25 Things I Want Myself to Know at 25

Recently sitting in a boring seminar, surfing along the web, stumbled across a great article written by  Mary Schmidt, a professional optimist, as her twitter profile describes her. Mary shares a list of what she wants to do, feel, know, experience and remember as she completes 25 years of her life. It's a beautiful read and reminds you how important it is to step back once in a while and see where you are going, question yourself, who you are? And what you wanna be?

Her list of 25 @ 25...

1. Most of the time, you don’t know anything about anything. That was true when you were 15 and that will be true when you are 65. You do, however, know how to be a good person and you know how to follow your heart. Keep doing that and you’ll be just fine.                                                                                                           
2. Don’t go on Facebook so much. Seriously, it’s a waste of time.                                                                                                          
3. You’re 25. You’re not in college anymore. You know how to cook a healthy meal. STOP EATING TOP RAMEN, your body doesn’t like it.                                                                                                 
4. Also, it’s time to start drinking a little more responsibly. You started too young and you’ve been in this game for over a decade. However, unlike when you were 15 no one is going to think you are any cooler for taking that extra tequila shot. Slow down on the booze.                                                                                        
5. Remember to always love your big strong legs, your bubble butt, the plumpness of your head, the way your eyes squint when you smile, and the petiteness of your lips. They are precious family heirlooms that have been handed down to you from generations of brilliantly beautiful people.

Indian Startup Scene: Buzzing with excitement

And, I am Made in India...

Recently, +Shikhar Mehra,  a friend of mine shifted his base to United States of America and fell in love with the country. What really attracted him was the startup scene out there. It's full of energy, zeal and things happen really fast. You get an idea today, plan for it a week and could launch it the next week and if lucky, your investors could actually make an exit within six months. (You could be optimistic..!!)

Apart from startup scene in USA, he also was out of his wits when I talked about the startup scenario in India. It was like there is nothing happening. Things just drags on and nothing concrete ever takes place. I tried but couldn't actually make him understand.

So, when I came across an article on Indian startups, I thought it might make a dent on his mind.

India's attempt to ignite a startup boom

Most entrepreneurs remember vividly when they decided to strike out on their own. For Siddhartha Ahluwalia, the moment came over breakfast, in 2009. Then 22 years old and an engineering student at the Indian Institute of Information Technology & Management in Gwalior, he was interning at India's premier graduate business school -- the Ahmedabad campus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM-A). An IIM-A student sat down at Ahluwalia's table and started to talk about his own business -- a tech platform that served TV ads at train stations. "IIM-A is full of energy regarding entrepreneurship," Ahluwalia remembers. "You meet a lot of new entrepreneurs." The fired-up Ahluwalia enlisted three friends as co-founders, and they started work on an advertising platform for doctors' offices. Ahluwalia went door to door in his hometown of Meerut -- an industrial city 50 miles from New Delhi -- trying to get doctors excited about the product. Ranked as one of India's fastest-growing cities, Meerut is frequently cited as a hub for future growth in India -- an international airport and a major Delhi-Meerut highway are in the works. More importantly for Ahluwalia and his friends, Meerut has several pharmaceutical companies and medical schools.