tend to just romanticize the whole thing saying so cool you don't have to go to work you can do whatever you want you can take a holiday which is not true I can't take a holiday when I want but that's what people look at but two things that of course there are a lot of them like you said but two things that come in my head immediately one is all of us everybody has a dream of this is what I want to do if I wasn't an employee this is what I will build the idea of having that dream that I will become a successful hotelier or I have the best idea for the next restaurant in the city or the next gym is a whole different story than actually having the capabilities of making it happen we all tend to overestimate our own capabilities a lot of times
SPEAKER_02:I don't know if it's overestimating capabilities but I think it's got to do with where you'd like to see yourself or your perception of happiness right because you think you're very happy if you don't care about what you, not you don't care, but you don't think much about what you have to do to get to that position. You know where you want to be. In your head, you want to be sitting in a nice little resort somewhere, beach on one side, water on the other side. You're sipping something and then that's what you have. I can get to that if I have a business. I can get to this business if I have this product. You try and tie up those little stories together but those are all feelings that you have those are all things that you think will one you you will be very happy then if you do that my life will be set I will get to do whatever I want to do you don't because by the time you get into business and then by the time you start figuring out if I have to go there I have to do all
SPEAKER_00:these yeah exactly
SPEAKER_02:and if I have to do all these that means I have to spend time sitting here so where are you taking off yeah yeah you can't take take off wherever you want to take off. So it's very crazy, right? It's the idea that you're in love with. It's the idea that kind of...
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. So when I say capability, that's what I think the biggest thing which comes into play is perseverance. Like realizing that I want that, which means to get to that point in whatever time in the future, it's 10 years of slogging. Having that discipline and perseverance that 10 years I will and I have to go through and I'm not good at this, so let me ask for help. Or when you ask for help, there are people... coming to give you advice and idea there are a lot of strings which get attached with it
SPEAKER_01:absolutely
SPEAKER_00:you have to be prepared to take that not everybody is in that mind space and rightly so not everybody has to be or should be an entrepreneur we need other things happening in this world second thing which I personally experienced which hospitality you also experienced is something like when COVID hit right those who were employees in companies which were not very affected by this usually in the IT sector and everything they continue to have a job they continue to have an income on a monthly basis I was without my household was without an income for a good three months before of course the whole online my side of work could pick up and you know so that also is something so hard which you don't it's very very hard as an entrepreneur because the uncertainty which always looms whether it in the initial day it will be on a I think on a regular basis because you are still setting up your business or your business is not big enough when you're become big enough and also because now you're I'm sure your expenditure is higher your goals are bigger so again uncertainty looms and that is something which a lot of people don't see which I think is a very difficult heavy part of being an
SPEAKER_02:entrepreneur you take risks you kind of figure out what works for you what doesn't work for you you you always have a backup plan if you're an entrepreneur you always have a backup plan
SPEAKER_01:yeah
SPEAKER_02:for I don't know why I did this but I was so the new hep way of doing businesses is go asset light right as in you rent out a property and then you do something there and then you don't have any fixed assets you move from one property your scalability comes into picture you have all the tech jargon that comes into picture you can grow and then your valuation goes up and I never got into that for some reason and I had made it a point very very early on in my career in my business journey that if I was going to do if I was going to get into business I would buy the asset so by God's grace we were in position even though it was way tough back then but wherever our hotels are we've picked up the assets as in we've bought the land
SPEAKER_01:yeah
SPEAKER_02:that was my backup plan so if my businesses don't work I can still do something in those properties right I can I can build have a commercial complex in place, rent out or whatever. So that was my backup plan. And it was a very calculated risk in terms of whatever I had done, mainly because I had no idea what I was doing. Neither am I from a business family or I had people who would easily solicit my business. I had to build everything. So that was my backup plan. So when COVID happened, I know a lot of, even in my peers, in my business friend circle, they went out of business overnight. As in, they had to shut shop. It was such a difficult time. And kind of shows the character of some people also. Because when, on one hand, people are dying or people are suffering, there were still people who expected rent to be paid out. There were still people who wanted some kind of deposit. There were still people who were adamant about, you know, it has to happen like that. Because in a way, you can kind of understand it because they themselves have made some other commitments. Because of the rent that's coming in, they've picked up a larger property to lease out again or whatever it is. So it's like this loop, right? But what happened in that entire fiasco was a lot of my friends, a lot of my competitors even had to shut shop. They could not afford to continue. I think one of the other reasons why people continue working with our properties is because stepped up during those times. One of our properties is a 36-room property. And I remember we had stopped paying rents to the staff that were staying outside. But a lot of our staff is from neighboring states. And because there was no railways, there was no transport for people to get out. We had opened up our property. We had opened up all the rooms over here. And we got all the staff to stay in one of the hotels. And the good thing is there are chefs there are housekeeping boys there is everyone so I remember for the first I think six months the property all I had to do was pay for the electricity that was there but the fact that you were willing to step out and out of your comfort zone and do something for people who have done so much for you for so many years and that just changed the whole thing because even they realised what was happening and they were conscious about how much electricity that they were using in the property they were conscious about how much food was being rationed out for everybody at the property. And we took care of all our employees, whether it was in the manufacturing industry that we have, whether it was in the hospitality industry that we have. All the employees, we took care of them for, I think, close to eight months or nine months. And then until I think the first set of trains opened up and then you could go back home or whatever. So until that happened, we took care of the entire, I think, 1800 people that were there.
