About the happynesswalas™
How a crippling crisis has led Vaani and AVIS to invest their every waking hour in Inspiring ‘Happyness’™!
3-min read
3-min read
Vaani and AVIS, August 2006; Picture Credit: Meghna Karthik
The Crisis
For 16 years now, Vaani and AVIS have been in the throes of a unique, Life-changing crisis. Their erstwhile consulting firm went bankrupt in end-2007. This plunged their Life into a deep, dark, seemingly endless abyss. Ever since, they have been dealing with several imponderables. On the one side, they have had to constantly face the social, professional, financial and legal implications (such as law suits and police complaints from irate creditors) of their bankruptcy. On the other – emotional – side, this period has been cathartic for them. When the realization that they were bankrupt dawned upon them, they were initially pinned down by fear, insecurity, anger, grief, guilt, anxiety and incessant worry. Besides, despite trying very hard, they have been unable to turn around their financially devastated Life. So, many times, from early-2008 onward, they have had to live through long spells of worklessness and pennilessness. “Facing rejection and failure repeatedly and not knowing what to do to fix your Life can be extremely demoralizing. It can extinguish your will to keep going. We have known that feeling very closely,” confesses AVIS.
For 16 years now, Vaani and AVIS have been in the throes of a unique, Life-changing crisis. Their erstwhile consulting firm went bankrupt in end-2007. This plunged their Life into a deep, dark, seemingly endless abyss. Ever since, they have been dealing with several imponderables. On the one side, they have had to constantly face the social, professional, financial and legal implications (such as law suits and police complaints from irate creditors) of their bankruptcy. On the other – emotional – side, this period has been cathartic for them. When the realization that they were bankrupt dawned upon them, they were initially pinned down by fear, insecurity, anger, grief, guilt, anxiety and incessant worry. Besides, despite trying very hard, they have been unable to turn around their financially devastated Life. So, many times, from early-2008 onward, they have had to live through long spells of worklessness and pennilessness. “Facing rejection and failure repeatedly and not knowing what to do to fix your Life can be extremely demoralizing. It can extinguish your will to keep going. We have known that feeling very closely,” confesses AVIS.
Vaani and AVIS, March 2013; Picture Credit: CP Satyajit
The Awakening
Wrestling with this crippling phase of their Life, Vaani and AVIS began asking themselves deep, soul-searching, questions. What is the meaning of Life? Why do bad things happen to good people? What must we do to survive this storm? How can we live by our values and hold on to our purpose in times of intense distress? Can we really be happy despite our circumstances? Their inquiry led them to a magical, liberating, realization – that no matter what, Life must be faced; that it must be lived fully, happily, one day at a time, with what is! They discovered that Happiness is not something that you pursue. It is not what you achieve after certain conditions you have set for yourself have been fulfilled. They realized that Happiness is the art of being non-worrying, non-frustrated and non-suffering in every context in Life. Even if the context or situation is an unwelcome, challenging and hugely painful one. Through the practice of mouna – observing daily silence periods – they taught themselves this art.
Their newfound ability to be consistently happy did not require them to possess any special skill or follow any complex process. They simply chose to be non-worrying, non-frustrated and non-suffering every time a reason for being unhappy presented itself. “A rare inner strength was flowing from within us. And that strength, we understood, came from our choice to not worry, to not be frustrated in the wake of failure and rejection and to not ask why we were going through this terrible time. Our Happiness was helping us to deal with our problem in an infinitely better manner,” explains AVIS.
The Three Powerful Rs
This awakening also led Vaani and AVIS to discover three powers within themselves that they never thought they had possessed before. These are reflection, resilience and resourcefulness. They define these powers thus:
and resourcefulness, that are already in you, and deploy them, you are able to deal with fearful, numbing, situations, with courage, faith and patience. To me, this ability to face Life’s upheavals is high-performance.”
The Purpose
Clearly, even as they learnt significant Life lessons from their lived experiences, Vaani and AVIS recognized a sublime, graceful, spiritual evolution happening in them. Even so, they knew only too well that they were far, very far, from being successful (which is, turning around financially and repaying their debt). This is when, through constant, honest, conversations between them, they asked themselves an all-important question. Vaani recalls vividly: “I invited AVIS to consider flipping the paradigm. ‘Why don’t we try being useful even if we can’t be successful? After all, Happiness is what everyone is seeking – caught in their own problem situations in Life. Why not share our experiences and learnings with them,’ I asked him.” This realization that they can be useful even when they are not successful, led them to their Life’s purpose, their raison d'etre, their ikigai, of Inspiring ‘Happyness’™ among anyone who cares to pause and reflect.
