This time I interviewed Joshua. Joshua came to ProtoVillage in January 2023 and turned his planned four-month internship into a long-term stay. What made him do it and more inspiring words you can read below.
Rike
Thank you Joshua for taking your time. Can you introduce yourself?
Joshua
Yes. So my name is Joshua Ryan Almeida. I am going to be 21 years old this June. I come from a temple town named Udupi in the south of India. And yeah, I’m a commerce student. I’ve studied Business Administration and Management. That’s very well about me. I’m a very simple person. Simple, in the sense means very plain. Since I don’t have a very exotic or peculiar interest. My lifestyle is really simple. I’m not very hesitant about anything, I’m okay with anything. I’m very low maintenance. And I’m very flexible. I don’t take things seriously.
Rike
So why did you come here in the first place?
Joshua
So first of all, I knew Kalyan Sirs’ wife Shobithaji. So in my college for four months, we have an internship. So for the four months, I thought that rather than joining a corporate, why don’t I come and see what is ProtoVillage? See what people are doing and what is actually going on over here. Because I didn’t know much when I came here and I was very curious. And I’ve always been curious. So even against the wishes of my parents, I went ahead and came to ProtoVillage. So rather than doing a four-month internship and being a slave at some big enterprise at some corner, I thought, why not come here and have a new experience, at least for four months?
And that’s how I came here. That I wanted to do something different. I wanted to see something different. I wanted to experience something different. And that turned out to be a really good experience. And right now I’ve joined ProtoVillage.
Rike
So was there a point where you decided to stay longer?
Joshua
Yes. That point happened after two months I was here. So when I got an opportunity to be a leader in Graamam, the enterprise for a year, take decisions (my own decisions), to lead, manage and administrate the place and mainly actually run the place.
So when I got that, I thought that this opportunity, I will never get anywhere else. Rather than being a slave at a MNC or a corporate and doing “Yes, sir, yes, sir.” all day, I would rather be at an enterprise over here and work, be a leader.
I don’t ever feel like you know, I can work in a corporate or an office structure ever again.
Rike
And did you also feel that way before coming here, that you can’t work in an office?
Joshua
No no, after coming here. Because my mindset before coming here was to join a MNC or a biggest company like Goldman Sachs or a bank. I wanted to become an investment banker or a pilot was my overall goal. And still it is, I can do it as a hobby too in the future. So my passion is to fly. It’s not to get a job into flying. Yeah, maybe it would be very easy. I have a hobby, which I like and I’m doing it as my profession. But after coming here, I saw that this is a really good place. And here I was getting a lot of exposure. I was getting a lot of experience. And Kalyan Sir and Shobithaji were mentoring me.
Rike
Okay, so I think you already mentioned some points, but what finally made you decide to stay?
Joshua
When I fell in love with the whole idea of it. And at that point when it took some time, but when I got very comfortable here and when I saw that I can really have a meaningful and significant life here. And whatever I do, will be for a higher purpose. That’s when I decided that I want to be in this community here. And when I see that, and being in a community is actually very beautiful, you know? Everyone has got each other’s backs.
Here I’m not unconsciously living, I’m very conscious and very aware. And with full realization I’m living. You have seen how people live in the cities very unconsciously. Very routine, very mundane, very low life, you know, they just get up every day, go to a shitty job and they come back. This is not that. This has so many higher purposes, we are helping a lot of people, we are empowering a lot of people, and whatever work I do, it has a lot of meaning. And I’m owning my life. This is a decision no one else has taken, this is my own decision. So tomorrow even if I fail, it’s okay. It was my decision. I would rather fail by taking something that I own, rather than failing somewhere that someone else’s decided for me.
Rike
And how was your time until now here?
Joshua
Until now, I have never missed home. I loved this place. And this feels like home. Whenever I talk to Kalyan Sir and Shobithaji, I say I have nowhere else to go. Now ProtoVillage is my home. It’s a very lovely place.
It didn’t take much time for me to adjust. I think only the winters were very terrible for me. But after that, I’ve adjusted very, very well to the food and the place.
Rike
So what would you say, how much time did it actually take you to get adjusted?
Joshua
A week I can say. So to the place it took time but to the people I was very well adjusted in a few days. Because I knew Vamsi and Shobithaji and yeah, I knew the people. And then I got closer with Gangadhar, Satish, Naveen, and everyone.
I came on January 8th. After Shanti Samsara happened, I was very well settled here. Because after that event, I met everyone. And we’ve seen for Shanti Samsara, we all were working together. So in that way, we made a lot of bonding.
Rike
Are there some major experiences that you’ve gained here? If you just could point out three or four, or if you have more in mind feel free to mention more.
Joshua
So the first experience that I gained here is that money is not everything. Till yesterday, I was a person who used to work for money. And I was a person who was very hungry for money. Very hungry.
The second main realization that I had here is that we all should have a purpose that is higher than ourselves.
Rike
What do you mean by that?
Joshua
Like whatever work we do. It doesn’t mean that we have to do social work all the time. But whatever work you do, you should at least do something to help transform, change people’s lives. There should be some meaning, some significance in your work, you know? Because mindlessly working, selflessly working just for money is just utter waste of the life that we have been given. Because money is nothing, money is something that we all have given value to. So if tomorrow people remove the value out of money, if people stop caring about money, it has no value. So money is just an idea.
And thirdly, what I feel is that what I learned is, I should own my life. Till yesterday, I was doing my degree because okay, I chose my degree because I heard it had a good scope and I could make a ton of money, or because someone else suggested. But coming here, I realized that we should own our life. We should take 100% responsibility. We shouldn’t do things to impress others, or for external factors, you should always do it for us. And I was a people pleaser. I was always worried about what people would think of me. I have not yet 100% come out of this, but I have almost. I’ve realized it and I’m working on it.
