The other day - last afternoon, actually, the wife was in one of her very rare good moods - and the lunch she dished up, my! 

It sure did prove the good mood, and she demanded to know where the daughter's "leads" (her way of saying headphones) were. 

For some reason the chip off the old block runs through stuff pretty quick, unlike her old man who seems to reuse certain things till you cannot use them no more. "Thats a perfectly good car", as Jeff Bezos - well on his way to becoming a billionaire - once said about his beat down Honda! Hehe. 

I respect guys like that - not for driving beat down cars, or being practical alone - yes, those reasons, but because .... they did it THEMSELVES. 

Bootstrapped, ok, Bezos had help from his Dad initially which is more than what a lot of us get, but still - he is to me the modern day version of Henry Ford, and that takes some doing. 

Anyway. 

"I'm buying it", I went. "But I want to get a good quality one, like the one I have, not just one of those cheap ones". 

When I told the wife how much it cost, after she asked - she grinned and shook her head  - "I'm not spending that much". 

And then. 

Partly in  jest. 

"Buy one for me too!" 

Anyway, story behind this - I want to get the daughter the same headphones I have - good quality - and the guy that advertises them or used to, at any rate - a Bollywood actor I hardly ever watch, I've barely seen any of his movies. 

But, guy's in SHAPE. 

Real shape. 

He's a dancer. 

Yes, he does tons of pull-ups! 

More than his fitness though - he STRUGGLED. 

His family did all but disown him for not bending to their desires. I can identify for sure, and I can identify with the old Maruti Zen he literally lived out of while struggling to make it big which he finally made it "in some regards" big. 

I'm sure he remembers those days. 

I'm sure he wouldn't exchange the struggles for ANYTHING. I know I wouldn't. If you ain't run from pillar to post, been at the very edge of desperation with one foot hanging well over the cliff of utter, abject failure then you aint lived in all regards, and you're not qualified to talk about any sort of success, period. 

I should know. Been there, done that - in the trenches. Thats the sort of dude I respect - big time!

Anyone that makes it on their own - I respect that person. 

And like I told the wife. 

"Shahid Kapoor advertises it. It's a vibe. He wouldn't just sell shit..." 

And I know. 

It's a vibe, hard to explain, one of those things, you cannot fake GENUINE people! 

Anyway ... the old Zen. 

I had one of those, a golden colored Zen, and when I first got it, it might well have been "Punchy" the Dog in Rocky Balboa that the teenaged son  (Lil Marie's son) did not want to get initially. 

Beat down, depressed, dead, not unlike the dog that shows up next to me EVERY TIME I work out - even when I shoo it away. You've seen that dog, I've shooed it away but it keeps coming back, and I've decided to accept it for now. Hey. Some things!

That car - nothing worked except the engine. I still remember driving it up without brake fluid up the hills of India, if you can do that, now you've got some serious balls (driving on those narrow Himalayan roads - just Google if you dont believe me. Hehe). I still remember a case where I almost pissed my pants driving in the jungles in the dark, lost ... Anyway thats a tale I've covered before, but for now? 

The ZEN. 

And yours truly at that time, truly phat phocker. Hehe. 

There's a famous photo of me on Instagram, chowing down on snacks with a beer in hand at 11 AM in the morning - from one of my favorite places to visit. Hehe. 

Those of you on Instagram have seen it. 

And for now, here's the trip down memory lane you must read about - - A 5 day road trip to Dalhousie/Khajjiar - Team-BHP

This will be part of the travelogues series I plan on coming out with soon - which will have details on my travels back Stateside (yes, the US is a massive country with lots to see!) - China (another massive country) - maybe Russia someday in the future too. And more - and India, of course. 

For now, thats that. 

And remember, for hard hitting life info that works unlike what the self help so called Gurus tell you - Zero to Hero! - and Gumption Galore are the tickets. 

Thats that then - enjoy the link above! 

BEst, 

Rahul Mookerjee

PS - Notice the calves in the photo. Some might call me "strong" - indeed, many did back then- reality though, I was PHAT. Hehe. Lesson coming from someone thats been there - and done that. 

Listen to me, YOU will catapult yourself from woefully unfit to the ranks of the elite too ... 

Ps #2 - I was sort of forced into selling the trusty Zen when I moved to the Middle East for a short period, something I shouldn't have done, but running on the beaches, and them boxing workouts were cool! 

But I still remember almost crying - literally - when I sold it off. 

So many hours invested into rebuilding that car, standing around for hours in the hot sun with mechanics, learning everything I could about cars from it .. 

I know the guy I sold it to, he still has the car. 

Hehe. some things, OLD is truly GOLD!