SPEAKER_01:That's incredible.
SPEAKER_02:And no, it was a very, very fulfilling experience. And that was happiness again, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02:As in your business, there's no business. There's no revenues that are coming in. By God's grace, we didn't have any overheads. We didn't have any loans that we had to pay out to. We only had to take care of people who believed in us, who had worked with us for about eight years, nine years by then already. And they are family In a way, they are family. It just seemed like the right thing to do. And it was a very, very easy thing to do. We didn't have to think about how we wanted to do it. And we were in a position where there was a property that was empty. There were rooms. There are chefs who can cook food for themselves. So they had their breakfast, lunch, dinner with chai, coffee, whatever, all that sorted out. And that gave us happiness. And it was a lovely time. I think I might be one of the few people in this world who might say that I think that was one of the best times of my life mainly because I didn't have any of the negative, luckily I didn't have any of the negative aspects of COVID or anything but everybody kind of got to spend time with everyone and then everybody is busy doing something or the other. You forget that you can take a break, right? And then to have everybody in the family come together, to have everybody spend really good quality time for about six months, I think it was absolutely brilliant. And the fact that you're also providing and supporting the people under you was absolutely fabulous. So, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It was incredible. I didn't know this part. Yeah,
SPEAKER_02:so it was good. Initially, I was shocked. Initially, I think everyone was shocked. You go back home on a Friday and then you're thinking you'll be back to work on a Saturday and then they said I don't know if you remember they said they said one day lockdown initially they said one day was a curfew not even a lockdown and then the curfew became a weekend thing then the weekend thing became
SPEAKER_00:just extended
SPEAKER_02:extended people were making dalgona coffees people were making I think they were banging plates all sorts of stuff was happening so so yeah so it was it was really good
SPEAKER_00:I think I was at somebody's 30th birthday party was the last thing I was out and COVID has just started and I remember all of us laughing about it. I'm like, why are we doing this? Like there's COVID starting. I don't think
SPEAKER_02:anybody understood what COVID was.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and there was a conversation that things might, the thought of what that word lockdown would mean was also no idea. And we were like, oh, they're planning to shut tomorrow or something. And that's it. That was the last time I was out. Next morning, all these curfews and everything began and it just went on.
SPEAKER_02:We just didn't understand what was happening, but it was lovely.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely lovely.
SPEAKER_00:We all during curfew when it opened up I think some Sundays we met up in the morning but the kids were going crazy so we
SPEAKER_02:met
SPEAKER_00:up at
SPEAKER_02:my house. Yeah, I think they were also tired of seeing our faces every day. They were like, you're home? You didn't go? I thought you'll go to work. So after a few days those were the questions and then they realised that there's absolutely no chance of getting out anywhere and then they kind of had to they got stuck with staying
SPEAKER_00:at home. My son almost turned into a gambler in that period because all he wanted was play cards all day long and you play like seven eight rounds of cards in a day and it was ridiculous but as you said it was lovely I never expected to be so happy and fulfilled by doing nothing
SPEAKER_01:yeah
SPEAKER_00:absolutely because I also tend to I tend to need packing my day up because that gives me some sense of control if that makes sense that I did this task one done two done three done and COVID suddenly not having anything to do but But still, enjoying every day was wonderful. That told so much about ourselves that you can slow down and you can still have a good time.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely, absolutely. So all that helps, right? I mean, for someone who's micro-managing everything on a daily basis, and then you realize if you just pull back a little bit, nothing, absolutely nothing changes.
