Hi there! My name is Anish. I’m a college dropout, now a Coffee Professional, an Artist and an Entrepreneur. I’m on a mission to spread awareness about Specialty Coffee in India where the majority is fond of milk and sugar and hasn’t really explored the actual taste of great coffee. Talking about my mission so boldly? Where does that come from? Well, it comes from a process. A process of doing what you love.
Let me take you back to 2019. A very unconfident, irresponsible, lazy, never so serious Anish who was confused whether to continue his degree course he had started or to ditch it and start doing what he loves. Well, I played safe by taking a gap year but how far can you go by playing safe?
It’s been two years since I made the decision of doing what I love i.e. brewing coffee. I started by working in a cafe as a Trainee Barista. Trainee to Barista, Barista to Trainer, joined an Entrepreneurial Fellowship, made content in lockdown, collaborated with many people, worked on various team projects, started a new job, left my city, new place, new people, but coffee remained constant. What did not is me. I thought I am evolving as a human, which I am, but it’s more like I am revealing my hidden traits.
The other day I was thinking about some qualities that I have drawn from my parents. I realised that I already had these qualities but I never explored them. Working as a Barista made me break out of my comfort bubble and interact with several new people on a daily basis, showing my work to people on Instagram made me reach out to people globally and connect with my idol. I became so comfortable with people that I started hosting coffee meet-ups, coffee became my medium to connect with people. Now I bond well with new people and in fact, I make them comfortable too. This is a trait I had in myself from my mother and I never knew about it until I had gone through this process. She is a people’s person, bonds well with all age groups, makes sure everyone is enjoying their time, keeps doing some or the other thing for her close ones. Now I see all this in myself too.
Another trait I didn’t know about was the will to explore. This comes from my father. Even though he is not very expressive and outgoing, I have realised he has a great quality of exploring little things. I’ve travelled pretty much in the recent years but without this trait in me, I wouldn’t have enjoyed all those places as much as I did in reality. And not only the will to explore small things wherever I go, but what’s more important to me is the will to explore things within myself!
There are a hundred values and skills I have learnt in these two years and I am not here to talk about what all they are. I just want to share how I created myself in this journey. One of my favourite Artists, Mike Posner, after creating some hit songs, decided to go on a walk across America. Why? To become someone he is actually proud of. In the conquest of making our loved ones proud, we seldom forget to make ourselves proud. Most of us don’t even know what would make us genuinely proud of ourselves. Most of us don’t really know who we are. I am genuinely proud of myself to have connected so closely with my idol and I was satisfied with my life at a certain point but not after that. I wanted to reveal all my hidden traits and be fully aware of who I am. I became hungry to explore.
One habit I adopted was to say “YES” to everything. You like it or not, just say yes and do it. No matter how your experience was, you might find something that was hidden somewhere. I worked on a project called #karo and hosted a ‘Laughter Opera’ for 15 mins virtually and it was a mind-blowing experience for me. It made me realise that I can host something virtual and can be fun at the same time. I agreed on working with my mentor on his social media. Considering the other things that occupied my day, I had no need to work with him but just a lot of hunger to explore. We changed the plan from social media to conducting a grant for passionate people across the country. Another interesting project I worked on which at the end gave me a feeling that I share a similar passion to my mentor. Passion to work with the youth of India. I haven’t yet worked on it individually but I don’t think I would have known this until I invested my time in making it happen.
And just knowing it is not the real fun. Taking that ability/trait forward and developing yourself is the real fun. One amazing transformation I would like to mention is the ability to change my mood within seconds. Whenever I wanted to change from one energy level to another for doing something, I used to meditate. It used to take me 15-20 mins and doing it regularly, the time taken to change my energy levels reduced and eventually came to seconds. I feel this is something extraordinary that I have developed and I am proud of it. I still don’t know myself completely and I don’t think I ever will but I am keen to look for what new things I might find. Keep exploring!
“Beginnings always hide themselves in ends.”
– Mike Posner