It was not the first time I was travelling by local but it was an experience like never before, because on this trip from Andheri to Churchgate I observed that a life of an entrepreneur is like travelling in a local train of Mumbai. I did my graduation from Bombay so I was not new to locals but I never got the opportunity to travel in Virar fast(Name of the train) which is supposed to be the most crowded of all locals.
Let me share why this trip of around 40mins made me think that travelling on Virar fast is similar to the journey made by an entrepreneur in his life.
- There will always be barriers to not let you enter:
If you think of getting into a train which is flooded by people will be easy, ahhh you
must be kidding me. As Virar fast (The train) reached the Andheri station I tried to board along with other few hundred people from the same door in the same compartment. There were people pushing to just get in, and there were forces from the train to not let anyone enter. You badly get crushed between these pressures and that is when I realised that it is not that easy to enter in train. Similarly in an entrepreneur’s life whenever he thinks of starting a new business he comes across various forces that makes it difficult for him to enter. I remember the time when my dad wanted to start his own factory and he came across various obstacles to just get started. But once you start you don’t look back the same way once you are in the train; you are in.
- There will never be a place for you – create your own place
Once you are in the train where people are standing on top of each other, you do not expect them to make space for you that easily. There you need to create your own place to stand. You literally struggle to keep both of your feet’s properly onto the floor. Same way once you have entered any new venture your competitors won’t let you stand and therefore you have to create your own market. The way you create space in local you have to create space in market just to make you stand.
- Find your support
Now you are in the train and you have found a place where you can manage to stand but all you need is a support which can help you remain standing till the time you are in train because there will be pressures which you will come across at every station where people are boarding and leaving the train and these pressures will make you fall. Though there are many supports which are hanging on top but then there are already many hands holding them, so you try to put your hands on anything which you come across. Similarly entrepreneur searches for his own support. He can seek support from family or friends who always want him to remain standing in his journey of life and gives him support of all possible ways like financial, moral or by giving valuable suggestions from time to time.
- Your shoulders are meant for others to rest
After winning the battle of getting into the train people around you are exhausted and tired, they need to rest. They are drowsy and want to sleep. So the best place where they put their head is your shoulder. Oh common!!! You cannot mind that; they don’t have an option but to put their heads on your shoulders. All you can do at this point is to search a shoulder for yourselfJ. In business too you come across various situations where there are several stake holders like vendors, suppliers, etc who rest on your shoulders whenever they come across a tough time. So do you look upon some shoulders when you come across tough time, remember the saying ‘do good to others and others will do good to you’.
- It is your responsibility to make your journey a learning, entertaining and a happy one
Now once you have decided to travel you have two options either to travel with a lost face which says that you are travelling just for the sake of travelling or travel with things which entertain you and makes you happy after all it was your decision to travel. Many people in the train use various things to entertain themselves; they plug in music players, radios, etc few others read news papers, magazines or books. It was nice to observe that they are trying to make their journey a happy one and a learning one. Similarly in entrepreneur life once he has made a decision to travel now it is his responsibility to make his journey an entertaining one and a learning one. Whatever path he has chosen should make him happy. Remember the first blog path of heart, even the path should make you happy.
This was a strange comparison which I tried to make between two journeys of life. I have travelled one of them, Andheri to churchgate was a journey which I can never forget. I feel this journey has made me learn the tough life of Mumbai and made me realise one thing for sure ‘all that glitters is not gold’. I salute all the people who travel from Virar fast every day. I think they are most trained to become entrepreneurs.