And fourthly, I can say this place has humbled me even more. It has made me connect with a lot of unprivileged people. It has changed me as a person. It has made me kinder, it has made me sweeter. It is constantly teaching me, this place, and these people, it’s a constant learning process of how I can be better. So I’m constantly improving here.
And the fifth I can say is to live a life of importance, meaning, and significance. I want money to be a byproduct of something. I don’t want my main thing to be money. And I don’t want to take one whole month of trouble. And just when I get a paycheck, I’ll be happy and I forget everything. I want to constantly be happy and I genuinely want to empower and transform people and change their life. I’ve always been a people’s person. I love to work with people. I love to be with people. I love everyone’s company. Yeah, so many things it has taught me.
Rike
What surprised you here in a positive way, the community or the life in this community?
Joshua
What surprised me is how people conduct their lives here. This is the first time I’ve seen it. I have never stayed in such a community for such a long time. Like I’ve stayed in a hostel but a hostel is not a community. A hostel is a place where you stay after college and you’re sleeping and you’re in your own space. But this is a very shared and common space. It’s the first time I’ve seen people living in this form. I also come from a village. But in the villages, we all have our own houses and we are all very separate. Here it is like together and how every day everyone is together like a whole family, which was something which took me by surprise at first, you know? And also not just that, how people think over here. Everywhere I was, people always cried behind the problems. Here People are very solution-oriented, very open-minded, and broad-minded. People want to do big things over here.
People are beautiful. The kids and the environment. Absolutely. Yeah. Except for the weather. (laughter) Yeah. And even the weather actually, you have seen right how beautiful the weather was. For three hours. I just sat outside the wind, the rain, the thunder, the lightning. So even the weather is beautiful.
Rike
What did you expect differently?
Joshua
When I came to ProtoVillage, I didn’t know what to expect. Shobitha just told me this is a prototype of a village and what I understood by prototype is a model. She just told me this is a prototype of a village in which there is an enterprise and where I can come and work. This was the only information I had. I actually wasn’t even expecting that one day I would be taking over sales and doing that. And when I came in I saw, ohh things are so different. Yes, things are good here, there may be fewer people, you know, like 10/ 12 people, but still, there were enough. The Shanti Samsara, that event that happened, I really didn’t expect that. This is my first time living in such a space and so I didn’t know exactly what to expect.
Rike
Do you have a typical daily routine? I mean, every day is different here. But maybe there is some kind of structure in your days.
Joshua
So typically what my day looks like is that I wake up in the morning then I do yoga or exercises. I wake up at five then by 5:30 am doing my yoga and then at 6:30 to 9 I’m doing my community work. This is actually how my day should look, but I am very lazy. Sometimes my day looks like this, and other times I wake up late and start my day slowly.
Rike
What do you do in community work?
Joshua
That totally depends on whatever work is needed to be done. Usually, I clean the visitor center, or else like today we will be helping in construction, maybe tomorrow it will be farming then it will be gardening. So every day it will be a different thing for someone else.
So after community work, at nine, I have my breakfast, and after nine I get on with my work. My routine work is to see in the daily operations, what’s going on in Graamam the enterprise. I do my follow-ups, I see what all tasks I have for the day. And also I constantly follow up and I keep reading, keep reading or keep exploring options we have for Graamam, I’ll be looking at packaging or how we can improve things, it differs. Yeah, having meetings, discussing it.
Rike
And so do you have any plans or goals for your future here?
Joshua
Mainly what I’m doing here right now is learning. So right now, I’m not worried about the future. Graamam is the future first of all, for me. Secondly, my future is my health. My personal growth, be it emotional maturity, emotional intelligence, mental conditioning, and physical conditioning. Being very resilient. And in the future start my few Ventures side by side along with Proto or maybe individually. Now I got the opportunity in the fellowship. Next year, maybe doing something else, maybe taking Graamam to the next level.. And along the way, so that I can be financially secure, independent and free actually, so I don’t have to worry about money at all. I’ll make my own businesses, and get a continuous cloud cash flow of money. And always keep working towards something and will always be a part of ProtoVillage and Graamam. I want to climb a mountain, not for the destination. I want to climb because I want to love the climb. I like to Climb not to reach the destination, but it’s just for the climb. The destination is death. Everyone is going there. But the most important part for me is the journey. The sky’s the limit. And the sky has no limit. So I want to be limitless. I don’t want to be stretched or something. I don’t want to be put in a box. I feel a person should be in a box only after he is dead.
Oh, I just want to have a life full of adventure. I want to travel a lot and personally, I want to explore and be an entrepreneur and do a lot of business. And I want to do business ethically. So if I’m doing a food business, I would maybe once in a while go to the orphanage and feed kids. All that matters at the end of the day is whether you are a good person or not. It doesn’t matter how much bloody money you have or what you have. Because at the end of the day when you die, you’re not taking anything up. Right?
Rike
So you also want to have that feeling of not only contributing to this community but contributing to the whole society?
Joshua
It’s not about this society or that society. Whoever comes along my path or whoever’s path I go, it’s about whoever comes and needs my help. I will. Whoever I can contribute, I will contribute. I will contribute as much as I can and I will always go out of my way and help people. And yeah, and that’s the main thing I really want to do.
So I’m not very sure about the future but right now what I’m sure is that yeah, I belong to Graamam, I belong to ProtoVillage. But who knows what lies in the future, it’s very uncertain and constantly changing. So I feel we shouldn’t be very worried about the future.
Rike
Nice last words. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with us, Joshua.
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