My first full day leave for the year

Sometime in Dec 2024, I noticed that I am spending much of my time on the work on a weekoff and that was causing some anger in me at times as it was mostly not planned. Despite being at home, I sometimes used to have over 120+ calls (a bad day) with no breaks. I used to get restless of being on my table and working full day with no outing and the day ending. Not even an hr to spend with my family over anything without multiple phone calls interrupting in that duration.

I also knew that there is a massive amount of working on the business that was needed to automate the business as much as possible.

So, I decided to work all days without a leave and take breaks as and when required (a half day rest after working for 20-36 hrs shift) or an early logout for a planned family outing once in a few months.

Thanks to this one decision, I am now happy while working on all days with no cribs. This daily working has removed the high backlogs of the days not working and caused a more continuous flow of work without much disruption.

I have started enjoying work more and get more output than before. I have started pursuing more books, posts, ideas and have started implementing them in the business.

9 Aug 2025 is the first full day break in this calendar year thanks to Rakshabandhan and the chance to meet my 2 sisters.

The day was planned full of new experiences for the people involved.

The new experiences are what I actually look forward to. This day made me realise that all the hard work we put in throughout the time is worth it for having these memories / days of new experiences.

These days are the ones worth living and working for.

Stacking experiences

I am a huge believer of stacking of experiences. The experiences can fall under the following categories: Adventures, Nature, Relaxation, Events & Sports, Cultural & historical, Food & drinks.

What does stacking of experiences mean?
It means just doing one experience of (2-3 hrs) a day is not enough for the day. It means doing back to back different experiences all in the day while enjoying each of them to the full extent without being tired in the same alert and excited mode all day long. It means not getting satisfied with just one experience when you can have multiple in the single day and create multiple memories on multiple days at a stretch.

Stacking of experiences comes as a result of multiple things:
1. Being an experience junky a.k.a. addiction to stacking of experiences.

2. The belief that life is short and there is so much to experience and learn.

3. The knowledge that experiencing more allows you to learn more and quench the thirst of curiosity.

4. Maximise the sunk cost (the amount of time and money spent to go a place)

For this, you should insatiable appetite for new experiences and understand the natural limitations of ones thinking of the number of experiences one can have.

One needs a curious mind to unearth experiences from people, be observant and alert of things around you, be research oriented to find out everything about anything new you hear about, be imaginative to concoct and create new experiences, persuade people to make people give you unique experiences.

You open your mind to possibilities, the chances, the pollination of different ideas.

"Die with memories and not dreams!" is the motto for a true experience junkie to live by.

Understanding experiences

A good experience needs you to understand the following about it:

Nuances, Expectations, Comfort and Context.

Nuances are the technicalities you need to understand and do certain actions in certain ways to get the experience going ahead.

Expectations if unrealistic can have a big disappointment and maybe even accidents. Controlling the overexcitement is also important to be in a realistic zone.

Understanding your physical and mental comfort in the new situation is important and to keep it in the comfortable area is crucial. Getting out of the Comfort zone during the new experience can cause anxiety, tension and scariness and do things that make us lose control and may end up in accidents.

Context is about being aware of the environment. The context brings with it the unique set of constraints and a few opportunities. Being aware of it is important for your safety and well being.

You can use these 4 parameters for any new experience. Be it driving a vehicle for the first time, adventure sports, trying new food or anything else for that matter.

Let's take an example to understand: Scuba diving.

Nuances: The nuances of breathing from the mouth instead of nose. The sign language to remember and use under water. Reading the depth in the depth watch. Remembering to blow air through your nose in case of water entering the goggles.

Right expectations: We would move around clumsily and may even fall after wearing the fins on land. Do things slowly and don't be in a rush. Do not pull the other person who can barely see or hear you with all the equipment being worn.

Comfort: We should not feel any pain of wearing the oxygen cylinders and be comfortable in the scuba suits. We should be mentally strong to be under water and not be scared of losing our lives. Comfort of having water into the ears and your eyes slightly burn in sea water if it enters the goggles.

