Category: #sg2013

The Eco Mode 2

Sometime in August of last year I made these two posts. Each of them is worth revisit. A Thursday and as a result, Eco Mode. To save time, Id summarize things here. In those two posts I said that I was very fucked up with how things were moving so slow in life and I needed to do something about it. And to do something, I needed money. And for money, since my dad is not rich, I needed to save. And to save, I needed to stop spending on frivolous things, and hence the eco mode.

Fast forward to May/June of 2013. About nine months since I first spoke about Eco Mode. Not much has changed. Delhi is hotter. I have lost more hair. I haven’t stopped splurging and I am poorer than what I was back then, blame it on a few capital expenses. Yesterday I met a friend who just joined a startup and he’s getting paid a tiny atomic bomb for his salary. In terms of numbers, he now makes 4 times compared to me. And he and I are classmates. Nothing wrong with it. He probably deserves it more than me. But he did open my eyes to possibilities that exist for me.

So like last time, I have decided that I would get into Eco Mode starting now. And today was a good start. I had to meet a friend and unlike most days when I take my car for any and every meeting, I took the metro. The journey in the metro sucked but it wasnt very tough. I could live with it. Of course I will not do this everyday but its manageable. Idea is to cut down on unnecessary expenses and save as much as I can.

Coming to money, I have just one savings account and just one credit card. I make all my expenses from the credit card, except tolls, parking and other small out of pocket expenses. This ensures that I have a bill for each transaction and I can verify the spends at the end of the month. And of course I get loyalty points that get me free air tickets.

So I want to take a break by the end of the year for a month or so. During that time I want to travel, probably write a book, take it easy. And I have seven six months to go. In the next six months, here are my measurable goals…

  • Save 40% of my income. From all sources. Right now I have one source of income. I need to increase it. Thats my other goal. 
  • Make money from 3 sources. And predictable income at that. 
  • Get monthly credit card bill to 50% of the average of previous six months’ bills. 

Thats about it. If I can manage these three, I think I would be in a comfortable enough position to take a break.

Of course what I do with life and career is entirely different all together. More on it during one of these days in the 1000WADv2.

Look ma, I got a writing table!

Ever since I thought I could be a writer, I have always craved for a table that I could sit on an write. A table that I could use to pen my thoughts on. A place that I could make messy, a place that I could call my own. A place where I could feel good about doing something. A place that gives me the peace of mind. A place that make my fingers fly on the keyboard without much effort. A place that becomes my escape and my durbar. And a place that could inspire me. And a place that could help me get that one story out of me.

I dont really have the best of things or best of choices but I think I finally have the kind of place that I have wanted. I am not too happy with the room that I am in but I cant ask for everything at the same time? Can I? There are people far less fortunate that do wonders with whatever limited things they have. I, on the other hand, more than I could ask for. Just need to make the most of it.

Wish me luck! Hope that 2013 is as great as I have envisioned it to be!

The New SG.com

One of the things for Feb, apart from the list that I made a few days, I would redesign SG.com. So far its just a blurb but eventually it would reflect who I am and what I do. It would have links to my posts, my writings, my observations, projects and other such things. And it would be something that someone could goto and get a birds eye view about me in one glance. And then once they are there, they could get details, if they desire to.

I have a design idea in my head. Lets see how it translates into action.

Hastags for Feb 2013

Here is a long list of things that I’d do in Feb 2013.

#running – because I will take this up as a serious hobby. Thanks to @GurgaonCynic and Raj Sharma for inspiration. And thanks to Mrs. Neo and the bglsr team for the push.

#bridge – I shall try and learn a new card game apart from poker. Thanks to Arpit for the invite. While I talk about Bridge, I may goto Goa to participate in some poker tournament as well. After all poker remains a long term objective 
#writing – I will finish Ghanta Ghar. If I do, I’d blame it on @Anaggh for the idea. And @Suds for inspiration. 
#gravity – work. Would you know of someone who may need a vendor for marketing support services? 
Thats about it. Four things. In this new year (#sg2013) I shall try and do small things, rather than plan for grandiose mansions and then not even put a brick in place.

Substance Abuse!

My addiction to (and experiments with) things like Coke and Red Bull have been documented time and again, on this blog and elsewhere on the Internet. And no wonder I am told that I am an addict. In my defense. To be honest, there is no problem in being an addict, its just that its a drain on money (both coke and Red Bull are expensive indulgences) and apparently they are hazardous to health. But I am the kinds that goes by empirical evidence and since there is no documented evidence as such, I refuse to hear the conspiracy theorists and regularly give in to the temptation and consume as much sugar water and caffeine as I can afford.

But then I realized that I am on the wrong side of the bell curve now and I need to try and do things that would make me an outlier (read live a 100 years). Like the current fads in India, the health and fitness fad is in vogue and is attracting attention by the buckets. And being a marketer’s delight, I cant stay away from it. So I thought may be, 2013 could be the year when I make myself a better individual. And to start with, I could focus on tangibles like health. Common sense tells me that I need to stop the rampant substance abuse that I am so used to. In fact one of the resolutions of 2013 is to get fit and run finish a marathon by end of this year. Ofcourse running requires lot of stamina and running a marathon requires training, determination and a huge willpower. I, to be honest, have none of these things but I hope to work on these during this year.

Thus, since 2013 started, I have not touched coke or red bull. Part of the reason is health, part if money (Mumbai is an expensive place) and a huge part is test of determination and willpower. Imagine me ignoring that water droplet trickling down the shiny metal case, that little pop when you pull the flip tab back, that rush of fizz when the can just opens and that anticipation of ice cold coca cola going down my throat. I’d say impossible. But I’d make the impossible possible. Its been 4 days and I havent felt any real need. Except that I am low on energy the entire day. Let me talk about that!

When I was consuming it, all the sugar and caffeine gave me abundant energy to engage in million things that I am working on all the time. So much so that I could go three days without sleep. Avoiding these two things has had a stupid side effect on me. The entire day, I am low on energy and sleepy. A feeling that I hate like no other. I have tried alternatives like no-sugar coffee, green tea, lime water etc but nothing seems to be working so far. I am as sleepy as I was in those financial management classes, back in college, which I dont even know why I took!

Funny is that while I was in Delhi, I dont think I had these issues as I slept very little and yet I was so full of energy the entire day. And yes there was a time when I was off these two substances an yet I had all the energy. Guess something is wrong with Mumbai. Apart from this bout of lethargy, there are funny rashes all over the skin. I only consume bottled water and prefer eating simple food. And yet my body is not accepting this place. Dunno how. Dunno why.

Maybe I need to get back to substance abuse soon. Dunno. Any tips?

Goals for 2013. 1000 words a day.

Some numbers. An average fiction book is about 70000 words. There are 365 days in a year. And it takes about thirty minutes to write 1000 words. If I was to club all these together, I get the magical number of 5 books a year. Thats amazing. For someone like me, who has been a struggling writer since 1982, publishing even one book would be like a dream come true. And here I have the opportunity to get 5 books done!

All I need is little bit of perseverance and little bit of push. I am willing to write 1000 words a day but I have external locus of control. Who, then, wants to volunteer to give me that nudge?

P.S.: Over the next few days I shall talk about my goals for this coming year. So the posts would be small, to the point and will hopefully have tangibles! I am using #sg2013 to talk about it, here and on twitter.