Choices, Matter!

I have never been an influencer of anything. Thus, I have generally assumed that the purchasing choices that I make don’t make much of a difference to anyone but me. 

For instance, the grocer would not make any changes to their supply stock if I changed my grocery list. Same goes for clothes, shoes, accessories, travel or any of my purchases. Simply because I do not generate enough volume for them to care. Or influence enough people for them to notice. 

All this being said, I’ve started to realize maybe these choices do matter outside of yourself. You just need a different way of looking at it. Maybe the fair trade cocoa chocolate that I brought helped a farmer get fair living wage for his work (So at least I hope). Maybe the organic produce that we buy will help some farmer take care of their land better and for long. Maybe if I pick a slow fashion label rather than fast fashion label, some factory worker somewhere will lead a better life.  

I am not trying to imply that I lead an ideal life. As I write this, I realize that my carbon footprint is far higher than the average, my single use plastic is much higher than what it ideally should be. But the point I am trying to make is, I am trying to make better choices. 

And these choices Matter....

Just like a vote in a Million other votes, even though it is easy to assume your vote is insignificant. Also, I completely understand that we are bound by resource constraints like time and money amongst others while making these choices. But nevertheless our choices are not insignificant in any way.

The reason being many of the companies out there are listening. Listening to changed consumer pattens. If enough people start making changes, the D2Cs will smell an opportunity. I don’t want to take brand names for this to sound like an advertisement, but some of the changes I’ve seen on the brand packaging have been encouraging. 

For example, a cereal brand advertised they help farmers transition their farms from non-organic to organic, a process which is costly and time consuming for farmers with no added revenue in the transition period. An eye-glasses company which donates a pair for every pair you buy. A company which uses ocean plastic to makes some of their sporting shoes. Coffee companies offering College Benefits to it’s employees. And many many more. I will try to pick quality over quantity.

The world is listening, what will you choose? 

The subtle art

I have not read a book in a long time. Well, programming and job related books aside. Last time I remember reading a full book was back in college almost 10 years ago. I wanted to get back to reading. Convinced myself to buy a kindle. I was looking through a good list of books to read and came across this very interesting title. “The subtle art of not giving a ____”. It had decent reviews and I said to myself, let’s try this.

I was fully expecting it to be an entertaining read with a tacky title and the usual drama. But I was completely surprised in a very positive way. It is a very realistic book, it forces you to rewire your thinking without being preachy. I am not giving anything away in the blogpost as I feel the book deserves to be read by more people.

I did not know anything about the author Mark Manson before reading the book, after reading the first couple of chapters, I felt like this guy must have a ton of experience. Must be in his 50s or 60s or beyond. As I kept reading I realized this is completely a book written by a millennial for millennials. It is a good read, I am sure for all ages but I think millennials can connect more to it. It guides you through weeding out whats unimportant and what’s important without being a self help book. I usually cannot stand self help books. I find them to be my way or the highway many a times. But this one is very different.

It is more practical, It challenges to question your beliefs. It shows us the common traps most people fall into. So many times while reading I felt I could completely connect with many of the things in there. In general, I like discussions which encourage me to analyze and evaluate my actions and thoughts. This book, I feel is a heart to heart discussion. It is not a small talk or a surface discussion it goes deep. Just the right amount of deep to not be boring and at the same time not be superficial. It tells you to choose for yourself and let go of the other things.

Reminded me of many of the meaningful conversations I’ve had over the years with my parents, school and college friends, my wife and so many other people. I want to continue reading such meaningful books and having meaningful talks.

Here’s to reading!

Is travel worth it?

I caught the travel bug majorly because of my dad and his love of travel. He introduced me to the thrill of seeing a new place, something different than the regular. I am sure many others started the same way. But somewhere, slowly I am starting to notice that the world he introduced me to is not the same anymore. 

The word 'Over-tourism' was unheard of. The Icelands and the Fijis of the world were trying to attract people to come visit by aggressive tourism marketing. Tourism fueled businesses and provided good source of employments to people. Flying was still an exciting thing (and a luxury too!). Destination Guide books were a thing and Internet was slowly looking to spread the wealth, one bit at a time. 

Fast forward to now, technology did a great job in bringing the world closer together. Traveling is now much easier to plan and execute. Our social media and other influencers inspired us to go explore what's out there. The places, the food, the culture, experiences, photos and much more. Somewhere down the line, tourism became a victim of it's own success. There can only be one Machu Picchu, one Eiffel Tower, one Big Ben, one Sagrada Familia and each passing day, more and more people wanting to visit. This presents an interesting challenge, how do we keep these places accessible to the public, keep the visitor experience awesome and preserve it for generations to come. There is no easy solution. 

Maybe encouraging people to visit other ruins, perhaps not as old as Machu Picchu but pristine nevertheless. More shoulder season/off season travel perhaps, putting a cap on number of visitors to a place daily can be some alternatives. Citizens of Barcelona, Venice, Amsterdam alike are raising alarms of over-tourism citing tourists are making it difficult for locals to afford living in their cities. Housing is looked at as an investment for the wealthy, the hotels, the airbnbs alike who make way for making more accommodations available to the tourists while taking away the space from residents. 

Leaving that aside for a moment, are costs to travel really worth it? Monetary costs, time costs, planning and execution effort and many other such hidden costs. Maybe sometimes, but not always. Driving long hours on a busy weekend just to get to someplace for a short while and return. Waiting in the long lines of cars trying to enter a popular national park. Spending long times waiting at the airport security line to board a flight which has no better user experience than a crappy bus. Waiting in long lines at Temple entrances to see a 10 second glimpse of statue of God. I am sounding very negative, but when you start looking past these experiences, you start to see the positive side of travel. 

When you start to look at travel as a package things start to look different. Don't gauge the worth of travel based on the quality of your sunset photo. Don't let a rainy day affect your idea of perfect vacation. Things don't always go as planned and you will take some wonderful detours in the process. Enjoy every bit, just like everyday life. Sometimes we keep our expectations so high because of the money that is spent on trips. Remember, every trip is a chapter in a storybook. Some more interesting that the others. It takes us away from our everyday lives to give us a glimpse of other people's lives, an entry point to nature that is not present in our backyard. Just like our everyday life has it's ups and downs, so does travel life. Every once in a while, I am sure you will encounter moments that make travel worth it. Here's to one such moment. Northern Lights!!!