little nothings...

Though I hail from a family of entrepreneurs, joining the startup bandwagon was nothing less than defying traditions and norms. Every aunt I knew advised me against running behind companies and asked me to settle down, and I never knew what settling down meant. The only settling down I knew was that of the sand grains that settled down at the bottom of the river to become sedimentary rocks. This post is my experience and learning from the last 4 years of entrepreneurial journey and as I began jotting down points at the back of my mind, I felt any women, entrepreneur or otherwise, would be able to relate to it. Clichés like confidence, strength and yada yada are not on my list of ten things to have, because the fact that you started up is enough evidence that you are a strong and confident woman. 1. A good planner Invest in a good planner. Doesn’t matter how smart our smart phones are, I always swear by investing in a good planner. A planner will ensure that you don’t schedule ...

Yesterday I was frantically searching for something and While I dint find that something, I found so many other beautiful things: old letters and greetings from friends , pics of family and friends from long long ago, things like a diary from class 2 and cricket cards that my brother saved and so many other silly things which actually made me enjoy the search. The typical me would have ended up frustrated and angry for not finding that something.  Maybe the same applies to life too! While we are constantly in a quest for 'something' we neglect the smaller and more beautiful things that bring us a lot of happiness. Maybe its time to slow down and keep our eyes open for the smaller things... And finally I did find that something too, in the least expected place . My Mom bribed me saying she will pay me 2000 bucks if I don't get frustrated during the search and 4000 bucks if I don't find it in her house. See.. keeping control over one's anger always pays :P p...

Turning 30 is a big milestone in a woman’s life. Just yesterday, I realised that I have a little over 6 months before I can embrace the big 30 and that I am yet to strike so many things off my 30-before-30 list. Never mind it will just be changed to 40 before 40. And yeah, while I was contemplating what advice I would give my younger self, I asked my friends and a lot of other women I know what they wanted to do before they turned 30 or what they wish they did before turning 30. ‘Travel Alone’ came number 1 on the list closely followed by ‘Become financially independent’. ‘Go on a trip with girlfriends’ came third on the list. Here’s an awesome crowdsourced list that I thought I should share with so many awesome women around.  Go backpacking Travel alone: When you travel alone, not only do you meet so many interesting people but it will force you to open up and explore Experience a heartbreak : Heartbreaks can teach you to handle emotional pains and makes a women emoti...

OK. So I decided I am going to prove the critics wrong. For all those who thought that yours truly can only write about bullshit, here is one of the few sane articles I wrote. One of my writeup on an awesome startup www.ekincare.com was recently published on the Start-up Hyderabad website. eKincare provides individuals with a dashboard to track and monitor their health in a smart way. Seriously, in the age of cloud we store all our books, photos, music and important documents online and why do we still store our medical information in paper files and records? Personally, I may not have a lot of medical records that I would like to store but this is a boon for people who stay away from home and would like to constantly monitor and be in touch with their parents health. I mean how cool is it to track your parents blood sugar levels, cholesterol levels and more  using graphs online ? For me, its a great way to force my mum into taking charge of her health and getting timely chec...

Usually when I write something I share it on FB and twitter. There is this one particular post that I wrote sometime back and dint share it on any social network, except a few friends. I really don't know if that was a conscious decision or a subconscious one. Maybe, it was the fear of retribution as the entire clan is on FB or probably the 'need' to be politically correct or God-knows-whatever ! I was somehow always the odd (wo)man out in the family. There were literally no cousins my age I always hung out with people double my age or people nearly a decade younger to me. Growing up, I was a witness to infinite stories about MILs complaining about DILs and DILs badmouthing the MILs. And when I see my younger cousins going through the same strenuous relationships, it makes me cringe and wallow in grief as to when this MIL-DIL  equation will change and will be cherished like any other beautiful relationship in the world. Hence, I decided to bring that post out of th...

Do you know how coffee was discovered?  There are several legendery theories.  One says some Sufi mystic observed some unusual vitality in a group of birds and tried eating the same beans and experienced the same vitality. Another says a group of Ethiopian shepherds found their goats dancing after eating the beans and stayed alert for a long time and thus discovered caffeine effects on his goats.   image courtesy: http://www.gifs-paradise.com / Coffee has this thing that stimulates dopamine production and dopamine has stuff that makes us happy!   No wonder coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world, right after oil.  I think conversations with  girlfriends have the same effect like dopamine, make you happy and alert! Just smelling coffee feels so nice. Likewise, just the thought of a nice conversation with gfs can make one feel so nice and cheerful!! Really, gfs are the second best thing in the world, of co...

I came across this news today that the Mumbai police are creating whatsapp groups to stay in touch with citizens. How cool! Though whatsapp can get a little annoying and frustrating at times, more often than not it's such a great way to stay connected with friends and family. No wonder the founders got acquired for such a huge amount! Sometimes I feel there should be whatsapp etiquette, just like email and Facebook etiquette. Like people should know how uncool it is to send hundreds of 'good morning' pictures with flower bouquets and hot coffee mugs. And how impolite and bad manners it is to quit from a group just like that. And no, it is totally unacceptable to use a group to chat with one person and torture the rest of the members!! You would be surprised if I told you how girls use whatsapp. Jan Koum wouldn't even have expected that women would use whatsapp it so many ways, apart from all the bitching and gossiping.. Try clothes at stores and send picture...

To introduce yourself as "Hey, I am Omlette. I am an entrepreneur" ( my obsession with the name Omlette ) is very cool. I mean  people find it really cool and go ga-ga when some introduces themselves as an  'entrepreneur'  ( though Omlette is cooler.. sigh!), but in reality being an entrepreneur is anything but cool. You open the net and read all sorts of quotes that say entrepreneurship is fun and  that you live your life a few years like most people wont so that you spend the rest of your life like most people cant and so many other cliches. Entrepreneurship is not easy. Its like bringing up a baby. You cant stop tending to it just cos it is 11 PM and it is no longer working hours. Babies are cute. But when they belong to the neighbor. Ditto ditto with entrepreneurship.  So if you are an entrepreneur and dreaming to make it big, the startup leadership program is the place to be.  My take on why you should be a part of the program . Read more her...

I recently came across a blog post where the author says: I’m 25. I’m a girl. I’m Indian.If you’re an Indian girl above 21 with female body parts; I’m sure by now you have already heard this ‘cute’ question a million times,  “When are you getting married?”. And I replied her saying: "Hello! I’m 28. I’m a girl. I’m Indian. And I'm married. If you are 20+ and married and just because aunts cannot ask you the “When are you getting married?” question anymore, they shift focus to “When are you having the kid?” question. It doesnt stop there and simply calls for another blog post. :) Seriously! Does this ever stop? Annoying aunts and their equally annoying questions.  The 'real' me cannot give in-your-face kind of an answer and i just smile, avoid the topic and try to avoid that person for God knows as long as possible. Hence the virtual me decided on giving an answer to all the aunties across the globe pestering young women with their stupid question. ...