Context: Are you scuba diving near rocks with high seas where the water can push you into the rocks or in calm waters? Was the scuba trainer training good? Was all the scuba equipment good and well fitted to your body size thereby minimizing risk? Has the scuba guide taken an extra tank of air for safety? Are you close to a safe place called home or away? Is the situation risky (rough waters, opaque waters) or normal (calmer waters, clear visibility) by the standards of the guide?

Understanding the unique set of parameters in each of these 4 categories would define your good experience each time. 

Good and bad experiences

Good Experience is about getting the what, where, how at least 85% right.

If we dont know the details, expectations, services or dont get it right, it turns out to be a bad experience.

The first bad experience creates a big burden of not wanting to try the experience again. It can be boring or uncomfortable at the least and painful or scary at the worst.

It is important to be guided into the "Right" experience with correct information, tips of getting it right, pitfalls to avoid and to take care of yourself in the context.

Most people are not guided into new experiences thereby hesitating into getting into more new experiences.

Life is a huge set of first time Experiences.

The racing experience, the boyfriend-girlfriend experience, the bunking school for a movie experience, the exploring a new city experience, travelling for a vacation experience, buying your first own automobile experience, staying alone as a bachelor experience,  making new friends experience, trying some crazy food experiences, dabbling in the crypto markets and derivatives experience, first physical intimacy experience, a running experience, teaching experience, engaging a kid experience, visiting an art museum experience, performing live onstage experience, a send off experience, making something memorable for someone experience, discussing experiences' experience, visiting a monastery experience, comforting someone greeving experience, handling inheritance, handling a death in the family experience and much more.

This is where a "Chief Experience Officer" comes in, to help you get the right understanding, sense, direction, pace, packages and tips to get the best out of your experience.

Types of new experiences

There are many different types of experiences:

1. Adventures sports

2. Food

3. Seeing and watching unique things (a geyser in Iceland or seeing a real kangaroo with a joey in it's pouch)

4. Rare things (First show of a movie, finals of a tournament)

5. Latest new things (like immersive Museums in 2023 which are just popping around the world)

6. Personal records

7. Doing the usual in an unusual context

8. Artistic

9. Something that brings a new perspectives (a movie like the Truman show)

10. Doing something crazy while in a group

11. Listening to or seeing another persons unusual or personal story.

12. Relationship experiences

Let me know if there are more categories.

Chief experience officer

You are running your life and you are its chief executive officer (the CEO).

But, as time is limited for everyone to enjoy and learn things in life, we all need to constantly experience and learn new things.

With constant new experiences, one gains knowledge, the right mindset, connecting various knowledge leading to insights, gaining wisdom without doing the amateurish mistakes, opening of the mind to imaginations and creating possibilities and ideas.

Life is a collection of Experiences.

Everybody have experiences and knowledge and stories.

Most have small ticket Experiences.

Few have medium to big ticket experiences. Very few of these have the willingness and intention to share these. Even fewer, have the time and are willing to go through the effort to share it.

Based on my belief that "Life is a collection of Experiences", I am the Chief Experience Officer of myself, my family and few others.

This role demands the following:

1. Being in touch with the latest happenings and opportunities in the world by building systems to get this to you.

2. Digging beyond the surface to understand the what, how, where, how much cost, the risks and the benefits.

3. Communicating the new available experiences to the group

4. Finding the right point in the 4 dimensions (x,y,z and when) to execute the new experience.

5. Executing the experience seamlessly.

Everybody needs a Chief Experience Officer for their life to maximise the meaning of life.

This role is not identified or defined by most and they miss out on many things in life.

Do comment on what you think about this role for yourself.

Ingredients to an exploring nature

I am an explorer at heart and mind.

I find, get, tune into things that hit me with new and varied information.

I like finding new things and find out how they work and how they connect.

It can be any field - Law, Weapons, Food, Places, Behaviours, Culture, Looks, Science, Politics, Geography, War, Business, Movies, Psychology, Scripts and lyrics, Music, Finance, etc.

As an example, many people go through the same newspaper or the same road as me but I have discovered more interesting things than them.

How come?

I think an exploring nature has 5 key skills:
1. Curiosity to know and use the information

2. Patience to keenly observe

3. Understand at the base level

4. Think about it at a deeper level of how and why

5. Engage / play / experiment with it by connecting the dots / varied information already known

The world is full of interesting and new concoctions for the curious and patient person.

