Voila: Slowpreneur it is

Entrepreneurship seems all about the fast paced world. Your ideas, they say, have a limited shelf life. You have to get them out there ASAP. There is also the great truth "Fail Fast". The new cool thing is Agile. Push out your every week and make a course correction quickly. You see how fast keeps showing up in sentences. Then there is fast company which celebrates your speed.

But here is my problem, what if I don't like being fast? What if I am interested in the journey and not the destination. What if all I want to do is see the scenery, interact with the people (maybe momentarily since they are all running fast) and just cruise along. Am I not enterprising enough to be called an entrepreneur? Then what should I call myself?

A little thought and I realized, if there is fast food, there is also slow food. So if there is an entrepreneur, there must also be a slowpreneur. Of course , dictionary kept complaining about it but like everything else we can use internet to legitimize anything :-). So I searched and voila, it is already there. I guess I was slow on this one too. This was born  on August 31st, 2012, exactly 2 years before I decided to take a plunge. But is it too much of a coincidence that, August 31st, 2014 was my last day at my job?

Financial Services & The Con Job

I have just one simple question: Which is the best performing Debt Fund. If you can answer that question then I can bet my life's savings on you. Let me try and simplify that for you, "Which is the best performing Debt Fund based on last 1 years performance", easy right, try it out. I will make it easier, following are links from various websites.

NSE website: http://nseindia.moneycontrol.com/mutualfundindia/performance_tracker/snapshot.php?option=dshort&op1=ab

Rediff webiste: http://money.rediff.com/mutual-funds/advanced

MoneyControl: http://www.moneycontrol.com/mutualfundindia/

ICICIdirect: http://content.icicidirect.com/NewSiteContent/Research/SelectFund.asp

ShareKhan: http://www.sharekhan.com/stock-market/mutual-funds/9f4133f9-9c39-4bad-b719-c9566dc96486/MFAdvanceSearch.htm

In all the queries, there are no more than 2 funds that show up as common in top 10. There are at least 6-8 categories of debt funds and not all of the seem to show up in the same category on all the listings. Everybody seems to have their favourite fund houses and will not carry some of them. The names of fund also don't seem consistent or there are too many similar sounding names. The names themselves are way too long and every website uses a different abbreviation.

It almost feels like the personal finance industry business model is to confuse you enough so that they can easily con you. In the end, I spent a good saturday afternoon trying to unravel this mystery but I am as lost as ever. Any help will be really appreciated.

The missing trust

Why are we that way, I wonder but clearly we as Indians don't trust anybody. At work, we don't trust our managers or colleagues or the customer. At school and college we don't trust our teachers. On the road we don't trust the fellow travelers. At home we don't trust our family members or our neighbors. Forget trusting our politicians, the milkman, the grocer, autowalla...

It does not require rocket science to figure out how we came about to being what we are. If we have no time to internalize what we learn, how will we trust. Our socialist structure created nothing but mistrust. When we have always believed that there is a fixed pie which has to be shared, how do we trust the other guy to be fair? We have grown up in a constant fear, of our share being taken away by someone else so how can we trust?

Aren't we loosing out because of this? Nothing big can stand on a single pillar but if we continue to not trust each other, how do we make a bridge? How do we archive something larger than oneself. Isn't this leading to a vicious cycle where the trustworthy are getting squeezed being doubted all the time, getting frustrated and getting out of the system. For sure the system is doing nothing to build trust, cause it makes it harder for the system to exploit you. So shouldn't we be taking the first step to break this cycle?

DevBis-Day 3 & 4

After using the Public transport for 2 days, like all rationalists I decide to benchmark my findings against other alternatives.

On Day 3 I forgo my sleep and take the company bus. The scheduled departure of my company bus from Arekere Gate is 7:20AM. This is further away from my regular BPL stop and takes 10 min of walk compared to my usual 5. As expected, I am running late by 3 min. Decide to ask for a drop on the bike to save some time. Manage to get to the stop by 7:15 and see a bus with my company logo standing. Boy am I glad or what.

I hop in sit down but no familiar faces, and the bus starts at 7:16. Now I smell a rat...if the schedule is for 7:20 why are we starting 4 minutes early. Quick check and I realize this one goes to a different campus. Stop the bus before it has gone too far, and walk back to the stop, this time determined to check the route number before boarding. The bus comes at 7:25, it is a Tempo Traveller, quite full and I squeeze between folks in the last seat, and take out my paperback. Could have drowned in it but for the periodic pot holes, humps and the swiveling vehicle. The driver must have been driving an auto before this.

At 8:00AM the bus enters the office premises and my stomach feels all weird from all the shaking. I must be getting old as well. The smell of diesel (from exhaust or otherwise) seems to have adversely affected my situation. Time taken 50min, total cost Rs. 0/-, but I get a feeling that maybe I should stick to the Volvos.

Day 4 I decide to take the car. I have been driving to work, everyday, for 4 years now but there is no data which could be used to benchmark. Hence start my controlled experiment to get to Deverabeesanahalli in my car.

Like the previous days, I start from home at 7:35 to keep the traffic constant. I will not go into graphic details of my drive, cause no one reading this would like to relive any moment of driving in Bangalore. The important info to get out from the trip is that I reach work at 8:15AM. That means commute time 40 min. Cost of getting there Rs. 58 (just the fuel cost in my car).

