Life’s ways are inscrutable alright, but they are also beautiful, miraculous and serendipitous.
Today Vaani and I celebrate the 21st anniversary of embracing entrepreneurship. Today, Aug 1, also marks the third anniversary of my Book Fall Like A Rose Petal.
It is unusual that on the anniversary of your Firm’s founding you launch a Book that celebrates the learnings you have picked up going through the Firm’s (and your personal) bankruptcy. But that has been our Life’s journey – a decade on since we went bankrupt, Vaani and I are still dealing with treacherous, long, spells of no work and no money. Even so, we both are not bitter. We have learnt to be non-worrying, non-frustrated and non-suffering. We have learnt to be happy despite our circumstances.
Personally, we are grateful for our bankruptcy – because the experience has brought meaning and Purpose into our Life. Without it, there will be no Book. And without the Book, and my Talks and our curated Events, we won’t be “Inspiring Happiness” and be meeting so many, many, many wonderful people.
The biggest lesson we have learnt through this phase is that Life simply goes on. When we cannot control something, our logical mind will implore us to believe that we are losers and that it is the end of the road. But our experience has taught us that when we find ourselves in situations that we can neither understand nor solve, we must simply trust the process of Life. Look at our story – from the education of our two children in premium global schools, to surviving close to 120 months without even an income stream to cover basic living expenses (of which 52 have been without any income!), to overcoming health challenges, to facing up to legal and police action, to having no idea when the situation will turn around – Vaani and I have been looked after, cared for and provided for by the benevolent Universe. We have seen rank strangers come and help us. We have seen the milk of human kindness flow. Every time we have fallen off the edge of the precipice, we have found that either a miraculous hand has hoisted us up or a safety net has serendipitously appeared to cushion our fall. So, I can tell you without doubt, that it is never the end of the road. Figuratively, your road ends only when your Life ends. Metaphorically, as we understand, the journey of Life has no end. So, the best way to anchor in peace and be happy is to fall like a rose petal – unquestioningly, trusting Life to take you to where you should arrive!
You too can learn to live this way. Just stop worrying about what you can’t control and what you can’t solve. Learn to be non-frustrated when the results don’t add up despite your best efforts. And stop asking “why?” or “why me?”. Simply accept your Life for what it is and keep moving on. Flow with Life. You can only be happy when you live this way!
Post-script:
Here are some moments from the 3-year journey of Fall Like A Rose Petal. Catch a glimpse of the first spiral-bound manuscript from October 2012! Check out the different cover options by Sana Srinivasan, Kumar Narayanan and Sowmya Nagarajan. Sowmya’s design was finally chosen by the publisher Westland. One of the most courageous people you will ever know, the beautiful and supremely talented, Malvika Iyer received the first copy of Fall Like A Rose Petal on August 1, 2014.
There’s also an image of a business card from our erstwhile Firm imagequity+ (which went bankrupt) – this card was carried by all new team members when they joined, until they got their own business cards! Our Firm was cool in many respects – for instance, all our team members, mintmakers as we called them, got to choose their own titles and had their caricatures at the back of their business cards!!!
Vaani and I have a long, long way to go…to rebuild our lives financially and repay all our debt…but we have the faith and are patient with our enduring situation.
Watch out for the Tamil translation of Fall Like A Rose Petal later this year. I am blessed that Charukesi Viswanathan has translated my work and Ramnarayan Venkatraman has edited it.
Do order Fall Like A Rose Petal from here or from Amazon and read it in case you haven’t already. Or order it as a gift for someone who you believe needs a reaffirmation that Life can and must be faced – no matter what the circumstances are!
The AVIS Viswanathan Blog 
Avis, you are not alone in this celebration. There are a whole lot of people like me, who you have influenced, inspired…..We are with you like co-passengers, in this journey of life.
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