The story of how I joined Hypto fresh out of an all India road trip.
Chapter 1 — The Call
25 June 2021, Leh Ladakh, India. I was having a great time with my newfound friends in the Himalayas during my “Dream India Roadtrip”, enjoying dinner at a restaurant called Ladakh Sarai. Around 9:30 PM, I received a phone call from Aravind, the co-founder of Hypto. The last time we spoke was 3 years ago in 2018 when Hypto was founded.
The call goes on for the next 1 hour, all while my friends were enjoying a live music concert with a sumptuous dinner and me, fully concentrating on the phone call, catching up to speed on what Hypto was doing. I still remember that night very vividly, as it was a very long conversation and I had no idea what I’d be doing next in my career. (after the trip.)
Aravind was so kind in answering all sorts of questions that I threw at him and explained what they were doing at Hypto and how they’ve got big plans for the fintech — developers ecosystem. Initially, I was not able to grasp everything that Aravind said to me, but I knew the co-founders pretty well and that they are up to something great.
Chapter 2 — Who am I?
Before I talk more about the call and what transpired from it, let me introduce myself first.
I’m Kishore, a product designer who started his career as a graphic designer back in 2015. I come from a very humble middle-class family. Parents both in their late 60s retired and eagerly waiting for me to get hitched 😂.
All my childhood, the only mode of “travel” I got exposed to, was the occasional visits to the temples that are in and around Tamil Nadu. This remained largely the same throughout my engineering days as well. Oh yes, yet another computer science engineer here 😂.
However, things started to fall in place as soon as I started working in 2015 and got my first motorcycle. I remember riding 50kms every day to the office and back, for a very meagre salary. At that moment, all I wanted to do was to learn more and polish my design skills. So I wasn’t too worried about making more money, even though it was hand-to-mouth every month. I am someone who hates being in my comfort zone. I just love being challenged and subjected to high-pressure situations, because that’s where I shine the most.
August 2016, I remember taking my first long trip to Yelagiri hills from Chennai. Although it was just 220kms, my friend & I took our sweet little time and reached Yelagiri in 6 hours. My first motorcycle was the 150cc Yamaha FZ and I remember it being a very painful yet satisfying experience to reach the destination. It is actually very difficult to explain why touring on motorcycles is so much fun to car people and non-bikers. So you just have to take my word for it 😆!
I never thought riding long distances on motorcycles was even possible on bikes, let alone 150cc commuter bikes. This passion to ride motorcycles started off from watching a few YouTubers. Particularly one YouTuber called Mumbiker Nikhil, who’s now a very popular lifestyle Youtuber with over 3m subscribers, although he started off as a travel content creator. He used to ride all across India, multiple 1000kms from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and upload them as moto-vlogs on Youtube. This was a very fresh genre of travelogues and moto-vlogging was practically a non-existent terminology back then.
Anyway, so that’s where it all began. The itch to ride. For the love of motorcycles and exploring places. Ever since 2016, I’ve ridden and explored so many places in South India. Slowly upgraded to a bigger 400cc motorcycle to make the highway runs effortless and cover more distances.
Chapter 3- The Dream India Ride
Now that I’ve been riding for a few years, I’ve always been wanting to do a trip to the Himalayas on my motorcycle from Chennai. This was a dream ride in the making, since 2019. I started saving up ₹10,000 every month on a SIP, just for this ride. My initial plan was to ride to the Himalayas for a month and be back to Chennai for the same mundane 9–5 routine. And we all know what happened in 2020.
I still did not lose hope. Continued working, hoping the world will be a better place soon. Travel was not even a priority, surviving was. We switched to WFH and that’s when everything started getting worse.
Being locked at home for over 6 months, the mundane lifestyle was too demotivating, to say the least. I do understand the privilege of having a job and being able to take care of my family while it was very difficult for the world out there. But after a point, It started getting on me. It had been over 3 years with this company and I really wanted a break from the monotony.
Then finally in Jan 2021, when there was a sigh of relief and covid cases were almost non-existent, I put my papers. Feb 26th was my last day.
Yes, I decided to quit my job and travel across India on a motorcycle, solo.
I had some really crazy reactions coming in from all fronts. Some logical and some emotional;
— Why aren’t you taking a sabbatical instead of quitting the job altogether?
— You must be insane to quit a stable job and travel, especially during a pandemic!
— What if you don’t get a job when you’re done with the trip?
— How would you manage money for your home?
— Why are you riding solo? Take someone with you!
To answer all of the above, I just wanted to travel without being inundated by work-related stuff. And enjoy the moment.
I may sound like a crazy person but I take a lot of calculated risks. Risks that are well within my limits as I do have a family and especially when I am the sole breadwinner. So with all the money that I saved up during the last 1.5 years, I took the plunge.
The rough plan for the trip was to start from Chennai, all the way to Himachal Pradesh and also take pit-stops in between and make my way back to Chennai in a different route, again taking a few pit-stops. Because there’s so much to explore in India, not just Ladakh for a biker!
