E for Entrepreneur
I’m a mompreneur apart from everything else I do. My 5 year old uses the E-word (Entrepreneur) very often. When she hears it on TV she will yell,“Mamma, this guy just said your favourite word ENTREPRENEUR!” She thinks I have some sort of copyright on the word!!
Most people presume I sit at Alok’s office in Mumbai. Fact is, I work from home … in Goa! I constantly interact with all of you amazing folks online only; I consider myself blessed that I’m the first person to read your stories; most times I know the ‘story behind the story’; lots and lots of Rodinhooders send me emails every single day to share their triumphs, new developments, ideas, confusions, fears, or sometimes just to say Hey!
The best part is whenever I travel, whichever city I visit, I manage to catch up with some Rodinhooders!
Y’day, in Delhi (my husband is a dilliwala, so we make a couple of trips to the city) some of us broke pizza together! We had a blast. We didn’t talk shop. We didn’t talk startup. We didn’t talk pain points. We didn’t talk struggle. We talked therodinhoods… and the magical things that happen to all of us owing to it!
jab we met over pizza and pyaar! L-R: akshay, soumya,gurleen, kaanchan, anamika, asha & aarini, gurpreet, mohul, tarun.
E for Earnest
I met Anamika & Tarun of nailbites (a boutique ad agency) for the first time (though they’ve attended the Oct.’12 Open House that I attended as well). We’re constantly in touch online. But had never met! It didn’t seem that way at all. I happened to ask Anamika if she had any Rodinhooder clients! She surprised me… (to be cont’d…)
Anamika is a regular writer on trhs. She writes straight-from-the-heart. And posts unpredictably pleasing content.
E for Experimenting
Tarun, I suspect, is a guy of few words but wears many a hat. He also happens to be a gifted photographer. Both Anamika & Tarun are earnest in their approach to life. They are constant learners, encourage others, believe in team work, and try to do experience new things (Jaipur Lit fest, GoaFest). They will go places.
E for Enterprising
I met Soumya Jain for the first time as well. My gosh… she looks like a college kid! She’s petite. She appears to be shy. But she’s been a successful entrepreneur for 3 years now! She’s even been a Rodinhooder for a very long time, but only recently shared her story about LuxuryFacts with us. It totally blew us all away!!! I have huge respect for youngsters who have decided not to follow the herd.
E for Explorer
Akshay Backpacker Chhugani is someone I’m extremely fond of! He is a pioneer in backpacking in India. Heck, he’s SYNONYMOUS to BACKPACKING in India. And yet, he’s the humblest dude you’ll ever come across. He is one entrepreneur to watch and learn from!
I introduced the 5 year old to ‘Akshay the Backpacker’. Eyes wide open she said, “Just like Dora the Explorer…?! WOW!”
I’ve met him once before for exactly 3 mins! But we’ve been in constant touch. For the simple reason, we share our love for TRAVEL… Y’day Akshay mentioned two things that made me beam!
– Whenever the word entrepreneur is mentioned he tells the whole world about trhs!!
– Apparently a lot of his friends keep telling him Indian Backpacker’s fb updates should be like indiadecoded’s fb page! [indiadecoded happens to be my passion venture]
E for Enthusiastic
[Gurrr and Gurrrr]
I don’t think Gurpreet needs an introduction. He is a very active Rodinhooder. Ever helpful. Ever smiling. Ever willing to go the extra mile to make someone’s life better. He is instrumental in keeping the Rodinhooders of Delhi active. He has a photographic memory. He remembers every post on trhs. Every status update on social media. Every comment. Every photograph. He is a man of many talents. But is remembered for being ever so warm & entertaining.
Gurleen is mysterious and full of pleasant surprises! If you want to discuss finance with her, you better be prepared. Check this out, if you don’t believe me!
E for Evolving
I’d never met Mohul before. I’ve interacted with him a number of times as he is an occasional contributor on trhs and an active member as well. He’s intense. He shares ideas. He’s one helluva writer! He openly admires Alok. Even says he feels the urge to get recharged at Open Houses (which he wished would be more frequent)! He wants to do a lot of things in life. And I can see he’s getting there…
E for Exchange
I met Kaanchan Bugga last October. We actually have another connection. Her hubby and my hubby used to work at the same ad agency nearly 2 decades ago. But trhs brought us together!
Kaanchan is the perfect person to exchange ideas with. Being from advertising, both of us seem to be in sync. We can quickly bounce ideas and share stuff with each other. Even though I’ve never really spent much quality time with her, our brief interaction always results into something constructive!
Kaanchan has always always volunteered to help us (especially me) on trhs. Just having her around as someone to consult itself is a huge support.
E for Editor
When therodinhoods started, the tag was something like “where enterprising people meet”. I wasn’t a startup person when I discovered trhs. I was just Alok’s friend who used to give him feedback on his writings. But the first time he spoke to me over the phone, he said something that left a huge impression on my mind. He said, “You know Asha, what I love most about this community is that it’s GENUINE.”
For some reason, that one word stayed with me. GENUINE. There was this ring of sincerity in his voice. If you’ve spoken to him, you’ll know what I mean.
I ultimately became a Rodinhooder when I agreed to become Alok’s editor. I thought I was teaming up with one close friend. Little did I know I was teaming up to discover thousands of new close friends!
And this GENUINE is what keeps me going every single day. I discover and befriend at least one new enterprising Rodinhooder every day. Alok and I firmly believe that trhs needs to be like TEDx. Where everything is about the members. Founders and managers don’t really matter. I mean, look at us – we don’t beg, borrow or steal content. We create our own content! What we say matters. We are relevant. We’re a super fast-growing community, evolving every day. Yeah, we’ve got a really good thing going…
The Rodinhooders of Delhi organise structured meetups (which are announced on trhs) once in 2 months or so. I applaud their effort. No matter which city you live in, I think it’s really important to keep meeting each other over coffee, over conversation, over any excuse. Because I believe sharing ideas, thoughts, doubts with like-minded people is the most constructive way of building on an idea. You never know how the briefest interaction can sometimes add immense value to your original thought. And spark off a fire!
At night as I tucked the 5 year old in bed, I asked what she liked most about the day. “The cube circus performance (in Gurgaon) was awesome mamma. But I really liked winning that dessert for all of us today! You have cool friends mamma. E for Entrepreneur. R for Rodinhooder. Right mamma…?!”
p.s: I will continue to informally catch up with my Rodinhooders in any city I happen to visit. And that’s a promise. Beware… I’m horrible with a capital H. I hug. I laugh loudly (and a lot). I talk nonstop. I’m obsessed with good food. And my 5 year old asks a lot of questions!
pps: feel free to share your jab we met stories. if we have lots, we’ll start a section!!
photo credits: tarun & gurpreet