So finally here is the Summary:

Volvo: Time taken - 1 Hr : Cost- Rs. 26
Office Transport: Time Taken - 50 min: Cost - Rs. 0
Car: Time Taken - 40 min: Cost - Rs. 58 (fuel only)

Like all smart people I will also extrapolate the data to create another option which I never got around trying :-)

Auto (Silk Board)/Volvo : Time Taken - 50 min: Cost Rs. 55/-

Just to make is look cool, here are the assumptions:

1. Traffic is taken to be the same all days of the week
2. Bus route and all other routes (Company Bus, Car & Auto/Volvo) differ.
3. All the costs are calculated with exact fare assuming you carry change/don't forget to get it from the conductor who usually writes the change at the back of the tickets.
   

As for what I am going to do, I have moved my starting time to 7:30 (instead of the originally planned 7:40) and continue to use the Volvos. This still gives me 20 min extra sleep in the morning.

If you have other ideas/suggestions post them as comments.

Deverabeesanahalli - Day 2

Leave home 5 min early, 7:35 to be precise, all decided to take an auto to Silk Board. The Big swings on Big 10 was totally discouraging. 5 min walk and I am at the stop. Waiting for the auto, planning the bargaining strategy but surprise-surprise there is a Volvo no 365J coming along and there are seats available. Too hard to resist, board the bus, give exact change of Rs. 8/-, 15 min of very comfortable ride and I am at Jayadeva stop, dot at 7:55AM.

The walk to the other bus stop does not feel so bad. Cross a lady at the exact same spot as Day 1 and check my watch to see if I am loosing time, but no, looks like she left her home 5 min early too. Reach the stop. Learning fast from my experience, I position myself strategically so that I am right in front of the rear door and I am ready to dash to be the first to get in. As the bus approaches, 500C again, the heartbeat goes up (not much, maybe just a couple of beat a min), thinking about what the error margin may look like. Brakes are applied, bus comes to a halt and yes I am the closest to the rear door, jump in, plenty of seats, now there is no hurry, pick a comfortable one, open my paperback, oblivious to the surrounding.

But yes, I am totally enlightened about bus dynamics, so as the bus I approaches my stop, I am totally ready to create a din to make it stop the bus but the signal is Red and all I have to do is ask the door to be opened. Looks like today is my lucky day (at least that is what I thought then).

8:35AM and I am there. Quite a comfortable ride and in exact 1 hr. 5 min less than Day 1

Mission Devarabeesanahalli

The Mission: To get extra 30 min of sleep in the morning
The Modus Operandi: Miss the company Bus and use the public transport instead
Day 1: The operation starts at my apartment, 7:40 in the morning. 4 min walk to the bus stop, and I see a Big 10 just pass before I can cross the road. Was it the sign of things to come? But another 5 min of wait and the next Big 10 appears adding to the smile but standing it is as there are no vacant seats. Since traffic on Banerghatta Road has been diverted the bus gets into Pandurang Nagar. That is when I realize the real folly of the speed breakers. Every time the bus goes over one, the handles (for people to hold onto) sway menacingly and I carefully duck them to avoid getting hit. Another 15min of swaying and Rs. 6 later, I am at Jayadeva my first change. Time 8:05 AM.

The Big 10 drops me in front of Shoppers Stop and my next bus is on the Ring Road which means another walk. 6 min of walk and crossing one of the many infamous BBMP open manhole/uncovered drain (covered by local News 9 under the sensational heading, WHEN WILL THE DRAINS STOP SWALLOWING BANGALOREANS ) I see another Volvo pass by before I can cross the road. Just missed again I think. Another 5 min wait and a 500C Volvo going to ITPL shows up. My in-experience with the public transport hits me on the face because I am waiting at the bus stop, but the bus stops way before. I run to get on board but my in-experience has done the damage, all the seats are taken. Luckily, I get a notional seat, which is not really a seat, but a foam padding right on top of the front wheel. You will know what I mean, if you have travelled on the Volvo yourself. But there is a lot of dead space there which I use to keep my laptop bag and my lunch box but there is no space for my feet which just have to hang around.

This is the longest leg (no pun intended) of the journey and I must say it turned out to be quite comfortable, at least no ducking required. A good 40 min and Rs. 18 later (I had a Rs. 2 marked on my ticket which I promptly collected when I saw my stop approaching), Devarabeesanahalli bus stop was in sight. I get up and go to the front gate, hoping the driver will take the cue. I misjudge the slowing traffic at the junction as the drivers attempt to stop. Next thing I see the bus takes off after crossing the junction. Verbal intervention and a chat with the driver ensures the bus stops but only after adding at least a few minutes to my walk, again showing why experience is more important than education.

But time to rejoice. I am there. Mission Accomplished 1hr 5 min later. Distance travelled 13KM.

Dealing with irrelevance

It is a funny feeling when all the jobs that you want are already taken, what is available is not too bad and nobody knows what will become available and hence there are no timelines that can be assigned to waiting. At one point of time in life you thought it would be really cool to do this but does that hold anymore, I don't know. I feel too old to get excited by cool stuff.

Somewhere there you start looking for a reason to take up what you have at hand, find some kind of relevance to your life, where you want to go and what you want to do. You start building castles in the air.

We all make castles in air, we may call them ambition, dreams, vision, just to bring relevance to our lives..connect them with big picture and feel good. But it is hard to have to construct one over every couple of years and see them blown away in a re-org. The castles may be in the air but believe me it takes a lot of effort to build and maintain them in gales of corporate world.