Vaani and AVIS believe that they are having to go through this enduring crisis only so that their Life’s purpose could have found them. The couple have intentionally kept their purpose statement simple, just two words –Inspiring ‘Happyness’™!
And they spell ‘Happyness’ with a ‘y’ because they want to remind people that Happiness is a decision that you, the individual, must mindfully take each time you are confronted with a situation that makes you unhappy!
“Our purpose makes our Life meaningful. It makes our every waking hour count,” says AVIS.
Wrestling with this crippling phase of their Life, Vaani and AVIS began asking themselves deep, soul-searching, questions. What is the meaning of Life? Why do bad things happen to good people? What must we do to survive this storm? How can we live by our values and hold on to our purpose in times of intense distress? Can we really be happy despite our circumstances? Their inquiry led them to a magical, liberating, realization – that no matter what, Life must be faced; that it must be lived fully, happily, one day at a time, with what is! They discovered that Happiness is not something that you pursue. It is not what you achieve after certain conditions you have set for yourself have been fulfilled. They realized that Happiness is the art of being non-worrying, non-frustrated and non-suffering in every context in Life. Even if the context or situation is an unwelcome, challenging and hugely painful one. Through the practice of mouna – observing daily silence periods – they taught themselves this art.
Their newfound ability to be consistently happy did not require them to possess any special skill or follow any complex process. They simply chose to be non-worrying, non-frustrated and non-suffering every time a reason for being unhappy presented itself. “A rare inner strength was flowing from within us. And that strength, we understood, came from our choice to not worry, to not be frustrated in the wake of failure and rejection and to not ask why we were going through this terrible time. Our Happiness was helping us to deal with our problem in an infinitely better manner,” explains AVIS.
The Three Powerful Rs
This awakening also led Vaani and AVIS to discover three powers within themselves that they never thought they had possessed before. These are reflection, resilience and resourcefulness. They define these powers thus:
- Reflection – the ability to pause and ask important, often difficult, questions about your Life and your purpose here on this planet.
- Resilience – the ability to pick yourself up after you are knocked down, to remain strong and to move on.
- Resourcefulness – the ability to make do with what you have while choosing to be non-complaining.
and resourcefulness, that are already in you, and deploy them, you are able to deal with fearful, numbing, situations, with courage, faith and patience. To me, this ability to face Life’s upheavals is high-performance.”
The Purpose
Clearly, even as they learnt significant Life lessons from their lived experiences, Vaani and AVIS recognized a sublime, graceful, spiritual evolution happening in them. Even so, they knew only too well that they were far, very far, from being successful (which is, turning around financially and repaying their debt). This is when, through constant, honest, conversations between them, they asked themselves an all-important question. Vaani recalls vividly: “I invited AVIS to consider flipping the paradigm. ‘Why don’t we try being useful even if we can’t be successful? After all, Happiness is what everyone is seeking – caught in their own problem situations in Life. Why not share our experiences and learnings with them,’ I asked him.” This realization that they can be useful even when they are not successful, led them to their Life’s purpose, their raison d'etre, their ikigai, of Inspiring ‘Happyness’™ among anyone who cares to pause and reflect.
Vaani and AVIS believe that they are having to go through this enduring crisis only so that their Life’s purpose could have found them. The couple have intentionally kept their purpose statement simple, just two words –Inspiring ‘Happyness’™!
And they spell ‘Happyness’ with a ‘y’ because they want to remind people that Happiness is a decision that you, the individual, must mindfully take each time you are confronted with a situation that makes you unhappy!
“Our purpose makes our Life meaningful. It makes our every waking hour count,” says AVIS.
The Prayer
Interestingly, despite living a purpose-driven Life, Vaani’s and AVIS’ crisis is far from over. 16 years on, it still endures. But guided by their philosophy to be useful even when you are not successful, wearing their Life on the sleeve, AVIS wrote his book Fall Like A Rose Petal. It was first published in August 2014. The book’s message of Happiness and contentment instantly resonated with its readers. This encouraged the couple to share – through multiple channels – the lessons they have learnt from their unique journey with the world.
They work with five audience groups:
Corporates: CEOs and business leaders love the reflective talks, signature programs, culture transformation mandates, customized inspirational workshops and world-class curated conversations that Vaani and AVIS conceptualize and deliver. Through each engagement, the couple invoke soul, provoke thought and inspire action – inviting managers to choose and employ Happiness for high-performance.
People with interesting Life journeys: Vaani and AVIS are specialist biographers. Through commissioned projects, they enable people to share their unique lived experiences and learnings with the world. A biography by the happynesswalas™ actually immortalizes interesting Life journeys!
