Dad was persistent for a long time on sending me to Delhi to my maternal uncle. I somehow managed to avoid that by diverting the discussion to two of his favourite subjects - politics and sports. Every time he raised concern over my career and started convincing me why should I go to Delhi, I gave him a new idea to buy some more time for me.
I was very much enthusiastic to start my own business one day. I found some of my friends interested too and ultimately we started our own computer hardware business. The name of the company was 'creative systems'. We spent a week to design the company's logo and once finalised, we had our letterhead and business cards printed. All of us had the same designation - 'partner'. The feeling was so great that it still gives me goose bumps whenever I feel nostalgic and think about those days.
We started visiting offices to get orders for new computers or maintenance for the old ones, but after a week of doing so we found it was easier said than done. We held at least seven meetings and devised as many number of strategies in as many days but one thing that eluded us was - the first order.
Ultimately, we bagged our first order to supply a monitor and we made a profit of 600/- rupees...WOW !!! That night we partied to celebrate our first sale. We spent around 1000/- rupees to celebrate a profit of 600/- rupees. Anyway, we were happy thinking that we did something. In childhood I read several stories of 'rags to riches' which inspired me every time I read those. After making the first sale I considered myself as the next subject of these stories. It was a classic case of counting the chickens before they were hatched.
Creative Systems never received its second order. Two of us got good offers and went to Bangalore. One went to his hometown Ahmedabad and joined his dad's business. Other two realised that staying with me might ruin their future, so they left too. I was all alone, dejected, somewhat rejected and a bit disappointed about the failure of my brainchild. That was the end of my 'rags to riches' story.
Later on I heard one of my friends who took all the letterheads along with him earned good amount of money by issuing fake experience certificates to people. It gave me some satisfaction that creative systems ultimately did make some money.
The stint with creative systems earned me something invaluable - experience. It changed the way I looked at my life. I stopped taking everything for granted 'cause I understood everything was available in this world as long as I earned them.
It took me a week to get out of the dejection and as soon as I was ready to roll again, I booked my ticket to Delhi.
Very Interesting !! I never knew this side of you! Can't wait for the next one!!
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