Meeting Rodinhood @ Bangalore Mixer on 27th September 2012

I attended my first Rodinhoods Mixer in Bangalore on 27th September. It coincided with the Ad:Tech happening in Bangalore on the same date.

I was quite excited, and looking forward to listen to Alok at Ad:Tech at 4 PM when he had to speak on App Marketing. Alok spoke “Bindaas” and interlaced his App-marketing mantra with commoner’s lingo. While everybody was looking up to him to spew some deadly tactics to spend money and increase their app-visibility, he said “Don’t waste your money ! – Just get your App out there, and it will be seen !”

At the Galaxy Club, we had about 47 attendees for the first Rodinhood Mixer in Bangalore. Frankly, I was not expecting those many, considering the venue is a little off-centre. I am really delighted to see the enthusiasm. As always, Vasu Uppili was present with all of his Haritham team members.

Apart from the 2 big ideas that were presented by Deepak Panigrahy, and Varun Khona, Alok gave us gyaan on how to sell Concepts !

Three things that I learnt :

a) To hear the sound inside, sometimes you need to shake the vessel : We are hardwired from our childhood about certain things. You remain within your comfort zone. If you do not push yourself, and break boundaries, you will never realise what you have within you. We need to PUSH ourselves to realise the talent. It lies there, within us – we just need to take a different path to bring it out.

b) Givers Gain, Leechers Lose : Alok, told us about an incident when at one point in his life, he felt a void in his life. A haze beyond which he could not clearly see, and that’s when he sought advice from a sage who told him that his “Vessel” has filled up to the brim. He needs to share some of his wisdom with others, so that he makes some space in the Vessel. This is the spirit of the Open House. Learn and Share. Give and get rewarded. Put someone on your To-Do List. People don’t care what you know, until they know how much you care.

c) Detox, Cleanse, Renew : Entrepreneur leads a hard life. A constant battle with himself. An ant climbing up a wall, not knowing how many more times, he has to climb the same wall again. This life is dirty. You need to cleanse it, and detoxify, so that you see things in clear light. You need someone whom you could look upto. Someone whom you could go to, and dump your trash. Someone who would keep the tap on, so that you can bathe under it, and wash yourself of the filth that the world throws at you. Alok has found his sponsors, and always thanks them wherever he is. A guru/mentor/Ustaad is important. He could be anybody. The least bit he can do is help you see clearly. A guru does not need to be a saffron-sagely character. He/she could be someone who you think, always says the right things.

I really think Alok is doing a great job by giving away the “Autobiography of a Yogi” books. The book itself can be your GURU. Just read it. Go back to it. If you don’t wanna read it, just let it be there. It will happen when it has to.

Live the present. And So it is.

Cheers !

– Puneet Aggarwal