<b><font color ='black'>DREAMS THEY LIVE THEIRS</font></b>

We found seven people who listened to the nagging voice that told them they should be somewhere else, someone else. Stories of people who gave in to the itch for change

INVESTMENT BANKER TO TOUR GUIDE
‘THIS IS ABOUT ENTREPRENEURSHIP’
The transition from corporate consultant to tour guide in Bangalore took 10 years for IIM graduate Arun Pai. Three years ago, he took the plunge, chucked his consultancy and started Bangalore Walks, a tour guiding company that stencils Bangalore’s history through morning walks.
The former Arthur Anderson executive’s weekly life now revolves around taking corporate clients, expats and newly-arrived foreign executives on assembled tours that capture Bangalore’s many faces—usually before rush-hour traffic hits the road.
“He is quite brilliant. To listen to him, Bangalore has been affecting the course of global history ever since Lord Cornwallis took it from Tipu Sultan in 1791,’’ travel writer and former Granta editor Ian Jack said about Pai during a visit to Bangalore.
For Pai, the idea was born during his travels abroad. He wanted to tell the story of his city in the compelling way he had experienced London and Singapore. “I enjoyed learning about the history and culture of different places from the stories told by tour guides. Somewhere along the line I realised I did not know as much about my hometown,’’ he says.
Though he does advise tourism departments at many places Pai still believes that his enterprise is best suited to Bangalore. “While it seems off the beaten path, entrepreneurship is what this is still about,’’ he says.
—Johnson TA

FROM MANAGING A DOTCOM TO RUNNING FOR LIFE
‘THERE WERE PLENTY OF SCEPTICS AROUND THAT’S CHANGING’
There is no loneliness for the long-distance runner in Bangalore. Two years ago, Arvind Krishnan, 37, an IIM graduate, decided to use his passion for running to create the first-ever long distance running club in India, Runners For Life. At the Mumbai Marathon this year, the largest contingent was from the 900-member Runners For Life.
For Krishnan, who took a detour from being a regular business manager in 2001 to explore a business he called The Fuller Life, the running club is a part of that project. Started in 2001, within days of the shutting of a dotcom company he worked for, TFL has been an effort to give people breaks from the monotony of corporate jobs and access to things they always wanted to do, says Krishnan.
Started initially as a channel for individuals to find guitar courses, flamenco dancing classes, adventure sport activities or any other recreational activity, The Fuller Life (thefullerlife.com) now targets its energies in providing recreational support for large, modern corporate firms around India. The company with over 50 top clients, mostly from the IT and the IT-enabled services sectors, touched the Rs 2 crore revenue mark by March-end this year.
“When we started both Fuller Life and Runners, there were plenty of sceptics around. That is changing now,’’ says Krishnan.
His mission statement? “Like every other young company, we aim to change the world. We intend to do so by transforming offices into places where people can have a good time,’’ he says.
—Johnson TA

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