As this year comes to an end, it’s the time to take a stock of what all worth-while things we accomplished, how it was good & what could have been better if not best!

For me no doubt it was an year full of action, both at business & at the personal front. While it’s always said & proven that one’s profit is another’s loss in business ecosystem, the point I want to touch upon & highlight is that the same applies fully in every aspect of life.

First time in my career of two decades I went ahead to do a deal of exiting my business which was bought over by a multi-national conglomerate, this year I realized & I sincerely acknowledge that it was not worth it…as my original co. ViaMedia Health was not only a business I built, it was a Concept proven right (as it was quite timely), a solution which was built on the thesis of solving problems in healthcare, whether it was about creating awareness to fight diseases or solving the communication challenges faced by Brands & cos. Or a solution for the Drs who faced their own Profile building challenges. The co. which bought it over could never do justice to it, as they like most American cos. (lead by an Indian guy who went to America to fulfil his own success milestones ultimately fell pray to emulating American success modules). So in the end it may have turned out profitable for the buyers (as in the end we became a medium for them to acquire more than few hundred of crores of revenue booked under E-Gov projects), but for us, sincerely admitting, it was a big loss as the Concepts built to solve genuine problems in the society can never be bought ever, they are built on original ideas by the original people who believe in it fully & work for it with utmost passion, chasing a cause.

Now when I may go out everyday in pursuit of building a new business (in healthcare & eldercare space) & reignite my old ‘healthcare communications’ acumen, I feel I’m stuck with the whole dilemma of whether to build it on the principles of passion & problem solving approach or on purely profitability & valuation perspective! Probably, when I will look back over years & see why I couldn’t succeed in my second innings the way I should have been (mainly in terms of creating valuations & exiting making good money, wealth for myself), this ‘profitability dilemma’ would be the one core reason.

But the same dilemma I find in dealing with Friends, family, new acquaintances in business…everywhere I see the same fight going on, after every meetings, after every discussions, negotiations…who gained & who lost? Every meeting I come out, every Project I undertake, every assignment when executed, I find the same discussion…all stake-holders involved have come with only one Objective, how to derive profit/ benefits for themselves…it ends up in one’s gain over another’s loss!!

Towards this year’s end I experienced this quite closely in my personal life…when my Father in spite of fighting the dreaded disease ‘cancer’ came out as winner & wrote a professional book- ‘Principles of Law of Contract’ published by Bloomsbury, we left no stone unturned in launching it with fan fare…he also felt so elated about it, felt happy & satisfied as if he has achieved a remarkable milestone of his life in old-age (he actually had)…he believed that he had come out as a winner fighting cancer & writing a book which will create a legacy.

Not within next 3 weeks he got severe breathing problem, we rushed him to the hospital, the Drs tried their best in the ICU to revive him…but it was not to happen.. within 4 hours he was ‘no more’, he left all of us on his journey to ‘heavenly abode’, to be with his loved soul-mate, our mother, to live in eternity. The same happy family, the same noble soul which was relishing this landmark achievement was left bereaved just within 3 weeks. We launched his book at the royal Imperial hotel lawns at a high profile function on 22^nd October & we ended up organizing his Bramha Bhoj & Terahi at our home town at ‘his home’ which my Parents built of their own in Gorakhpur, on 22^nd November, exactly 30 days after.

The happy moments turned into an uncalled for, untimely tragedy. The Profits turned into a severe loss, just within 30 days timeframe.

Probably, this is what was my great learning in year 2018…that there’s nothing like Profit or Loss, success or failures, gains or negatives, everything is circumstantial & it depends on your outlook, how you take it up, how you look at it. It’s all in the mind.

So now whenever I go out to meet people, talk about a deal, discuss about a Project & negotiate for a Fees or any monetary considerations. .even when a friend calls for a help or anyone approaches with work, I try not to analyze it in terms of ‘my profit or loss’… I only see it whether its right to do, for my business, for the growth of my team, for justice of my own time which I give for it, for my own conscious satisfaction & for the welfare of the person or the group who wants to engage with me for their ‘profit’, if it helps someone, brings smiles & ushers happiness & if it does not harm mine, my team or my family in any way that it was actually a ‘loss’ which created a damage like situation… I simply go ahead & do it.

As every thing we do it LIFE cannot be measured by ‘profit & loss’, both these terms are made up for each other, they both co-exist & are co-incidental, we cannot separate them at any point of time, whether its in personal interactions or in professional dealings…we can only take a conscious call within ourselves that the deed we did, the deal we made or the services we gave…we are sure it was for good, done with best of intentions & hence generates ‘goodness’ & is surely ‘profitable’ for us, for the society at large & for our Country in true sense. That’s the gain… the loss is for those who feel so…