Individual seekers: For anyone who seeks their time and perspectives on Life and Happiness, Vaani and AVIS offer their exclusive signature Life coaching program, Let’s Talk Happyness!™
Content co-creators: People looking for quality content on Life and Happiness find what Vaani and AVIS have to offer, well, unputdownable. Their offerings here include books, podcasts and finely curated ideas for web series.
General public: Vaani and AVIS curate and host free, live, reflective, non-commercial, world-class conversations that inspire Happiness.
Vaani and AVIS don’t see their bankruptcy as a curse or as a burden. To them, it is a blessing – and a responsibility. While they still work very hard to climb out of the financial and circumstantial abyss that they find themselves in, they remain soaked in gratitude for the unputdownable Life lessons that this experience, this phase, has taught them. No matter what new twist has arrived in their story, each morning they wake up to inspire people to be happy despite their circumstances. To them, this is their prayer, their humble offering to the universe.
“Being the happynesswalas™ is what makes us come alive. We haven’t just survived this crisis, we are thriving in it,” exclaims Vaani!
Interestingly, despite living a purpose-driven Life, Vaani’s and AVIS’ crisis is far from over. 16 years on, it still endures. But guided by their philosophy to be useful even when you are not successful, wearing their Life on the sleeve, AVIS wrote his book Fall Like A Rose Petal. It was first published in August 2014. The book’s message of Happiness and contentment instantly resonated with its readers. This encouraged the couple to share – through multiple channels – the lessons they have learnt from their unique journey with the world.
They work with five audience groups:
Corporates: CEOs and business leaders love the reflective talks, signature programs, culture transformation mandates, customized inspirational workshops and world-class curated conversations that Vaani and AVIS conceptualize and deliver. Through each engagement, the couple invoke soul, provoke thought and inspire action – inviting managers to choose and employ Happiness for high-performance.
People with interesting Life journeys: Vaani and AVIS are specialist biographers. Through commissioned projects, they enable people to share their unique lived experiences and learnings with the world. A biography by the happynesswalas™ actually immortalizes interesting Life journeys!
Individual seekers: For anyone who seeks their time and perspectives on Life and Happiness, Vaani and AVIS offer their exclusive signature Life coaching program, Let’s Talk Happyness!™
Content co-creators: People looking for quality content on Life and Happiness find what Vaani and AVIS have to offer, well, unputdownable. Their offerings here include books, podcasts and finely curated ideas for web series.
General public: Vaani and AVIS curate and host free, live, reflective, non-commercial, world-class conversations that inspire Happiness.
Vaani and AVIS don’t see their bankruptcy as a curse or as a burden. To them, it is a blessing – and a responsibility. While they still work very hard to climb out of the financial and circumstantial abyss that they find themselves in, they remain soaked in gratitude for the unputdownable Life lessons that this experience, this phase, has taught them. No matter what new twist has arrived in their story, each morning they wake up to inspire people to be happy despite their circumstances. To them, this is their prayer, their humble offering to the universe.
“Being the happynesswalas™ is what makes us come alive. We haven’t just survived this crisis, we are thriving in it,” exclaims Vaani!
Vaani and AVIS with Photographer & #BlissCatcher Srivatsan Sankaran at the Inspire India Youth Conclave, in March 2020, in Coimbatore.
Additional, relevant, links on the happynesswalas™:
- Rise In Love - a 2015-documentary, made by a young filmmaker Shalu C. While focusing on the journey of Vaani and AVIS, the film explores how love thrives in the face of adversity. Viewing time: 30.18 minutes.
- How this Chennai couple rose from bankruptcy to create million moments of Happiness - a story (that originally appeared in April 2016) by Dipti Nair in YourStory. It looks at how Vaani and AVIS are living a Life of purpose - Inspiring ‘Happyness’™! 3-min read.
- The Reason Why You Live - a 2019-documentary, made by Conservation Educator and #BlissCatcher K.Ramnath Chandrasekhar. It showcases the journey of The Bliss Catchers™, the longest-running and most popular conversation series curated by Vaani and AVIS. Viewing time: 12.33 minutes.
- Chennai couple inspires to be happy, tells stories of resilience - a story from September 2019 by Bhavani Prabhakar in News Today. It explains how Vaani and AVIS live a purposeful Life, inviting people to be happy by learning to be non-worrying, non-frustrated and non-suffering. 1-min read,
- When Happyness hits a century - a story from April 2019 by Roshne Balasubramanian in The New Indian Express - Chennai Express. This story explores Vaani’s and AVIS’ purpose of Inspiring ‘Happyness’™ and celebrates their 100th curated conversation. 1-min read.
- Against the odds - a story from April 2019 by Meghna Majumdar in The Hindu - MetroPlus. It celebrates AVIS’-Vaani’s 100th curated conversation and showcases why they do what they do. 1-min read.
