An Year with SELCO

A month into SELCO, and in a meeting I was asked to narrate how my experience of joining SELCO came about, and how it feels now.

A recount of that:

The story began almost an year before I actually joined SELCO, and when I was yet with Google. In Google, we have something called a speaker series, where once in a while, we have folks from different fields come and give short talks. I was a big fan of the project, as it gives you access and insights into so many different kinds of people, especially those who've broken off the trodden path so to say......wonderful tool to expand horizons.

One such talk was from Harish, and days after the talk I found it was still working on my mind. 33% of India not connected to the grid...... 400 million people in the country with not even access to electricity. 

At first I didn't even believe the statistic. I actually used Google to validate for myself .

Then the thought germinated, actualized and I knew it's what I wanted to be doing.  I called Harish and said, 'Give me a role.......any role..... any salary; I'll quit tomorrow and come'. And that's how it started.

It took us almost an year to actually work out the quitting, the move, the role and all those nitty gritties. But what I'd like to bring out here is that once you have that clarity on what you want, you'll find so many wheels start to whirr to enable that to happen. They did.

Clarity.. ...all nice sounding and true and all...... but I was for sure racked with doubt through the process. While one part of me wanted SELCO, the other didn't want to leave Hyderabad. So starts the gruelling process of lots of questions, lots of thinking, lots of doubt....... all that you have to go through for change, any major decision making.

I realized that Clarity will only tell you about the What of it. The How of it has to be the Leap of Faith.

There's three little stories or rather lines, which were huge enablers through that process:

Story 1: A quote from Bruce Lee:

When going into a fight, don't go with conditions; expect and be prepared for bruises and broken bones.

A friend said this, at the perfect moment I guess....because that's when I was toying with thoughts of ......should I take long leave and try, maybe a sabbatical...not throw up Google. But when that one line sinks in....  it just tilts the balance, and that's the only way to give your 100%.

Story 2: A quote from Mandela:

Courage is not the absence of Fear, it's Feeling the Fear and Yet going forward.

That again made a huge difference to me. Each time I was on the verge of major decisions, I'd be waiting for solutions all the way round....like having all answers, complete acceptance from within, ...and then I'd be confused on why all the questions were not going away, why there are still fears. In fact I think  I wasted a lot of years of my life, just waiting for that level of assurance before moving. Not anymore.

Story 3: Never Start with Constraints

Know that there will be constraints and obstacles. And that they will rush at you. It's that survivor instinct, it'll tell you that you are already in good place, give you justifications on why you should not move, show you all the difficulties. Totally worth remembering this. Look beyond the constraints. Look at what you want.

Now that's the story. Back to the meeting.......

Harish was like 'So, how has it been, have you been bruised?'. And my answer was a 'Yes'........and there are times it continues to happen. But if the goal is to get electricity to that 33% , one cannot be letting dusty district buses, six day weeks, or dingy rural  hotels stop you.

Know what you want, and you'll find what it takes !!

And know what's best?   Bruises and Broken Bones notwithstanding, Life becomes a blast :)