I decided to record this episode on a whim as my friend Chef Ram & I were on our way to teach vegan cooking to hospitality students. We were having such a nice conversation about:

• changing careers
• transforming with the flow of life
• prioritising joy and fulfilment on a daily basis

I had to share it with you!

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Right now I’m in a car on the way to this college on Bannerghatta Road. My friend Chef Ram and I are teaching this wonderful vegan cooking workshop and we’re so excited about it!

We’ve been having a really nice discussion about pivoting in our careers and lives

So I thought, oh my God, I have to record this and put it onto the podcast, share it with all of you!

Chef Ram is a good friend of mine. We ran Carrots, a vegan restaurant for nearly a decade together, and we’ve done a lot of cooking classes together. But we have so many other interesting topics that we discuss often.

So yeah, here he is.

S: Hi Ram!

R: Hi!

*long honk* (okay, you all heard the honk? There’s a bit of a jam, but I want to share this anyway)

S: So Ram, we were talking about changing careers and pivoting and stuff, right?

R: Yeah. Like when I started my career, it was something different. At that point, around 2012, I thought Chef-ing is only the career I can look forward to. There are various reasons, but that’s how I started all these things, cooking and everything. And then joining Carrots, turning vegan, and many things happened in between.

But during all this journey, right? I have got a chance to learn many things from you!

So basically at that point, it was kind of irritating as well. *both laugh* Because, I mean, I already had many things to do, managing team and creating recipes and all those things. Plus learning new stuff, like, I hardly had time. But still during break time I never used to go for break, I used to spend time with you, so that I can learn English, and plus…many stuff basically. Including the video recording, editing, photography.

In fact I was very curious how you create posters and all that

I had no clue at all. I’ve seen many things, I mean like, how babies learn, right? They don’t even talk, they don’t even do anything, they will quietly observe everything and within a few years they become brilliant! And that is how I think my life also started and I learned many things.

S: So we became all-rounders together as a part of running our business. And the beauty about that is when you become an all-rounder, when you learn about marketing, about building a brand, about getting testimonials and things like that, the beauty of that is…

You learn something in one job, in one career, but you can actually use that in another career entirely, right?

R: True. True. So the thing is, the funny part, like, I mean, I’m fond of music all the time. I wanted to learn flute, play good flute from my childhood only. But the thing is that I can’t afford to, like I didn’t have money to buy flute at the time.

The flute always used to be very costly around thousand, two thousand bucks. And can you imagine who will pay one thousand bucks for just bamboos?! Like I never thought that.

*S laughs*

Like I mean, I used to go to melas (local fairs) and they used to sell ten rupees, five rupees bamboo. I mean, what? For bamboos you’ll pay one thousand bucks?! Like at 2010-12 you can imagine, I mean the money was like a little bit quite higher.

S: Yeah, you were so young, and you’d just started your career. And you’d just started earning.

R: I hardly used to get 8-9-10k per month.

S: Yeah. And spending a tenth of that on a piece of bamboo?

R: Like around 20% of that just for a bamboo? No, of course not. So I decided to ditch it for several years. Then this one beautiful person came in my life, that person is called Ritwik. And somehow, he got to know I’m very fond of music and all these things, and…

S: I told him!!!

R: Yeah, you told him, right?

S: He stole my idea! I saw his flute and said, “I want to give a gift to Ram, so where did you buy this flute?” So he told me the place, but the next day he gifted you the flute!

R: *laughs* Correct. So he gifted me a flute and I was so happy! And immediately I started playing a lot. That’s what everyone does, right? I mean, I started exploring the notes, and playing the songs.

Though there were so many mistakes, still I used to love to play.

I used to stay with my boys, and the thing is, they used to get irritated.

*both laugh*

Like, evening and night.

S: Early morning!

R: Yeah, early morning. They used to say, “what Ram? Puon-puon-puon morning and evening?”

*S laughs*

That is what I used to hear all the time. Neither of them appreciated it. They were like, stop this I want to sleep!

S: Any instrument you’re learning newly, the people around you are the ones who’ve born the brunt of it.

R: Yeah. Then one of the unlucky days, I broke that flute. I was very, very sad that day. And then immediately, within two days only…

I went and I spent 2k for new flute. Can you imagine?

S: But by then you’d grown in your career as a chef, so you were earning plenty enough to be able to afford a new flute, or anything else right? So that was good.

R: Yeah. True. True. That is there but, it’s not only about earning. Earning is one matter but…

S: That interest. Now you knew that you wanted to play the flute!

R: Not only that. See there is always value in terms of anything. So for bamboo, I didn’t want to pay that much, that was the thing. After that I mean, I was like, okay, no… I got so sad when the flute got broke right?

S: Yeah.

R: So I decided no, I have to get a new one and I have to learn now because…

S: It was not just bamboo anymore!

R: It’s not bamboo anymore, it’s my life also. I mean, I used to feel happiness while playing.

And then I just quickly got the new flute, and started exploring. Learned many things, joined the classes also. And it was very, very difficult even in classes because I used to I hardly get time to play something. Plus managing Carrots, and plus managing team with Susmitha, and plus the meetings, this, that, and life was full.

S: But very soon after you started learning, you started teaching classes.

R: I mean after spending couple of months learning, I started. I thought, okay, like teaching only is the best way where I can also engage all the time, and learn more. I used to hear from childhood only…

Whenever you share the knowledge you gain more, so that is the thing, I thought let me try teaching.