SPEAKER_00:Tell me about your dream project. Do you have a dream project? Because you're doing so many things. Do you have something that is your, I wouldn't say final goal, but one of your goals that you really want to get to that place or to build something?
SPEAKER_02:A dream project? So there are things that are falling into place as we speak which definitely fulfills my idea of what I want to do with my professional life, with my business. There are businesses that are being aligned and categorized into something which will add a lot of value to me uh for my for the ambitions that i have in in my this thing in my in my plans um they do give me happiness mainly because they kind of it's a check box right you tick a box and say that i've achieved this i've achieved this but this is my milestone i've achieved this by this age i want to do this so i've been doing that but what i really really want to work is this is something that we started a couple of years ago where we donate or take care of food for one of the schools in the city And I was fine doing it because I did it because somebody from the family had said, you know, can you can you help us? And then we did it. But the day I was in the area for one of those food, for one of the days that we were dropping off food at the place. And then there was some problem with the transport vehicle that was going and dropping it. So the driver had called me and he said, I need to figure out how to fix the battery and this and that. I said, I was in the area. For some reason, I was in the area. And I said, I had to help him out. So there was a mechanic that I knew close by. And then I picked him up and I took him to school. and because I was at school the the authorities of this thing I think it was a vice-principal who had walked up and that is the first time that I'd met him and he wanted me to be part of the lunch service I was hesitant to it because I you know you have to run and work and do this and have that meeting and do all that but then I said yes but I think it was a fantastic experience that day. That changes your perspective where you see 80, 90 children who thank you for feeding them. I think that really changes your perspective about a lot of things, right? And I knew that day that this is what I want to do. We've been working actively on initiatives similar to the soup kitchens of the world. And we have not formalized anything, but then we have been actively working on activities where we can feed people. These are not people who are underprivileged. I'm not talking about that set of people at all. I'm talking about generally wanting to feed people. As in, it could be anyone. Anyone should be able to come and then eat there, right? And they don't have to pay a rupee. And we have done a few trials, for lack of another word. We have done a few trials where we go to one of the hospitals over here and twice a week we just open shop in terms of one of the transport vehicles that we have we take food there and then we kind of give them an experience to eat right as in so it's not your typical you give them your tamarind rice and you give them your curd rice and then you walk out and you come back we're actually seeing if we can cook something there and give them so we're doing pre-plated stuff where people can have chart ones where people can have something else one and just gives me a lot of happiness when I do that these are activities that I like to go and sit and see I serve sometimes because that gives me a lot of joy and I want to formalize that and that's definitely a dream project I want to get into some space where I want to have food should not be something that people should buy Food should not be something that you have to have only once in a day. I think it should be available. And regardless of who walks into that place should be fed. And that is something I am really, really hoping I will achieve at least by the end of next year. There are various organizations that are currently they do these Anadhanam programs. They do the charity food donation programs. But that's not what I want to do. It does not have to be with a cause. It's just a place where regardless of, it's like home, right? As in you go home and say, Ma, I'm hungry and then you get food, right? So I want to set up like that. I want to build a place like that where regardless of who you are, you could be anyone. You could be a beggar, you could be a worker, you could be a college kid, whoever it is, right? An employee, whoever it is. Walk in, get food served and don't pay anything for it. So that is something that I'm really trying to work on. And things are happening. They are happening. So we are trying out this thing. But I want to break the idea that it's a donation or it's a charity. I need to break that thought first. And there's a lot of effort that's going into breaking that. Because every person who eats blesses you. That's definitely there. But then you hear people saying, you know what God is he trying to please or does he have something in his family or does he so I don't want that so that's not the idea of doing this exercise at all it has to be a place where you can come and just eat and I really want to see if that can happen by the end of next year so that's something that will definitely I think it will be a big tick for what I want to do as a person and that's something that I'm very very keen on making it happen
SPEAKER_00:this is wonderful and it's reminding me of a conversation we had around I don't know two three years back sometime in the last four years on your birthday I called you to Vishu and I said so what's I don't know what we were talking about and you said something that you're not you're not content with what's going on you want to do something more fulfilling you just don't want to open businesses and it's not about how much money you're making you want to feel fulfilled in some I remember clearly we had this, I was driving and I was talking to you and yeah, sounds like you are working towards it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. The happiness that you get out of doing something like that, at least for me, at the place that I'm in my life right now, nothing matches to it. It is absolutely fantastic when you do something like that which feeds your soul, right? All the other activities can feed your pocket. But But yeah, I'm at a place where I don't have to worry about what I have to do to feed my pocket. And that's why I can do
SPEAKER_00:this.
