If money and time were not constraints in your life, what would you be doing? It could be a complicated and thought-provoking question to answer, but for some people, they try to make it a lived reality. So, what does the journey of someone deemed to be an investing maestro look like, when they have a passion that extends beyond the boardroom to a love for wildlife? What does it take to curate that passion in 2024 and beyond when there are insurmountable levels of stress and anxiety in a post-COVID world?
And what does the Indian landscape look like in recent times?
According to Rajesh Khanna, Founder & CEO at Arka Capital Advisors, “The investor sentiment has dramatically improved with more people making money in the country, the depth of entrepreneurship increasing and an increase in the number of entrepreneurs. While there’s more competition, there are more pools of capital chasing India and more opportunities. There, also, seems to be a bullish view on India with the desire to invest money in the country dramatically moving up”.
And how does an investing expert discover their need for an actual passion?
Khanna remarks, “Decades ago, I realized that my life was fully immersed in work & apart from work and spending time with family, I had no other interests. I realized that it’s critical to have a hobby and a passion in life… I focused on wildlife photography, because it married a lot of my interests. I like being in the forest, finding it calming and very different from being in the corporate world. While at work, the analytical aspect of my mind was active and with photography, the creative aspect of my mind was active, so this felt more whole and complete”.
And what differentiates a hobby from a passion?
“For a hobby to become a passion, there are a few criteria, like learning, growing, a pursuit of excellence and more… With photography, being able to depict certain things in an interesting light appealed to me a lot, because of my love for the forest and my ability to capture interesting moments”, declares Khanna.
So, how can passions or hobbies be looked at mathematically or in an analytical fashion?
Khanna states, “The lens applied for this was the share or allocation of time in a pie chart of what one’s goals are in the long term. One has to look at the number of things they want to do in a day. Think of all the possible goals one may want in life, like money, family, intellectual stimulation and more; one could assign weightages to these, but their sum should not exceed 100, forcing one to make choices… How one allocates time is the most important decision of one’s life. One should ask themself that if they were on their deathbed, what they would regret and that could clarify things”.
And what are the similarities and differences between investing and wildlife photography?
Khanna opines, “When it comes to similarities, both require a pursuit of excellence, looking for unique opportunities, creativity, the need to be patient, a deep understanding of the subject, a need for due diligence, strategic thought, focus, technical learning and more. On the other hand, when it comes to differences, there’s no commercial lens when I’m partaking in photography. I’m doing it purely for inner joy and peace. There’s no stress in what I do and I have full flexibility in how I structure my life, unlike investing”.
“With wildlife photography, what I’m trying to accomplish at the end of the day is getting photos that evoke a love for the environment in the readers’ minds and make them want to protect the environment. When I sit in CSR committees, the environment isn’t given as much importance. I’m hoping that with my photographs, I can change that”, quips Khanna.
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