I lead a double life

MINT, the Wall Street Journal's partner newspaper in India, interviewed me recently. The story appeared today. It's called "I lead a double life", and it is about five people, each of them juggling an offbeat passion with a regular career. I was one of the five. They figured I was a good subject, since I have a mainstream consulting career as well multiple tourism businesses.

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This is the photo that appeared with the article. For once, I look like a "successful banking technology consultant". And what's more, I look suitably entrepreneurial, don't I? The kids running next to me are guides on the 'Mumbai Local' tour.

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This is what the article said about me:
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From 9 to 5, Deepa Krishnan, an IIM Calcutta graduate, is at her day job, as a successful banking technology consultant. But after work, she lets her passion for history and architecture take over. “I found most tourists in cities were given cookie-cutter tours. They were actually clichéd and unimaginative impressions. I thought I could be more specific with my city tours through proper story-telling, and create a cultural mosaic that people can identify with,” says the 39-year-old Mumbaikar. Krishnan organizes city walks in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai through her three websites: www.mumbaimagic.com, http://www.delhimagic.com/, and http://www.filtercoffeetours.com/.

But for Krishnan, the toughest part about being in a job and indulging her passion was learning to negotiate the grey zone between family, work and passion. “When my daughter was little, I had to set my ambitions aside. I had to choose not to do this as my family may have suffered, but now that my daughter is 14, I can juggle both. In fact, my daughter and mother also write for my blog,” says Krishnan, who sometimes works 12-14 hours a day to stay on top of things.

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Just for the record, when my daughter was little, I had absolutely no ambition for a second career, or for anything offbeat. I hadn't even heard of responsible tourism. So the "I had to set my ambitions aside" is poppycock. What I said to the writer was that its easier to find time for multiple careers when you don't have a young child; and that I wouldn't have done it when my daughter was younger.