S: And then pandemic hit, and we had to shut down the restaurant. And then I stepped away from the restaurant, but you decided to take over the brand and continue it as a cloud kitchen. You did a fundraiser, you restarted carrots.

R: Yeah, many things happened. But…laughs

S: But now, what happens is you do run your restaurant as a cloud kitchen, but more importantly, you know, it started as your main job and the flute as a backup job. Now what has happened, Ram?

*both laugh*

R: It’s happened exactly opposite. And now flute is the main job.

And backup…the restaurant’s only become 10% backup as of now.

S: You know, if somebody had told you that no, you’re not going to be a chef anymore after ten years, you’re going to turn into a flute teacher. Would you have believed them?

R: Wooooahhhh. Not at all. Not at all, at all. I mean, even in 2017 or 18, somewhere when I started the flute, right? If someone came and told me, okay, after five, six years you’re going to survive because of flute, I wouldn’t have believed them.

S: See the main thing is…even in my life, I’ve always pivoted.

Pivot, pivot, pivot. As life comes along, you change the career.

So, you know, I used to go and teach kids in school, then I had my own Etsy store making jewellery and miniatures, then I started vegan cooking, teaching. Later I ran the restaurant with you. Now I’ve become a vegan business coach.

And pivoting is so good when we realise that we can do this, you know, it doesn’t matter.

Just because you’ve invested your work, your time, your studying in one thing doesn’t mean you have to be stuck with it life long.

It’s such an important thing, right?

R: And also what I feel Sus, like, me sitting with a student for an hour, my wife Sulxana, she gets angry so much. “How can you sit just for doing sound poon-poon-poon all the time for one hour?” *Susmitha laughs*

But I enjoy that feel, I like that thing. So I think important is what you believe, what you love…

S: What gives you joy.

R: Yeah!

S: And it doesn’t have to give you joy throughout your life. It may change to something else some other time.

R: Correct, correct. And then I don’t even feel that I spent six hours in a day for a class. I never feel that. Like, I feel relaxed all that time. I think that is what is important in life.

S: Yeah, that’s true. And in the restaurant business, it was very hard. We you used to run around daily, like morning start at 10 o’clock till 11-12 o’clock in the night. It was so busy, so difficult.

But at that time, because it was so enjoyable for us, even though we used to get tired, we were able to do it and it brought us joy.

Now, if I think back on it, can you imagine working like that, right?

R: No! I mean, really, I don’t want to even go through that again.

S: It’s difficult, right?

R: I have no patience to handle those kind of places.

S: Which is why we’re doing what we’re doing now. Like today, we are almost reaching the college now, and we’re going to teach a cooking class so that we can train new chefs. And then let them run their restaurant while they’re young, while they have the passion for it, right?

So this is another beauty of pivoting. We can change, but whatever we’ve learned, we can teach.

R: True. True.

S: Right? So then that also grows and nothing is wasted.

R: So in my life what I say is there is no foolish stuff. Any time can be changed anything. So you have to always be open and accept whatever comes to you.

S: And the more easily you do it, happily…instead of sitting and thinking, “Oh no, our restaurant closed. Oh no, what’re we gonna do.” Instead of that, that shifting and the moving in the flow…

R: Like, literally I have a video of raising funds and all the things, people can go and look at the video, how do I look in the video, and now…

*both laugh*

S: I recently watched it, you know? Our Carrots Restaurant old YouTube channel, I love going and watching the old videos, because there are so many memories. And I looked at the video where we announced, “oh we’re closing the restaurant, it’s so sad,” and all that.

*Ram laughs*

We were truly heartbroken at that time! And yes, I do miss some parts of that life.

R: Even I do, but like, I feel that…

S: Whatever happened…

R & S: …happened for good.

S: Right? This is where we’re meant to be.

R: And also, things never come back again. So I understood, move forward also in your daily journey. So that is what I felt. That’s all, Sus. Nothing else.

S: Cool, Ram! This is fun, talking about pivoting.

I hope we’ve encouraged all of you to also pivot, if things aren’t going a certain way in your life. Don’t be stuck on one thing, you know, change your career, try what’s new.

Also, add on layers, add on more skills in your life. You don’t do just one thing. The more skill sets you have, the easier it is for you to flow and transform as things change in the world.

Nobody expected when the pandemic happened. Nobody expected it. So many things changed, but we were pandemic proof…

R: Still all the vegans, if I tell them now, I’m a flutist, no one can believe me. laughs

S: Haha yeah because they all associate you as a chef. But we’re not just one thing, right? You’re more than one thing.

By the way, you know, a few episodes ago, I’ve spoken to a baby, “Sukriti baby”, I’ve spoken to her in that. That is Chef Ram’s daughter! *laughs*

All right. The college is here. We’ve reached. It was great talking to you.

R: See you, buh-bye.

S: Bye, everyone. Talk to you again next week, and if you like this episode, go here and leave us a voice note. Bye!

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Susmitha Veganosaurus

“I’m a Spiritual Vegan Multi-Passionate Entrepreneur. I read voraciously, find humour in most things, and believe kindness and authenticity can make this world a happier, loving place.

If my content resonates with you, join my free newsletter where I share Life and Business Tips, Vegan Hacks, Holistic Guidance, and more.

Vegan cuisine and holistic business building are my two biggest passions. If you’re looking for guidance with vegan cooking, or want to grow your conscious business with joy and fulfilment, explore ways we can work togetherhere.”

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