Skiing at Shahdag, Azerbaijan

My wife and I tried skiing at Shahdag range of mountains at Azerbaijan.

We stayed at Hotel Zirve where there is a ski school with instructors.

A few details about skiing:

It is not as easy as it looks. It involves getting the physics right. Just like other things (trekking, scuba diving, helmet diving, archery, golf, shooting) 

There are a few things we learnt about the details and process of skiing doing it here for the first time overall.

The process involves a few steps:

1. Register your time slot for individual instructions. (Here they allow maximum 3 people per instructor)

2. You need to hire the following: Ski shoes, Skis, Ski sticks, Helmet, Goggles (optional), Jacket (optional if you already have one), Gloves (optional)

3. You need to pay the following: Equipment renting, Ski instructor fees and the Ski pass - for using the ski slopes (Like a green fee on golf courses)

Please be ready to spend at least 1-1.5 hr before the instruction time to get these 3 things done.

Post this, the live instructions of how to connect / Disconnect the skis with the ski-shoes on ice can start.

The instructor we were assigned was good in English and patient and helped us correct with the mistakes we made and took us (my wife and I) step by step.

At the end of the 2 hrs session, we asked him to video record our skiing and he did a marvellous job of it too.

Few new things to know for a first timer: The ski shoes are very different from all other shoes and are very heavy (maybe 3 kgs each leg). The ski shoe is meant to not break or let the leg slip out even when you put the maximum weight on the front and try to fall front (the ideal body position) when skiing.

Please do expect a few falls with the entire attire while trying to negotiate a curve or trying to stop, but be free to fall and prevent any injuries. I saw at least 2 other people fall in the 2 hrs apart from we falling off.

Skiing has significant costs:

Renting of 2 pairs of Skis, Ski sticks, Shoes, Helmet, Goggles and a locker for our shoes costed us about 132 Mannat or USD 78.

Ski instructor fees was 185 mannat or about USD 109

Ski pass for 2 was 66 Mannat or about USD 39

Tip to instructor of 15 Mannat or about USD 9

Total Skiing = 398 Mannat or about INR 19900

Happy Skiing!

2023 Experiences

I am a firm believer of having new, interesting experiences almost constantly throughout life.

If not experiences, what else are we living for in this life?

With a firm mindset and curiosity of new things, I have been able to identify new things to do and new experiences to have almost every other week. It is a craving, it is an addiction and get to learn more about the world around me. The thrill of discovering new things, experiencing new things and then sharing these new things to others is something I find joy in.

I hope the list below inspires people to value experiences and look forward to create & share experiences for others to enjoy.

So, let me share with you the new experiences in 2023. Most are bucketlist worthy and some not, but just an interesting experience.

1. Completing the Hyderabad half marathon - 4th time. This was the hardest ever for me as I did it after a 8 year hiatus. With poor training, I somehow managed to complete it much better than expected with going to office half day after the marathon and not taking any leave the next day also. Helped in bringing a lot of self confidence in doing hard tough things. Some of the reasons I run the half marathons: to know my stamina, to develop will power to overcome barriers.
2. Indoor sky diving. Gravity Zip at Hyderabad. The starting of an experience for sky diving in the future.
3. Riding a bike as fast as possible - 122 km/hr. Breaking the previous record of 114 km/hr after a big break of over 7 years in the same bike as before.
4. A bike tour with a gang. An interesting new experience and learnt about the various roles in a bike gang.
5. Watch Maverick - one of the best movies in theater for free. An infinite returns on this one experience.
6. Indoor Rock climbing - Crag studio. Never knew rock climbing is this hard.
7. Axe-throwing: In Madhapur, https://axethrowingindia.com An interesting game and definitely not as easy as one thinks it to be.
8. Foosball, 10 pins. Fun to play with family / friends
9. Visiting a huge mythogical musuem/ theme park - Surendrapuri
10. Experiencing a TEDx event. Definitely some of the best music, live shows and fantastic standard setting level of organising an event like this.
11. Having a flaming drink. Nothing more fun than to drink a flaming Sambuka.
12. Attend a live concert
13. Attend a live stand up comedy show - There are open mics daily in the city. One of the few people to know this and attend this and encourage the upcoming talent.
14. Perform a live stand up comedy show. Last but not the least, the best secret experience of the year. Performed as a rakshabandhan gift to my sister and my wife with others.

