The number of times that one can forget everything in one's mind, while doing something in life are really few. Ever remember doing your class assignments without thinking of some place, some thing, or someone? See? The answer would usually be a reassuring "NO". That is unless you are doing something you are truly passionate about doing.
With the start-up trend on the upswing through out the planet, there is more and more of the human population experiencing true passion in the work they do. This is specially so since they do not have to bear the hollow promises of big companies, that offer a little more than membership to their office gymnasium. And I consider more than happy to be able to do my own little part in a start-up.
A while ago, a friend of mine, two batches senior to me, talked to me about a start-up plan he had in mind. A bunch of friends of mine, and I, just went to hear what my senior-friend was up to. He had plans of making performance electric bikes, basically superbikes running on electricity. My friends didn't stick around, despite their excitement, but then, that's their loss, or maybe not, or whatever.
Thing is, the automobile-enthusiast made me stick around. Specially the name of the Start-up..... HOUND Electric!! SEXY NAME! Imagine someone asking me the dreaded question... "Where do you work?". I'm sure that the moment they hear of a firm called "Hound Electric", as the name of the company someone works in, they'd think "Woah! I don't know what the company is all about, but sure as hell, they're up to something cool!". Fine. enough rant about my admiration for the start-up's name. I didn't bother thinking twice about working with my senior, when the offer was presented.
A thing about start-ups is that you can put whatever you're good at to work, as long as you are willing to work. So, no worries about job description. You do anything that comes your way. You do it whether or not you know how to do it. Don't worry. You'll learn it eventually, whatever 'it' be. And besides, JOB SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!
I did, and still do content writing for Hound. What I mean is, whatever that goes on their brochures, executive summaries, etcetera, etcetera, are all a work of MY ART. Or so, I brag about it. Moving on...
I always had a thing about working with my hands and legs. And now, with my senior and his team, I'm building a freaking bike!! So it's all sparks, hammers, and the sweet smell of metal being cut. No A/C rooms for me, thank you! What's the point of having hands and legs, if the only part of your body you use is your bum, to sit yourself on a chair, that too, now-a-days in front of a computer screen??
There's another thing about working in a nascent work space. It's the passion that's SO infectious it just wipes out everything, I mean, everything from your head, except the job at hand. This is all the more so, if it is a venture where you have no stakes involved. The sheer dedication of the start-up's founder, specially if you can witness it, makes you want to put in everything you've got into the task you've been assigned.
Another thing often encountered, when working in a fresh atmosphere, is MISTAKES. Yup! Someone simply has to screw up from time to time. And very often, that someone is me, given that I have an attention span of a 4 year old's.
That might sound like a caveat, but it actually is not. Despite that the words "Start-up" and "Screw-up" almost rhyme, there's a reason why they do. And the reason is this. And it sounds almost like a dialogue from Chris Nolan's Batman flick....
"Why do we screw up? So that we can learn to unscrew shit, and create a possibility to do something great!"
Does that sound like?
Why do we fall sir? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.-Alfred Pennyworth
Not like anyone cares. So, once again, moving on!
Start-ups are exactly like life. They allow room for mistakes, room for growth, room for finding your own ground. And this is all while you're having fun, working of course. Then again, seldom do you hear work being fun. Here, you work because you want to, not out of any kind of obligation to the one writing your paycheck. Sure, you'll get cut every now and then, get pricked with tetanus injections(If your life is precious to you). You'll feel tired like you ran 15 km straight. Nights will never look darker, and will eventually bring the sight of daylight back in sight, without you having slept a blink for the longest time you can remember. But when you get to finally go to bed, the sweat will evaporate off your body, taking with it all your stress and worries, leaving you sleeping like a baby. But you'll wake up again, work like you did on the day before, put on another couple of band-aids, only to experience the previous night's sleep again....
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