Of Start-ups, their Grind and the quintessential Aunty

by Abhishek Sharma

The other day, I was (one more time this week) reminded of this TV advertisement of a global sporting apparel & accessories major. The video had been introduced to me by a very senior colleague from the dark hallows of investment banking I used to be part of a while ago, in the land of dreams & extremes — aka Mumbai.

The video certainly did make sense back then, and I must admit that I did get goosebumps as I first watched it on my handheld’s 4.5-inch display late into that night. But soon, like many of those inspiring movies that you watch > get inspired > decide to put a dent in the universe > (but the very next morning onward) > And forget all about it the next morning as you get into the daily struggles (or chores) of life, it became a thing of past.

Recently, basically since the time I have taken that first small mega-step towards starting-up and building something of my own, this ~3-minute clip comes to mind more times than once-a-week. Somewhere into the storyline, in the beginning itself, the voiceover (it is extremely impactful by-the-way!) says — “Welcome to the grind, the battle royale between ……”

This time, as I watched it (n-th time in the past few weeks), I could relate to the voiceover even more. What it said could almost exactly be correlated to what I have been going through ever since that first small mega-step! My thoughts drifted towards trying to understand what does grind mean for folks around me. As I tried to figure that out, I asked myself — Hey, let’s see what was the grind for me before my first small mega-step.

And, in came the chiffon-saree-sleeveless-blouse-Vaijayanti-Mala-Juda (or was it some other 80’s actress!)-clad image of pados wali Aunty (Lets call her Aunty). What would she say when Mom tells her about my big step (Aunty has this very smart way of being updated about the goings-on in every household she knows)! What is the possibility of her affecting my parents’ thoughts around my big step (She definitely has this ability to create a YRF’s high-on-emotions scene anytime! anywhere!)! How she would bring up the topic about her well-settled kid and his well-paying MNC job every single time she meets Mom (Yes, she still does that but now on it’ll be different)! And most importantly, should I even consider going home this new year’s eve to face her and her rhetorical life-changing questions (She has some great lessons of life on every topic humanity has ever faced).

Bazzinga! She has-been, was, is and will-be my greatest fear! She was the grind I had gone through before being able to take this step and she is the grind I will have to go through after taking it as well (well, for some time at least!). She defines grind for me! And, in a high-context society (for the uninitiated, simply put, a high-context society is one where people typically do not say and do what they want to and are driven by social context they are a part of!) like ours, I suspect she defines that grind for many around me!

Long ago, I had come across an interesting piece of statistic — while majority of snakes are not poisonous, most people succumb to a snake-bite because of the extreme fear of having been poisoned by a snake (while there was no deadly poison in the first place). I am led to believe many succumb to Aunty and lead a life not-of-their-choice because of their fear of facing Aunty. And it is for those, that I say, that she is not as poisonous! In fact, as clichéd as it may sound, she makes one stronger on the way. And, in most cases, gets onto your side eventually.

If Aunty is your reason for not leading a life of your choice, care not folks! Take that first small mega-step! For there has been no better time than now for starting-up — identifying a problem and building a solution to that! So Rise and Shine! Aunty will get on your side. Sooner than you think!

The author is co-founder of HereNow, a location based social communication application. It enables users to connect to interesting people around them, see what is trending in their local environment and get an opportunity to be a Good Samaritan!

HereNow was recently showcased at Startup Grind Delhi — Powered by Google for Entrepreneurs and was declared the Best Upcoming Technology Product! Startup Grind is a global community designed to educate, inspire and connect entrepreneurs, with active chapters in over 50 cities across the world.