IT NEEDS TIME TO RE-CREATE MY LIFE’S NEW JOURNEY

After I got out of day-to-day company running responsibilities and passed my businesses to my sons, Rahul and Romit, I wondered what will be my engagement model now? A lot of people define relaxation, pleasure, engagements etc. as also going to see different places, having fun, meeting relatives and friends, having social engagements, play some sport, even listen to your favourite music as some of the elements of this new life.
I was constantly asking myself the question, is that my engagement model by choice, which will give me maximum happiness and joy? So, I started in right earnest, with all of them, one by one. Luckily for me, nature played a major role. So, I came to Dubai. That in itself was a major diversification and I thought will help me in creating my own new space, which will be relaxing and have all the elements as stated above. Then there was also my granddaughter Mishka, a big-time motivation for me.
But it didn’t fill the blanks. Here, I not even knew what those blanks were and for what, but it remained as “blanks.” Sporadically, I did so many things. My sons, specially Romit helped me in getting whatever I wanted. A separate apartment, full new furnishing, a car, a driver, a maid, everything which could be practically conceived. He gave a lot of priority to my thoughts, as he was keen that I do settle down here happily. Yet somewhere, I was not completely at peace with myself. I was not understanding why?
Then ATELIER M happened. It was exactly the place I wanted to own for many years. A luxury restaurant, wherein I can call my family, friends, acquaintances, business friends over. It was a place where it helps me to define myself in Dubai. It can be my positioning address in Dubai. This I thought, will fill up my void in life in general, though at a huge cost/investment. Perhaps, it did. But the gap was wider. I realized that active work life was fulfilling a lot more for me. So, after the initial euphoria and definitely and some token of pride, I handed over our role in ATELIER to my sons, as we never wanted to get into operations again in life but wanted to be the main investor of the business, where we put our name on. And that was there in Atelier. Correctly, it fulfilled our need for an address and kind of place where we can put our label on it appropriately. But, the search was still on…………
I started dabbling in some StartUp opportunities which in India was giving me mixed happiness, but nothing worthwhile was happening. Then I met Deepak. This was a major happening for me. I saw him as someone, who has been hugely successful in his life, academically, we were similar, in way of looking at life, both had our share of personal, family, health pressures to overcome and have a balance thought and view about life. This did fill up some void in one go. Since then, we have met a number of times, had home-made dosas at his home and long chats and discussions.
Then, I added to my basket a Venture Fund, General Partner, as a friend and asked him for his advice/choices for me, as an investor. We are now finally on the verge of finalising one such investment. This will be a bigger investment for me than Atelier M, here I will be sitting in the Board, with the Fund managers as well. That will be a big add to my investment list. Finally, I met through friends, two bright young filmmakers and I am discussing with them some of my true-life stories, which I think has cinematic value, particularly on the OTT or Over The Top, level of film making. Early days, but highly engaging intellectually and I feel good.
With these add on, I think I should be well on my way to getting into my new life as an entrepreneurial creative investor in the global market. My model has storytelling, which is key to my creative journey as well as gives me an opportunity to be a serious investor, thus taking me completely away from the operational role, which I wanted to exit and re-create my new journey.
This combination, still in stealth mode, is something I personally feel worth pursuing to develop for myself and my society and a space to thrive, excite and grow. Will keep you informed. Watch the space.