2025: The year that was…

It was a lonely night on 31 Dec. ’24. I was laid off from my previous role 2 months ago and had been wondering what should I do in the coming months. 

Wanted to go on a long pan-India drive, but didn’t have enough to cover expenses for 3 weeks. Thought of a few start-up ideas that would work in the post-Covid, quick commerce era, but Capital & subsequent scaling was a concern. 

After struggling to attend half a dozen interviews for senior management roles, I realised that the market for CXO roles was not just shrinking. 

It was also getting clear that the closures were happening through references to the Chairman’s / MDs Office from within smaller circles.

I had two choices – to go through the arduous route of connecting with top CXOs within the Retail Industry one by one and seek their support. The other one was to take the “miles” less travelled. 

In the pre-Interval scene of his 2024 outing Jailer, Superstar Rajinikanth would sit down on a chair, slowly turn his face, smile and utter his next steps. 

Similarly, I said it to myself – if I do not get an assured Offer Letter by 15th Jan. ’25, then I would get back to the road less travelled – Independent Consulting. I had bootstrapped Miles2Go Consulting, a boutique Advisory firm in Aug. 2014.

In no time, I was already servicing two prestigious clients, one a 25-year old global FMCG brand at Bangalore and another one - a Fahion behemoth backed with over 50 years’ legacy of the Promoters.

Fashion and FMCG continue to be the two key verticals within organised retail that I am most passionate about in Consulting.

I began my road and rail travel across states and was giving my best, learning every day about the vast ocean that is Retailing, one SKU at a time.

 

In a sudden & unexpected turn of events, I managed to get placed as a “Partner” to be based in Bangalore at one of the Global Consulting & Advisory firms in the world. 

The annual take home package was an exciting 8-figure salary to build from scratch and lead their Retail Practice in the Indian sub-continent. It sounded surreal and I was overjoyed.

After sending the “offer letter” at 2pm on Friday signed by none other than the Chairperson of the Firm, which was after a month of deliberations, discussions and several rounds of interviews, the Firm decided to retract the offer given to me the following Monday!

I was stunned. Sugar levels trebled. Blood pressure shot up. Irregular bowels, coupled with sleep pattern disturbances and a general loss of interest in life led me to several disturbing days and nights. Was being pushed to border-line depression. 

The world came sinking. Not because I lost a job. Not because of someone invalidating my credentials based on hearsay and rumours. 

But the fact that there was zero-professionalism left in several corporates in the garb of international firms, which I have seen one after the other.

A bit of solo-travel and short-bursts of temple visits during April 2025 helped. 

I spent a lot of time alone, speaking less, reading more and articulating more than ever, what was being said and between the words. 

Thanks to a bunch of well-wishers and close friends, I was pushed to restart my Advisory firm – “Miles2Go Consulting Services” – M2G which was on a break since 2022.

And not just to start, those around me suggested that I build the “Practice” along with a team, rather than living and dying as an Independent consultant supported by associated off and on. 

When I mooted the idea to a few other professionals, they too advised that I take this up in a bigger way and lo-behold, on 1st April 2025, I began Ver. 2.0 of M2G.

This time, it was going to be a planned approach on scaling. A crafted, chiselled one, rather. With a clear Vision, surrounded by a bunch of passionate professionals.

First was to decide how will we be different from our earlier avatar, when Shriram and M2G were intertwined and the names simply replaced each other. In Ver. 2.0, I told myself, that shouldn’t be the case. 

M2G should be a team and the outcome should also be credited to the team. 

While I would remain hands-on in every project, I would take a back seat in the day today operations.

Then, I set about to focus on the five key verticals that we would focus on in 2025 – Retail Leasing, Hiring, Training, PR Strategy + Offline / Events Execution. Know more about us here.

These are areas I have chosen to remain afar since I began Consulting in 2014. 

We felt that these could not just bring in additional revenues, but would also provide us with a bigger reach to newer clients and a larger world out there.

On 31st August 2025, we organised our first public event at Spencers Plaza to celebrate the “Madras Formation Day”, now celebrated over a month.

What was most unexpected was the office space we landed upon. 

I have been infamous for not taking my parents advice seriously since childhood, however this time I decided to cold-call at a large office complex as suggested by Dad. 

