I left the desk job and opened a cafe.

Well, let’s not really call it a job because -

1. I didn’t really have one. Getting hired is a nightmare, it does not matter which side of the table you are on.

And that’s pretty much it.

Deciding to open a cafe was a split second decision, but it had been staring at me right in the face for the past two odd years. After my first and only layoff at the end of 2023, I honestly attempted to open a cafe from my then home. It had a great run of two whole days during which I sold one masala dosa, and got a notice from my landlord.

If anything, it taught me to -

1. Obv NOT open a cafe from home, ya idiot!

2. Someone liked your cooking enough to pay.

The next two years were gratifying, and also frustrating. What followed were irregular renewals of design contracts because today’s companies strongly believe they don’t require a senior designer / even a designer anymore. I believe they want to lean more on artificial intelligence like my cute conversation w GPT the other day where it couldn’t even tell if an event had finished or not. Of course it could also mean they don’t want me, DUH. We are not so full of ourselves also. However, the former seems to ring louder.

And that’s fine. It does not necessarily mean I am a bad designer. But it definitely means I was still looking for an opportunity to just basically, earn money.

So 2 more years after I sold my one and only masala dosa, when I was already deep into two months of no income again, a morning walk led to a phone call to a friend, a little thinking, which then led to “god damn it let’s sell food!”

When I Google Pay-ed my new landlord my deposit, you’d think my heart sunk (lower). But noooooo. I was pleasantly surprised to feel a knot loosen in my chest :-)

Phew. I will earn again.

The near future wasn’t hopeless anymore. I was clearly staring at the bleak but slowly shining brighter light at the end of the tunnel.

This is what the cafe looked like before.

And with the help of Urban Company, deep cleaning!!

Let me leave you with these photographs today. And a thought.

When you don’t have a job / are unable to get hired at a job / are frustrated over the months of staring at no opportunities, you create one.

Nobody has tied your hands. If anything, it’s probably a job that ties your hands (think about it).

Will I complete this story through a series of irregular blog posts? Yes.

Am I still designing? Yes.

Am I taking on new projects? No, and yes. I am no longer taking on anything and everything that comes my way. I am happy to collaborate with new local brands who are looking for a visual identity / branding / logo design only for now.

Now off to enjoy my weekly off :-) happy Thursday.

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