The Station Master of Serendipity
Vinod Muthukrishnan #JeenaIsiKaNaamHain
As a child, I loved train journeys.
It was not just the thrill of visiting exciting new places or familiar comfort spots that enthralled me. It was the social experience of a train ride that I found bewitching. So many perfect strangers thrown together in a constrained space for a limited period of time. The confined bounds of the train compartment meant that socializing was almost inevitable — especially in the days before the advent of mobile phones. The fact that every train journey had a finite endpoint also implied that the whimsical relationships that you are destined to build with your fellow passengers are born with an expiry date.
What I found fascinating was that despite these constraints (or perhaps because of them), you could make friends and exchange stories readily — a fleetingly short journey of shared memories and wistful laughter that was an allegory to the serendipitous nature of life itself.
But what if you saw every social interaction in life as a joyful train ride? What would life look like then?
I suspect it would look a lot like a day in the life of Vinod Muthukrishnan!
I think of Vinod not just as a passenger of a train journey but as the “Station Master of Serendipity”. Someone who doesn’t just seek out serendipitous encounters but actively engineers it!
I first met Vinod on a journey that was quite similar to a train ride — at an event. Around six years back at a SaaSX conference in Chennai, I saw Vinod — he was resplendent, wearing a pink T-shirt with “Cloudcherry” emblazoned on it. I was intrigued both by the quirky startup name as well as the bold choice of shirt color. I didn’t get to meet him then, but even from a distance, I was struck by the man’s warmth and the way he moved around the room connecting with every single person.
I met him again a few months later in Mysore, during PNGrowth, a conference that hosted nearly 185 entrepreneurs. This time I got to interact with him at close quarters. The bonhomie struck was instantaneous and natural which he spruced with self-deprecatory humor. This is what makes him affable. That day, he was making light of the kind of stress that entrepreneurs have as a constant reminder, and he regaled his audience with anecdotes on how VCs treated him. Later that night, a small group of friends went out for drinks, and it kicked off what would be a regular bonding session afterwards. DPC or #DaruPeCharcha, was soon branded and it was largely because of Vinod and Ashish Tulsian’s nurturing that it’s still vibrant today.
I got to know Vinod closely over the next few years since then.
The most striking thing about him is the two sides to his personality. His public face is as the garrulous life of the party, holding center stage by the force of his quick wit and ready personality. But there’s a more private aspect as well — a deeply sensitive and philosophical soul that shows itself in private moments and one on one interactions. With anyone else, this combination would perhaps seem incongruous and incompatible but for whose of us who have been lucky enough to have known Vinod at close quarters, it makes perfect sense — like two sides of a coin that represent entirely different things but are eternally bound together and come together to form a coherent whole.
The second remarkable thing about Vinod is the way he carefully orchestrates and engineers serendipity to fill his life experiences.
In one of his eloquent blog posts, Vinod makes a powerful observation to demonstrate this facet of his. Let us say you want to meet Tom Cruise. Well, if you are permanently stationed in Chennai, then no amount of effort or hope will improve your chances of meeting the charismatic actor. The likelihood is very slim. But what if you were to spend a lot of time hanging around in L.A. and in areas that Tom visits? Even then, it is improbable that you would have met him soon, but your chances would have gone up substantially and perhaps is even possible.
Vinod believes that there is a remarkable correlation between network density and serendipity. Simply put, if you want a certain kind of person to know who you are, then you have to be there in their midst — and often.
It doesn’t come easily, and one must be prepared to invest in building friendships with a lot of patience and noble intent. Vinod did that all throughout his career and particularly when he landed in the Bay Area and decided to make it his home. The intent has to be genuine and there has to be a strong desire to know people for who they are.
It was during the Freshworks IPO that Vinod and I were traveling from New York to San Francisco, and we were headed towards the lounge. Vinod wanted something to eat. While looking around, he accidentally bumped into a lady who was in her mid-fifties. A serendipitous encounter perhaps — she worked in the pantry and Vinod made an instant request to her. Magically, she fetched what he wanted and voila, they struck a beautiful friendship. I remember that he spent five-six minutes speaking to her and their conversation was marked by peals of laughter. A common occurrence around Vinod — and one that works beyond the bounds of race, class and creed.
That is Vinod’s superpower — connecting with people from all walks of life and connecting with them in a manner that makes people feel good about themselves.
Like many Indians, Vinod speaks many languages but he has an uncanny skill to talk like a native speaker in each language keeping the milieu and mood in mind. For example, if he is speaking to you in Hindi (or English for that matter) and in a light moment, he will not shy away from using words that are not commonly heard in keynotes of conferences, if you know what I mean (tongue firmly in cheek).
His dimpled smile adds immeasurably to the overall charm and warms the cockles of the heart. To top it all, his impish sense of humor is the crowning glory.
I have seen him address town halls. I was lucky enough to attend one such event and was impressed how well he articulated Cloudcherry’s vision. His passion had me transfixed and prompted me to ask him — “where do you get all this energy from?”. He told me, “Avinash, an entrepreneur’s journey can be lonely and frightening. Often, he is seen smiling and hobnobbing with people but in the back of his mind, he is unsure if he will be able to pay salaries or not next month. That’s why it’s crucial that I speak to them often and try to understand what they have to say.” This is what makes him proactively reach out to other entrepreneurs and help them whenever he can — a discreet way to “pay it forward”.
Vinod would go on to sell Cloudcherry to Cisco and shine in a senior position there. Even afterwards, many people had reached out to him saying how much they enjoyed working at Cloudcherry and if at a later point in time, he decided to start another venture, they’d be happy to join him. Clearly, he has earned a lot of goodwill. He is a driving force in the Bay Area and continues to connect with founders and help them in every possible manner. He is also a gracious host and many Indians who have traveled to the Bay Area have stayed with him. They never want to stay in any other place, afterwards.
Finally, I must point out that Vinod has extraordinary oratory skills and doubles up as an emcee in many of our events. He is a gifted storyteller to match. There’s one story that is particularly memorable and funnily enough, it is to do with a train — it’s called “Chhuk Chhuk Gadi’’. To those of us who have heard it, it is an enduring memory and we often goad him for an encore whenever we meet him with a new set of people. Something similar to what parents tell their kids when relatives come visiting — “beta woh wala poem suna doh na”. This analogy was drawn by Vinod. “Vinod, aap woh wala story phir se suna do.”
Jokes apart, Vinod’s contribution to the Indian startup ecosystem has been immense. Personally, it has been a privilege to be his friend. Presently, I am in the Bay Area and I am certain that the “Chhuk Chhuk Gadi” narrative will be a major draw once again. It always is.
The train will keep moving. It may not be a perfect journey. Sure. There may even be unexpected stoppages and delays. But, I can tell you that if Vinod is with you on that ride, you will enjoy every single moment and will look forward to the next trip.
Vinod, my dear friend, here’s wishing you great health, happiness and happy encounters — hope you continue to make friends everywhere — be it in an airport lounge, at a black-tie Page 3 party or at a hotdog stand in the Bay Area.
Your train journey will go the distance and while some of us might have joined you on this train only for brief stints between stations and probably got to meet you only because you wanted it to be so, we all know that we have made a friend for a lifetime. Thank you for engineering serendipity. Keep chugging along — Chhuk Chhuk Gadi!