I was lucky that the place was not only available, but I was able to finalise the place and move-in within a record time. A fully furnished 2,500 sq ft A-grade office in the heart of the city at Mylapore, Chennai.

On the auspicious Vijaya Dasami Day 2025, my parents performed the office pujas and we started working from there since then. 

The team size slowly began to increase, even as knowledgeable and passionate people from their domains agreed to give me a try and to join my team. 

It’s been a good three months in the new office and I cannot thank my personal and professional family enough for their unstinted support all these months.

As we speak, we are serving half a dozen clients across Business Strategy, Hiring & Training, with a team size of 40 members. 

Whenever I sit in my chair, it sounds surreal. This is not what I had vaguely dreamt about 365 days ago. But God had other plans, after all.

As I say every morning when I wake up, “We have just begun. We have Miles To Go…” 

Do drop by our office and encourage us to do more. We are located here.

Travel is an Incredible Opportunity

I have been travelling regularly on work for over a decade now. As a kid, my travel (mostly by bus & train) for outstation trips was limited to 2-3 times a year. My first business travel was in 2002 when I was called for an Interview by Shoppers Stop in Mumbai for the role of a Supervisor for their Chennai Store. I negotiated hard with the HR guy to get me a flight ticket although it was out of bounds by their policy. I flew Air India – a noon flight onward and a 2am flight for return since that was the lowest fare. Then I started flying across South India to expand the business of Benetton in 2005 with monthly visits to Delhi to our HO. The first visa on my passport was in 2006 and well, it was for Switzerland where I went to learn Travel Retail which I was implementing at Bangalore International Airport (BIAL). I flew to Singapore First Class onward and Business Class return for the first time, to speak at a conference on Indian Aviation in 2008 with my tickets being sponsored by the Organisers.  Travelled to 10 countries across Asia and Europe during my stint at BIAL. My domestic travel peaked during my stints at Café Coffee Day in 2009 where I set-up 140 cafes pan-India and thereafter at Royal Enfield Motorcycles in 2012 where I set-up 160 Dealerships across India.

Those days, I literally used to live out of a suitcase, travelling 3-4 days a week, more than 40 weeks a year. It was a lot of fun although tiring. But a sense of accomplishment looking at my professional achievements down the years. I have met many people at Airports – from childhood classmates to celebrities to politicians to academicians to Industrialists and a long list of personalities. I even travelled with a person of the third gender from Hyderabad to Bangalore once and trust me, it was some experience I would say.

Since 2014 my travel reduced to almost 10-15 days a year when I chose to become an Entrepreneur and started my offline Retail venture Smiling Baby in Chennai. I restarted my travel since 2017 when I began focusing on my Consulting Assignments. Interestingly, I have travelled over 45 weeks during the past 52 weeks, mostly by train since I prefer taking an overnight journey for distances less than 500 kms.

I have always travelled in a/c coaches this past year and mostly in the 2^nd A/c Coaches since the bills are paid by my clients. I have always wondered why & how some people manage to fly Business or First Class and have done a lot of searches on this topic online. Empirical data suggests that those who fly in higher classes are more productive upon arrival in their destination cities. They get to sit comfortably, sleep on a flat bed, read a lot, get less distracted while working due to fewer passengers and hence are refreshed by the time they arrive in the next station. Indian Prime Minister Mr. Modi is a classic example – we have seen him fresh as an Apple just the day upon arrival even after trans-Atlantic flights!

I travelled on 1^st a/c last night from Chennai to Madurai and this was so comfortable. Even in 2^nd A/c, sometimes I get side upper or lower berths and I have seen my productivity nose-dive the next day. But the 1^st a/c coaches are so comfortable. The berth is wider, fewer people, lesser banter and more comfortable a/c with a bigger pillow and nicer rugs. Trust me, the day after such comfortable travel is not just a more productive day but also a happier day, which boosts morale and work efficiencies. I travelled in 3^rd A/c a week back and had a upper berth onward and lower berth up on return and it was not even just uncomfortable but very frustrating. The next two days were a nightmare.

This is not to demean the millions of people who travel in non-a/c coaches or other means of public transport. Travelling comfortably works best for me to increase my productivity and I believe, to each his own. Her own. Whichever mode, travel is a great opportunity to learn new things, meet new people and understand life better during the journeys.