Life has a funny way of making things happen. Sometimes you don’t have to lift a finger and events roll out like a mossy stone!

So, Ed Iwata, a writer and blogger from the States popped into Bombay for a week to get an understanding of what’s happening in this mad, mad city. The city that has suddenly come into the limelight post-Slumdoggy Mil… Anyway, I begin to digress. He touched base with my husband to chat about what the entrepreneurship scene looks like, and about our ‘cross-cultural’ lives.

It has been interesting, India-America-India; also kinda cool, study-study-work-business-business and the inherent learning curve. We spoke about how it is a ‘get rich quick’ culture – no one really has the patience to work at making money; the kind that makes you feel good at the end of the day and sleep well at night. The kind that makes you feel complete. ‘I achieved something. And one day that will translate into material benefits, simply because it is the right thing.’

That discussion brings me to a persistent thought – when Sahil and I meet people my age, they don’t really care about doing the ‘right thing’ – they care about the end result, the monies and the more you reach out for it, the faster it runs away from you – the chase we politely term, ‘a rat race’. Maybe we are meeting the wrong people, but it does worry me, that in hindsight so many people my age will have spent the best years of their life chasing money and not building something, or creating a life for themselves. Money is ultimately delusional, simply because you need it, you believe that that’s all u need in life. Need is a necessity that you can fulfil through various means. When luxury becomes a need, the desperation follows. What I need is love, a few square meals on the table (preferably yummy tasting), exotic world travel and wonderful life experiences that I can write about. Money is simply the facilitator – it is the means to the end, not the end to the means. So, in retrospect, I did digress! Back to the point:

Ed, who is also being entrepreneurial, writing a book; tried in a short span to time to understand our culture, our thinking and our business. Fond of trying Indian food (he bravely experimented with chaat, dosa, and tons of masala stuff), he is very diligent about exploring the city and its nooks and crannies to find the watering holes in which the youth find space. He popped into all possible places and spoke to many people asking intuitive questions and following a trail.

Here’s what he wrote on us.

And something more picked up by the NYTimes.

I think its great that entrepreneurship is coming back into focus – and that is just a spirit. You can be entrepreneurial even within your own domain – home, office, work space, job, as a freelancer, and most importantly and challengingly, as an entrepreneurial businessman. It is the spirit that matters at the end of the day, and the dedication and drive. Money isn’t here and probably will not come for a long time, but at the end of the day, you fall back on your pillow, content that you have done what you were born to do.