A few missed experiences:
Attending a world cup cricket match in a stadium

The cancelled F4 car race in the city

The e-prix car race.

What's up 2024? :)

Mumbai is Happening!

Ever wondered what to do in Mumbai and not knowing what to do?
Ever wanted to try something new?
Want to just get out of boredom?
Wanted to meet new people sharing your interests and passions?
Mumbai provides you so many opportunities and at nominal prices.
All that is required from you is some effort to get off the couch and do something about it...

http://www.mumbaireadyreckoner.com/
http://www.thecityguide.in/Mumbai
http://www.mumbaihikers.org/
http://www.ignitemumbai.com/
http://mumbai.metblogs.com/2008/12/16/100-things-to-do-in-bombay/
http://www.couchsurfing.org/
http://www.mumbaikar.com/en
http://www.thecomedystore.in/
http://www.meetup.com/cities/in/mumbai/
http://www.bluebulb.in
http://www.mumbaifoodie.com/
http://www.mumbairestaurantmenus.info/
http://www.fullcontactchampionship.com/home.html
http://www.snmcpn.in/index.php
http://www.wtcmumbai.org/Venues_Exibitions.aspx
http://www.mumbaitheatreguide.com
Races at Mahalaxmi race course
http://mumbaiboss.com/2012/04/27/an-activity-centre-for-the-time-strapped/
http://mumbaiboss.com/
Plays: http://qtpthescript.blogspot.in/p/up-coming.html
Many a people say Mumbai is a happening place, now you know why!
If any of you know of more things, please do comment on this post.

Fractional living

The concept of sharing in going beyond siblings and family members...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1266644/How-live-like-millionaire--spending-fortune.html

WOW!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/j75bdupktu6wxy7/Mr.Bean%20in%20AIM.mp4?dl=0

A standing ovation with so many happy faces after my movie show; wow! :))))

Today, I had my movie screening in the class. This is how it went: My assigned number was 4, but I had requested my other classmates that I will go last. Everyone agreed. At least 3 or 4 people asked me in the class when was my movie showing. There was a lot of excitement about my movie... maybe because they knew what was the movie all about. The movie was called "Mr.Bean in AIM" and I was the lead actor enacting Mr.Bean. So when my turn came, and as I was walking down the staircase from the back of the room, there was a lot of applause and cheering all around. I was quite surprised about it. I went on stage in a Tshirt and jeans (The only presentation till today when I was not in formals). I was not serious like before, I was cheerful and happy and talking to a class as if there was no professor. The first thing I told the class was "I have never had so much applause before", at which the class was laughing. I started off with a presentation. The starting slide was named "The walkabout presentation of Ajit Jagannathan (Also, known my many other names in campus :) )". Then I went on to explain why I wanted to do this movie as a project and had a few slides of testimonials of what my classmates had to say about me as of dec 2008 and as of now. It included some truths like my name kept by my neighbour "Ajeeb" which definitely entertained many people. So I started off the movie and people were laughing and cheering all around as the movie began. The movie was for 20 minutes and there were many a laughs during the movie. As the movie ended , there was a lot of applause, I went to the computer, reduced the volume and as I turn around I see all the people giving me a standing ovation. There have been only two other standing ovations in the class so far this term in 3 months. So this is definitely an achievement for me. I clearly did not expect this for a comical movie I had made. I bowed to the audience and they were still clapping. As mine was the last one of the day, after clapping, they settled down and waited for the professor to say something or call it a day. The professor soon called it a day and many a people came to me. They congratulated me, shaked hands and even hugged me to say what a wonderful job it was. It has been a wonderful experience and people have praised me for my acting and the creativity of the movie, including the details that were included in the movie. The movie was an equal effort of me, my room mate Shravan and my groupmate Sameer without whom this project wouldnt have seen the day of light. I plan to put up the movie in youtube and send out the link to my family and friends soon :)

My first customers

Our first customer of our 'Milk and Spice' stall: Mr. Ashish Ranjan

Me, Manny (2nd customer) and Ashish Ranjan(1st customer) with our hottest selling product, Hot Cinnamon Milk.