Coffee Experiement with Blue Tokai Roasters

Standard

Empty mind is a devil’s workshop. In my case just not so devilish after all.

December & January are typically light months at work. The empty mind and free time made me dig out the ignored Coffee Machine.

This was a very old purchase during my stay in Nairobi. Once back in India it was packed off to the storage. I even made an attempt to sell it on OLX. Like everything else, this too didn’t sell or even get a query.

Next step was to find some good coffee which would work with the machine type. I had never purchased any powder after my return to India. Quick check online and after a few recommendations from the Tweeps, I decided on Blue Tokai.


Their Grind Guide is helpful if you are a newbie to Coffee Experiments like me. They roast their coffee twice a week – Sundays & Wednesday. Depending on when you order, they ship out your order within 24 hours after the roasting. Delivery was on time and well packed. Break the pouch seal and there is a lovely aroma of the fresh grind. You have to make your first cup right away.

Since I had no clue what to order, I decided to go for the Roast Level Sampler Pack. After reading a few Coffee Experts online, it was necessary to understand which Roast Level, you enjoy for you coffee. I have picked the Dark Roast as my favourite, Light Roast is just too weak and doesn’t help. I also experimented the coffee with milk and Everyday Milk Powder. Sometimes the milk can give a terrible stink, so I am taking it with the Milk Powder whenever possible. A small pinch of brown sugar makes it nice too.

What’s next? The challenge of picking a good flavour. I think I am going to order the Bynemara Estate – Caramel, Nuts, Cocoa.

Are you enjoying some coffee, please do share – would love to try some new roasters in the city.

Quick-fix to problems of life

Standard

My mother always said that if you didn’t have enough problems in your life, you would not value hard work and one would lose faith in God. Point Noted.

As you grow up you realise one problem is just around the corner as you are about to get over the current issue. After experience you find methods to resolve them smartly, swiftly and sometimes effortlessly.

Here is my quick-fix:

  1. Break your problem into two parts. Set 1 is priority – Life can’t move on unless resolved. Make every effort and have this resolved.
  2. Set 2. By the time you finish resolving issues in Set 1, you will realise that problems in Set 2 have either disappeared or were not worth stressing about. 

There – Problem Resolved. Happy Weekend to you all.

Make this a Happy Diwali for everyone

Standard

The last few weeks have been such a delight to see the bunch of Diwali Ads of TV. No, I am not talking about the happy families sharing gifts, the oh-so-good husband giving jewellery to his wife or the kids getting a larger TV for their room.

This Diwali there seems to be a consensus, at least in the minds of the planners, creative teams and the brand managers. Let’s make this Diwali not about consumption but about sharing.

The true joy of Diwali is probably not just about gifting yourself the new iPhone 7, its about getting a new set of clothes for your house help’s kids.

If God has given you the opportunity and ability to share some joy, do your bit. Trust me its a blissful experience and you shall have a HAPPIER DIWALI.

Some of the ads are wonderful messages. They are heart touching and I am glad to have received the opportunity to do my bit for those around me.

I do hope you all too will make this a HAPPY DIWALI not just for yourself but for someone else too.

My Kid Is Teaching Me and I am happy to learn

Standard

Spending time with the little one is therapeutic, gives me the opportunity to be me. We talk, laugh, scream, we share and we both learn. Did you know that rain rubber shoes (gumboots) are called “galoshes”? No, even I didn’t. My kid is teaching me and I am happy to learn.

Learning from kids

Ask Questions
“Why is the pig pink?”
“Why are babies only in the mommy’s tummy?”
One of the most awkward aspects of growing up is that we stop questioning. We either accept what’s there or believe it would be silly to ask a question and hence limit our learning. So let’s drop the hesitation and the smart-ass “I know it all attitude, let’s ask, let’s learn”

Think out of the box
“No I don’t want to colour the tree green”
“I want to colour the dog blue”
Why not? Let their imagination run wild. If i keep telling her the rules of life so early, it may limit her thinking and become boring. So let’s set the thinking free. Imagine the crazy – remember if it isn’t crazy every one would be doing it.

Be Happy
“It’s ok papa, we can read this book tonight”
If I can’t find her favourite book, she sometimes is happy with the one available on hand. As we grow up & life becomes complicated, we forget the simple joys of life. Let’s try and cherish those.

Give up. Move on.
Can I please watch TV? No.
Can I watch TV? NO
Switch on the TV. NO!!!
Fine, move on, pick up some toys and get busy. As much as we all need to be determined, there should be point when we realise this is the WALL. So stop and get going in some other direction.

Explore
“I think I should try using this (chopsticks)”
Routine is boring. We settle in and love the smooth going. One stops growing if we stop looking or doing beyond the obvious. So, go try something new today.

Are you learning something from your kid? Add to this list, please do share your thoughts in the comments.

Keynotes from TheRodinHood Mumbai Open House

Standard

Last Saturday afternoon I attended my first Rodinhood Open House. I have come back inspired and loved the positiveness in the room full of entrepreneurs and business owners. Here are my key takeaways from the sessions.

rodinhood mumbai

Ask Questions.
Alok (@rodinhood) was so right when he said – Don’t Be Naive. Ask questions, dig deeper. Don’t think its too silly. Most often you will create an impression when you ask the right questions, rather than take everything at face value.

Beg.
When I started off as an account executive with an ad agency, I had to beg my creative team to do my work or help me meet the deadlines. Not much has changed when I started my business. I yet beg if I need to be part of a big show/exhibition. I beg if I want the material delivered earlier. Sometimes you beg and sometimes you form relationships which do the magic.

Be Crazy.
Some of us are shy, we fear the idea is silly or sometimes just too crazy. Senior creative people I worked with always encouraged crazy ideas at Brainstorming Sessions. You never know what’s it going to spark. So being crazy is good, helps the brain cells work at the maximum limits and gives you access to ideas nobody has ever thought of doing before.

Fear No Failure.
One of the strongest quality of being an entrepreneur is to have the ability to work endlessly on something which you have no idea is going to work and help pay the bills. So if the fear of failure keeps you awake at night, this isn’t the right thing for you to do. Put your heart & soul into your dream. Accept the failure, but don’t fear it. Don’t let it break you.

Ship it.
This is a lesson which reminded me of Seth Godin. If you keep working on making it perfect you ain’t doing anything. So Ship It. Get Feedback. Improvise and Ship it AGAIN. Don’t spend half your life trying to perfect your idea only to realise it wasn’t the right one to start with.

Measure. Analyse.
The CEO of Mirraw.com gave an interesting pointer. When you are bootstrapped, you can’t get yourself to spend money on anything which cannot be measured or have the results analysed. So that large of hoarding on Chowpatty for BRANDING – doesn’t get an entrepreneur’s Thumbs Up!

Funding is not everything.
Company X gets $200M. Company Y gets $45M. If these headlines are making you wonder if your business is successful or not, then you are thinking wrong. Getting your business funded just because its cool and trendy isn’t the right way. Instead focus on your business, grow your actual numbers, make the business a success and then seek funding when you need it for expansion.

This has been a wonderful experience and I really do hope to attend the next sessions. And one more thing I hope to do is re-start reading my unfinished Autobiography of a Yogi.

The collection of tweets from the afternoon session.