The estimated cost for the whole trip was 1.5 lacs and the estimated timeline was 40–45 days. With a few days for buffer.
March 10, 2021. Day numero uno. Chennai to Hyderabad. Everything went super smooth. I packed light, taking only 2 sets of clothes. However, looking at the luggage setup below, no one would call this setup “light” 😆!
Well, I have another passion which is Photography and Videography, so naturally, a lot of stuff — GoPros, DSLR, laptop, memory cards, batteries, accessories etc had to be brought along. And on top of it, a few spares and tools for the motorcycle. That’s why my luggage setup was this big.
Also, why are the two things that I love doing, are the most expensive things to have as a hobby 🧐 ???
Anyway, cribbing aside, the trip was super smooth and I loved every bit of it. Every city, fresh out of lockdowns and people coming out, was a scary yet adventurous ride. I did of course take all precautions, kept my distance wherever I went.
After exploring the lovely cuisine and places at Hyderabad, I made my way to Mumbai. Explored Mumbai for 5 days instead of the planned 3. This city hit me on a different level. I loved the vibe and enjoyed every bit of it.
The Statue of Unity in Gujarat was next. And then Ahmedabad, Rann of Kutch, Jaisalmer, Amritsar, Mcleodganj, Bir, Kasol, Manali, Jibhi, Rampur, Kalpa, Tabo, Kaza, Manali, Leh, Nubra, Pangong, Kargil, Srinagar, Chandigarh and then finally Gurgaon. A grand total of 9600kms till Gurgaon.
118 days after I started from Chennai, July 5, 2021, the trip finally saw its end. Now, if you remember, my plan for the trip was just 40–45 days. How come it took me 118 days then?
Obviously, Covid paid us a second visit. The second wave was unexpected and shook the whole country. I was in Kaza, Spiti Valley, 12,000 ft above sea level. One of the most isolated places in the Indo-Tibetan region. Although the cases were non-existent in Himachal, it was quite serious in other parts of the country. Took a decision to stay back in Kaza till the situation subsides with a few friends I made at the hostel in Kaza (Zostel). I mean, come on! getting stuck in the mountains was a blessing in disguise.
Here’s a glimpse of the outrageously stunning Spiti valley!
It was the most memorable phase of my life.
40 days, in the remotest regions with no tourists around. We were not allowed to move out of the district, everything was under lockdown. But eventually, everything worked out in our favour. And somehow, the finances worked out even better than I had imagined.
Surprisingly, the total expenditure for the trip for 118 days was at 1.8 lacs compared to the 1.5 lacs I had planned for 40–45 days. There could be a couple of reasons for this, I chose to stay in Hostels most of the time. So stays were quite affordable, food wasn’t that expensive and I wasn’t riding every single day, so the cost of petrol was spread out evenly. Secondly, I overestimated the expenditure initially, which kind of helped me in the end.
I did end up breaking a few mutual funds, because of the extended stay, to manage the expenses back at home.
Chapter 4 — Joining Hypto
After the second wave subsided in May, a lot of places up north opened up. So from Manali, I reached Leh and that was the last leg of my journey. I learnt that Kashmir and Ladakh needs a lot more time to explore, the way I explore. So I decided to end the trip after Leh, making a short pitstop at Srinagar.
Everyone at home missed me badly and obviously, I was getting homesick. Especially missed my mom’s food & I was getting tired of having Aloo Paratha every day for breakfast.
And then the call with Aravind happened in Leh. I explained my situation and that I was actually unemployed, travelling solo in the mountains. I told him that my trip was coming to an end and will plan to meet him in a couple of weeks time. And then rode from Srinagar to Chandigarh and Gurgaon. Also, I did not ride all the way back from Gurgaon to Chennai. I shipped the bike and flew to Chennai.
July 10, 2021. I met Abhishek and Aravind at their Kotturpuram office. I loved everything they had to offer and I had nothing to lose. It is a win-win.
I got associated with Hypto and it has been an amazing journey ever since. The calculated risk that I had taken to quit my job and travel, without having an offer in hand, worked out well in the end eh? 😉
You can find me on Instagram for more pics (and stories) from the trip. And I am also planning to post videos from the trip on my YouTube channel very soon.
I hope you’re not lost because of the non-linear writing or whatever mess of a blog this has turned out to be 🙈.
If you are still reading this, hats off! Thanks for staying with me all the way and reading my journey 😊.
Joining Hypto as a full-time designer was something I never thought about. Not because I thought little about the company, but it was never in my crosshairs. I had no plans, no idea where I was going to be before the trip. But things happen for a reason, eh?
Oh and talking about full-time opportunities, we’d love to have you on the team if you also like what we’re doing.
We have openings across multiple roles in Engineering, Product & Design. You can apply by clicking here.
Good day, to you!
