Moojin said, 'Because the universe has been around so long, it has an ego. And someone with an ego, whether a human being or life itself, is simply someone or something that thinks they do not need to change.
'An entrepreneur is someone who stands up to the universe, to all that has come before, and says, 'I can know your essence, I will change your expression.' And not just that, a real entrepreneur does not stop at superficial changes. He or she sets out to change whole foundations, superstructures and everything in between. And, no surprises, the universe does not like that.
Bijoy had seen Abhishek present a paper at an entrepreneurship forum organized by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE)
A non-profit network of entrepreneurs and professionals originally started in Silicon Valley by successful entrepreneurs of Indian origin. He had instantly liked the passionate, rough-around-the-edges, bold entrepreneur.
'The United States has perfected a system of generating thousands of failures at a rapid rate,' Abhishek had said. 'From this failure generating machine arise the successful mutants that propel that society forward. But failure is generally looked down upon in India. The close family ties and the lack of role models may have something to do with that. A society that does not learn how to ''fail well'' can never amount to very much.'
The conversation was not appealing to my pragmatic side. I needed a how-to booklet, a checklist of some kind.
'What about you, Moojin? Are you in tune with the cosmos? Are you able to read its signals to engender good fortune in your life?' I hated getting personal but at some point you have to ask the big vision man to show you what he's got.
'What need have I of good fortune,' said Moojin. 'I myself am good fortune.'
In an evening made resplendent with a thousand lamps lit in every home and a firecracker lighting up the night sky every second, Mrs Mani Sinha's life of silent sacrifice for her family came to a close.
His wife's passing was a deep blow for Mr Sinha. Though not demonstrative, and seemingly overbearing, he had relied on his wife completely. For months after her death he remained in a stupor, neglecting himself and losing all hope.
Relatives could provide only a limited amount of comfort. The change had to come from within and it did, in the form of a resurgent Mekhla, determined to restore a modicum of normalcy to their lives. Prior to her mother's death, Mekhla had continued to sulk about not being able to go to Surrey. But after her mother's passing she gradually realized that she could neither go to Surrey nor get her beloved mother back. She would have to make the best of her present circumstances.
Moojin: At a certain period, at a certain place, I understood from the bottom of my being that there couldn't be anyone in this world who knew me better than I myself.
From then on, wandering, seeking and meeting ceased to have any meaning for me.
Unlike before, I had no place to go, no people to meet, no things to do… hence I settled myself in a remote hamlet near Manali in winter. Nearly half a year passed in complete silence with heavenly peace. This spontaneous silence was broken when I shifted to Dharamshala to avoid the crowd of tourists at Manali and encountered some Korean people whom I had known since the '80s.
'Do you believe he can make it?' a cousin had asked Mekhla, one day when the brood had gathered at a coffee shop.
Although months had passed without a single rupee coming in from 6d to aid in the family's finances, Mekhla had shot back without a moment's hesitation, 'Absolutely, yes! He will certainly make it.'
Today, when asked what drove and sustained her belief in Abhishek, Mekhla pauses for a while and then says slowly, as if the answer has just dawned on her, 'It was love…it had to be love...it must have been.'
There was one problem in this whole situation. In the first two years of marriage, Mekhla hardly had a husband who was present for her to love.
I turned to him. 'Moojin, what is the starting point of entrepreneurship?'
Moojin smiled, took a sip and cleared his throat. 'The universe has survived a long time,' he said. 'Billions of years. It has done so because it has hidden its secrets well – one inside another in a never-ending nested sequence.'
I asked what a nested sequence was.
He said, 'What I mean is that everything is interconnected and interwoven, so if you try to tease out one piece of the puzzle you can't.'
That made sense to me. I had been going through various bureaucratic hurdles in setting up a business incubator in my business school and understood well the challenges of a nested sequence.
Moojin said, 'When an army takes on a dreaded enemy it must travel in the dead of night.
In such an operation, it must be able to step forth into the unknown with the greatest confidence. Absolute trust, teamwork and flawless execution are necessary. Abhinav represents the creative action that alone is able to prise into the vaults of the yet-to-be-born and bring forth its treasures into the common gaze.'
' "Eyes affixed to eternity",'I exulted, quoting a philosopher.
'Not good enough,' retorted Moojin . 'An entrepreneur is not a daft visionary. Inventive problem solving and systematic action are needed to convert the gossamer of dreams into reality. An electric storm of ideas leading to distributed action produces dilettantes. Stick-to-it-iveness, seeing one thing through at a time, working with goals, are all crucial.
Abhishek did not bother with niceties. 'If you fuck this project, I will fuck you,' he said tersely, dismissing the programming team.
Abhinav was infuriated with Abhishek's attitude. 'If he wanted to tick me off he could have taken me aside,' he thought. 'Why did he have to shout at me in front of everyone? What was he thinking? Is this what I get for zero salary? If that's the way they want it, I'll show them.' And without another thought Abhinav went to his workstation, pressed Crtl A and delete and erased three months of code from this all-important project of 6d.
'But Abhishek, for all his bravery, seemed to be nervous and unsure when proposing to Mekhla,' I protested.
Moojin laughed.
'Abhishek was in a situation which is known to have tested the stoutest of hearts,' he said. 'But seriously, courage is not the absence of fear. It is the ability to act in the face of fear, the overcoming of fear, not the annihilation of it.'
'What are the signs of courage?' I asked.
'The ability to give praise to your enemies, the absence of meanness, and moderation in the desire to please others.' Moojin was smiling now, perhaps, because he knew I was getting perplexed.