SPEAKER_02:It's quite silly to expect someone to look at doing this instead of worrying about that. I think every phase of life you have, every part of life you have phases in which you have to kind of do what you have to do in that phase of life. And you do it, you do it well, move on to the next phase. And that's when you, I think, truly have a fulfilling life.
SPEAKER_00:words and very wise words right we are coming to the end and the last question like we had a standard first question we have a last question you did answer earlier talk about it saying things you do like sending reels that just makes you happy and you know just let's say brings you away from the other madness of the house what are the things you do which you make sure you do that brings you back to this place of happiness or contentment or you know grounding yourself I
SPEAKER_02:would like to say workout. But I know the reason I do that is because I get that one hour to myself. And it's not for you to get the six pack. It's not for you to be super fit. The rest of the lifestyle needs to support you being fit. But that one hour, I really take out for myself because that gives me time to kind of... focus on what has happened in the first half of the day. So I have this really weird habit of going to the gym at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. So I don't go in the morning, I don't go in the evening. So I go at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. So 2.45 I'm at the gym. And the next one is brilliant because there's nobody at the gym. Absolutely nobody.
SPEAKER_00:I have a question. When do you eat your lunch?
SPEAKER_02:11 o'clock.
SPEAKER_00:So
SPEAKER_02:11 o'clock I'm done with lunch. So 2 o'clock, 2.45 is perfect because One, there's no one at the gym. You don't have to fight for the machines or you don't have to fight for the weights or whatever it is. And there's nobody, which is brilliant, absolutely brilliant. But then for me, it works really well because you kind of regroup your thoughts as to what has happened in the first half of the day. More often than not, there will be points that you will have to revisit in the second half of the day. But then that kind of aligns you in what your next three hours of action points are. And that one hour is usually a time where I have no issues not taking calls. But that one hour, I specifically make sure that I don't take any calls. And it really helps me. We have something which we've been doing for a very, very long time, but I don't do it as much as I want to do, is the little catch up that I have with my guy friends every Sunday. It's just for chai. It's just for whatever it is, right? But everyone is successful in whatever they're doing. But the fact that they're all willing to take out their time and plan Sunday on Sunday on Sunday. The venue is not important. Meetings have been at chai tapris. Meetings have been in bakeries, sitting outside bakeries. But that's something that I value a lot. I think little practices, right? you meditate for a bit in the morning not necessarily you sit in a certain position and then you're doing anything but it's just about spending time with yourself
SPEAKER_00:and just inner calmness yeah
SPEAKER_02:just inner calmness so I do that very very I do that on a daily basis if it means I am praying I am praying then but I take out about 20-30 minutes every morning no matter what and those are like all my time
SPEAKER_00:precious to you
SPEAKER_02:very very precious to me and then they kind of set the tone for what I want to do in that day but yeah I think it's very important to have that hour hour and a half for yourself on a daily basis at you need to figure out when it's important for you but you need to have those things in place and once you have that I think you you are sorted in terms of what you want to do for that day but yeah these are things that I really treasure
SPEAKER_00:perfect thank you so much Anant thank
SPEAKER_02:you so
SPEAKER_00:much this is very enlightening in multiple ways I just I came to know it's been amazing because I've been doing this with people I'm already friends with right and I've known like you all the other people I've
SPEAKER_02:done a lot comes out right when you're sitting and then you're actually documenting what you talk with structured questions
SPEAKER_00:because we hang out a lot we go on holidays where we have deep conversations about our personal life our mental health or our business aspirations but there's still so much that we don't know because it's not possible to know everything so it's been really cool to know so many me
SPEAKER_02:thank you thank you so much
SPEAKER_00:thank you Anant and maybe in a year we'll do this again to see what we have done and how we have
SPEAKER_02:changed yes no pressure
SPEAKER_00:no pressure
SPEAKER_01:thanks
SPEAKER_00:thank you if you like what you hear subscribe and follow us on Spotify iTunes and Amazon music a new episode will come out every first and 15th of a month you can also follow us on Instagram on the inspired life podcast if you want to mail me to discuss some of the things we are talking here you or have a story to share on this podcast, email me at theinspiredlifeindia at gmail.com This is Deepika and I thank you for listening.