Money, fame, titles fade with time. Only thing that survives is You
In 1985, I earned ₹250 for my first business project – electrical testing in a factory.
Maybe some would call it "too little."
Maybe some would laugh.
But here's my truth – I had just lost my MNC job for standing by workers who needed safety shoes, and I was sitting with zero rupees in my pocket, borrowing petrol money from my parents.
So to me, ₹250 wasn't just payment.
It was proof that values don't have to mean poverty.
Fast forward to building a successful business empire – multiple projects, corporate clients, pioneering work installing India's first computer systems in banks.
People saw the "successful businessman":
Contracts, teams, projects, growth, expansion.
But time had a different lesson waiting for me.
In 2010, after 29 years of building that identity, I walked away from it all.
My friend warned me at a rainy bus stand: "You will lose your identity."
And you know what's beautiful about that moment?
→ Time humbled the successful businessman into just a human seeking meaning
→ The ego built over decades dissolved in one conscious decision
→ Success that felt permanent became a chapter that ended
Today I don't have business cards or corporate titles.
But I have something deeper – peace, purpose, and the freedom to serve without needing validation.
₹250 once meant survival.
Crores later meant success.
Walking away meant liberation.
Time eventually strips every identity we build.
Some learn this early through failure.
Some learn it late through success.
But everyone learns it eventually – you are not your achievements, your money, or your position.
The only thing that survives time is who you become through all of it.
What identity are you holding onto that time will eventually humble anyway?