Reset

10:30 pm. June 8, 2020. One year ago today, on a poorly lit side street in suburban Mumbai, I almost met my Maker. It is only thanks to the kind generosity of three young men that I'm alive, and to the care of my doctors and countless prayers of loved ones, family, Life Engineers and well-wishers that I am back to myself. I'd say I'm at 110%. 

Any near-death experience is a second chance. I feel nothing but immeasurable gratitude. To be alive. To be healthy. To have the privilege of excellent healthcare.

I am grateful that Fabtech, a company I started over 20 years ago, has grown into a formidable organisation. Every human being has a journey. We go from newborns who need our parents to feed and bathe and raise us to adults who grow up independent and self-sufficient. This is when parents let go - not of the relationship, but let go so the child can be their own person — someone who will carry the legacy forward to the next generation.

Organisations are like humans. They also have a journey. When they are new and young, they are wholly dependent on their founders to be a driving force. To chart a path. To lay a secure foundation. With nurturing and support, they grow up. This growth comes from the teams that make the founder's early vision possible. But there comes a time, like with humans, when individuals within the team step forward and embrace more responsibility. For the founders to step back. To let go of control so the company can outlive them, safe in the hands of the next generation of leaders. 

I had already begun to step aside from my executive role long before my accident. Still, the long recovery that followed allowed me to naturally and permanently step away from my executive role and accelerate my plans to relocate to the UAE. While I remain a non-working promoter and shareholder on the board with strategic input, Fabtech is now run independently by an incredible team of people. Knowing it will thrive and outlive me is immeasurably satisfying. 

Team Fabtech's organic evolution delights me. We're shutting down unproductive lines and businesses. We're a leaner team. I see a focussed, diligent, ferocious bunch, hungry to take on the world. I know, together, they will outpace everything we have achieved in the last 20 years. And I couldn't be prouder.

As for me, I am determined to live a stress-free life. I intend to use my privilege to make a difference to the world with this new lease I have been granted. To chase after new dreams. 

It took a while to get to this point, though. I had a difficult recovery with more downs than ups. Physical therapy was gruelling. My body was healing slowly, but my mind, well, had a mind of its own. I had constant brain fog. I was almost lost. Erratic, forgetful and frantic. It was an excruciating time, and I was exhausted and very depressed, wondering if this was my fate, a healing body with no functioning brain. 

A medically recommended long break which I took in Dubai, helped a great deal, ultimately accelerating my plans to relocate. My driver would drive me down to Karama three times a day, sometimes in the middle of the night, to a place my namesake, my school friend Asif had shown me years ago. A small tea shop called the Al Hara Cafe, a tapri almost that serves Zaafrani kadak chai. There in the sit-outs that dotted the sprawling parking lot, as I sipped on my chai and looked out onto the scape that is modern Dubai on one side and startup Dubai on the other, I began to feel my brain heal. I felt infused with new energy, a burning need to start afresh. I knew I would have to challenge myself with something out of the ordinary. It had to be something that made a significant difference in people's lives. And it couldn't just be one thing. It had to be foolish. Risky. A booster shot direct to my addled brain. 

And it came to me — a startup incubator. I could think of no better way to put my experience to work nurturing startups and enabling other entrepreneurs to bring their business to life. Just like I did 20+ years ago. Provide them with the experiential and financial resources to bring their dreams to life. This was a challenge I could dive into. 

Since I started my incubator three months ago, we've invested in a space startup, an online crowdfunding platform and an online skill development and learning platform. Even a couple of pharma engineering startups I never had the time for before because I was immersed in Fabtech. Some of these will organically offer my Life Engineers a growth trajectory in time. It's been a non-stop rollercoaster of adrenaline and excitement, of putting pieces together only to see the entire thing fall to dust by the end of the day. 

Most of all, as my guide, Ramas used to say, I am learning to be happy, happily dissatisfied. I take long walks on the beach, read, catch up with friends. Through my charity, For a cause, I'm able to give back through schemes for education, skill-building, healthcare, and nutrition for the needy. 

It's a good second life. 

I have never felt more alive.